“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)
Last weekend we spent time in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina on a weekend retreat with our Sunday school class. The drive up was exhilarating as we approached the mountain line and began experiencing the popping of our ears as our bodies adjusted to the change in pressure. The colors of the leaves were astounding. The views from the car as we climbed higher and higher were absolutely breathtaking.
At the retreat we spent time during a prayer walk along the shores of Lake Junaluska enjoying the weather and nature surrounding us at this beautiful location. The ripples in the lake gently reflected the colors that adorned the majestic mountains as if God had draped the mountains in a rugged coat preparing them for the cold to come.
Walking alongside the lake, one could not help but to see God in everything – from the rugged, yet beautiful stones, to the sweet, clean smell of mountain air as it moves gently through leaves and flowers, to the brilliant colors of the mallard ducks moving along the shore. I’m sure that many of you marveled at God’s creative majesty through His creation and I pray that marveling brought you closer to the cross of Jesus Christ and His mercy and grace to undeserving, wretched sinners.
We have but a small glimpse of God’s creation. Very few of use will ever have the opportunity to travel the globe and see everything the Lord has made. No one has ever traveled the galaxy in person to see with their naked eye the brilliant creations beyond our nearest satellite – the moon. God has graced us with insight to create powerful telescopes that can see the majestic creations of our God millions and millions of miles away as well as microscopes that allow us to peer into the intricacies of the smallest cells. We truly have but a tiny glimpse of what God has created.
Isaiah 66:2 begins telling us that absolutely everything was made by the hand of God:
“All these things my hand has made”. (Isa. 66:2a)
In fact, a reading of Genesis will show us that all three Persons of the Holy Trinity were present at creation. Oh the majesties and glories of God! As you peer into the eyes of a dragonfly, as you listen to the calming songs of crickets at night, as you look at the stained glass wings of a bumblebee know that all of that came into being through the very command, power and word of the Living Triune God.
Once more, the very wood of the tree God made was used to spread the arms and feet of our Savior, the very iron ore of the earth God made was forged into stakes to pin the Spotless Lamb to that tree and the very plant fibers God made were used to make cords of rope to lift the cross of Christ high in the air for all eyes to see. The very gravity that pulled down on His hands and feet and caused it nearly impossible to breathe, is the very gravity that Christ was “uphold[ing] all things by the word of His power”. (Heb 4:13) – taking our place because “while we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us”.
And yet our Lord still came to this earth. Scripture calls Christ the “Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world”. (Rev. 13:8 KJV) Our Lord, knowing that we would sin, decided and agreed before time began to come to this earth fully God, fully man to atone, propitiate the wrath of God and ransom His elect from slavery to sin and transfer them to His glorious kingdom. We deserved nothing but condemnation and what we received is truly amazing grace.
Now think back again to our limited views of God’s creation. Now imagine, if you can, what God sees. He looks over His creation – all of it. From the infinite galaxies, universes and planets beyond our view to the most tiny, microscopic speck. God sees everything at once – all of creation instantly with nothing hidden. There is no way we can fully imagine what He sees. As He looks out over the magnificent creation and the animals, plants, birds, oceans and of course man, Isaiah makes a striking statement and one that should cause us pause…
Isaiah 66:2 continues, “But…”
“But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word.”
Amazing! As God looks out over the expanse of all creation – an expanse beyond our ability to understand, what catches His attention – what causes Him to look, is the man who has humbled himself before God, who is contrite of heart (broken over his sin and understands the infinite infraction against a Holy God) and one who trembles in reverence at His perfect Word. Let a broken hearted sinner come before Him and to this one He will look over and against all of His creation – all of it.1 Astounding!
How does one go about having God look to Him in this manner? How does one go about offering up true godly humility, contrition of the heart and a trembling of His Word? Where does it come from? Does man have this ability to offer up this acceptable sacrifice to God from his own power?
Turn with me to Psalm 51. This is one of the famous Psalms of David. This is a penitent Psalm where David cries out to God in repentance after committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah.
This Psalm demonstrates one of the acceptable sacrifices to God. (I would encourage the reader to get a copy of John Bunyan’s classic “The Acceptable Sacrifice” for an excellent commentary on both the Isaiah passage and Psalm 51.) We see in this Psalm David crying out in penitence to God – showing the fruit of a contrite heard, the fruit of repentance, the fruit of a broken spirit.
We have learned the glorious truth that God will look upon a man or woman who is humble, contrite at heart and who trembles at His word. We see in Psalm 51 that David has that contrition. What we also learn from this solemn Psalm is that David’s very contrition, the very broken spirit he pens in this psalm is a gracious and mighty gift from God!
Look closely at verse 17:
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17 emphasis mine)
This verse shows us that these are sacrifices of God. They are given to His elect as a gracious gift from Him. They are of God, from God and by God. David realizes this in this Psalm and one gets the sense that He is praying to God here not only in penitence but also in jubilation that he has a broken heart, the contrite heart as these are the sacrifices of God. These are the gifts of God that He will look to since they originate from Him. What a glorious truth. What depth of grace for us to meditate on!
Glorious glorious! The glorious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who works in the stony hearts of those He loves with electing love. God breaks the heart only to mend it through His regenerating power – an acceptable sacrifice to Him that leads ultimately to redeeming and renewing faith in the greatest of all sacrifices – the atoning work of His precious Son on the cross. The Son mends the hearts of the broken spirit. Do not fret oh great sinner with the gift of a broken heart over your sin – for you have such a greater Savior!
As we imagine God looking over the entirety of His creation we learn an amazing truth that over and above all creation, it is he who is humble, contrite and who trembles at His very Word that He will look. In addition, the one who is broken in spirit and contrite is made so only by the gift of God in the heart of that man. In the same glorious way that the very sacrifice of Christ is an unmerited gift, so is the very contrition and brokenness that brings us running and clinging to the cross through repentance and faith (which is also most gloriously a gift of God!).
This is amazing grace. May we reflect heavily today on the love of God in the face of Christ Jesus. We all know very well that each and every one of us deserves nothing but eternal wrath and punishment in hell for turning from, hating and disobeying the one true God who is holy, perfect and righteous. We love because He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19) It cost our God everything – His very Son to become our substitute – to take the wrath and penalty we so much deserve. May we reflect that we truly bring nothing to Him – He has accomplished it all. May we be reminded from the great hymn, “nothing in my hand I bring; simply to the cross I cling”. He is our glorious Savior and may we embrace Him and Him alone giving Him the honor, the glory and the majesty He not only deserves but demands as Lord of lords and King of kings.
sola gratia! sola fide! solus Christus! soli Deo gloria!
- The Acceptable Sacrifice by John Bunyan - Page 4 [↩]
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Good read, thanks for the information, it was really informative.
Nice article. Thanks. :) Eugene
the AWESOME truth and yet another great observation of His AMAZING GRACE. Thanks, Jay!