Sermon: The Cry of Advent

Isaiah 64:1-9

[1] Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

that the mountains might quake at your presence—

[2] as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make your name known to your adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

[3] When you did awesome things that we did not look for,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

[4] From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides you,

who acts for those who wait for him.

[5] You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

[6] We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

[7] There is no one who calls upon your name,

who rouses himself to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

[8] But now, O LORD, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

[9] Be not so terribly angry, O LORD,

and remember not iniquity forever. (ESV)