Isaiah 40

Introduction

Very pleasant good morning to all. Beautiful day the Lord has given us on this, the Lord’s day. We’re thankful to have visitors and audience. Glad you’ve come to be with us. Our Josh is away today. He is working with the church in Hansville, Alabama, in their vacation Bible school this week. So I’ll be speaking both at this hour as well as at the 11 o’clock hour. I hope you have your Bibles with you. I’d like to encourage you to please be opening to the book of Isaiah, chapter 40. I want us to discuss Isaiah chapter 40, because it is a chapter about which there is great comfort and there’s hope to those who are the servants of God. I appreciate Tim’s leading these songs.

For indeed that you must say is the theme of this chapter, Isaiah chapter 40. As you probably know, Isaiah indeed was a prophet of the highest order. He prophesied during the reigns of Isaiah, of Josiah, uh Jotham, of Ahaz, and of Hezekiah. And indeed, uh it was during that time, probably about 740 to 690 BC, that this prophet of God was warning his people, his brethren, that if they did not turn back from idolatry, that they also would fall, even into captivity, as did the northern ten tribes.

The first uh 39 chapters, we generally say uh the Assyrian period. But as he looks even into uh advance into the future, maybe a hundred years after his time, so to speak, almost at least, he speaks about the fact that they would indeed at that time face many problems as they they would be led even into captivity. But it would be because of their sins. But this chapter might say starts with a message of hope. They would not remain in Babylonian captivity. For indeed there would be a time where they would be brought out. In fact, the chapter begins. Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Indeed, in the next four verses or so, he even describes how that they could look forward to the coming of the Messiah. Verse three is quoted in in Matthew, where it speaks about even the coming of John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for the Lord. How could you be certain this is going to take place? As in verses five and six, particularly there, or verses six and seven, particularly there, he speaks of how that even all flesh, while man indeed doesn’t isn’t here for very long, like the grass of the field and the flower, so the grass withers and the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

In verse 8. Therefore, you can take comfort that what God has promised, so it shall come to pass. But I want you to notice particularly verse 10. Where there the prophet says, Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand. His arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. It is this phrase, Behold the Lord God, that I want us to deal with in the next few moments, and how Isaiah lays forth the fact who our God really is. Why you can take comfort in him and be assured of his promises. In fact, as you look at this next at verse 9, you may notice how he says, Shout from the highest. He says, Go up on the high mountains, O Jerusalem.

1. Behold the Lord God: He Rules With a Strong Hand

You who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. It is therefore that the prophet would say, This is something to shout. Do not withhold. To the top of your lungs, so to speak, shout about God. Well, what can you say about the Lord God? Well, this passage, verses 10 and 11 that we just said, he rules with a strong hand. This God with his strong arm cannot be prevented from carrying out his purpose. Just as the word of the Lord stands forever, so God will accomplish his purpose. We are testifying to that, and now over 2,000 years later, that indeed all God had promised about the establishment of his kingdom, about the coming of the Messiah, and how that he would be Lord of Lords and King of kings, so we today stand to verify that truth has occurred.

2. He Created the Heavens and the Earth

It has come to pass. But in Isaiah, not only does he speak about how he will rule with a strong arm, verse 12 says, He created the heavens and the earth. Listen to the prophet. When he says, Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure. Weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance. If you don’t believe that God has strong arm and hand, then answer these questions. Have you stopped to think about to measure the waters in the hollow of his hand? The seas and the oceans that we know are so great, it’s like saying, in the palm of his hand, he can measure them.

What man can even think about accomplishing such a feat? But then also he measured heaven with a span. The span really says, from the tip of your little finger to the tip of your tongue. He can measure the heavens in that way. Can you imagine the greatness of God Almighty? Or as he calculated the dust of the earth. Now dust is rather weightless, isn’t it? But it says he calculated the dust of the earth in a measure. Maybe you ladies who cook and you have a measuring cup, you understand something about what a measure is. He could calculate the dust in a measure. He weighed the mountains and scales.

3. His Eternal Knowledge and Understanding

We probably all hate to get on them because we don’t want to see what our weight really is. But to say that he measured the mountains and scales and hills in a balance, a pharmacist weighs small quantities in a delicate balance. And so as you think about as we know in the human terms what the scales are, the balance is, or the measure is, or the span. Think about how God was able to accomplish in creating the heavens and the earth. What man can do this? In fact, when you go to verses 13 and 14, it speaks about his eternal knowledge and understanding. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or as his counselor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice?

Who taught him knowledge? And showed him the way of understanding? Actually, those questions do not need an answer, the answers implied. No one. It makes me think about even when Job was contending, of course, with God, and maybe the three supposed friends who’d come to comfort him, who really didn’t bring him comfort. But when God answered the questions, in Job chapter 38, it was there that the question was raised to Job, or God would say, prepare yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer me. I’m reading Job 38, beginning of verse 4. God says, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. You know, it’s a little mockery, isn’t it?

What man can really say he knows the measurements of the foundations of the earth? Indeed, verse uh the last part of verse 5, who stretched a line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed my limit for it and set bars and doors, when I said, This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop. Verse twelve have you commanded the morning since your days began, and and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it.

It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken. Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness. Where is its place? That you may take it to its territory, that you may know the path to its home. Do you know it because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? On and on, these questions really, what man can answer them with any understanding, as though man really knows.

4. The Nations Are as a Drop in a Bucket

It is beyond what man can do. To think about God indeed is to talk about one who is absolute. Absolute in knowledge and wisdom and power. Indeed, there is no man can come up to the nature of God and to the being of God Himself. He has eternal knowledge and understanding. The great things, in fact, to man are as a drop in a bucket. Look at chapter forty again, in verses fifteen through seventeen, where Isaiah says, Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket. Think about that description. They are counted as the small dust on the scales. Look, he lifts up the aisles. That’s a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing.

5. To Whom Then Will You Liken God?

And they are counted by him less than nothing and worthless. What is man when you consider standing before God? We may think ourselves rather smart. We can do a lot, we’ve accomplished a lot in our generation, and scientists have certainly developed many things that have improved, you might say, our standard of living. But man can even begin to compare himself really with God. In fact, that’s really the next question that is found in verse 18 and repeated in verse 25. To whom then will you liken God? Now stop and think about this. What likeness will you compare to him? And in verse 25, to whom then will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. We need to humble ourselves when we consider the almighty power and greatness of God Almighty.

Who will you liken him to? Well, man is tried.

Takes on, of course, the challenge to those who have made idols. Will you liken God to an idol made by man? In chapter 41 and verse 21, in fact, God, so to speak, says, present your case. It’s like to challenge those who build idols. Bring forth your strong reasons, says the king of Jacob. In fact, the question in chapter 41 is can you tell us from the beginning what shall occur? Can you tell us before they happen, things that are to occur? Well, no idol can do that. I think over in chapter 44, in fact, verses 15 through 17, where there’s sort of a mockery made about those who would liken God to something man can make. It’s something smaller than man, yet men will bow down to it.

In chapter 44, beginning in verse 15, he says, It shall be for a man to burn. He shall take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread. Indeed, he makes a God and worships it. He makes it a carved image and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire with his this half. He eats meat, he roasts the roast and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, Ah, I am warm. I have seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a God. His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it and prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you’re my God. A man has thought he can liken the one true God of heaven and earth to something he could fashion with his hands.

Cut down this tree, find a good one, and then make sure it won’t totter or fall over. And build it, and yet half of that tree that he’s made, a God he would bow down to with the other half, he cooks his meal and eats from it, or warms his hands in the wintertime. How foolish. To whom will you liken God? When you stop and think about Almighty power of God. In fact, what he says back in chapter 40 in verse 26, when he raises the question, to whom will you liken God? He answers in verse 26, lift up your eyes on high. And see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number.

By the greatness of his might and the spirit strength of his power, not one is missing. Think about it. The host of heaven, the stars of heaven. If you want to stop and think about the greatness of God Almighty, even the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1, when he spoke about how that even from the creation, his eternal power and Godhead are made known. Oh, there have been men who, though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor honor him. And in fact, he says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1, 20 and 21. What happens when men stop to think how great man is and does not glorify God? The very creation itself. What man could make a star?

And yet God has made billions of stars. You go out on a night and you look up into the sky, and maybe as you look into the sky, you they say you can probably stop and count them all. I don’t know that I could. They say you can see about 3,000. And yet with modern telescopes, certainly the Hubble telescope, we’ve learned there are billions of stars. Here’s the host of heaven. Lift up your eyes and look at the creation itself, that’s what you can see at least. And yet the passage says God knows them all and calls them all by name. Now at this point, stop and think what Isaiah has set forth about God. Behold, the Lord God. He rules with a strong hand and arm.

6. Why Think Your Way Is Hidden From God?

He created the heavens and the earth. He has eternal knowledge and understanding. And the very things that we may consider great, they are like a drop in the bucket to God. What can you liken God to? Nothing man can make. How foolish man would be to try to make an image of God. And when you think about him, lift up your eyes on high. And stop and think about even the host of the heaven that God knows and calls them all by name, one by one. With that in view, the question then says, why think your way is hidden from God? And I think this is the leading point he’s coming to. Over in verse 27 of chapter 40. The question arises that here is man wondering if God really cares about him.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God. Now, if you are the people that Isaiah here is addressing this to, particularly those who’ve been in Babylonian captivity, particularly if you’ve been there for some 70 years or your father’s before you, you may say, Well, God’s forgotten about us. God doesn’t remember us. We’re in captivity. But not only did the Jews in captivity maybe think that way. Have you ever thought that way about yourself? I sometimes think Christians, even, if they’re not careful, can become despondent. Maybe their troubles and trials in life. They surely are for all of us. As Job 14 in verse 1 said, man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble.

And all of us in the pathway of life find ourselves having obstacles along the way. Maybe it’s a physical, maybe it’s health issues. Maybe there are those who are fighting cancer. Maybe some of us have even lost a loved one by death. Or maybe it’s a financial problem. It’s heavier than you know how to bear at this moment, and you don’t know how you’re going to get out of it. Maybe it’s work related, something at work that is really burdening you, and you just don’t know how to change. Whatever, we’ve all felt sometimes, has God forgotten about me. Here I am, and I’m struggling in life. And is my way hidden from God? Indeed, the prophet answers in verses 28 and 29. He asks the question, have you not heard?

Have you not known? The everlasting God the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. What does he mean by that? He gives strength to the weak. He has not forgotten those who are his.

But as great as he is, he reaches down to the smallest of us. He knows all. And in fact, he gives strength to the weak. When he says here, without him, even the youth grow tired. I think verse 30 is saying, you know, when we’re young, we think we’re indestructible. I’ll tell you, young people in the audience, we’ve got some who are about, you know, teenagers, and you think, well, life in front of you got long, long time to live. Nothing’s going to stop you. Well, be honest, there are some young who die early too. Sometimes it’s through accident. But young think we’re strong, and what he says here is now be realistic, even the young grow tired. If you don’t believe it, come to my house, we’ll find a ditch you can start digging and see how long you can keep digging it.

Even the young grow weak and tired, and there are things that the flesh fails. But it’s only God who can really lift us up and give us strength when we feel weak and tired and helpless and hopeless. In effect, really, God is caring for all of us. Without God, indeed, life is hopeless. Without God, and there are many today who reject the Lord God, and life to them is futile, for there is no hope after death for those. But only those who really care and serve the Lord. There’s no time when he withdraws his care, his strength for our failing. In fact, back in chapter 40 and verse 11, like a shepherd, the Lord gathers his flock. The shepherd, we probably don’t know a whole lot about keeping sheep, but if you’ve ever been in a country where they are, you know if there’s a time of storm, the sheep all gathers together.

And the shepherd will take them. And maybe the little lamb he’ll even gather in his arm. And verses 11, particularly chapter 40, verse 11, pictures like a shepherd. He cares for and protects even his own. Does God really know you? I think of the passage in the book of Revelation, chapter 7, where it speaks about how that the angels are about to cast God’s vengeance on a wicked earth. He says, wait first, count the number of those who will have the seal of God on their forehead. You know the number is 144,000. A lot of people stumble over that. But it says, Notice say God knows every single one who is his. Like 2 Timothy 2 and verse 19. It says that the Lord knows those who are his.

The poor widow who cast in two mites, Jesus knew, didn’t he? And so it is, even in apocalyptic style. The number 12 being a number for God’s people number and multiplied. 12 times 12 is 144. And the number 10, meaning the full complete number, multiplied by itself times 10 times 10 times 10 times 14 is to say 144,000. God knows every single one of us. And he’s there to lift us up like a good shepherd. Do not think you’re struggling by yourself. If in fact you’re one who is waiting on the Lord. Sometimes I think we start chapter 40, and this we start with verse 31. It’s a great verse. I memorize it years ago. Probably before I understood what really came in front of it.

Conclusion

Behold the Lord God. Consider who he is. Consider how it’s possible that you can say, Comfort to my people. There’s hope for my people, because the word of the Lord God shall come to pass. Considering who he is, he is the Almighty. How great thou art. Indeed, he cares for His own. Ruling with a strong arm in hand, the very one who created the heavens and the earth, the very one who has eternal knowledge and power, the very one who considers what we call great, they’re like a drop in the bucket to him. And yet this great one reaches down to care for his own. I hope you’ll feel that God indeed cares for you. As verse 31 says, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. God is able to lift us up. Cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you. Let us close with a word of prayer. Almighty God, our Father in heaven, when we consider how great thou art, we’re somewhat overwhelmed. We marvel that you would reach down and care for us. That you would send your only begotten Son in the form of man, tempted on all points, like as we are, and allow him to be crucified on the cross by those who reject you and reject your love. Yet he died that we might have forgiveness of sins and that hope of heaven itself. Help us not to lose sight of our destiny.

That we not get caught up with just things of the here and now as though they’re the most important. But help us always to look to those things that are eternal in nature, even as you are eternal, and how great you are that you would so love us. May we not take for granted that privilege we share as your children. May we be lifted up with spirit. May we look to you, Father, and call upon you, and be patient in times of trouble, that as we turn to you, that you will guide us with your wisdom and give us understanding, and that you can indeed make the pathway right, especially the pathway to heaven itself. Therefore, help us to so live that we shall spend that time around your great throne.

For we humbly beg in the name of Christ. Amen.