Submission - Isaiah 64

Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

See also Jeremiah 18:6

Previously, we have see a confession of sin and the need seen for a redeemer. Here we see acknowledgement that God is God and we are his creation. I think many people have the mistaken idea that man has an option when it comes to recognizing that God exist and that we are obliged to honor him as our creator. We must submit to his position of authority over us. It can be voluntary with substantial rewards or in the judgment day with substantial penalties.

The potter and the clay is a good illustration when we consider the creation of man and how the Lord made us from the clay of the earth.

v6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

Here is what might be called a paradox. We are so much below God in position that we are as but a leaf that falls from a tree and gradually fades away. Yet, we find that God, in his great love, is mindful of us and cared enough for us to send his Son to die for our iniquity. Not His iniquity but our iniquity. That is true love.

Then there is the need. In this case, they acknowledge that they are in disrepair, destroyed and desolate. Now, they can get some help.

v10 "Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation."

We have claimed it as our own and swelled with pride but it is all yours Lord.

v12 "Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?"

"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Psalm 85:6