Isaiah chapter 40.
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.
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.
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.
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
in due course, right?
And we can have confidence in that
even this week as we live.
There can be joy in our journey.
There can be joy in our work.
There can be joy as we interact
with others, right?
And that would be a glorious testimony
of the gospel to them.
That even in the midst of difficult times
and difficult circumstances,
they can say, where is your hope found?
It's found in the Lord.
It's found in the gospel promises.
And we can invite them
to know the Lord Jesus as well.
Well, Isaiah 40, great passage of Scripture.
Trust that we'll encourage you
this morning as you think of
the glory of our great God
in the face of our Lord Jesus.
Well, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you that you are the one
who is the Lord on your throne.
You are the creator.
You are the one who rules over all things.
We even see that in a greater way now
in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This glorious passage of old
that stirs us to confidence,
stirs us to trust,
stirs us to remove from us
false ideas of yourself
and to think rightly about you
in a greater way.
We should do that as your people
in light of all that you have done for us
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Help us to have as your people
a week, even this week,
where we renew our confidence
that we will grow tired and weary
but those who hope in the Lord,
that you will renew our hope in you,
will be those who then run the race
that's set before us
in confidence looking unto Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith.
And may we do so for your glory
and for our good
and for the witness of the gospel.
And it's in Jesus' name
that we ask these things.
Amen.
Thank you very much.
We're going to sing in response
about the God...