Isaiah Ch40v1-31

Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

So we're going to read the beginning and the end of Isaiah 40.

So you can follow along.

Isaiah 40 starting in verse 1.

Let us hear God's words.

Comfort, comfort my people, said your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,

that her sin has been paid for.

That she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling.

In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord.

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.

The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

A voice says, cry out.

A voice says, cry out.

And I said, what shall I cry?

All people are like grass and their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers, the grass withers, the flowers fall because of the breath of the Lord blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flowers fall.

But the word of the Lord endures forever.

Let's turn to the end of Isaiah 40 verse 25.

Isaiah 40:25

And we'll read to the end.

Verse 25.

So to whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?

Says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens.

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you complain, Jacob?

Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord.

My cause is disregarded by my God.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary.

And his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary.

Increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary.

Young men stumble and fall.

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not be faint.

Well, you can keep your Bibles open there.

Stephen, if you'd like to come up.

I'm just going to ask you a couple of things.

I know I didn't tell you this, but don't worry.

It won't be anything too dangerous.

And then we'll pray for you.

But you've been here a number of times before.

But the last time, 2019, before COVID.

But so just very briefly, how has the last couple of years been for you guys and your family?

Yeah.

Any updates?

So four years, right?

So let's see.

In four years, let's see how many got married.

So five children.

All four married now.

Last one was married in October.

So that's the most recent.

Added some grandchildren.

So here I'm a grandfather now.

I feel very young.

So five grandchildren.

So they started.

When did they start coming?

Did I have those before?

Some of them.

Yeah.

No, no.

They're all recent.

So since 2021 or so.

Because they're just over two years.

So five of them now with two different families.

And continuing to teach at the seminary.

And continuing to try to meet my promises, right?

Of writing and all that kind of stuff.

Okay.

And your wife, Karen?

Yes.

Yeah.

She's doing fine.

She's still working, you know, enjoying the grandkids.

And then also working as the clinic director at the seminary.

So COVID was a lot of fun where she had to do all this testing.

And so she kept the seminary going during that time.

Yeah.

Well, it's great to have you with us.

I'm just going to pray for you.

And then we'll listen.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you for your gifts to us.

Thank you for the gift of Steve.

For his understanding.

And we pray that you will fill him with your Holy Spirit.

Give him strength for today.

And strength for this coming week.

For all us, the teaching he will do.

Father, may he be blessed.

And may we this morning be blessed as we hear your word through him to us today.

Encourage us.

And build us all up.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, just great to be with you.

And as we were just reading that passage, Isaiah 40, you can turn there.

That's what we're going to look at this morning together.

I've entitled this just to look at this passage.

There's lots in this passage.

So no fear.

We'll run through it.

We'll run through it quickly.

But it's important to see the entire passage.

And we'll put it in context and so on.

But I've entitled this message, Renewing Our Confidence in Our Promise-Making and Keeping God.

And you sort of say, well, why is this a promise-making and keeping passage?

Well, we'll find that out.

Right?

So we'll look at that.

But we're renewing our confidence in God.

Right?

Now, why are we needing to do that?

Well, if we listen to all the polls and pundits and what is reported, right?

We live, all of us are experiencing, we're told, a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, right?

We've come through three years of COVID and we're still living on the effects of that, right?

And we look at the world scene and there's a lot of anxiety over, is there World War III coming?

Is there challenges before us in our nation's world, country, challenges globally and so on?

And of course, we need to always, as Christians, be reminded that we need to find our confidence in the Lord.

We need to constantly go back to his word and remind ourselves that he is the sovereign Lord who's in charge.

That he is the one who not only makes promises but keeps promises.

And our lives can be lived even in the midst of anxiety and depression and turmoil by trusting him

and knowing that he is working out all of his purposes.

We are part of those purposes and those purposes are centered in the Lord Jesus.

Well, where can we be reminded of these great truths?

Well, a lot of places in scripture we could turn to.

Isaiah 40 is where we're going to go.

It's one of my favorite passages in the Bible.

It's also one that was made famous by Handel's Messiah, right?

So if you've enjoyed Handel's Messiah, Isaiah 40 runs through that great oratorio.

And it's also, now this, you may have not seen this movie, I don't know, but Chariots of Fire, right?

Did everyone see Chariots of Fire?

Chariots of Fire, 1981.

So that is a while ago.

But that great movie, it's classic, right?

Because it presents track and field and running, right?

That's the sport of the Bible, if you didn't know.

It's not soccer or football or anything else.

Everywhere you have track and field.

But that Chariots of Fire, the contrast between Harold Abrahams, who was running for England in the 100 meters,

and Eric Liddell, the famous Scottish missionary that won the Olympics in the 1920s

and then eventually served in China as a missionary and lost his life there, right?

And in the passage in that movie, he wouldn't run on Sunday.

That was part of the movie.

And he was in France.

It was the Paris Olympics.

And he was standing in the pulpit on Sunday and he was reading Isaiah 40, right?

So if you haven't seen that movie, you need to look at that.

And as he's reading this passage, it goes off to those who are stumbling and falling.

And he says, those who renew their strength in the Lord.

It's a great passage.

It reminds you of who God is and his glory.

And that's why we're going to look at this passage this morning.

Now, we're going to look at it in three steps, right?

So if you're taking notes or you do that, we'll look at it first.

So as you approach Scripture, and Johnny, I know, teaches you this,

and the church here, right?

But as you approach any particular passage, so we're looking at Isaiah 40,

you've got to always set it in context, don't you?

You always have to sort of say, what's the context of this passage?

Not only in Isaiah, right?

So it's part of the entire prophecy of Isaiah.

It's not just free-floating.

It's actually part of a whole section, a whole.

But it's also part of the Old Testament, right?

There's a lot that's already taught in the Old Testament prior to Isaiah 40.

So to understand this text properly, right, we have to understand its placement in Isaiah,

and in some sense, the Old Testament.

So that's the first thing we want to make some brief comments about,

remind you a little bit about where this passage fits in the Bible.

And then secondly, turn to Isaiah itself.

And we'll have to run through that, but get some sense of the flow of the text.

It's all one text that is laying out for the people of God who God is,

and asking them questions and calling them to trust in God as creator and Lord and promise maker and keeper.

And then we want to just see how this passage, ultimately for us as Christians,

we read the Bible as Christians.

We don't just read Isaiah and sort of leave it there.

We have to see how it has been brought to fulfillment in Christ, right?

We read this as Christians in light of what Jesus has accomplished.

So those are the three areas to set it in context,

to run through the text to see what it is saying in light of that context,

and to see how it has been brought to fulfillment in Christ,

and in many ways will serve for us as greater incentive to believe,

greater confidence to have,

greater trust that we can have in the sovereign God

who is working out his purposes for his church in the Lord Jesus, right?

So let's look first at the first area, setting context.

Isaiah 40, right?

Where is it in Isaiah?

Where is it in the Old Testament, right?

So if you know anything about Isaiah, right?

Isaiah is one of those prophets that writes after the coming of David, right?

So we got everything from creation through the fall,

through the promises of God centered in the coming of a Redeemer,

and all of that now centered in Israel,

and the coming of David, and so on.

He writes 700 years before Christ.

So it's a long time before even the New Testament era.

And at this time in the nation of Israel, right?

Israel as a nation is divided, right?

It's got Israel to the north, Judah to the south,

and at this period of time, Isaiah lives in the time

when those ten northern tribes,

he is going to witness the entire destruction of those ten tribes.

The superpower of the day is Assyria.

And you read a lot about Assyria in the book of Isaiah,

and Assyria will wipe out the ten northern tribes.

They will never, ever exist again.

And so all you'll be left with is the two southern tribes,

Judah and Benjamin.

That's what will eventually constitute Israel.

That moves into the time of the New Testament.

And Isaiah will also anticipate,

and we'll see this in this chapter,

you'll anticipate the Babylonian exile.

That's still, from his time,

130 or so years down the road.

So he's living in a crucial era.

Assyria is going to wipe away the north.

The southern tribes eventually will experience the loss of those ten tribes,

and they will then anticipate that they will go to exile.

That they will then be preserved,

and of course they eventually come back.

And then we then have 400 years of silence,

and then the coming of the Lord Jesus.

So that's sort of the time of Isaiah, right?

He writes over four kings of the north and the south.

You see him particularly, early on in the book,

deal with Ahaz.

Ahaz, the king of the north where he is then,

or the king of the south where he is Isaiah 7,

and he's interacting with Ahaz,

and then eventually Hezekiah.

And both of these kings,

as most of the kings of Israel,

were useless.

All the kings of the north,

not one good one.

Maybe a few in the south that were okay.

Hezekiah was okay.

Yet they always refused to trust God.

They always refused to trust His promises,

and eventually destruction comes to their house.

Destruction comes to the nation.

And in chapter 40,

we particularly see God giving comfort

in light of the failure of Hezekiah.

So we'll come back to that just in a moment.

Now, at this point in time,

as you can say,

the north is divided from the south.

The nation is in total disarray.

So if you read the first five chapters of Isaiah,

there's nothing good said about Israel.

Religious leaders, the kings, the people,

are all under judgment.

And that's why Isaiah 6,

you're probably familiar with Isaiah 6,

Isaiah's called to ministry.

What does Isaiah see?

Why is he called to ministry in chapter 6

versus chapter 1?

I think you'd begin with this call to ministry in chapter 1.

But no, after five chapters of the nation in total destruction,

the only hope for the nation is Isaiah 6.

And what's Isaiah 6 about?

Isaiah goes into the temple,

and he sees the Lord.

Right?

The only hope for Israel,

and of course this runs through the entire book,

all of the Old Testament prophets,

the only hope for Israel

is that God himself does something.

God himself saves them.

God himself will act on their behalf.

God himself will keep his promises.

That's the only hope for the nation.

The Holy One who's high and lifted up.

And of course that theme and that truth

is going to come into Isaiah 40 strongly.

The only hope for the nation

is that God will rescue his people,

keep his promises,

and in this point in Isaiah,

it's important to see,

so I understand that you're studying now

Genesis 12 through 50.

And you're entitling your Genesis 12 through 50

about the promises of God,

that promised seed.

All the way back from Genesis 3.15,

you have the promise of a Redeemer.

And by the time you get to Isaiah,

that promise of the Redeemer

has taken on a lot of definition.

And ultimately, the promise of a Redeemer

is the promise of a coming king.

A coming king who will come from David's line.

And this is why the Davidic house is so important.

The Davidic house, out of David's line,

will come the promised one,

the promised seed.

You have to have David's house existing.

Otherwise, the promises of God

will not be realized and fulfilled.

And all that's very important

as we then zero in on Isaiah 40, right?

So here's the context of Isaiah,

something of his time.

Here's something of, in some sense,

the larger context of the Lord

who must come and rescue his people.

He must provide the seed, the king.

And this is why, as we approach Isaiah 40,

one other last sort of introductory point to realize

is that you must not read Isaiah 40

isolated from the larger chapters that precede it.

Right?

That sort of makes sense.

But we often, right, in Isaiah 40,

we just start with verse 1.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

But you have to ask the question,

why is God calling the people to,

someone to say comfort to them?

Comfort assumes that something is in distress.

God is in verse 1 saying,

and we'll see just in a moment here,

where he says comfort, comfort.

These are what we call imperatives.

These are commands.

God is commanding for someone

to give comfort to the nation.

And that's why we'll have three voices

that give comfort.

But why is there the need for comfort?

Well, chapter 39

is why the reason for comfort.

So we often divide when we read the Bible.

We break it up into chapters and verses.

But of course, that's all later added, isn't it?

The book of Isaiah is a book.

And we then have to sort of look at,

as we read the book,

how it unfolds,

and how it is put together,

and so on.

And chapter 39

is crucial to link to chapter 40.

And what's going on in chapter 39?

Well, just look at 39,

verse 3,

and then verse 5,

and so on.

We'll just set the context here

of chapter 39.

Hezekiah is the king.

And Hezekiah, right,

is refusing to trust God.

And what is he doing?

He's making alliances with Babylon.

Now, Babylon is not yet the superpower,

but Babylon is on the rise.

And instead of trusting the Lord,

he's making alliances with Babylon.

He's trusting them more than trusting God.

And so he opens up his entire palace

to the Babylonians.

They come in,

and he's showing them all that he has.

He's showing them all of his military

and all of his,

you know,

what's in the nation.

And this is where the Lord then comes,

right,

in verse 3 of Isaiah 39,

and he says,

what did these men say?

Where did they come from?

Right,

so Isaiah's coming and saying,

what's going on here?

Who are you letting into this kingdom?

And the prophet says,

well,

the prophet then asked in verse 4,

what did they see in your place?

And Hezekiah says,

they saw everything.

There's nothing among the treasures

that I did not show them.

And then verse 5,

and this is what will lead to the need for comfort.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,

hear the word of the Lord Almighty.

The time will surely come

when everything in your palace

and all that your fathers have stored up

until this day

will be carried off to Babylon,

right?

So here is the prediction

of what will happen

130 years later.

Because you have done this,

you will eventually

be carried off to Babylon.

All of Israel,

the two southern tribes

will eventually be put into exile.

Nothing will be left,

he says in verse 6,

says the Lord.

And some of your descendants,

your own flesh and blood,

who you will be born to,

you will be taken away.

They will become eunuchs

in the palace of the king of Babylon,

right?

Now you say,

why is that so serious?

This is why you have to understand

the context of this passage

and see the context

of the Old Testament, right?

Hezekiah is part of the Davidic house,

right?

The hope of the entire promise of God

is tied to the coming

of the Davidic king, right?

If the Davidic house is destroyed,

there's no king.

That's why this is,

you know,

a huge issue here, right?

So God is saying to Isaiah,

because of what you've done,

Hezekiah,

the whole Davidic house

is going to be destroyed.

You're going to be taken off

into Babylon,

you're going into exile,

and then of course,

if the Davidic house is destroyed,

then the question comes,

are God's promises good?

Will God keep His word

that He has promised

all the way back

from Genesis 3.15

that there's coming a Redeemer?

Will that actually happen?

And if it doesn't happen,

then is God trustworthy?

Have the nations won?

Has God been defeated?

Right?

Has His word ultimately failed?

Now that's what's raising

the issue here,

and of course,

that will make a lot of sense

of why Isaiah 40

will then start with comfort.

Give comfort to Israel

because God's promises

have not failed.

The nation has failed.

Hezekiah has failed.

Ultimately, the nation

will be taken into exile.

It'll look like everything

has failed.

Yet, God has not failed.

God will keep His promises.

And that's what Isaiah 40

is all about, right?

So that's why we have to have

this larger context here.

So when we come to Isaiah 40 now,

right, so we've set the context.

Comfort, comfort my people

now is set in the context of

is the God of Israel

the true God?

Is the God of Israel

the one who can keep His promises?

Is the God of Israel

really going to defeat

the superpowers

and the nations

and bring all of His

saving promises to pass?

Or is He not?

Now, it's interesting

to look at Hezekiah's response.

This rings so true

to our leaders.

It doesn't seem Hezekiah

is just a typical leader, right?

The word of the Lord

you have spoken is good,

he says in verse 8.

Hezekiah replied,

for he thought

there will be peace

and security in my lifetime.

What a witless,

feckless leader, isn't he?

What is he saying here?

He's saying,

oh, the nation will be destroyed.

That's great.

At least it won't happen to me.

We'll push it off

to the next generation.

We'll push it off

to the 130 years later

and so on.

What a wicked king.

Yet in the midst of that,

he's no different

than Ahaz earlier on

and so on,

in the midst of that,

God says to the people of Israel,

ah, there's going to be comfort.

But your comfort

is not going to be found

in Hezekiah.

It's not going to be found

in the kings.

It's going to be found

in the Lord

who will provide

the king.

And so on, right?

Now, let's turn to Isaiah 40.

So that's sort of the context.

Important to see that

as we then think about

what now Isaiah 40

is all about, right?

So in the midst of

God saying,

the whole Davidic house

will be destroyed.

Nothing will be left

in 39.6.

All of that will be taken off.

Now we have,

and this text moves

in the sense of sort of

four kind of steps, right?

Verse 1 and 2

gives you God's command

for someone to speak

comfort to Israel, right?

So that's what we have

in verse 1 and 2, right?

There's a command that's given.

Give comfort to the people

in the midst

of what now will happen

in the future to them, right?

Then in verses 3,

ultimately through 11, right?

We have voices,

three voices that now

come to the surface

and give comfort.

And three messages of comfort

that they give.

And the third message of comfort

will ultimately be a comfort

to behold God.

Trust in Him.

Trust in the One

who is the Sovereign Lord,

Creator and Lord of the nations

that will not fail.

And so we then move

in verses 12 through 24

to really a glorious presentation

of the God of the Bible.

The God who is Creator.

The God who has power.

The God who has wisdom.

The God who has no rivals

and so on.

And this is why this passage

is so famous

for its presentation

of the glory of God.

But it's functioning here

to give comfort

to the nation of Israel.

Behold your God.

This God who is

the Creator and Lord

and the Promise Maker

and the Promise Keeper.

And then the chapter

will conclude

where Johnny's already read

from 25 to the following

where questions are asked.

Questions that are calling

the nation of Israel

to faith,

to trust,

to confidence, right?

And this is what they will

ultimately need to go back to.

So, you know,

later on when they're in Babylon,

later on when 130 years later

all of this occurs,

they'll go back to this

and say, right,

to whom will we compare God to?

And God will keep His promises.

It's looking pretty bad,

but He is the one

who will be faithful and true.

We're going to have to wait.

We're going to have to be patient.

We're going to have to,

even though we're weak

and we have no strength,

we're going to have to renew that

by trusting in the Lord.

Right?

Well, that's how the chapter 40 moves.

And let's now just run through that

and get some sense of this glorious text.

So verse 1 and 2,

God is now in light of His judgment

upon Hezekiah

and ultimately the nation of Israel,

the destruction of the Davidic house,

He says,

He calls for comfort.

So He says,

Comfort, comfort my people.

This is a command.

Someone come and give comfort to my people

in light of this message of judgment.

Speak tenderly to them.

Proclaim to them

that their hard service has been completed.

Their sin has been paid for.

That they've received from the Lord's hand

double for all their sins.

I mean, it's setting you up for now

these voices that come.

God says,

I may have announced judgment upon them,

but give comfort

that my promises will not fail.

My people will experience

not only deliverance,

right,

from that which will occur

in terms of the Babylonian exile,

but they will receive

the forgiveness of sins.

Right?

I will bring double forgiveness.

I will bring grace to them.

Right?

There's a message already of

I will be the faithful God

who keeps my promises

and so on.

Now, ultimately for us,

obviously this is now fulfilled

many, many, many years later

in the coming of Christ.

The dawning of the new covenant.

But that's what's being anticipated here.

Now,

we then move to these voices.

So verses 3 through 11

give us three voices.

So God has said,

somebody now give comfort.

And three voices emerge

that now give messages of comfort.

And all of these messages of comfort

is centered in,

God will keep His promises.

So the first voice,

verse 3,

verse 3 through 5,

a voice of one calling in the desert,

or a voice of one calling,

it says,

in the desert,

and here's the voice,

in the desert,

prepare the way for the Lord.

Make straight in the wilderness

a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low,

the rough ground shall be level,

the rugged places plain,

and the Lord in all of His glory

will be seen.

And all of mankind together

will see it.

For the mouth of the Lord

has spoken.

Well,

that's the first voice of comfort.

Give comfort to the people.

The Davidic house will be destroyed.

Give comfort.

What's the first word of comfort?

The first word of comfort is

the Lord's coming.

That's what he's saying here.

In the desert,

prepare the way for the Lord.

The first voice of comfort says,

the Lord is coming.

The Lord will keep His promises.

And the imagery here

is that He will make straight

in the wilderness

a highway for our God.

There's Exodus imagery.

So you go back,

only Israelite would think

of the Exodus.

Just as God freed the nation

out of Egypt in the past,

He will ultimately bring

a new deliverance,

a new Exodus.

It's going to look bad,

but God will bring salvation

to His people,

and He will come to them

in the wilderness

and He will keep His promises

and He will raise,

these mountains will be made low,

the roads will be made plain.

I mean,

this speaks of God's certainty

of this, right?

God will come.

God will rescue His people.

And what will we see?

In the end,

you will see the glory

of the Lord revealed.

It doesn't look like

God's glory is being revealed now.

It looks like the nations

are ruling over everything.

But God will display His glory,

right?

Well,

even as we will come back

to the fulfillment of this,

but even in the New Testament,

you're reminded of this,

right?

How this is brought to fulfillment

in John the Baptist,

right?

This is what's quoted

in the New Testament,

right?

After many of those long years,

right?

Who's John the Baptist?

The John the Baptist

is the one who announces,

finally,

the way is made plain.

The Lord has come,

right?

The glory of God

has now been revealed

in Him,

and so on.

But this is the first voice

of comfort,

reminding them

that God will save His people.

God will come.

And then,

of course,

in verse 6 through 8,

a second voice arises.

And the second voice arises

centered in

God's word will not fail.

And of course,

it's important to say that

because in light of chapter 39,

with the anticipation

of the destruction

of the Davidic house,

it looks like God's word

will fail.

But God says,

nope,

it may look like it,

but my promises

will never fail.

Right?

And so that's why

we read in verse 6,

a voice says,

cry out,

and I say,

what message of comfort

do I give?

What do I cry?

Well,

all men are like grass.

Their glory is like

the flowers of the field.

The grass withers,

the flowers fall

because the breath

of the Lord blows on them.

Surely,

the people are grass.

the grass withers

and the flowers fall.

Just think of that

in the context of Hezekiah.

This witless king.

Right?

He's the one

who doesn't trust God's word.

Right?

He's the one

who comes and goes.

You look all over

the history of the nation.

Right?

Men come,

men go,

we come,

we are all,

you know,

the springtime,

the flowers come,

fall,

they all go down

and we are so transient.

We are just creatures.

The word,

our word fails.

Ahaz earlier on,

his word failed.

Hezekiah fails.

Our,

constantly in the Old Testament,

our human word always fails,

but,

verse 8,

the grass withers,

the flowers fall,

but the word of our God

stands forever.

Right?

Again,

context here,

right?

What is this word ultimately?

This word is a gospel word.

Right?

This word is the promise

of a coming king.

This word is the promise

of the Davidic house.

May look like it's destroyed,

but there will come

out of that house.

There will come

a true seed.

There will come

the root

and the branch.

Isaiah speaks of that

in other contexts.

Right?

This word of God

that will never fail

is the promises

of the covenant.

It's the promises

that God has made

all the way back

to Genesis 3.15

through Abraham

and through Israel

and so on.

Right?

That's the word

that looks like

it's about to fail,

but it will never fail.

And then a third voice

arises.

Right?

A third voice arises

in verses 9 to 11.

Right?

This is now

a third word of comfort.

So the first word

of comfort

is the Lord is coming

and will display

his glory.

He will not

abandon his people.

Second voice

of comfort.

God's word

will never fail.

The third voice

of comfort.

Verse 9.

You who bring

good tidings

to Zion,

to Jerusalem,

go up

on a high mountain.

You who bring

good tidings

to Jerusalem,

lift up

your voice.

Right?

So here's

the third voice.

Right?

What are you

to announce

to Israel?

Right?

Well,

you are to lift

up your voice.

You are to say

to Judah,

behold,

you're God.

So the third voice

says not only

the first voice,

right?

The way the Lord

will come.

God's promises

will not fail.

Second voice.

The third voice

says,

lock to God.

Look to his glory.

Look to who he is.

Remind yourself

of the God

who is the creator

and the Lord.

He has no rivals.

You can trust him.

Behold your God.

Here is your God.

See,

the sovereign Lord

comes with power.

His arm rules

for him.

See,

his reward

is with him.

His recompense

accompanies him.

And then you have

this verse 11.

He tends

his flock

like a shepherd.

He gathers

the lambs

in his arms.

He carries them

close to his heart.

He gently leads

those who have young.

I mean,

this is a constant theme

that is in the Old Testament,

right?

The God,

behold your God,

the God who is sovereign

but also the shepherd.

The God who is

the Lord of the nation,

the creator of the universe,

but also

the one who cares

for his people,

the shepherd of his people,

the one

who will keep

his word

fully,

right?

Well,

that's the voices

that give message

of comfort.

The Lord is coming.

His word will not fail.

The shepherd of Israel

will keep

what he has said.

And of course,

this is what they

must take to heart

as the years

will unfold,

as they go into exile,

as they think

the days look dark.

They'll have to

remind themselves

of these truths,

this message,

and so on.

Now,

on the heels

of that third voice,

we then have

this majestic

presentation of God,

God.

Right?

So,

in verse 9,

behold your God,

that's really

what we get

in verses 12

through 24.

Right?

And really,

in this area,

we have God

presented as creator,

as the sovereign

Lord of history,

as the one

who is the designer,

the one who rules

over nations,

the one who can be

fully and completely

trusted.

Right?

So,

let's just run

through this quickly

as we look

at the presentation

of God.

Verses 12-14

gives us the creator

who has all power

and wisdom.

And what's that?

How's that helping

the, you know,

serving here?

Well,

if he has all power

and wisdom,

you can trust him.

He can do something

for you.

He can meet your need.

Right?

He can ultimately

bring salvation.

Right?

So,

it says here,

who is measured,

in verse 12,

the waters in the hollow

of his hand,

or with the breath

of his hand,

marked off,

or the word here

is fine-tuned the heavens.

He designed the heavens

so specifically.

Fine-tuned it.

Right?

Who has held

the dust of the earth

in a basket

or weighed the mountains

on the scales?

The hills in a balance.

Right?

So,

that's power.

Who is the God

who has created

and designed

and purposed

and who weighs all things?

It speaks of his

mighty power.

Right?

And then it turns

in verse 13

to his wisdom.

Who has understood?

The same word understood

is where we had

that marked off.

Fine-tuned.

Who's fine-tuned

the mind of the Lord?

And of course,

the answer is no one.

Right?

Who's instructed him?

Whom did the Lord

consult to enlighten him

or who taught him

the right way?

Who was it that

taught him knowledge

or showed him

the path of understanding?

And of course,

the answer is no one.

Right?

How is it functioning here

to give comfort?

Right?

It's functioning

to give comfort

your ways.

You may think,

right,

as you look at

what's happening

in the nation,

it looks like

everything's lost,

but you're going

to have to trust God.

He knows what he's doing.

Right?

Very similar to what

he does with Job.

Right?

As Job goes through

difficulties,

what does God say

to Job?

Who are you, Job?

Who are you?

Did you design

the universe?

Do you not know,

you know,

do you not,

the one who made

all these things?

Do you not know

that what I have done,

I know what I'm doing,

you can trust me,

I'm the one who

designed things,

I'm the one who

rules over things,

my understanding

is not limited,

I'm not dependent

upon the latest,

you know,

in scholarship

and tell me

what I need to do.

No,

you can trust me.

Right?

That my promises

are good,

that's how this

is functioning.

It's to give incentive

for the nation

of Israel to say,

yeah,

we're going to

have to trust you,

you are good

on your word,

you are the one

who can bring it

about.

Right?

And then in

verses 15 to 17,

we have another

sort of building

on this presentation

of God.

Behold,

the nations

are a drop

in the bucket.

And of course,

that's going to be

important for the

Israel to know,

right?

Assyria will destroy

the north.

Babylon down the road

is going to exile

the south.

It looks like

those nations

have all power.

But you need

to be reminded,

they may rise,

but they're going

to fall.

Right?

The nations

are a drop

in the bucket.

They're regarded

as dust in the scales.

They may speak

with a loud voice

now,

but eventually

Assyria will be

a blip on the

screen of history.

Babylon will be

no more.

Right?

As you walk

through history,

right?

Persia,

Greece,

Rome,

the United Kingdom,

the United States,

I mean,

China,

I mean,

all of these are

blips on the

screen of history.

Nations are

like a drop

in the bucket.

They're regarded

as dust in the scales.

He weighs the islands

as though they

are fine dust.

Lebanon is not

sufficient for

altar fires,

nor animals enough

for burnt offerings.

Before him,

all the nations

are as nothing.

And they're regarded

by him as

worthless,

less than nothing.

Now,

if you were to ask

the nations

who they think

they are,

they will be

very proud

and they'll tell

you we're everything.

But in the big

scheme of things,

right,

they're nothing.

The Lord is even

using those nations

to bring about

his purposes.

He uses Assyria

to bring his purposes

about.

He uses Babylon

to bring his purposes

about.

And so on and so on,

right?

And so you have,

again,

this majestic

presentation,

this God who is

the one who's

in control of history

functioning to give

comfort to the nation.

And then verse 18

and 20,

you just have

God alone is God.

I mean,

as the idols are then,

to whom will you

compare God?

Do you compare him

to idols?

Do you compare him

to images that people

make?

Verse 19,

as for an idol,

a craftsman casts it.

Goldsmith overlays it

with gold,

fashions silver chains

to it.

A man too poor

to present such an offering

selects wood that will

rot,

will not rot.

He looks for a skilled

craftsman to set up

an idol that will not

topple,

right?

This is part of the

whole Old Testament

presentation of God's

judgment against

idolatry,

right?

Idols are just man-made

creaturely things.

They are not real,

right?

God,

to whom will you

compare?

I'm not an idol.

He is the one who

alone is God,

who can bring about

these purposes.

Nothing compares to

him.

And then in verse 21

through 24,

it's emphasized even

further.

He has no rivals.

He's the king of king.

He is the lord of lords.

That people will come

and go,

but his promises

will remain forever

because he remains

forever.

So we read in verse 21,

do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told

to you from the

beginning?

Have you not understood

since the earth was

founded?

God sits enthroned

above the circle of

the earth.

He's above these

nations.

He's above all of the

creation that he has

made, right?

He's above the circle

of the earth.

It's people are like

grasshoppers.

He stretches out the

heavens like a canopy.

He spreads them out

like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to

naught.

Reduces the rulers of

this world to nothing.

No sooner are they

planted,

no sooner are they

sown,

no sooner do they take

root in the ground,

than he blows on them

and they wither.

And the whirlwind sweeps

them away like chaff.

Often in the scripture,

right?

We are spoken of as

chaff.

People,

opposition to God,

is spoken as a chaff,

right?

The byproduct of wheat or

corn, right?

When I lived in South

Dakota in the prairies of

the United States and was

a pastor there, right?

All the farming community,

they would get their major

combines out and harvest

their corn and harvest

their wheat and all you

would see is huge dust as

they did so.

It was all the blowing of

the chaff in the wind,

right?

It wasn't that which had

any substance to it.

And in fact,

the word for God's glory

in scripture is often

in contrast to this chaff,

right?

God's glory.

You remember back in,

even here where he says

in verse 5,

the Lord in all of his

glory will be revealed.

This is in opposition to

the chaff,

right?

Because glory in scripture

speaks of a God who has

weight and substance and

reality in contrast

chaff, right?

And that's what Isaiah,

where the Lord is

reminding the people

about.

Nations come,

princes come,

but they eventually,

they rise,

but they are nothing

but chaff, right?

It's the Lord who has

no rivals.

Now that's building on

that word of comfort.

And what is God giving

to the nation of Israel?

He's giving them a

picture of himself,

right?

That's the hope that

they are to have.

They cannot put their

trust in humans.

They cannot put their

trust even in the

leaders of Israel.

They have to look to

the Lord who will save,

the Lord who will

redeem, the Lord who

will provide, the king.

Now we finish in Isaiah

40 with these questions.

And all of these

questions are to stir the

people to trust.

They're to stir the

people to say,

you I can trust.

You I can put my

confidence in.

I can't put my

confidence anywhere else,

but I can put it in you.

And they also serve to

rebuke us.

To rebuke us to say,

why don't you trust

more?

Why don't you have

confidence in God?

Why do you think so

little of him?

Right?

And so it's these

questions often, right,

are asked, right, to

drive us to trust,

confidence, and to

rebuke us.

So we read in verse

25, three questions

asked, 25, 27, and

28.

To whom will you

compare me?

Who is my equal,

says the Holy One.

And that language of

Holy One goes back to

Isaiah 6.

Isaiah saw in the

temple the Holy One.

And God's reminding

them, who are you going

to compare me to?

The one who is the

Lord, who is the Holy

One of Israel.

Lift up your eyes,

look to the heavens

who created all of

these, who brings out

the starry host one by

one.

Calls them each by name

because of his great

power and mighty

strength.

Not one of them is

missing.

To whom will you

compare me?

Right?

What is this challenging

them to do?

It's challenging them

to think rightly about

God.

To not reduce him to

something that cannot

save.

To not make him in our

image, but ultimately

to see that he is the

God who is great.

He is the creator.

He is the Lord.

He has no rivals.

He is self-sufficient.

He is the one that we

can trust.

So it's rebuking our

wrong thoughts about

God.

Verse 27.

Now not only rebukes

our wrong thoughts

about God, but it

rebukes our wrong

thoughts about ourselves.

Which is interesting.

So he says in verse 27,

Why do you say, O

Jacob?

And complain, O

Israel.

My way is hidden

from the Lord.

My cause is

disregarded by my

God.

Right?

That's what the

complaint will be.

But who are the

people complaining?

Well, it's O

Jacob.

O Israel.

Who is this?

This is covenant

language, isn't it?

This is the covenant

people of God.

Right?

They're saying, God

has abandoned us.

Right?

He's forgotten about

us.

It's as if, right, he's

just has no interest in

us again.

And so this question

here, well, why do you

say, O covenant people?

Why do you say the

ones that I have

chosen, that I've

made promises to, that

I will not keep my

promises to you?

I am the one that

ultimately loves my

people, will keep my

promises to my people,

and so on.

Right?

So it's rebuking wrong

thoughts about themselves.

Do you not know that

you are the people of

God?

Do you not know that

God will keep all of

his promises to his

people?

Right?

He will not let any of

them fail.

Right?

And then in verse 28,

right, this question

here that runs all the

way to verse 31 is

challenging us to not

be slow in believing

the promises of God,

in trusting him.

Right?

So he says here, do

you not know, have you

not heard?

The Lord is the

everlasting God, the

creator of the heavens

of the earth.

He will not grow tired

or weary.

His understanding no

one can fathom.

Right?

You may not understand

what he's doing in the

world, but he does.

Right?

He gives strength to

the weary.

He increases the power

of the weak.

Even youths grow tired

and weary.

Young men stumble and

fall.

But those who hope in

the Lord.

What's the hope here?

God will keep his

promises.

God will not fail.

God will bring his

saving work to this

world.

God will send his

king.

Those who hope in

that.

Right?

God who hope in his

promises.

Those who hope in the

Lord will renew their

strength.

They will soar on wings

like eagles.

They will run and not

grow weary.

They will walk and not

be faint.

Right?

What is this whole

section doing here?

It's to rebuke our

slowness to trust him.

Right?

It's to say, God, you

think you can't bring it

about?

It's his own timetable.

Yes.

But he will do it.

You can trust him.

Renew your strength in

him.

Those who do renew their

strength in him will

have confidence and they

will run and they will

not grow weary and so

on and so on.

Right?

So that's Isaiah 40.

Glorious passage.

And then, of course, you

could then develop this in

the rest of Isaiah.

Isaiah 41 and so on.

We're over and over again.

Right?

God presents himself as

the creator, the Lord, the

covenant God of his

people who will not fail.

Right?

Now, as we bring this now

to ourselves and a

conclusion here, right?

I mean, how does this

reach fulfillment in us?

We don't just leave this

to, well, this is a good

message for the nation of

Israel and ancient people

that were experiencing

this many, many years ago.

But how does it apply to

us?

You know, in 2023 type of

thing.

Right?

Well, right?

We have to see that all

that Isaiah and what the

Lord is giving here in

terms of these promises,

right?

will await a future

fulfillment that is now

passed to us.

Right?

As I already mentioned,

right?

The opening verses of

Isaiah 40 of the Lord

preparing the way as we go

through Old Testament

history.

Right?

What Isaiah is announcing

here that God will keep

his promises, that God

will save his people.

That's precisely what he

has done in Christ.

700 years later.

That's a long time.

Right?

The God who is the

sovereign Lord of the

nations, the God who is

working out his purposes

sends his son.

And his son is the one

who displays the glory of

God.

The son is the one who in

his very coming, in his

life, death, resurrection,

all that he has achieved

brings all these promises

to pass.

Right?

The son of God is the one

who brings all of God's

sovereign purposes to pass,

in himself, so that as we

read this today, we don't

just read this as, well,

here's a great presentation

of God.

We need to be reminded

this is the same God that

we have.

And we need to be reminded

that in some sense, a far

greater way, what God

announced here in terms of

his promises will come to

pass, we can look back on

and say, yes, God kept

those promises.

Those promises have come

about.

And that even as we look to

the future, right?

So we now live in light of

these promises, but we

anticipate the second

coming of the Lord Jesus,

we can now renew our

confidence in a greater

way.

We can then say, well, God

not only kept his promises

in the sending of his

son, he certainly will

send him again.

He will come again.

That we as the people of

God, as we live now,

awaiting the coming of the

Lord Jesus in light of his

first coming, we can now

trust him more, no matter

what circumstances we see

in history and what's

happening in the world and

what's going on, we can say

God will bring this history

to its consummated end.

We as the people of God

will experience all that

he's promised to us in

Christ Jesus.

He can say to us as we read

these questions in verse 25,

to whom will you compare me?

To whom is my equal?

We can say that in a far

greater way.

We can say, no one is your

equal and you've demonstrated

that even more so in the

coming of the Lord Jesus

Christ.

Or we can say, why do you

say, oh church, in verse

27, complain people of God

that God has hidden his way

from you.

He's not hidden his way

from you.

If we are Christ's people,

then all that Jesus has

achieved for us will be

ours.

We may not see it now.

It may look bleak.

God's church will survive.

That gates of hell won't

prevail against his people.

God's work will not eventually

be in vain.

The work that we do as God's

people will ultimately result

in a consummation and

fulfillment and so on.

And even more so, we can say,

do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God.

He'll keep his word.

We can renew our strength.

We can find our confidence in

him.

Well, that's how Isaiah 40

should be then encouraging to

us today, right?

So we said this passage is

about renewing our confidence

in the promise-making,

promise-keeping God.

That's what this is all about,

right?

And we today as Christ people,

right?

Hopefully, right, each one of us

here, right, as we see this

about this same sovereign God

who has worked out his

promises, right?

We need to find our salvation

in Jesus, right?

We need to realize that we need

to trust him and know him.

Our only hope in this life is

found in him, right?

Nothing else, right?

But we as God's people, if we

have trusted Christ, we can say

this is our God, right?

That God has not changed.

He's the same God who is creator

and Lord and has no rivals.

But even in a greater way, we can

say he's the one who is the God

and father of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

He's the one who sent his son.

He is the one who has redeemed us

in him.

That these promises that he made

to Israel of old, this presentation

of his glory and his majesty

that he made of old, right,

should be ours today.

Even this week as we live our

lives, as we read the newspapers,

as we watch the news, as we turn

on our phones and so on, right?

We can say, I can have confidence

in the Lord.

I can trust in him.

In a day of anxiety and depression

and frustrations and so on,

we can say, I won't look to myself.

I'm not going to just look to

what's going on around.

I'm also going to look to the Lord

who's the one who I know loves me.

I'm his people.

He has not forgotten me.

He has not forgotten his people.

And he will bring about all of his

purposes in his good time