Rend the Heavens

"Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!"
Isaiah 64:1

The prophet Isaiah, wrote these words hundreds of years before the coming of Christ. His cry was representative of a minority of his people. Most were in rebellion against God. But some shared Isaiah's passion to really experience God. They knew that their fathers experienced God when they were led through the desert but somewhere along the line, the connection was lost. The prophets seemed to be the only connection they had with God. His miraculous signs didn't seem to happen anymore. So the prophet penned the passionate cry, "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down."
    The word 'rend' means: to violently tear open. So Isaiah was crying out to God, asking him to tear open the heavens and come down to earth. He wanted the nation of Israel to experience the presence and power of God in a real and tangible way. He wanted them to not just hear the words of the Lord that he spoke, he wanted them to see the confirmation of those words, God himself. Isaiah could not have comprehended what he was saying. Hundreds of years later, in the waist deep water of the Jordan river, God did just what the prophet cried for. He tore open the heavens and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove to indwell God's own son, Jesus. God had come to earth, the mountains trembled, and the most powerful ministry in history began.
    What impresses me about Isaiah's cry is the passion I feel in his words. It wasn't just words, it was a passionate plea. He longed for God to come down. He longed for the heavens to open. I can hear the Psalmists words echoing through Isaiah, "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you." The need was so desperate that nothing else would do. The world needed God to come in power.
    So I wonder: Do we long for God to tear heaven open? Do we desire, more than anything, the presence of the Lord? We need the same passion that Isaiah had. God sent Jesus to answer the plea of the prophet. He still desires to rend the heavens and come down. He is doing it through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus prepared the way for the heavens to be opened and the Holy Spirit allows us to experience it today. It isn't just so we can see heaven, it is to bring the impact of heaven to earth. In my spirit, I can see heaven torn open and the Holy Spirit descending through the opening. He is God, and he bears the presence of the Father as he opens eternity for us to behold. It's peaceful, yet violent; gentle, yet powerful. Once we experience it, we will never be the same. "Lord, rend the heavens and let us see your glory!"