Isa 40 sermon
How many times have you heard a minister say, “stop looking to the right or the left and put your focus on God”? Usually when you hear someone say that it’s because your circumstances have become overwhelming and you can’t see beyond them.
What I want you to take away this from morning is the assurance that God is bigger than your circumstance.
I’ve been reading in Isaiah for a couple weeks. The first 39 chapters were difficult to get through. It seemed like things kept were always getting worse. So before we get to this mornings text, I need to give you a crash course in Isaiah.
Ø Isaiah identifies himself as the son of Amoz.
Ø He ministered in and around Jerusalem during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah – or from @ 739–686 b.c.
Ø He evidently came from an influential family because we know he had access to the king.
Ø He was married and had two sons.
Ø Isaiah was a contemporary of Hosea and Micah.
Ø He was an educated man. His writing style is full of imagery. He cites common things the people could identify with. It is easy to picture the things he describes.
Ø Isaiah is quoted, more than any other OT prophet (over 65 times) and is mentioned by name over 20 times.
Ø Tradition holds that he met his death under King Manasseh by being cut in two with a wooden saw.
During Uzziah’s reign Judah was a strong commercial and military state. It had a trade port on the Red Sea. With an increase in prosperity, Judah’s spiritual health declined. Uzziah decided he didn’t need a priest, and burned incense on the altar himself. God judged him with leprosy and he died.
During his son Jotham’s reign, Assyria, Israel (remember Isaiah is in Judah) and Syria began to flex their military muscles. Jotham like his father was a good military leader but with each victory, the spiritual life of Judah continued to deteriorate.
When Ahaz took over the kingdom, Israel & Syria had become allies against Assyria. When Judah found out about the alliance, Ahaz went to Assyria for help and the people of Israel were led into captivity. The king of Assyria also set up a pagan altar in Solomon’s temple.
To keep from going into exile themselves, Judah had to pay heavy taxes to Assyria. During Hezekiah’s reign, he became sick and cried out to the Lord, who spared his life for 15 more years. Hezekiah led a reform campaign. At the same time Assyria saw a decline in its strength with internal fighting.
Hezekiah took advantage of this and stopped paying taxes. When Assyria marched against them God intervened and Assyria never threatened Judah again.
We see a pattern.
Ø Follow God and prosper.
Ø Stop following God and remove yourself from his favor and protection.
Ø Return to God and find favor and safety.
Isaiah condemned idolatry and urged the people to return to God. He prophesied the captivity of Judah because they would turn their backs on God. He also prophesied the coming of the Messiah.
We’re going to pick up Isaiah at the point of captivity. Despite his numerous warnings and urges for repentance the people of Judah did their own thing and removed themselves from God’s protection.
Yet in exile, in the midst of oppression, despite their circumstances, God gave Isaiah a message of encouragement and hope.
Turn with me to Isaiah 40:
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
God was saying, “Hang on, the time of trial is almost over!”
That he says it twice for emphasis means he is giving twice the assurance.
2 Speak tenderly
Means: speak to their hearts, as a mother would speak to her child.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,
Hard service is the translation for the Hebrew word for warfare. They were more than captives, they were prisoners of war.
that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
double from the Lord’s hand is also mentioned in Jeremiah. It means that the punishment was in proportion to the offence.
Although they had sinned and God had chastened them, God did not leave them. They were still his people. He still loved them.
3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
We know this passage. In the New Testament it refers to John the Baptist. But for the exiles, it meant that the road ahead of them would be a rough one. Jerusalem and the temple would have to be rebuilt. Yes, Judah had sinned. Yes, God had forgiven them, Yes, they had paid for their sins.
But there were still consequences for their actions.
When they rejected God and went after their own lusts, they put themselves in a spiritual wilderness. The way back may not be easy; but if we are trusting God, it will be easier than it would be without Him.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
In those days, when a dignitary was scheduled for an official visit, the king would order road crews to level the dirt streets. Today we would roll out a red carpet. Judah was to prepare their hearts…
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.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
God’s voice commanding the people to call out to Him.
Not to sit and wallow in their circumstances but to “cry out”, to reach out, to seek God’s deliverance.
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.
In other words, it’s just temporary! Whatever you are going through, it is temporary. Circumstances are temporary.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
God’s word is not temporary. We can depend on God to fulfill His promises.
9 You who bring good tidings to Zion,
This is the same as ‘preach Good News”. The good news in that day was the defeat of Assyria and the release of the captive Jews. The Good News today is the defeat of sin and Satan by Jesus Christ and the salvation of all who will trust in Him.
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, “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 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.
God’s hand is strong enough to win battles, and gentle enough to carry his weary lambs.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
How big is God? So big that he can hold all the waters of the earth in his palm, and so big that the universe is as wide as his open hand.
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
How big is God? So big that he could weigh the mountains on with a small scale.
What’s the point? How big are your circumstances compared with God?
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?
God doesn’t need to consult with anyone. He is knowledge. He is understanding, He is wisdom.
Can you think of another time in scriptures when God asked similar questions? (Job 38-39)
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.
In those days Lebanon was a fertile forest of cedar trees full of wild life. The people of the day thought it was an endless resource. Yet these verses say, even this area could not produce enough wood or animals to present enough sacrifices sufficient for God.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
No political power is greater than God.
18 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. 0 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.
Both of the idol-makers used materials God created, and skills that God gave them and yet all they could produce was an inferior product.
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? 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 is watching over his creation.
23 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.
God is in charge. Rulers do not come to power unless He permits.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
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.
God has named the stars – millions and millions of them.
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”?
Instead of praising God, the nation was complaining, accusing him of not knowing of their situation or having any concern for their problems. Instead of seeing the open door to freedom out of exile, the Jews saw only the long road before them; and they complained that they did not have strength for the journey. God was asking them to do the impossible.
28 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.
Unlike Judah, who was losing hope in captivity, ready to give up. God never relaxes; He is always watching his people.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
If we trust ourselves, we will faint and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
“renew” means “to exchange,” as taking off old clothes and putting on new. We exchange our weakness for His power.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
If we wait on the Lord by faith, we will receive strength for the journey. The word “wait” does not suggest that we sit around and do nothing. As we wait on the Lord, He enables us not only to fly higher and run faster, but also to walk longer. Only those who walk arrive at their destination!
