The Majestic God Alone Can Strengthen the Weary (Isaiah Sermon 47)

While studying this morning the text, going over it again, thinking about it this morning, I can make this true statement about every one of you. Either you are weary right now, spiritually weary, physically weary, or someday, perhaps even soon, you will be. If you look at verse 30, it says, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.” Even the strongest and the mightiest among us get weary and weak, and need sustaining, renewing grace.

Some of you may be weary and weak because you’re outside of Christ. The Bible in other places says that you’re dead in transgressions and sins, and I am so thankful that God brought you here today because I believe that God speaks, in this text, a word of comfort, a word of encouragement and strengthening. In effect, in this text, almighty God is saying what Jesus says to us so plainly in Matthew 11, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest.”

He is saying that in this text, and this is a magnificent text. For the third week, we get a chance to look at this. If I had my druthers, we’d just keep on going, and going, and going in Isaiah 40. The problem is Isaiah 41’s so awesome, and Isaiah 42’s so awesome, and on and on we go. But what I want to urge you very practically to do is take your Bibles and open to Isaiah 40, and look along with me. If they’re electronic, that’s fine, scroll up. We’ll assume you’re doing Bible, and not something else. Alright? We’ll just make that judgment of charity that that’s what you’re doing with your iPhone. Alright?

But the rest of you pick up, and just… I’m going to be walking through Isaiah 40:18-31, and my desire is that you would know this incredible, this majestic God found here in Isaiah 40, and that God would speak a word of strengthening and encouraging to each one of you. That’s my desire, that’s my prayer because that’s what He did for me this morning. We all need it, the text says all of us need it, no one’s exempt.

You may not feel you need it right now, and I understand that. There’s some times that just so many good things are happening, and you don’t feel weak and weary, you feel strong, and that’s good. That’s… We have times like that, and we need that. But there are going to be those times that you just need to be refreshed in the Word, and I would commend for the rest of your lives Isaiah 40 to do precisely that.

This chapter has the power to present to you the greatness and the majesty, the infinitude of almighty God in the service of your own refreshing and renewing. That’s what the whole chapter is about. We have this majestic, infinite God, who can’t even barely be described, tending his flock in verse 11 like a shepherd, and carrying them close to His arms. At the end of the chapter, in effect saying, “Come to me all you who are weary and weak, and I will renew your strength.” That’s the scope of the entire chapter. What a great, great God we serve, and what an incredible universe that He’s made. All of these things point to the might of God.

We’re going to be looking again at the cosmos, at the universe, and what it shows us about God. Did a little research on this this week. Do you know that there’s a star out there somewhere that is so large that if it were at the center of our solar system, its diameter would reach somewhere between Saturn and Jupiter in orbit? That’s how big the thing is, it’s absolutely massive. If you flew around its equator in an airplane at a normal airplane speed, and wanted to go one time around the circumference of that star, it would take you over 1,000 years to make the trip. That’s one star, and yet it is so far away from us that it cannot be seen by the naked eye. That star is dwarfed by the cosmos.

The Bible reveals that God sustains that star at every moment of its existence. This massive, powerful ball of burning gas needs God to stay alive, in effect, to keep on burning. That’s the God who is ready to minister to you today. All of these infinite thoughts are to be applied in that way. This God is ready to strengthen you today, and to minister to you.

I. The Context: The Good News is God Himself (vs. 1-17)

Let’s get a little bit of context here. The context here, verses 1 through 17, we’ve already had two sermons, and just go over it very, very quickly. God here is speaking the Gospel, a timeless message of good news to the human race, in verses 1 through 17. Now there’s an immediate context. The Jewish nation was raised up as a priest nation to the world, and in the midst of that would be special people, prophets like Isaiah, and God gave them special visions about the future and of Himself.

Isaiah was an incredible prophet. At a certain time, 7th century BC, he is speaking about the future of the Jewish nation, and he’s… We’re going to talk more about this, God willing, in subsequent weeks; but the Jewish nation, called out by God, given the Ten Commandments, the covenant, were violating that covenant, disobeying God’s laws, going after idols. In due time, after the time of Isaiah, God would cast them into exile by the Babylonian Empire, which wasn’t even an empire when Isaiah was speaking these words.

But after that, He would judge the Babylonian Empire, and restore a remnant, a very small remnant of Jews back to Judah and Jerusalem to rebuild the city, rebuild the temple. This, Isaiah 40, is, immediate context, speaking a word of encouragement to the Jewish nation, to Judah and Jerusalem, to those people, for what they’re about to go through, and you could imagine even a direct word to the exiles in Babylon, saying God is powerful enough and strong enough to keep His promise and restore you back and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. That’s the immediate context.

But friends, you must know, as you read these words, that that’s not enough. It’s too small a thing to quote Isaiah 43, too small a thing for Isaiah 40 to just speak to the remnant of Jews in exile in Babylon, that he’s going to bring ’em back. That’s just too small a thing, these words soar above that in redemptive history.

I believe this chapter speaks to every generation of God’s people, in all of the circumstances they would ever face, a word of encouragement and strengthening. It starts right away with just the good news of the Gospel, verses 1 and 2, “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her warfare is completed, that her sins have been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.'”

What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There is no reconciling power, there is no atoning work that there is in the universe, other than the cross of Jesus Christ. Immediately for me, as a Christian, I read verse 1 and 2, saying, “There is comfort in the cross of Christ, and there is infinitely enough atonement for all of my sins. There is forgiveness for me,” and that is incredibly comforting.

Then he talks about this messenger John the Baptist, who’s going to come verse 3 and 4, “A voice of one calling: ‘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 become level, the rugged places a plain.'” Now we know that that was fulfilled in space and time by another prophet, John the Baptist, who came. These words are ascribed to him over and over in the New Testament.

John the Baptist came immediately before the ministry of Jesus Christ, and got everything ready. He just leveled things, and raised up these valleys. He got human hearts ready for the grace of God. Before the grace of God can come into a heart in a saving way, God must first prepare that heart, and so there was a preparatory work of grace going on through John the Baptist.

So it is with each of us, before any of us comes to Christ, God must humble us, and God must convict us and show us our wickedness and sin, and that we need a savior. John the Baptist went ahead of Jesus and prepared the way and got everything ready, and then the beautiful message of the Gospel in verse 5, “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The glory of the Lord revealed, that’s the Gospel. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word, as it says in Hebrews 1:3. The radiant glory of God is clearest on display in the cross of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1, it says the cross of Christ is a display of the power of God, and the wisdom of God. In Romans 5:8, it’s a display of the love of God. In Romans 3, it’s a display of the justice of God. All of these attributes radiating out from the cross of Christ.

But I bring them back to verse 5 of our chapter here. The glory of the Lord will be revealed, be unveiled in Jesus, and all mankind together will see it for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. We need this message, don’t we? Because we are mortal sinners. Every one of us is mortal, we are going to die. We’re under Adam’s death penalty.

Verses 6 through 8 talks about this. “A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.'”

Oh, we need to hear that. You may be in your prime, you may be in the strength of your life physically in terms of your beauty, your intellectual prowess, in terms of your achievements, of your careers; but just know this text stands over all of us. Some day, God’s breath will blow on you, and you’ll wither, and you’ll shrivel, and you will die. If the Lord doesn’t return in our lifetime, we will all die.

Therefore, we must have this good news. Amen. Because it is appointed to each one of us to die, and after that, to face judgment. Some day, we’re going to die, and we need this eternal word that stands forever speaking a word of forgiveness and life to us, and so we’ve got to have that verses 6 through 8. Then the glory of God, the centerpiece of this good news is God Himself. God is the Gospel. He’s what we get by coming to Christ. He’s what… You get God, forever and ever. And God gets you, as we heard earlier about the inheritance. Isn’t that amazing? Why would God want us? But he does, and he loves us.

But look at verse 9, “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Behold… your God!'”

As I preached on that, I said this is how you do it. You pick up the Bible, and you ask the Holy Spirit to take the scales off your eyes, and to give you the eyes of faith; and then you look in the text, and you behold God. Behold your God. That’s the good news of the Gospel.

We see the glory of God spanning an astonishing range. In Verse 10 he is the powerful judge of all the earth. He comes with power, and His arm rules for Him. His reward is with Him, and His recompense also accompanies Him. This is the sovereign God of the world, the judge of all the earth. That’s what God is in verse 10.

But then as I’ve already mentioned, he turns right around and says in Verse 11, “He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms, and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads those that have young.” We need that. We are frail, we are weak. We are like flickering flames ready to be extinguished. We are like bruised reeds ready to be severed, and to fall to the ground. We are fragile and weak, and we are assaulted every day by powers that are too strong for us in the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every day. We must have this sovereign God tending us and carrying us and picking us up, and he does that for us in this Good Shepherd Jesus. He is the Good Shepherd. Verse 11 points to me immediately to Christ.

Last week, we looked at verses 12 through 17. The infinite magnitude, the staggering majesty of Almighty God in these verses. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?”

We talked about how those who questions, who, are humbling to the human race. They show that infinite separation between God and us. Which one of us has enough wisdom to tell God anything, or give Him any advice? Who was there when he spread out the heavens, and stretched out the earth, and laid its foundations? None of us was there. We’re meant to be humbled by this, and also encouraged because this is our God, who has done all of these things.

Verse 15, “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket, they’re regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor all its animals for burnt offerings. Before Him, all the nations are as nothing. They’re regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.” That’s where we’re at in Isaiah 40, 1 through 17.

II. The Absolute Folly of Idolatry (vs. 18-20)

Now in verse 18, the prophet addresses immediately a theme that we’re going to see again and again, as Isaiah 40 through 49, and that is the utter folly of idolatry. Again and again, we’re going to come face-to-face with this issue of idolatry. You look at it in verse 18 through 20. “To whom then will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman crafts it, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashion silver chains for it. A man too poor to present an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.”

He addresses this issue of idolatry. We’re going to see this again and again, God challenges the idols. He takes them on and challenges them. He comes after them. He’s aggressive towards these idols. He’s fighting against the idols that are luring his chosen people away from their faithful devotion to Him. A constant pull, a gravitational pull of idolatry away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

God is going aggressively after these idols. He’s in bitter warfare for the affections of His people. He wants your hearts, and my heart. He wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The idols are a very grave threat, and so He’s going after these idols hard. The idolatry of His people is the very reason why they would be going into exile in Babylon. Even before that happened, God was exposing the wickedness of idolatry.

“God is going aggressively after these idols. He’s in bitter warfare for the affections of His people. He wants your hearts, and my heart. “

Now what is idolatry? What do we mean by that? We hear about it over and over. It is an issue that still stands before us in the New Testament. 1 John, final verse, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” It’s an issue for all of us. What is it? I go again and again to Romans 1:25 as a good, strong, clear definition of idolatry. It’s a root essence. There it says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things, rather than the Creator, who’s forever praised. Amen.”

That’s the essence of idolatry, is an exchange of truth for a lie. There’s this lie being told about all the false religions. They’re all idolaters, or about secular materialism, it’s idolaters too. That we would put as an ultimate goal for our lives something created, that’s the essence of idolatry. It’s a lie. Anything that… What Tim Keller calls functional saviors. Anything you turn to, to save yourself from sickness or depression, anything you would turn to save yourself from ultimate damnation, that is not the God of the Bible, is an idol. Anything.

It could be money, it could be pleasure, it could be power, it could be achievements or attainments, whether academic or in professional life. It could be sports, it could be beauty, it could be sex, it could be possessions or entertainment, it could be fun or food, or anything that’s lower than God that you put ultimate value on, and that you pursue and go after as a functional savior. That’s an idol.

Now in Isaiah’s day, as in ours and other places of the world especially, but we could argue that it’s going on in factories here in our country too, there are idol makers shaping and crafting idols that become the focus of people’s worship. They use their imaginations to come up with artistic representations of deity. They’d look around at the world, and think about what aspect of the god or goddess they were trying to capture, and they would make some artistic representation of that, and shape it and mold and put it in a statue.

They would use perhaps a bull to represent the god’s strength, gold to represent the god or goddess’s worth or purity. Or they would sometimes reach for a conglomeration of animals or animalistic virtues, like eagle’s wings, or fish scales, or lion’s teeth, or bear’s legs. Who knows? They would put together a conglomeration representation of the god or goddess they were trying to worship. That’s idol making.

Now the artist’s activity is being highlighted here, and Isaiah will do it actually again and again in these chapters. He’s going to go into the craftsman shop, and watch him while he works, will do this again and again. He’s going to ridicule it, he’s going to make fun of it. “What can you make that compares with me?” He’s saying, the God of Isaiah 40. “What can you shape and craft that actually even comes close to me? What are you going to compare me to?” He’s mocking this.

Now he looks for this craftsman, the woodworker. He looks for a certain kind of wood that won’t rot. You don’t want your god or goddess to rot. That would be bad. You’re looking for a kind of wood, and you’re an expert in the types of wood. Some are more expensive than others, etcetera, and so if you could… If you’ve got the cash, you can get an idol that will last a little bit longer.

Or you’re going to cover it with gold or silver. Silver, if you can’t afford the gold. Not only that, but he’s adept at a kind of the mechanical engineering of idolatry. You need some chains to be sure it won’t topple, or maybe you’ll need to nail it to its platform. Moving on it like Dagon that falls over, or gets decapitated, that would be really bad symbolism. We don’t like that. So we need to have a chain to set it up so it won’t topple, so it won’t rot, it won’t topple.

Now God has absolutely, adamantly forbidden all idolatry. In the 10 Commandments, He said, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them and worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” God is jealous for your heart, affection, and you can’t make any representation of God. There is nothing in this universe that’s like God, nothing.

Now we are the closest. We humans, created in the image of God, are the closest created thing to God; but there’s nothing that perfectly captures the essence of all that God is. Now in scripture, God uses comparisons in language to teach us what He’s like, but no one of those verbal images completely captures God.

God is mighty and fearless like a lion in Isaiah 31:4, but he’s vastly more powerful than any lion. He isn’t only mighty and fearless, he’s other things besides. A lion’s not enough to capture God. God is tender and compassionate like a nursing mother, Isaiah 49:15. He is protective like a mother eagle over her young, Deuteronomy 32:11. But He’s vastly more compassionate than any nursing mother, infinitely more so, and He’s more protective than any eagle. He isn’t only compassionate and protective, He’s other things too.

God is a warrior, but He’s greater than any warrior you can possibly imagine. And He is so much more than just a warrior. God is a refuge, He is a strong tower, He’s a solid rock, He’s a mighty wind, He’s a spring of water in the desert for the weary and the thirsty. He is a father, He is a king, a singer. He is light. God is love, God is Spirit. He is all of these things, but He’s not any one of them all by itself. Scripture’s full of such language, but no one image fully captures all that God is. That’s the beauty of the Word of God. But no representation, no idol can fully capture God, and we’re forbidden from even trying.

To whom can you compare God? The answer is no one. There is no one like Him. This is the infinite holiness of God, the uniqueness of God, the infinite separation between God and all of the universe.

III. The Supremacy of God over Earth and Heaven (vs. 21-26)

Now in verses 21 through 26, we see the supremacy of God over earth and heaven. He makes an appeal twice in this text, in Isaiah 40, to their theology. He appeals twice to what they already know.

Look at verse 21. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?” I am not going to tell you anything categorically that you’ve never heard before today. I’m not here to rock your world with some new ideas of God. There may be images you haven’t heard before, there may be logical connections you haven’t made before, but these are things you’ve already known. God has been telling them to the human race for millennia now, through his prophets.

Little by little, line upon line, book upon book, with greater and greater clarity, as redemptive history unfolded, God made Himself clear to the human race, what He’s like, line upon line. He says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” So go back to your theology.

I just want to stop here and give you a point of application. Alright? You need to go back again and again to Isaiah 40 and to other scriptures, and feed yourself on theology. Go back to what you’ve already known. When you are weak and weary and struggled, go back and feed on God’s word again. That’s where the strengthening comes from. You already know these things, I’m not telling you anything new. Then he establishes God’s position as sovereign over all the earth. Look at verse 22, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.”

From time to time, members of my household will get afraid, inordinately afraid of insects. I’m not saying who, I’m not describing that, I’m just saying it happens. I want to say, “Look, let’s look at this logically. Do you know how much you outweigh that spider by? It’s not even close, it’s not fair. Here, watch.” Squish. “Ugh, gross.” They don’t want to see that, they don’t… They just want me to take care of it, while they’re out of the room.  They don’t want to hear the thing… Never mind, I’m not going to do that. Yeah, we just outweigh these spiders by more than you can imagine.

God uses the image here of grasshoppers. All of its people are like grasshoppers to Him. That’s what He’s saying. He’s not impressed by human power at all. Now He’s already declared for us that the nations are like a drop from the bucket, and dust on the scales, the nations taken as a whole.

But now in this section, he zeroes in on the mighty men, the rulers, the kings, the leaders. Those powerful ones in society. Look at verses 23 and 24, “He brings princes to naught, and reduces the rulers of the 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 a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”

Now verse 23 and 24 completely rejects the concept that appeared in church history called deism, the idea that God the Creator, God set up the universe like a vast complex clock with all of its sprockets and its springs, wound it up and just lets it run, and He just stays out of it. The God of Thomas Jefferson, the God of other deist, he just stays out of it.

No, he doesn’t stay out of it, not at all. God gets actively involved in raising these princes and kings up to their position. He plants them, he establishes them in their position. Like God says to Pharaoh, “I raised you up, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and My name might be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.”

But God raised Pharaoh up, He established him. He raises up every prince, every king, every mayor, every select… Or woman. Every ruler, everyone in authority, in every society, God raises those people up, all of them. Good and evil, all of them. He establishes the rulers of the earth in their position, He lets them flourish for a very short time, and then He brings them to an end. He blows on them, and they wither and die. It isn’t an accident. He has raised them up, He has measured out the span of their time of rule, and then He brings it to an end.

How apt are we to forget this, how apt are we to stand in awe of human achievement, human intellect, human glory and power. Don’t do it, God rules these rulers with absolute power, including the day of their installation and the day of their death. Here, Isaiah focuses on the brevity of their reign. “No sooner, no sooner, no sooner,” He says. As soon as they’re established, it seems, they die.

But God, His Kingdom, lasts forever. Nebuchadnezzar understood this in Daniel 4. After God humbled him, and changed his mind to the mind of an animal, and then restored him after seven years, Nebuchadnezzar said this about Almighty God in Daniel 4:34-35: “Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?'”

Now God’s power extends vastly beyond anything that man can reach. Verse 25, “To whom then will you compare me?” And he says, “Who is my equal?” The scope of God’s immeasurable power reach is not merely to the ends of the earth, but to the ends of the cosmos itself. Verse 22, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.” God created and controls the atmosphere of planet earth, the air that we breathe.

Since the space program and all that, and satellites, we now have those pictures of this blue planet against a completely black backdrop. It’s this bubble of air in which the perfect mixture of oxygen, not too much, so things just don’t ignite all the time. He just measured it out. In that life, it’s flourishing. God is the one that did that, that stretched out the heavens, meaning the immediate earth and atmosphere that we breathe.

But then he goes beyond that, in verse 26, to talk about outer space. Look at verse 26: “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens, who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” You could spend hours thinking about Verse 26. Have you ever been out on the mountains, in the mountains at night, and gone out and looked at the stars? You may even be up maybe several thousand feet, so you’re up above. The atmosphere is a little bit thinner, away from the city. Air is clear. Wow, night sky. Maybe until that day, you’d never really seen the Milky Way, but now you can see it. There it is, this white, blurry cloud going across in a narrow band, and they tell us that that’s our home galaxy, 104,000 light years across. The Milky Way.

The Milky Way has over 100 billion stars. If Abraham had begun counting them, and had continued until he was done, all the stars in the Milky Way would have taken him 3,000 years. In recent years, the Hubble Space Telescope has greatly expanded our sense of the incomprehensible immensity of the cosmos. There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in outer space, and a number of stars. It just boggles the mind. It just goes beyond any effort I could put to put words to it. Just… There’s just a lot of stars out there.

That’s an understatement, if ever there was. That’s just rhetorical technique, use understatement. I can’t help but use understatement when it comes to the number of stars. But look what the text says. The text says that God calls each one by name, one at a time. Now naming in the Bible shows power and understanding, so He’s in charge, and He understands the difference between this star and that one. That’s amazing. Now the only difference to us is the size of the star, its location, and its color. That’s what they’re working with out there.

There’s just not enough difference between those three things, from dot to dot to dot to dot to dot to dot to dot, to name them. Instead the cosmologists name sectors of the sky. They just give them boring names with numbers and letters in them. No, no, God names each of these stars. Not only that, He says because of His understanding and his power, none of them is missing. Would you notice if one of them were?

Wait a minute now. Wait, wait now. You say, “Actually, Pastor, what if it were in the Big Dipper? If one of the stars in the Big Dipper were missing, I would notice. So would you and the whole world, I think.” But this text tells us why that won’t happen. Because God knows and understands those stars, and what it’s going to take to keep them burning; and because of His power, they’re still there. They depend on God to continue to exist.

It’s amazing. You know what that says to me? If I can just speak to you who are the elect children of God, He’s not going to lose track of any of you. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me…and I will raise him up at the last day.” He’s not going to lose you. If He can do the stars, He can do you, and He will not lose track of you.

IV. The Lesson Applied: The Majestic God Gives Strength to the Weary (vs. 27-31)

Let’s take all of this, and apply this lesson. Now look at verses 27 through 31. Isaiah takes this amazing chapter and presses it home to the hearts of God’s people. It comes in three stages, and we’ll cover these quickly. First, our despair. Secondly, God’s greatness. Third, our renewal.

First, our despair, our discouragement. Look at 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’?” Friends, this right here, right now is where the rubber meets the road. You may not use this language, but I know that circumstances can be crafted that will get you to say similar things.

“God is tired of me. He’s weary of my sins, He’s tired of bearing them. He’s sick of me, and He’s going to throw me out. He’s weary of carrying my load. He’s bored with me. I’m going through this right now, and it seems that God doesn’t even notice. Been praying for months, some could say been praying now for years, and God hasn’t answered my prayer. I’ve looked at my prayer, it looks biblical, it looks right, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with it, and yet God will not answer it. I don’t understand it. Why? Why, Oh God? How often do human beings say that three-letter word up to God, ‘Why? Why are you doing this to me?'”

But here, the tables are turned, and God is saying that to us: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do you think that I don’t know you? Why do you think I don’t notice what you’re going through?” Now I know that there are some dire circumstances that many of you are going through. I’m aware of some of them, I will not say I’m aware of all of them, but I’m aware of some of them. Some of them are just flat-out heartbreaking, heartbreaking. Some of you have been crying out to God in regard to that, and you just wonder, “Why isn’t God hearing my prayers?”

Extend your imagination going out to other places in the world. Think about, let’s say, a house church pastor in China that’s been arrested, and been held now for months. Or in Iran. He’s been praying and praying to be released, and be able to resume his ministry, and go back with his wife and kids. They’re praying the same thing. God said in Luke, that he’s going to hear the cry against the oppressor, and He will not make them wait long, but it’s already gone longer than they thought it should have. They don’t understand why God hasn’t answered their prayer yet. They’re apt to say, “God has forgotten me, God doesn’t see my suffering.”

Or it could be some of you going through extreme pain through medical situations. The pain is just day after day, and you’re like, “God, all You have to do is just alleviate the pain. I may not even be asking for healing now, just a reduction in the pain. Why won’t You do that?” People are tempted to say this, “My way is hidden from God, my cause is disregarded by God. Why don’t You care about me?” But God is saying this to you now, “Why won’t you trust me? Why won’t you love me? Why won’t you live for me? Why don’t you cast all your burdens on me? What more do I have to do to prove my might and my power and my love for you than the creation, and also the redemption in Christ, at the cross and empty tomb? What more do I have to do? Why are you saying these things to me?”

Every generation of His people, and every nation on earth, there will be times that every individual Christian is tempted to say these kinds of things to God. If you’re not being tempted right now to say them, sometime soon, some circumstance will come, and you’ll be right here, verse 27. You will be tempted to despair, you’ll be tempted to be discouraged. It’s the language of despair. “God doesn’t see, God does not know, God does not care. Or if He does see and know and care, He’s not powerful, He can’t do anything about it.” God is turning around, saying, “Why are you talking to me like this, oh my people?”

Step two, God’s greatness. Verse 28. “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” Again, notice, let’s go back to your theology. “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. His understanding, no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak.”

God goes back to the theology, and he teaches them who He is. “You’ve already… You know me. You already know enough.” What have you learned? You’ve learned God’s eternity. The Lord is the everlasting God. He has no beginning, and no end. He’s not trapped in time as we are. For us, we’re always in now, we’re always in today, for God is the everlasting, the eternal God. Yesterday, today and forever, all equally in front of God all the time.

Yesterday, He remembers that He promised to be a God to you, faithful to the end. He remembers that promise, like a husband remembering his marriage oath. He’s not going to forget his oath to you. Now He knows what you’re going through right now, and He knows where you’re heading. You know where you’re heading? You’re heading to a perfect world of resurrected people where there’ll be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. He knows that. And that your present sufferings are light and momentary compared to that, and they’re actually working out that eternal glory.

He’s the everlasting God, and He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He made all things. There is nowhere you can go that God is not there. It does not matter what you’re going through, He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. Whether God’s people are in exile in Babylon, or whether they’ve been captured in a raid by Vikings, and hauled away as captives, or whether they’re homesteading in the deep woods of Kentucky during the French and Indian wars, or maybe they’re lying in a hospital bed during an influenza epidemic in 1919 in which thousands, even tens of thousands have already died, or maybe running through the streets of London during the blitz, looking for a bomb shelter before the bomb comes to kill them or destroy their home. Or waiting in a hospital here in Durham for a pathology report that probably might change your life.

God is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He’s in all of those places at all of those times. He’s the everlasting God, and He never grows tired or weary. God’s arms don’t get tired of holding you up. Isn’t that awesome? As I was going over the sermon this morning, this is what moved me the most. I sometimes feel that God is weary of carrying me because of my sin, just weary. God said to me in the text today, I believe, “I will never grow weary or tired. Ever. I just don’t get tired like you do. I will never grow weary.”

God isn’t tired of you, dear friend. He isn’t weary of saving you. He isn’t worn out with your sin. He’s not suffering from battle fatigue in defending you from Satan’s attacks, or restoring you. God’s as fresh in the battle as the day He started. You may not be, but He is. He’s ready for more, and he always will be. He does not grow tired or weary.

“God isn’t tired of you, dear friend. … He’s not suffering from battle fatigue in defending you from Satan’s attacks, or restoring you. God’s as fresh in the battle as the day He started. You may not be, but He is.”

Then lesson four, God is wise, and His understanding is unsearchable. He is working out an unsearchable plan that is infinitely wise; and everything, dear friends, is right on schedule. He knows exactly what He’s doing. This is our God. Do you not know these things? Haven’t you heard this? Hasn’t it been told you from the creation of the earth? This is our God.

Now it’s time for our renewal, dear friends. Let’s be renewed, amen. Look at Verse 30 and 31. “Even youths grow tired and weary, and 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 faint.”

Isaiah brings up the strongest among us. Back then, it was the warriors, alright? Now we would think perhaps Olympic athletes. Really at the absolute fringe of the bell curve, the best that there is, honed and shaped through years of training. Or perhaps you could think of Navy SEALs, or special ops guys. They’re just absolutely the best, strongest people there are in the face of the earth. Even they grow tired and weary, and the young men stumble and fall. All of us get weary. All of us have what Spurgeon called “fainting spells.”

We’re not always equally strong, we’re not always equally mighty. Some days, we just get flat-out worn out, discouraged, and down. The journey seems so long, and the enemy seems so strong; but those who hope in or wait for the Lord. Some translations go one way, some… I’ll give you both. Alright? Hope in the Lord, and wait for Him. While you’re waiting, hope. Okay? Wait on the Lord, and hope in Him. Let the scripture renew your conception that the future is unspeakably bright. That’s what hope is, a sense of feeling in the heart that the future’s bright. Immediate future, long-range future, eternal future, all of them bright. God’s at work in all three, and He will give you hope.

As you hope in the Lord, your strength will get renewed. What does that mean? You’ll start feeling more physically energetic. You just have more energy. God did that to Daniel, and Daniel was just wiped out on the ground. He touched him, and he got strength, and he stood up. Just how does God do it? I don’t know how He does that, but He does that.

“God, I’m really weak and weary right now. Give me emotional, physical strength.” And he will renew your strength, and all of it’s in Christ. He is the vine, we are the branches. As we abide in Him, He will renew our strength, and then you will be able to do just supernatural things. Look at verse 31. You’re like, “I would love to do this.” “They will soar on wings like eagles.” That’s amazing. “They will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not faint.” We will… You are able to do infinitely wise and powerful things through the Gospel.

We’re going to come now to a time of celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and this is a time also of renewal. As we come to the Lord’s table, I’d like to ask that you meditate on the things that we talked about. Know this, that God is calling on us in the Gospel to repent and believe in Christ, and trust in Him. If you are an unbeliever, and you have never trusted in Christ, we’re going to ask that you refrain from the Lord’s Supper, but just look to Christ crucified and resurrected. Believe in Him, and trust in Him.

Then when you receive the ordinance of water baptism, you’ll be welcome to come; but all of… Those of you that have testified your faith through baptism, come to faith in Christ, you’re welcome to the table. I’d like to ask the deacons to come now as we celebrate the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

Some of the most majestic verses in the Bible on the infinite vastness of God’s majesty are found in this incredible chapter!

This section of Isaiah speaks of a God who rules actively over the events on earth AND over the stars in the heavens… the range of the majesty of God covered in these words is staggering

The God who created each of the stars and calls them each by name… the God who sustains them by His powerful word, this same God establishes Kings and princes in their positions, then blows on them and reduces them to dust in the wind…

This same God is the very one who is able to renew your strength like the eagles… He is able to make you run and not grow weary… to walk and not be faint

Recent research has identified a single star in the cosmos which scientists are calling UY Scuti… a red supergiant… it is 5 billion times the size of the sun! In diameter, if it were at the center of our solar system, it would reach out to somewhere between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn!! That is HUGE!!

But this one star is dwarfed by the overall size of the universe itself… it cannot be seen by the naked eye despite its immense size

The universe was meant to HUMBLE the pride of man:

Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

But in Isaiah 40, it was meant to encourage the fainthearted that God will never forsake us but will guarantee that each of His elect children will most certainly finally be saved!

This chapter tells us how all the stars continue to exist:

Isaiah 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

The ultimate lesson here is for US, the elect children of God, going through a variety of challenges… to know that not one of us will be MISSING on that final day:

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

I.   The Context: The Good News is God Himself (vs. 1-17)

A.   God Speaks a Timeless Message to a Sinful Human Race

1.  Certainly, the immediate context of the restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land should not be ignored

2.  But God is speaking also in spiritual language to His people in every generation

3.  God has provided ample atonement for all our sins in the person and work of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 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.

4.  This is a message God wants PROCLAIMED to all His chosen people around the world

a.  John the Baptist was a messenger sent to proclaim the way of the Lord…

b.  His ministry was prophesied in verses 3-4

Isaiah 40:3-4 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

c.  He was sent in the days immediately before Jesus Christ to prepare for His coming

d.  But the need for messengers to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ is still just as powerful today

e.  And the message is the same:

Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

5.  The “glory of the Lord” is the full display of God’s attributes… the full display of His nature, His perfections, His descriptions

6.  And NOWHERE is God put so clearly on display as in the cross of Christ

a.  God’s power and wisdom are displayed there

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

b.  God’s love is displayed there

Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

c.  God’s justice is displayed there

Romans 3:25-26 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished– 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

God is spreading this message to the ends of the earth…. The GLORY OF GOD is for all humanity to partake in… to feast on!!

B.   We Need this Message Because We are Mortal Sinners

Isaiah 40:6-8 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

C.   The Glory of God is the Centerpiece of the Good News…

Isaiah 40:9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Behold… your God!”

D.   The Glory of God Spans an Astonishing Range

1.  He is the powerful Judge of All the Earth

Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

2.  He is also the Tender Shepherd who cares for His sheep

Isaiah 40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

E.   Last Week: We Studied the Staggering Majesty of God in these Verses

Isaiah 40:12-17 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? 14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? 15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.

This is the great God who is calling us to repent and trust in Him!!

II.   The Absolute Folly of Idolatry (vs. 18-20)

Isaiah 40:18-20 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? 19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

A.   God Challenges the Idols

1.  In these chapters, God is constantly fighting against the idols that are luring His chosen people away from their faithful devotion to Him

2.  God is in a bitter warfare for the affections of His people, seeking to show the utter folly of worshiping idols

3.  The idolatry of His people was the very reason why the Exile to Babylon would eventually take place

4.  So, before it even happened, God was exposing the wickedness of idolatry

5.  What is “idolatry”?

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.

Putting ultimate value in a created thing rather than in God

Relying on created things as the center of existence… as a “functional savior” from this or that trouble

Whatever dominates your thoughts… whatever becomes the center of your daily life

6.  Our idols:

B.   Idol-Makers of Isaiah’s Day

1.  They used their imaginations to come up with artistic representations of God

2.  They would look around at the world and think about what aspect of the god they would like to represent

3.  They would use a bull to represent god’s strength; the gold to represent god’s worth; a conglomerate of various animals… eagles wings, human face, fish scales, lion’s teeth, bear’s mighty legs… who knows?

4.  The artists’ activity is highlighted here: especially the selecting of a kind of wood that will not rot… or the making of gold/silver chains to hold it from toppling

5.  God is mocking this: He cannot rot, for He is pure and not physical; He need no chains to keep Him from toppling, for no force in the universe can topple Him, nor can any chain hold Him

C.   God’s Absolute Forbidding of Idols

Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God

1.  There is nothing in the universe “like God”

2.  Nothing that perfectly captures the essence of all that God is

3.  No artist can ever think, ponder, reflect, and then begin to shape some wood, or carve or hammer some metal and come up with anything that even comes close to God

D.   God Uses Comparisons… But Sets Boundaries Around Them

1.  God does use earthly language to teach us about Himself

2.  God is mighty and fearless like a lion (Isaiah 31:4), but He is vastly more powerful than any lion… and He isn’t only mighty and fearless

3.  God is tender and compassionate like a nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15), and protective like a mother eagle over her young (Deuteronomy 32:11)… but he is vastly greater in compassion than any nursing mother, and more protective than any eagle… and He isn’t only compassionate and protective

4.  God is a warrior… but greater than any warrior… and so much more than a warrior

5.  God is a refuge, a strong tower, a solid rock, a mighty wind, a spring of water in a desert… God is a father, a King, a singer; God is light; God is love; God is spirit…

6.  Scripture is full of such language… but no one image fully captures all that God is… this is the beauty of the WORD OF GOD… but no representation, no IDOL can ever capture all of this

E.   So… to Whom Can You Compare God?

1.  No one is like Him!!

2.  This is the infinite holiness of God… the uniqueness of His person and His position in the universe

III.   The Supremacy of God over Earth and Heaven (vs. 21-26)

A.   An Appeal to their Theology… to What They’ve Known About God from the Beginning

Isaiah 40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

1.  The Scripture build on itself, line upon line, verse upon verse

2.  No contradictions… but a steady building of the doctrine of God, little at a time

3.  This message has been proclaimed about God from the beginning of our lives, and from the beginning of human history… from the time the earth was founded: GOD NEVER CHANGES!!

B.   God’s Position as Sovereign Over All the Earth

Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.

1.  God’s reign as King of kings is focused on here in particular

2.  God rules over all nations

3.  He’s already declared that those nations are a “drop from the bucket” and “dust on the scales”

4.  Here, he zeroes in on the rulers, kings, leaders in particular

5.  All the people are like GRASSHOPPERS… He is vastly superior to them in power and wisdom… He could squash them all if He willed

6.  God is specifically greater than the so-called “great ones” of the earth

Isaiah 40:23-24 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 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 a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

a.  This language totally rejects the idea of “deism”… that God merely designed the world like a clock, wound it up and let it run

b.  NO! God gets actively involved in the unfolding of human history!!

c.  God establishes the rulers of the earth in their positions… lets them flourish for a brief time… but almost as soon as they get established, God begins to bring their reign to an end… He blows on them and they wither and DIE… and the wind blows them away like chaff, leaving scarcely a memory of the brief time they ruled on the earth

7.  How apt we are to forget this! How apt we are to stand in awe of human achievement, human intellect, human glory, human power

8.  God rules these rulers with absolute power… including the day of their installation, and the day of their deaths

9.  Isaiah here focuses on the comparative BREVITY of their reigns… so brief a time… a few moments and they are gone! Unlike God

10.  Nebuchadnezzar understood this after God humbled him:

Daniel 4:34-35 Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

C.   God’s Power Extended Vastly Beyond Anything Man Can Reach

1.  God’s challenge again

Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

2.  The scope of God’s immeasurable power reaches not merely to the ends of the earth, but to the end of the universe itself

Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

a.  God created and controls the atmosphere which enables us to live… the air we breathe, the atmosphere which shields us from radiation and meteorites… a fragile bubble in deep space which God sustains to keep us alive

3.  And the rest of the universe as well:

Isaiah 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

a.  If you go out to the night sky in a mountainous area, where there is very little humidity… up high, where the air is thinner… you look up and your breath is taken away!

b.  You’ve never seen so many stars! The Milky Way, our home galaxy, which we view from the edge looking across

c.  God says to you, “Who created ALL THESE?” They didn’t get there by accident!

d.  How many are there? Science can only begin to estimate

i)  The nearest star, of course, is the sun: 93 million miles away; 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its surface; 27 million degrees at its core; lighting and warming the earth day after day at a perfect distance away from the earth to keep us alive; 109 times larger than the earth in diameter, its volume could hold 1 million earths; yet cosmologists tell us the sun is just a very average star

ii)  The Milky Way is shaped like a spiral, rotating in space; it would take light 104,000 years to travel across this one galaxy; the Milky Way has over 100 billion stars; if Abraham had been able to see them and began counting them, it would have taken him 3000 years to finish the count

iii)  In recent years, the Hubble Space telescope has greatly expanded our sense of the incomprehensible immensity of the cosmos… there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in outer space… a number of stars that boggles the mind

iv)  The text says that God calls each one out BY NAME, one at a time! Naming shows sovereign power and intimate understanding; when Jesus named Simon “Peter” (Rock) it showed an understanding of what He would be in God’s plan; the stars are merely points of light to us… various sizes and colors, and different positions… and that’s the only way we can differentiate between them; but God sees differences enough to name each one… notice also that God did not give to Adam this task of naming the stars… only the creatures on the earth; man was given dominion over the earth, not over the cosmos… God alone rules over it all!!

v)  This text says that, because of God’s mighty power and vast understanding “NOT ONE OF THEM IS MISSING” God SUSTAINS the stars by the word of His power moment by moment

vi)  Most of the stars we’d never miss if it were missing; but imagine if one of the stars in the Big Dipper were suddenly gone!!

vii) The fact that, because of God’s power and knowledge not one star is missing points to the doctrine of election, in which not one of God’s elect will be missing from the Kingdom of Heaven

viii)  GOD CANNOT LOSE TRACK OF YOU!!

D. ​

IV.   The Lesson Applied: The Majestic God Gives Strength to the Weary (vs. 27-31)
Isaiah takes this amazing chapter and presses it home to the hearts of God’s people

The generation of Jews that were in exile in Babylon may have wondered what had happened to all the power and the promises of God… so this chapter stands to encourage them to trust in God despite their dire circumstances…

But it stands as a timeless message to Christians in every generation as well

It comes in three stages: I) Our Despair; II) God’s Greatness; III) Our Renewal

A.   Our Despair

Isaiah 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?

1.  This is where the rubber meets the road… where theology has to get to work: in the hearts and attitudes of God’s people

2.  God truly cares about the FAITH of His people… their HOPE… their JOY in the midst of trials

3.  God truly cares about the ATTITUDE with which His people live their lives here on earth

4.  He addresses the despair of His people—the Jews of the exile, but also Christians in every generation

5.  He asks them that probing question: WHY

a.  So often, God’s suffering people lift up their tear-stained eyes to heaven, and with anguished voice cry out to God that one word accusation: WHY???

b.  We don’t understand why God would allow such a trial to invade our lives and plunder from us all we cherish

c.  But even more incomprehensible in the universe is brought to life by God’s same question to us: WHY?? Why, O my people, won’t you TRUST ME?

6.  God asks Jacob why he complains against God… God asks Israel why he laments against God

7.  The content of the lament: MY WAY IS HIDDEN FROM THE LORD… MY CAUSE IS DISREGARDED BY MY GOD

a.  “God doesn’t care about me any more…” “God has stopped watching out for me” “God doesn’t love me any more”

b.  Why do you say this?

c.  Simply: because of the things that have happened

d.  In Jacob’s case, it was the exile and the seventy years of languishing in triumphant Babylon under pagan rulers

i)  They knew that Jerusalem was a pile of rubble

ii)  They knew Solomon’s temple was totally destroyed and all its breathtaking gold and artwork gone forever

iii)  They knew that most of that generation of Jews was slaughtered by Nebuchadnezzar

iv)  Now… they live in Babylon, surrounded by evidence of the overwhelming power of the Babylonian Empire… with no end in sight

e.  But God through Isaiah is lifting these words up to a timeless level

i)  For every generation of His people in every nation on earth, there will be times that they will be tempted to say these exact things to God

ii)  “Why do you forget me, O Lord? Why do you not answer my prayers? Why have you not healed me? Why do you let me languish in pain? Why is my poverty hidden from your eyes? I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU, O LORD!!!”

8.  Specifically: It seems like God doesn’t see me… He can’t tell what is happening in my life: GOD DOES NOT SEE… GOD DOES NOT KNOW… GOD DOES NOT CARE

9.  This is the language of despair… and Satan loves to feed that poison to every one of God’s children in every generation

10.  But the verse implies how unreasonable it is to come to this conclusion about God… WHY DO YOU SPEAK LIKE THIS, O MY PEOPLE???

B.   God’s Greatness

Isaiah 40:28-29 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. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

1.  God reminds His people of their theology… their Bible lessons! “Do you not know? How you not heard? As He said earlier in the chapter:

Isaiah 40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

2.  As Jesus so often would say, “Haven’t you read…?”

3.  So much of our trouble is how we forget God and His Word!! You don’t need new verses, new teaching, new insights! You need to remember what you’ve known from the first time you heard of the Lord

4.  What have you learned? FOUR THINGS

a.  God is eternal and everlasting

b.  God is the Creator of the ends of the earth

c.  God never grows tired or weary

d.  God’s understanding no one can fathom

5.  Lesson #1: The eternality of God: “The Lord is the everlasting God

a.  A better translation: “The Lord is the God of ETERNITY…” God has no beginning and no end

b.  God is not trapped in time as we are… for us, “NOW” is always the issue, and the future is dark and fearsome

c.  But God is always living in eternity: yesterday, today, and tomorrow equally live in front of His omniscient mind

d.  God knows the end from the beginning and remembers the beginning at the end

e.  God is as far above time as He is above the surface of the earth

f.  Concerning the past: God remembers the covenant He made with us in Christ… the covenant is as alive in His heart as it was the day He said “I do” to us, His bride… He will never forget the sacred vows He took in Christ to save us from our sins

g.  Concerning the present: God studies each instant of the present as if it were in ultra slow motion:

2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years

i)  That means God knows EXACTLY what is happening RIGHT NOW… far better than you do

ii)  He is as much an expert in RIGHT NOW as He is in the past or the future

iii)  He knows what we’re going through RIGHT NOW and is studying every motion of our hearts and every

iv)  Your way isn’t hidden from God… He understands everything you’re going through, and is specifically measuring out how much you’re enduring

v)  He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear

h.  Concerning the future: God has already ordained the future and is working everything out for your final salvation… He has a plan, and everything is unfolding according to that plan

i.  PAST… PRESENT… FUTURE… all instantly before this God… the everlasting God… the eternal God

6.  Lesson #2: God is the Creator of the ends of the earth

a.  God as the Creator is infinite in power, and His sovereign power extends to every square inch of this planet

b.  There is nowhere God’s people can go where they will beyond His power… there is no limit to His jurisdiction

c.  Whether God’s people are in exile in Babylon, or captured in a raid by Vikings, or homesteading in the deep woods of Kentucky during the French and Indian Wars, or lying in a hospital bed during the flu epidemic of 1919, or running through the streets of England for a bomb shelter during the Blitz, or waiting for a lab report from the pathology study on a lump growing inside you… no matter where you are, God is the CREATOR OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

7.  Lesson #3: God never grows weary or weak

a.  The focus is on God’s power to accomplish His plan

b.  God’s arms do not grow weary; God’s mind does not wander or get bored or fatigued

c.  God is immensely active… immeasurably active ALL THE TIME

John 5:17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

d.  God’s power is inexhaustible, like the sun… it doesn’t get diminished by burning, neither does God get weary from acting

e.  God isn’t tired of you; God isn’t weary of saving you; God isn’t worn out with your sin; God isn’t suffering from battle fatigue in defending you from Satan’s attacks; God is as FRESH IN THE BATTLE now as He was when it began

f.  And, since the verse is set in the future, GOD WILL NEVER GROW WEARY OR TIRED… it will NEVER happen!!

8.  Lesson #4: God is wise and His understanding is unsearchable

a.  God’s plan is infinitely wise… it’s been carefully measured out in all its details

b.  God knows exactly what He’s doing with your life

c.  God knows that He is working to perfect His chosen people and conform them to Christ… all the elect in resurrection bodies in the New Heaven and New Earth

d.  God has never forgotten that final destination… and He has never forgotten the way to get there, down to the smallest detail

e.  God’s plans are perfectly WISE

f.  BUT His plans are also UNSEARCHABLE… His wisdom no one can fathom… Romans 11 says “How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out…”

g.  This means don’t expect to be able to understand perfectly everything God is doing in your life

So… this is our God… eternal and unchanging, the Creator of the ends of the earth; a God who never ceases working for us; a God whose wisdom is perfect but unsearchable

DO YOU NOT KNOW THESE THINGS about God? Haven’t you heard them from the beginning of your relationship with Him? So… why are you so depressed? Why do discouraged? Why do you say God no longer cares about you?

It’s time now for our RENEWAL:

C.   Our Renewal

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 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.

1.  Here Isaiah brings up the strongest among us: the youths… the handpicked soldiers, specially trained

a.  The Hebrew implies that is who Isaiah is referring to

b.  In our age, it would be Olympic athletes or Navy Seals

c.  The cream of the cream of the crop… the absolute best the world has to offer

d.  EVEN THEY grow tired and weary!! Even the best among us has times of weariness and fatigue…

e.  Extend it to the spiritual realm

i)  Even some of the greatest men and women from church history have had their fainting spells

ii)  Charles Spurgeon put it this way in the “minister’s fainting fits”

“As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may it be written of all the servants of the Lord. Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.”

iii)  Everyone struggles at certain times with depression in the Christian life

iv)  The journey seems so long; the enemies seem so strong

2.  The renewal: those who HOPE IN/WAIT FOR the Lord will renew their strength

a.  Some translations say “hope in the Lord” some say “wait”… it is really the same thing…. WAITING for God’s plan to unfold, and waiting with HOPE

b.  First of all, it glorifies God for us to realize how different we are from Him:

He never gets weary; we frequently do

c.  And it glorifies God for us to bring our weariness, our weakness, our depression to Him for a time of renewal… we are TOTALLY DEPENDENT on Christ

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

d.  God has the power to “renew our strength”

i)  He gives us physical energy… a burst of strength

ii)  He gives us spiritual energy too… a fresh zeal to serve Him; renewed joy… renewed perspective

iii)  As the 23rd Psalm puts it:

Psalm 23:2-3 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.

iv)  As John 4 puts it

John 4:14 whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

v)  God is able to revive us in the midst of our trials!!

3.  Renewed by His Strength… we can do THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Isaiah 40:31 They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

a.  This awesome poetic language shows what God can do in ordinary people who wait on Him and hope in Him

b.  They can take the gospel to the ends of the earth and overcome the Satanic strongholds to win the elect, even if it means martyrdom

c.  They can walk day by day while dying from cancer, and give a clear display of hope and joy… trusting in their resurrection in Christ rather than in the latest experimental drug

d.  They can endure the assaults of temptation in the area of a besetting sin and NOT YIELD to what their flesh is demanding from them

e.  They will continue to make progress toward CHRIST-LIKE PERFECTION, and continue to advance the gospel in a hostile world!!

V.   Applications

A.   Come to Christ!!

1.  This whole chapter ultimately is GOOD NEWS only because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross

2.  The God who rules over the earth and the heavens with this kind of power and this kind of knowledge would be a fearsome ENEMY and JUDGE if not for Christ

3.  We are all idolaters apart from the grace of God… we worship money, power, pleasure, ourselves… we are SINFUL REBELS who need the atoning work of the gospel

4.  God sent His Son to save us… and to be our tender shepherd who can carry us in His arms

5.  Flee to Him while there’s still time!!

B.   Cherish Isaiah 40!!

1.  Go over its verses holding up each one like a treasure!

2.  Cherish the fact that, in Christ, we can be COMFORTED that we have received “double for all our sins”

3.  Cherish the fact that Christ is the Savior predicted by John the Baptist, saying “Every valley shall be raised up and every mountain and hill made low”

4.  Cherish the truth that all flesh is GRASS and all the glory of it is like the flowers of the field… embrace the mortality that is clearly ours as a punishment for our sins

5.  Cherish the fact that the Word of God stands forever… and this is the sweet gospel that was preached to us… IT WILL NEVER FADE AWAY!!

6.  Cherish the doctrine of God in this chapter: BEHOLD YOUR GOD!!

7.  Understand how mighty He is, the one who comes with power to Judge the Earth… understand how He rules over heaven and earth; understand that He Himself is the one who controls human history by planting princes and kings, then causing them to die; be staggered at the immense power of God in calling each star by name and upholding their very existence!

8.  CHERISH THE FACT THAT HE IS A TENDER SHEPHERD to each of His Lambs

C.   Are You Depressed? Discouraged? Know that God is reasoning with you in this chapter! Why do you say that your way is hidden from God? It’s not! God is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth! He is the One who is holding you in the palm of His hand!!

D.   Allow God to Renew You Spiritually!!

Isaiah 40:31 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.