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I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us—yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me”; and so, he became their Savior. In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So, he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. Then his people recalled the days of old… (Isaiah 63:7-11a).

Our text contains three themes which are woven throughout the Bible. They are evident already in Genesis, yet in the Exodus story they rise to the forefront and are rarely far from the surface thereafter. And it is to the Exodus story that Isaiah appeals in our text.

In that story, God’s “kindnesses” and “compassion” (7) are discovered, as is his “love and mercy” (9). He is One who does “good things” (7) in saving and redeeming (9) his people. This revelation of God as full of generous and underserved grace pulls the Bible’s story along. We see it again in the birth of the church. How else could a group of people who were neither the intelligentsia nor the elite of their day have the impact on the world that those first Christians did? It was only the result of the grace of God. Paul marvels that this grace permitted him to be the one to reveal the mystery of Christ to the Gentiles.

The Exodus story also reveals the rebellious character of God’s people. After all God had done for them, the Israelites turned against him. Isaiah says they “grieved [God’s] Holy Spirit” (10). This is the language of intimate relationship, for the “Holy Spirit” is God’s personal presence among his people. In verse 14, “the Spirit of the LORD” gives “rest” to the people. Clearly God is personally involved with us. Our text says, “he lifted them up and carried them” (9).

All this makes the rebellion more unthinkable. It is not a king or a judge who has been disobeyed or whose authority has been denied. Rather, it is a father’s love, care, and concern that has been treated as worthless. The result is that their Lover became their “enemy” (10). God cannot be played with.

This theme is part of the church’s story as well. Think of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5. The New Testament contains multiple warnings against taking God’s grace for granted. Like Israel, the church has often rebelled, and as a result crumbled under the weight of her own sin. We have seen it too often of late.

But as Exodus illustrates both the undeserved grace of God and the shocking rebellion of the people, it also illustrates what older theologians called the “biddability” of God. Despite the rebellion of the first generation in the desert, God did not abandon his people. Although he would have been justified in wiping them off the face of the earth in response to their repeated breaking of the covenant, he did not do so.

This is the third theme of our text. Across the centuries, time after time, when it appeared that the church had finally gone beyond the point of restoration, that very thing occurs. Often, through human agents, God renewed and renews his church: Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Mother Teresa, John Wesley, Lucy Farrow, Billy Graham, to name just a few. Alongside these, there have been millions of unknown people who have turned to God in failure, despair, and shame and found not merely restoration to favor but more than that, genuine cleansing, and revitalization. In our rebellion, we have experienced God’s incredible willingness to hear the prayer of desolation and come back home to our hearts once again.

Isaiah calls us to return to our first love. It begins with the closing words of our text, “Then his people recalled the days of old...” and carries on through the end of the book. The One who has carried us through all the years calls us back. He is the One who gave us birth in the first place, who held our arms when we took our first steps, and who faithfully guided us out of the desert into green pastures. The whispers of the Holy Spirit are those of a broken-hearted Lover who tells us that it is not too late to return to his arms. He has breathed new life into his church before, and he will do it again.