Is 40
Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted
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31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
34 The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
- 41
Well tonight we move into a new section of Isaiah where he sort of changes style and the overwhelming emphasis will be on the Messiah. As we have mentioned previously there are some liberal scholars who believe that there are 2 or even different writers of Isaiah, but we can put that to bed by going to .
But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
(From Is 53:1)
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
(From 6:10)
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
Both of the quotations are credited to Isaiah and they are from the different parts of Isaiah.
So let’s open up to
1 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
We immediately see a change here, God wants to comfort His people. The Hebrew scholars who translated the OT into greek, creating the Septuagint, used the word parakaleō to translate comfort. Jesus used this same word in speaking of the Holy Spirit. It means one who comes beside. Jesus also described the HS as our helper.
Paul describes God in as the “God of all comfort.”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
This chapter is full of comforting words for His people and you will recognize many of the verses.
In our text here in God commands Isaiah to tell the people that “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
This is interesting because the Babylonians will destroy Israel in a hundred years or so. Obviously He is speaking about a future time but He is also speaking about His viewpoint regarding them. Their warfare with Him has ended and their sins are pardoned.
This really is the message of comfort. All who are in Christ can rejoice in that fact, that we are no longer at enmity with God.
Isaiah says something interesting at end of verse 2, For she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins:
Does it seem unfair that God would have a double payment for sin? "Double means 'to fold over, fold in half' () … When something is folded over, each half corresponds exactly with the other half, and this would yield the thought of exact correspondence between sin and payment." (Motyer) A payment has been made, and it was exactly the payment that was needed!
Some see here the reality that the first born received a double portion, both good and bad.
Our iniquity is never pardoned because God has simply decided to "let us off the hook." That would make God and unrighteous, wicked judge, something He could never be. But under the New Covenant, it is not we who have received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins; it is our sin-bearing Savior Jesus Christ, who received the cup of wrath from the LORD's hand double for all our sins.
Now we get to the prophecy that Todd told us about on Sunday from the book of Mark.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah loves the image of a Highway. Here he is speaking of John the Baptist who would prepare the way. Todd called him Gods bulldozer and that is a great description.
If you have you taken I-5 over the Grapevine you get a feel for what needs to be done. Carving out mountains and filling in Valleys.
Notice the result of this preparation;
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
We can be assured that this will happen because:
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
We continue;
6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he ( most probably it should read “I” not “he”) said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
The message is the frailty of man: All flesh is grass. Isaiah thinks of the beautiful green grass covering the hills of Judah after the winter rains, and how quickly the grass dies and the hills are left brown and barren. This is how frail and weak man is. Even the beauty of man is fleeting, and passes as quickly as spring wildflowers. Think of the super-bloom last year on our hills how quickly it goes away.
Isaiah is making a comparison with the frailty of man, he is here today gone tomorrow but But the word of our God stands forever. Once one is settled in their Christian faith this is the truth that resonates in our souls. Gods promises are solid and unchaneable.
On this point, Josh McDowell, writes;
In 303 A.D., the Roman Emperor Diocletian demanded that every copy of the Scriptures in the Roman Empire be burned. He failed, and 25 years later, the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned a scholar named Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the Bible at government expense.
Voltaire, the French skeptic and infidel who died in 1778, said that 100 years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history, and that the Bible would be a forgotten book. Only 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his press and his house to produce stacks of Bibles.
"Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more love and cherished and read today than ever before. Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt. When the French monarch proposed a persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, 'Sire, the Church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.' So the hammers of the infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures. If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and book still lives." (Hastings, cited in McDowell)
Isaiah continues;
9 O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
Glad tidings to us is the Gospel - Good News. This reminds me of Jesus in
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
A message we need to hear, Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
We continue;
10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
Here we get a view of Christ’s return. He is ruling in strength and power but notice His reward is with Him. I see hear a picture that we as His reward are with Him at His return. Even if that is a stretch He is certainly bring rewards for His bride.
Verse 11 is beautiful picture of how Jesus deals with us His Flock. Notice how He treats the lambs (little ones.) This really gives us a picture of how much abortion hurts the heart of God.
Jesus is given three great titles regarding His work as a shepherd.
i. Jesus the Good Shepherd (). He is good in His care and sacrifice for the flock.
ii. Jesus the Great Shepherd (). He is great in His glorious triumph over every enemy.
iii. Jesus the Chief Shepherd (). He is the Chief over all His people in His return. At His return, Jesus also exercises another aspect of His role as Shepherd: He divides the sheep from the goats ().
(Spurgeon)"Did you ever notice that the same Shepherd who saves the lost, will curse the finally impenitent? He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, 'Depart ye cursed.' What lips are those which pronounce those dreadful words? The Shepherd's lips."
Now Isaiah extols the greatness of God:
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?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
Paul quoted this in :34 from the Septuagint.
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?
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.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
Here we see Isaiah using what is called an anthropomorphism - speaking of God in human terms so we can partially understand who He is and what He does.
As God is a spirit He doesn’t have a physical body. But not all see it that way.
Mormons believe that:
God is an exalted, perfected man. God has a physical body
Quote from: Hank Hanegraaff
Aside from aberant teaching it is interesting to consider that God has a handle on every star and has named each one. He knows exactly about all that is in His creation down to the smallest detail.
Isaiah now mocks the idea of idol worship;
18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
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.
We sort scoff at the idea of idols, but our generation have taken it one step further. We know say that God is nothing. Nothingness created us.
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?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
They had no idea in that day even 2000 years later. You can imagine God’s heart toward all the evolutionists when His design is so evident to for all to see.
As we study the uniqueness of our Earth we can observe the hand of our Creator.
Earth is a precise distance from the sun that maintains the ability to have life.
The earth size and speed of orbit keep it at perfect distance from the sun.
The moon is precisely the exact distance from the earth to maintain tides.
The precise tilt of the earth 23 degrees allows for seasons.
70% of the earth is water.
Air - a perfect mixture of gases. If it were much different (e.g. 17 percent instead of 21 percent oxygen, life would cease to exist on 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.
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
The latest cosmologists/scientists are just calculating that the heavens are really laid out like a curtain.
23 He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
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.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
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.
Isaiah closes this section with a strong admonition to Israel. Again a favorite passage of all.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
The trick hear is to realize you are weak!
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
But being operative word..
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.
Many have commented on the unusual order here, to fly, and then run, and then finally to walk. But maybe its because the walk is the hardest part. It would be easy to be martyred for Christ. You get to end this life and move on to the next but whats hard is to live a life pleasing to the Lord for the long term. Its not life after death that difficult but Life after birth..