The Messianic Consciousness in Jewish Prophecy (CVIII) Isaiah

“And we are as unclean all of us, and as a garment passing away, all our righteous acts. And we fade as a leaf all of us. And our iniquities as wind do take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

This verse completes the message of the previous one regarding the futility of evil and ego's fantasies and illusions, in which even our good deeds become irrelevant as a “garment passing away”. The rest of the verse is eloquent enough to make us realize the predicament and consequences of ego's fantasies and illusions.

“And there is none calling in Your Name, stirring up himself to lay hold on You. For You have hid Your face from us, and You melted us away by our iniquities.” (64:7)

In our negative traits and trends we distance from God's ways and attributes. The fantasies and illusions derived from ego's beliefs and feelings of lack are the ones that prevent us from calling on goodness and Love's ways and attributes as the material manifestation of God's Love from which all Creation holds on.

We separate from God's Love as His face before which all our materialistic fantasies and illusions melt away along with us.

“But now, Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You our potter. And we all are the work of Your hand. Be not wroth, O Lord, very sore, nor for ever remember iniquity. Lo, look attentively, we beseech You, Your people are we all.” (64:8-9)

The Prophet appeals to God's Love and power to redeem our consciousness from evil and negative traits and trends. For He is our Creator because He is our Father. As the Creator He is, He is our Maker and it is up to Him to transform our consciousness by removing the root of all our iniquities. Isaiah includes in this prayer all the descendants of Israel our forefather.

“Your holy cities have been a wilderness, Zion a wilderness has been, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where praise You did our fathers, has become burnt with fire and all our desirable things have become a waste.” (64:10-11)

God's holy cities are the principles and values with which God bonds with us. Among these Zion as Jerusalem the most important, for it represents the awareness of our permanent bond and connection with God. Both are the sacred time and space in which we celebrate our Love and God's Love bonding forever.

“Will You refrain Yourself for these things, O Lord? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?” (64:12)

The Prophet appeals once more to the compassion and grace of God's Love to redeem us from the fantasies and illusions that separate us from Him. In our separation from God's Love we lose peace as the encompassing and integrating quality that makes us complete and wholesome in our consciousness and in life.

Our affliction is the outcome of losing peace as the delightful reward for living in Love's ways and attributes, for Love is the essence and true identity that God's Love gives us to be, have and manifest in all dimensions of life.