Our Great God!
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Who is God to you?
What comes to mind when you think about God?
143 What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
A. W. Tozer
Knowledge of The Holy (1961)
A. W. Tozer
Understanding the nature of God changes how we see everything else!
When our understanding we have about God is distorted, our understanding about life will be distorted.
Have you considered just how GREAT God is?…or is He a distant reality or perhaps no reality at all?
This portion of Isaiah and the surrounding texts are written as if the prophet is testifying in a court room where God is on trial.
The prosecution has accused God of being no better than the pantheon of other gods in the world.
Isaiah stands resolute as the defense attorney who is making his opening statement to the jury.
Ladies and gentlemen, WE are the jury in this grand courtroom. The evidence will be on display and the final verdict will be up to you!
YOU get to decide what you will believe.
Who is God to YOU?
Who is God to YOU?
I. God Is Great!
II. God Is Wise!
III. God Is Incomparable!
IV. God Is Creator!
V. God Is Provider!
I. God Is Great!
I. God Is Great!
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?
And so he begins with a series of questions to get us thinking about the God that we say we believe in.
Some things to keep in mind:
The Bible often uses what is called “anthropomorphic” language - where a human trait is ascribed to God for the sake of our understanding.
For example, God’s hands, or eyes, or ears are described in human ways, even though God is a Spirit and does not have an actual, physical body.
Also, Isaiah is using somewhat hyperbolic language - which is using a figure of speech characterized by exaggeration not meant to be taken literally for the sake of emphasis to make a point.
The text is highlighting one of God’s incommunicable attributes: OMNIPOTENCE - ALL POWERFUL!
Each of these examples highlights just how awesome our God is!
There are approximately 326 million trillion gallons of water on the earth at any given time. (326 with 18 zeroes)
Yet, God measures all of that in His palm!
The observable universe is about 93 billion light years in diameter…which is too massive to really understand, and that only accounts for the “observable” part!
Yet, God measures all of it between one “thumb” and “little finger” of one of His “hands”. (a human span is about half a cubit, or 9 inches)
The earth contains approximately 1.5 trillion tons of soil.
The earth contains approximately 1.5 trillion tons of soil.
Yet, God can easily measure it.
Mount Everest alone weighs about 357 trillion pounds.
Yet, God can easily pick up, not just Everest but ALL the earth’s mountains, and place them on a scale - we can only give a rough estimate - God knows EXACTLY how much they weigh!
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
There are about 8 billion humans on earth
There are about 8 billion humans on earth, divided up into about 195 different nations, but to God, they only make up one water droplet or a grain of sand.
There are 100’s of 1000’s of islands globally, yet God can easily lift them all up!
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
The largest possible altar imaginable, with the largest pile of firewood imaginable, and the finest animals available would not be enough sacrifice to be equivalent to God’s greatness!
17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
This verse is NOT saying that God sees us as worthless - The Bible is using hyperbole here to make a point - what we normally think of as big and powerful is NOTHING compared to God!
We have a GREAT God!
We have a GREAT God!
II. God Is Wise!
II. God Is Wise!
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding?
In Babylonian mythology, the creator god Murdak had to consult with Ea, the all-wise being before proceeding with his creation…but God created everything completely unaided!
Here the prophet focuses our attention on God’s OMNISCIENCE…He knows EVERYTHING!
The human experience includes learning - there is no other option.
We learn from our teachers, our experiences, and the examples of others…but we are always learning.
But not so with God! He is infinitely knowledgable about all things - He is the Omniscient One.
Notice that the Holy Spirit is specifically named here - the executive One that “hovered over the surface of the water” at the dawn of time.
The Spirit that filled the mighty men of old, who taught the prophets what to say and inspired the written word of God - He was directed by no one!
22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?
God needs no instruction, no education, no counsel, no knowledge, no way of understanding needs be shown to Him.
We have an infinitely wise God!
We have an infinitely wise God!
I. God Is Great!
II. God Is Wise!
III. God Is Incomparable!
III. God Is Incomparable!
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
God is PEERLESS!...INCOMPARABLE!
What could possibly stand as God’s equal? - NOTHING!
He is completely OTHER, Self-sufficient, self-sustaining, self-existent.
He is the I AM! And there is no other!
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
19 The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains. 20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution Chooses a tree that will not rot; He seeks for himself a skillful workman To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
Here is a possible, yet very poor, answer to the question he asked back in verse 18.
This god was dependent on a man’s ability to make him…not the other way around.
This god had no power, no ability, no understanding, he was and is and will always be a piece of wood.
The best man has to offer to answer the question, “To what will you compare God”, is a gold-plated cast image!
And the one that can’t afford the gold plating has to settle for a rot-resistant species of tree - he has to get the green-treat lumber!
The children of Israel forgot all this when they grew tired of waiting for Moses to come down the mountain…when they created a calf of gold and then worshipped it as if it had brought them out of Egypt.
Yet all these so-called gods have one thing in common: NO POWER!
Next, several more questions are posed as we consider the nature of this God of Israel:
Isaiah 40:21 (NKJV)
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
The questions asked back in verse 12 taught us that there could only be one Creator God.
Now we have another set of questions designed to teach us lessons from both the special revelation of the historical record in God’s word…as well as the general revelation we find in creation.
Verse 21 is what is called a CHIASM - were the lines are arranged in a pattern, four questions in a chiastic structure.
Questions 1 and 4 are connected and questions 2 and 3 are connected.
Known?
Heard?
Been Told?
Understood?
Two main questions:
Have you not known/understood? - Knowledge is connected with discernment…they go hand in hand.
Have you heard/been told? - We hear things that have been told to us.
The truth of who God is has been given to Israel (and to us) from the beginning - from the first man and woman there in the garden to us living here in 2023, we have been given truth from God!
This is talking about objective truth - facts that are true in every age and for every person and nation and culture.
And now we are reminded about what we have heard and known:
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.
These are the things that have been know, told to us, that we have heard, and have been understood from the beginning.
To God, we are the size of grasshoppers…and not just the size, but our life span compared to eternity is almost nothing. (most grasshoppers live from several weeks to a few months)
God is stretching out the heavens like we move a curtain or manipulate a tent.
Did you know that our universe is expanding?
The galaxies appear to be moving apart from one another in space.
Multiple other verse mention this very thing:
Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Jeremiah 10:12;
(v.23) God’s power and majesty outshines any human, earthly kingdom.
And all their authority comes from God:
10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
24 Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
God’s power over the kingdoms of men is absolute.
God presides over this world…this universe - He designed and created and sustains it even as we speak!
25 “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
The inferred answer is: “NO ONE!”
We have an INCOMPARABLE God!
We have an INCOMPARABLE God!
I. God Is Great!
II. God Is Wise!
III. God Is Incomparable!
IV. God Is Creator!
IV. God Is Creator!
26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
When was the last time you went outside at night and just looked up at the stars?
Stargazing - what an interesting way to describe it!
It almost sounds like daydreaming…like something unproductive or mindless…but here we are commanded to LOOK UP!
26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
In the ancient Babylonian cults, worship of the stars was an immense part of their religious practices, and even Israel become caught up in it.
But this call is really to not only see the stars, but to look ABOVE THE STARS, and see the One who made them!
Genesis 1:16 (NKJV)
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
It’s almost mentioned as an afterthought, but this little sentence, He made the stars also means that the multiple trillions of stars were simply spoken into existence.
Isaiah is calling us to look back at what Moses wrote here!
4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.
We can’t count the stars, but God knows the exact number!
26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
We have to wait until the earth rotates and the planets align and for just the right time to see certain stars and constellations, but God can see all of them all of the time!
We have a Creator God!
We have a Creator God!
I. God Is Great!
II. God Is Wise!
III. God Is Incomparable!
IV. God Is Creator!
V. God Is Provider!
V. God Is Provider!
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
I know some of us are saying, “Alright, Lord…anytime now!”
The people of Israel were complaining that God wasn’t concerned about their problems…that He didn’t even seem to know about them.
But we need to see that:
Human weakness is the perfect opportunity to experience God’s power!
Human weakness is the perfect opportunity to experience God’s power!
It is in the weak moments and the moments of no might that God’s power is uniquely felt!
How do you respond to difficult situations that you don’t understand?…Isaiah is calling us to depend on our Provider God - our Jehovah Jireh!
Even in the midst of your trial, God is NEVER absent, NEVER unavailable, NEVER unwilling to help.
God sometimes allows us to experience trials so that His power and glory can be put on display.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
Youth is fleeting - when we are young, we think we are invincible - but we soon find out that we aren’t.
Time marches steadily onward, and we age with it.
And before long, we feel exactly what this verse is saying - faint, weary, and even fallen.
But he doesn’t end there:
31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
The way to experience God’s power in our weakness is to WAIT.
This word, wait, doesn’t mean to sit down in idleness…it means to HOPE....biblical hope of expectation!
It’s not a matter of IF God will rescue me…it’s a matter of WHEN.
Notice that word, “renew” - it means to “exchange” - like taking off old clothes and putting on new ones…it’s an exchange of our weakness for HIS power!
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
When God’s power is exchanged for our weakness, we soar like eagles when crises come…we run like the deer when we are challenged on every side…and we walk faithfully onward when our daily lives are demanding and draining.
And sometimes that walking, faithfully, patiently plodding along, is the hardest thing to do.
“I can plod. That is my only genius. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”
So, whether you are flying, running, or plodding - it is God’s power that sustains us.
We have a Provider God!
We have a Provider God!
Conclusion:
As we hear these concluding remarks from our defense attorney Isaiah, we have seen that we have a Great, wise, Incomparable, Creator, and Provider God.
And so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached your verdict?
Who is the God of the Bible to you?…is HE no better, no different than these other gods of men?…or does He rise above them in supreme majesty, glory, and awesome power?!?
And most importantly, will you ever get to see Him?
Will you spend eternity with our great God?
He has provided a way for you to do that:
All have sinned, and fallen short of His glory (Rom. 3.23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
As a result of our sin, we deserve death, eternal separation from God in hell (Rom. 6.23
Romans 6:23a (NKJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death...
But God has provided a solution in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6.23
Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Our GREAT God loves you, and has given His Son for us to have eternal life - believe in Jesus today!
