The God of Israel
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
(40:1–26):
AG:
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Worship Reminders
Worship Reminders
Thou shalt not come to service late,
nor for the amen refuse to wait.
When speaks the organ’s sweet refrain,
the noisy tongue thou shalt refrain.
But when the hymns are sounded out,
thou shalt lift thy voice and shout.
And when the anthem thou shalt hear,
thy sticky voice thou shalt not clear.
The endmost seat thou shalt leave free,
for more must share the pew with thee.
The offering plate thou shalt not fear,
but give thine uttermost with cheer.
Thou shalt the minister give heed,
nor blame him when thou art disagreed.
Unto thy neighbor thou shalt bend,
and, if a stranger, make a friend.
Thou shalt in every way be compassionate, kind,
considerate, and of tender mind.
And so, by all thy spirit’s grace,
thou shalt show God within this place.2
TS: This chapter is the key to the remainder of the prophesy and contains the prophet’s message that after judging His people, God will comfort them. This chapter describes eight attributes of God. The focus being squarely on God will comfort His people.
RS: We mus keep our minds fixed upon HIM. In the good and the bad times. On great days and terrible ones. When we are alone and when we gether as a church. God is never changing. Worship focuses on our awesome God and is solely for His glory! Yet our loving Father blesses us when we worship Him.
1. His mercy (40:1–2)
1. His mercy (40:1–2)
1. He comforts (40:1):
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
He wants his people to be comforted.
This isn’t the only time God speaks of comforting His people
A. In the face of doom and death-
The Thessalonians were worried
1. About those who died in the faith. They so believed that Christ’s return to Earth was imminent, that they feared those who died in the meantime had missed the Kingdom.
2. The decline of the world into more chaos
as the end approaches, we see the same thing.
Paul receives these words from God and describes the rapture, the trumpet and Christ’s calling us home and afterwards, he tells us to comfort each other.
The New King James Version Chapter 5
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
B. In Troubles
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Notice 2 things:
He comforts us
We are to comfort each other
God is merciful and comforts His people!
2. He forgives (40:2):
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Jerusalem has been pardoned and punished in full for her sins.
God in His mercy withholds judgment our sins deserve
He does discipline, but not to the full measure we deserve
Judah deserved to wiped off the face of the Earth
God in His mercy and in faithfulness forgives and continues to keep His promises
God forgives even now
Christ paid the penalty, His wrath is satisfied
He makes intersession for us and is our advocate with the Father
Never forget:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God is merciful and forgives His people.
2. His glory (40:3–5)
2. His glory (40:3–5)
1. The messenger (40:3):
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah predicts the ministry of John the Baptist.
2. The message (40:4–5):
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
John the Baptist called Israel to repentance in preparation for the glorious appearance of the Messiah.
We carry out that same mission today:
NO we aren’t called baptist to honor John
John was a baptizer and we are too.
Just as John was a forerunner and prepared people for Christ as He announced Him.... we announce his second advent and urge them to be ready.
We proclaim God’s glory
every time we worship while alone, with our family, or as a corporate body, we proclaim the glory of God.
Read/Pray the Psalms and passages such as ISA 40.
Testify of His glory
attributes
things He has done
Praise Him!
3. His eternality (40:6–9):
3. His eternality (40:6–9):
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
Our lives in these bodies are temporary.
we are like grass and flowers
Think back to a month or so ago. This summer, the rains stopped and things faded fast. Grass withered and flowers faded. My yard was basically dirt!
Our lives are that fragile!
The contrast made:
God on the other hand is unfading!
God’s word stands forever, unlike people, and his people are called to proclaim
the Lord’s coming.
God has no beginning and will have no end.
He is from infinity in the past and will be here into infinity in the future!
This has several implications
Isaiah proclaims one here
Since He is eternal, His word endures forever!
THIS IS VITAL!
We can 100% trust the Bible!
From the first word to the final word it is God’s word, His message to us
In the word, we find all we need to know and all we need to do to please Him.
4. His gentleness (40:11):
4. His gentleness (40:11):
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
God will treat his own with the same tenderness a shepherd displays for his flock.
Although God is Awesome and far above us in prestige and power, our mighty God is gentle!
What an amazing picture here:
A shepherd would carry a weak or injured lamb.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God is our gentle shepherd!
5. His omnipotence (40:10, 12, 26):
5. His omnipotence (40:10, 12, 26):
Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
This series of questions can only be answered, “No one”
No one is stronger and no one is wiser than God.
He is returning with power and as a conqueror over all people and animals. He is all powerful and none can best Him!
He is master over all nature.
6. His omniscience (40:13–14):
6. His omniscience (40:13–14):
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
He knows and understands all things and needs no one to counsel or advise him.
Do you have someone to call when you need advice?
Maybe it is someone different for each situation.
When I need help explaining how to write, I go to the English teacher next door.
When I encounter a tech problem, I have a couple of go to guys who really know their tech!
When I am ill (and will admit it), I have a physician whom I seek out.
Yet there is no 1 person I can turn to for everything!
Praise the Lord, God is far beyond all of them!
He knows it all!
He even knows what the future holds
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
7. His sovereignty (40:15–17, 21–24)
7. His sovereignty (40:15–17, 21–24)
1. All nations are as a drop in the bucket, as dust on the scales to him(40:15–17).
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
No authority is higher than God
He is the Most High
all spiritual beings are under His authority
all physical beings are under His authority
all forces of nature are under His authority
2. He is enthroned above the circle of the earth (40:21–22):
Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
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 like a tent to dwell in;
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
He is the creator and ruler of all!
3. He rules over all people (40:23–24).
who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
8. His uniqueness (40:18–20, 25):
8. His uniqueness (40:18–20, 25):
To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
He cannot be compared to anyone or anything.
He is beyond all compare!
The idols of the nations around Israel were worthless
There is no comparison between a work crafted by human hands and the Almighty God
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Judah was facing judgment. They had sinned. They messed up and God’s prophets had made it plain that their setbacks were due to their sin. Yet even in the midst of judgment, God inspired Isaiah to declare God to us!
We all have valleys to go through. We all feel beaten down at times. We carry heavy burdens.
Follow the pattern given by Isaiah!
Focus on God!
[1] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Is 40:1–20.