God’s Promises and Our Prayer
Isaiah 62
In my early years as a Christian I had a hard time being motivated to pray. Prayer was a struggle. I loved reading God’s Word, and studying other Christian books – but I didn’t have much interest in prayer.
As I look back, I think the problem was that I didn’t see why prayer was important. If God is sovereign over everything, if nothing is going to stop His purpose from being fulfilled – then what’s the point of praying? I didn’t think prayer would make any difference.
And I would guess many of you have the same struggle. Why pray when God is sovereign? Won’t God do what He’s going to do anyway? What difference does prayer really make? Have any of you wondered about that? I thought so.
Now the good news is that in His Word God helps us understand why prayer is absolutely essential – even though He is sovereign over everything. And one passage in which God talks about that is in Isaiah 62.
Let’s turn there together. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 62 is on page 621 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Here’s a quick outline of this chapter. In v.1 we read about prayer – Isaiah describes his commitment to prayer. Then in vv.2-5 we read about God’s promises – what God promises to do for Israel. Then in vv.6-7 we read more about prayer – Isaiah calls God’s people to pray. And then in vv.8-11 we read more about God’s promises – what God promises to do for Israel.
Let’s start by focusing on God’s promises: what has God promised to do for His people? Remember that Isaiah 40-66 were written to give encouragement to Israel during the time when she was in exile in Babylon. Jerusalem had been destroyed, thousands of them had been killed, the rest had been taken in chains to Babylon where they lived as slaves.
So in that setting, what did God promise to do for His people? Now remember that Isaiah has taught us that God’s people is not just racial Jews. God’s people is everyone, Jew and Gentile, who trusts Israel’s God and His Messiah Jesus Christ.
So these promises apply to us as well. Let’s look at what they are:
First, all peoples and kings will see the righteousness and glory of God’s people. Look at vv.2-3 --
2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
Second, God will no longer forsake Israel, but will delight in her. Because of her sin, God had allowed Israel to be destroyed. But in the future that will all change. Look at vv.4-5 –
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Third, never again will God allow His people to be plundered. Look at vv.8-9 –
8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored;
9 but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."
And fourth, God Himself will come and redeem His people. This is a promise of God coming to earth in the person of the Messiah – Jesus Christ. Look at vv.11-12 --
11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your salvation comes [that’s the Messiah]; behold, his [the Messiah’s] reward is with him, and his recompense before him."
12 And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
So let me summarize these promises with a little help from the New Testament. God promises to send His Messiah Jesus – and through Jesus, sin’s guilt will be punished and sin’s power broken. So all those who trust the Messiah – Jew and Gentile -- will shine with righteousness and glory. God will delight in His people. And then after seeing the Gospel spread so it is seen by all the nations, God’s people will be brought into a place where they never suffer again.
These are spectacular promises. So how certain is it that God will fulfill these promises? Absolutely certain. Isaiah emphasizes that in two verses. First, in v.8 --
The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm …
that He will fulfill these promises.
Second, look at the beginning of v.11 –
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth …
that He will fulfill these promises.
So God has sworn and proclaimed to the end of the earth that He will fulfill these promises. Is there any doubt that God will fulfill these promises? No. It’s absolutely certain. But what’s surprising is what Isaiah calls God’s people to do concerning these promises.
What does Isaiah call God’s people to do? In a passage where God has sworn that He would fulfill these promises, Isaiah calls God’s people to pray and ask God to fulfill these promises.
We can see that in v.1, where Isaiah says this is what he himself does – he prays that God would fulfill these promises --
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
So Isaiah is not going to stop praying until God fulfills these promises to Israel.
And in vv.6-7 Isaiah calls God’s people to follow his example --
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,
7 and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
So even though God has sworn to fulfill these promises, Isaiah calls God’s people to not stop praying until God fulfills His promises.
What does this teach us about prayer? As I pondered these verses, I saw three crucial truths about prayer.
First, that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act. You might think our prayers don’t affect God. But that’s not what Isaiah says. Notice v.7 –
…and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
“Give him no rest until” he does it. The point is that our prayer affects God. Our prayer moves God to act.
So here’s what’s going on. God has promised to do amazing things – to send the Messiah who would pay for our sins and whose work would raise up a righteous people shining with God’s glory who would spread the gospel to all peoples and kings. God has promised to do this, sworn to do this, declared that He would do this.
But God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to do what He has promised. God doesn’t need our prayers. God could have done this without our prayers. But God has chosen to give our prayers an essential role in bringing about what He has promised to do.
Why? One reason is because prayer gives us the joy of relationship with Him. When you pray in Jesus’ name, you meet the living God, you have relationship with the living God – and there’s nothing better.
Another reason is because prayer gives our lives great meaning. Blaise Pascal said God ordains prayer to give us the dignity of causality. When you pray and ask God to work, you have a hand in bringing God’s power to the earth.
Another reason is because prayer displays God’s glory. When people pray earnestly for God to defeat the Philistines – and then suddenly the Philistines all panic and run away – the fact that we prayed and asked God shows that it was God who did it.
So the first truth is that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act.
The second truth is that if we don’t pray, in many cases God won’t act. I see that in v.1, where Isaiah says “For Zion’s sake [that is, for the sake of God’s people] I will not keep silent.” Isaiah understood that his praying would make a difference in what God did for His people.
But now here’s a tough question. If Isaiah did not pray – would these promises not be fulfilled? Hmm. We know God will fulfill His promises. But we also know God has chosen to work through our prayer. So how can we put all this together?
There’s two truths we need to hold together.
One is that God sovereignly moves people to pray for those things He has absolutely promised to do.
Let me give you one example – Anna, in Luke 2:37 (page 858). Anna was a prophetess, who had been a widow for over 50 years. Look at how she is described at the end of v.37 –
She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
Here’s what’s going on: God had promised to send the Messiah. And God has chosen to have prayer move Him to act. He will send the Messiah. But He’s chosen to act in response to prayer. So what will God do? God will sovereignly cause Anna and hundreds like her to pray earnestly. And in response to their prayers – God sent the Messiah.
God sovereignly moves people to pray for those things he has absolutely promised to do.
But there’s another truth that’s just as important -- there are also things God would have done, that He does not do because we do not pray.
That’s taught throughout God’s Word. Remember James 4:2 – you do not have, because you do not ask. It may be that you have not had the wisdom God wanted to give you – because you did not ask. Or you have not had the power over sin God wanted to give you – because you did not ask. Or you have not had the power to share the gospel God wanted to give you – because you did not ask. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Remember when the disciples were not able to cast the demon out of the little boy, and asked Jesus why they were unable? Jesus’ said – because you did not pray. The disciples had not prayed – they had tried to cast the demon out of the boy by their own power – but they could not do it, because they had not prayed. Jesus ended up freeing the boy from the demon, but the boy had to suffer demonic oppression longer because the disciples had not prayed. If we don’t pray, then in many cases God won’t act.
Any questions about that?
So the first truth is that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act. The second truth is that if we don’t pray, then in many cases God won’t act. And these lead to the third truth -- because prayer is so important, we should be devoted to it. I see that at the end of v.6 –
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,
7 and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
What does it mean to take no rest? It means don’t stop; don’t let up; keep praying.
Doesn’t that make sense? Your prayer can make the difference in the salvation of your family members. Your prayer can make a difference in your marriage. Your prayer can make the difference in the Holy Spirit being poured out on your home group. Your prayer can make the difference in people in San Jose being saved from their sins through faith in Christ. Your prayer can make the difference in having people in Vietnam or India or Pakistan being forgiven and reconciled to God.
So can you see how devoted we should be to prayer? Now there are other things Jesus calls us to do – work at your job, love your wife, play with your kids, mow your lawn, get the sleep and exercise and relaxation you need. But if prayer is this important, if this much depends on prayer, then we should all be as devoted to prayer as we can be.
When my dad was in his twenties he had a public emotional breakdown as he was preaching his first sermon at a large church. He felt such shame and guilt that he could not function and had to be institutionalized. The doctors said he would probably never be released. But his mother drove to the institution every afternoon and parked on the street and prayed for him. Every afternoon. Praying for God to heal her son.
And God was moved by her prayers – and set my dad free. One afternoon as he was lying on his bed, he remembered a verse which said that Jesus died once for all to pay for his sins. And as he prayed over that verse, his guilt and shame disappeared. And he was released. Be devoted to prayer.
This doesn’t mean you leave here relying on your will-power to pray more. Rely on Jesus Christ. Apart from Him we can do nothing. Ask Him for help. Ask Him to change your heart so you long to pray. Ask Him when you could find another 15 or 20 minutes a day to pray. Rely on Jesus.
And start praying.