Wait on the Lord

This Advent Season, let’s pause as we journey toward Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth and consider different aspects of the Christmas season. This morning, we kick off our Advent series with the reminder that Advent is a time of waiting.

When you were a child, and Christmas season started up, can’t you remember the anticipation you felt?

Bing Crosby sang, “It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Everywhere you go Take a look at the five and ten, it's glistening once again With candy canes and silver lanes that glow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Toys in every store But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be On your own front door

Christmas break was coming…2 weeks off from school. Christmas parties…Christmas together with family…multi-layer chocolate cake! And, as much as you would say, “I can’t wait for Christmas!” you still waited, because you knew what that day would bring. Even though our parents tried to teach us by singing that song…he’s making a list and checking it twice to find out who’s naughty and who’s nice…we knew Christmas day was coming.

Yes, Advent is a season of waiting. But, God is a God who calls His people to wait also. Isaiah prophesies about Israel and her impending judgment, but the book is about more than just judgment. It’s about the gospel…the good news…the preservation of God’s people, so much so that it’s often called the “Fifth Gospel.” In today’s passage, Isaiah uses human language to communicate just how grand God is, infinite in His power and knowledge, the Creator and Owner of all things. This language is meant to undergird the truthfulness of what was just said -- that God is a God who does and will save -- while providing a basis for Israel to wait (vs.31). God is mighty and will accomplish His purposes, no matter the twists and turns of our immediate context/history.

The mighty gospel issues forth from an all-powerful God. He is the One who created the world, who wise beyond measure (vv.13-14), completely sovereign (vv.15, 17), infinitely worthy of more worship than we can bring (v.16), who is beyond comparison (vv.18-20), and sits enthroned above the earth (vv.22-24). Isaiah wants the people to know just who it is who speaks these words, who makes promises, who operates according to His own counsel, so in v.26 He commands: lift up your eyes...and see.

Wait, Because God is Awesome (vv.12-17).

Interpretation

I’m not using “awesome” in slang way, but more in a dictionary-type way where it means extremely impressive inspiring great adoration. Verses 12-17 point to this aspect of God, and notice what’s said right up front, how He measures the waters and heavens.

For the sake of reference, God’s holds the contents of the entire oceans depths in the palm of His hand. Remember that parts of the ocean are over six miles deep! Now, consider the fact that it would take the average person 1,000 handfuls of water or more just to empty a bathtub!

The idea of the span is the width of a hand. Consider the size of the universe in measurable human terms. The distances are beyond us, truly. The farthest astronauts have ever traveled was the far side of the moon -- Apollo 13. If that same capsule journeyed to our nearest neighbor star, it have to travel 114,078 years! Yet, God measures the cosmos with the width of His hand.

Isaiah 40:13–14a (“Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?”) These two verses mirror each other. Isaiah is saying that God sovereignly and freely exercises His will, and He needs no outside counsel in His infinite wisdom.

All that we observe in the world, all that is constantly even now being uncovered, the complexity and balance of our finely-tuned universe, it was all only a thought in the mind of God as He simply spoke creation into existence. What has taken mankind the entirety of their existence to figure out, it took God no longer than a fleeting thought to bring about. This is why Isaiah can confidently say that no one counseled the Lord or taught Him knowledge or made Him understand. Literally, the footprints of God cannot be tracked by human reason, His train of thought too deep for us to follow (see Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”)

While it may make sense that God rules over creation, Isaiah also proclaims God’s sovereignty over the nations as well. In comparison to God, the nations are utterly insignificant. Truly, this could be seen as a call to courageously maintain the faith. While Israel must face the consequences of their rebellion, they need not fear forever exile because the nations are like a drop from a bucket. What concern would a farmer have over a drop of water from a bucket that falls before he gets to the garden? None. Equally, measured against God, the nations are but a drop from a bucket.

God’s infinite worth is expressed in terms of sacrifice. The forests of Lebanon couldn’t provide enough fuel for the fires of sacrifice that God truly deserves.

Illustration

The grand finale of a fireworks show.

Application

We are tempted to settle for the lesser glories of this world when God is saying wait and see what I can do. In light of His awesomeness, don’t attach your heart to lesser things. Wait and seek the Lord.

Wait, Because God is Incomparable (vv.18-26).

Interpretation

The magnificence of God, as told by Isaiah, provides a foundational reason for why God forbids graven images. Literally, there is nothing that compares to God, that He would be fashioned by human hands.

The problem is never with the character of God, that He might change His mind or cease to be faithful. Man’s problem has always been that he forgets the character of God and often has to be reminded. The ideas expressed in this portion of Isaiah are not unique, found only here in Scripture. There are elements of these truths sprinkled throughout the Bible, fundamental aspects of our theology. It is our “religious heritage.” But, the wandering heart has to oft be reminded of such glorious things, especially when the difficulty of life presses in on us.

The context of this all is the empty idol worship practiced by some. In vs.20, those idols that were crafted by a hired craftsman must be nailed down so that they will not move. In contrast, the incomparable God is active, calling out the stars by name. He is actively sustaining His creation. To further the amazement from the natural world, there are, according to scientists, billions of galaxies in the universe, and each galaxy has billions of stars. God tracks them all...knows each one by name, and calls them into their place!

The problem is never with the character of God, that He might change His mind or cease to be faithful. Man’s problem has always been that he forgets the character of God and often has to be reminded. The ideas expressed in this portion of Isaiah are not unique, found only here in Scripture. There are elements of these truths sprinkled throughout the Bible, fundamental aspects of our theology. It is our “religious heritage.” But, the wandering heart has to oft be reminded of such glorious things, especially when the difficulty of life presses in on us.The problem is never with the character of God, that He might change His mind or cease to be faithful. Man’s problem has always been that he forgets the character of God and often has to be reminded. The ideas expressed in this portion of Isaiah are not unique, found only here in Scripture. There are elements of these truths sprinkled throughout the Bible, fundamental aspects of our theology. It is our “religious heritage.” But, the wandering heart has to oft be reminded of such glorious things, especially when the difficulty of life presses in on us.

Illustration

Thinking back to fireworks…have you ever been to a truly amazing fireworks show? Maybe Disney’s fireworks at the end of a long day. For me, the pinnacle will always be the DC fireworks, watching from the steps of the Jefferson Memorial…it was like 30 minutes of any finale I’d ever seen, followed by a truly amazing finale. But here’s the thing, we often trade the finale of a grand fireworks show…for a sparkler. We hold up our sparkler or light our smoke bomb or set off our single Black Cat bottle rocket and say look at this glorious thing!

Application

John Calvin said that the human heart is an idol factory. Apparently there is a little lost in translation, and the intent could be more along the lines of “the human condition is driven by idolatry.” I’m not a Latin expert, so I can’t tell you. What I do know is this: we were made to worship, and if that worship isn’t directed toward God, we WILL find something to fill the void.

Wait, Because God is Listening (vv.27-31).

Interpretation

Apparently Israel had felt as if YHWH was not attentive to His people. However, if God calls out the billions upon billions of stars, then surely God’s people, the crowning achievement of creation, the ones who bear God’s own image, are not forgotten by God.

One of the enemy’s chief ploys is to cause us to doubt God and His goodness. Surely Israel has bought the lie, for they think God is unconcerned about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. How often to we fall prey to the same trap?

God is too busy to be concerned by me.

God is too holy to be concerned by me.

God is infinitely God and unceasingly and unwaveringly God. In the midst of Israel feeling forgotten by God due to impending discipline and difficult situations, God reminds them that He is everlasting, that He always has and always will be God. There is an implied reminder that He is consistent and unchanging.

God strengthening His people, giving power to the faint, comes on the heels of the declaration that He never grows weary or faint. It is out of, or because of, His enduring and unending strength that He strengthens His people.

While focusing on the grand nature of God, it may be tempting to forget His nearness. Isaiah comes right back to the individual. If you are faint, if you are weary, if you are exhausted, God renews your strength. It’s not merely the physical ability to carry on, but as we wait on the Lord, our hearts are encouraged by Him and our faith is bolstered to trust, despite circumstances to the contrary.

As Isaiah has surely made plain, the insufficiency isn’t with God...it’s with His people. Our problem is that we tend to think God needs our help, or worse, that we don’t need Him. When this happens, we take matters into our own hands. Strength is promised not to the skilled, not to the smart, not to the talented, but to they who wait for the LORD. Eyes that remain fixed on YHWH through life’s journey find the ability to faithfully endure. See Heb.12:1-2 provides solid commentary for this.

Waiting on the Lord really is a matter of trust. Is God a promise-keeping God, or is He not. The answer is certain: God cannot lie (see Heb.6:13-20; Titus 1:2). He surely keeps His promises. As a matter of fact, the Hebrews 6 passage mentions how God swears by Himself to Abraham because there is no one else He can swear by. So, waiting really is a matter of trust. Do we take God’s promises as steadfast truth? Do we trust that God’s promises stem from His character and are therefore God, no matter our feelings on the matter?

It’s easy to miss, but at what point in our life under the sun will this be true? Surely we continue to get tired. Even the fittest ultramarathoner among us, if their body is deprived while exerting long enough, will collapse. This passage concludes by subtly pointing us again to salvation (where the passage begins) and the gospel of Jesus who continually restores His people.

Application

The basic cry of salvation is this: Jesus is Lord. And I promise you this, when your heart genuinely cries out to God, “Jesus is Lord,” you will be saved.

How? Well, with man it’s impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. He made a way when a way seemed impossible by sending Christ to die in our place. The whole sacrificial system in the OT was summed up and captured by Christ and His death on the cross (preach the gospel).

Advent is a season of waiting, because we know that salvation is found in the Lord alone. We celebrate this season…a season of waiting…because the long-awaited Messiah promised throughout the OT, and particularly in books like Isaiah, finally came.