On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
– Isaiah 62:6–7
What a passage. What a picture. Did you hear that? On your walls of Jerusalem, I’ve set watchmen. We’ve prayed using this imagery before, this watchman on a wall looking out from a city and surrounding areas so that if there’s any attacking army coming, the watchmen would alert the people inside the city. They’re keeping watch. “On your walls of Jerusalem set watchmen. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent.” So they’re always alert. It would be disastrous if the watchmen fell asleep in the middle of the night and an invading army came and attacked and destroyed the city because the watchmen fell asleep.
Isaiah 62:6–7 teaches us that ultimately, God will establish His Kingdom.
So now you get to end of verse six, and in the beginning of verse seven. “You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest.” So that makes sense. Watchmen on the walls among God’s people. Don’t take any rest. Stay alert, be alert. And so this is where verse seven says, “Give him no rest.” Who’s the him here? It’s the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
It’s one thing to as a watchman on the wall, not rest, stay awake. But this is saying, “And give God, the Lord, no rest from your praying until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.” Now obviously, God’s not about to fall asleep. He doesn’t sleep or slumber. We know that from his Word. He is omnipotent, and all-powerful. He doesn’t need to sleep like we need to sleep.
Isaiah 62:6–7 reminds us of the impact of our prayers.
But this picture of saying, “Don’t let God have any rest from your prayers.” I pray all the time, all the time for the accomplishment of his purposes, for the good of his people, for the praise of his name. Give him no rest. Talk about praying without ceasing and think about what this looks like for us as the people of God spread out around the world for one of us or multiple ones of us, a lot of us for that matter at every single moment, to be praying for the coming of God’s Kingdom. For the glory and hollowing of his name in all the earth and in specific places in specific ways, like let’s do this as the people of God.
Let’s pray and give him no rest from our prayers collectively. Let’s pray individually all the time, just whenever we have an opportunity. As we go through our days, I think about the endless hours that people, at least in my country, are spending on phones just scrolling through mind-numbing, meaningless-ness like 4, 5, 6, 7 hours a day. I think the average I read was somewhere around five and a half hours.
This verse encourages us to pray for the establishment of God’s Kingdom.
We should spend some of those hours praying instead of just idly going to our phones. Let’s pray as we’re riding or driving somewhere. Let’s pray as we’re walking from this place to the next, as we’re sitting there waiting for something. And not just alone, as we’re together. When we’re walking, talking, spending time with each other. Let’s pray unceasing prayers. Let’s give God no rest until his Kingdom comes on the earth. God help us, we pray to do Isaiah 62:6–7 to be faithful watchmen in our day, for each of us to play the part you’re calling us to play in prayer for your Kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. For your name to be hallowed in all the earth.
God, I just pray specifically for each of us, including myself, that you would help us today, and tomorrow, just starting the next few days to pray more than we were praying the last few days. Just to spend extra time in prayer. And God, we want to be a part of a people who are giving you no rest from cries, for your name to be hallowed and your Kingdom to come and all the earth. So help each of us to play the part you’re calling us to play knowing none of our prayers are in vain.
Prayer for the Lohar People
So even now, we pray and all the different times we’ll pray together in a sense through this podcast. Hallowed be your name and all the earth.
We’re asking God to hallow your name and all the earth among all the peoples. Among the Lohar of India, among all 11 million of them and thousands of other people, groups like them. God, hallowed be your name among the Lohar and among all the peoples of the earth. May your Kingdom come, and may your will be done. We want your Kingdom to come. Lord Jesus, we want you to come back. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray this according to your Word in Isaiah 62:6–7, and we pray that you would help us. Teach us to pray unceasingly as your Word calls us to. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
