Here Is Your God – Part 5
Isaiah 40:1-31 (18-26)
February 11, 2024
I want to start this morning with the same quote
We started with last Sunday night from A.W. Tozer.
“Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
(Tozer, A.W. [The Knowledge of the Holy; Harper & Row; New York, NY; 1961] pg. 11)
And the point we made upon that quote was simply to remind that
Weak theology is idolatrous too.
Any time we ascribe to God less than He is,
Whether that be by a graven image or merely a mental one
It is to ascribe to Him less than He deserves.
That is idolatry and it is a sin.
And certainly the 70 year captivity period would be a valuable time of education for Israel to learn that God punishes idolatry.
But what Isaiah is addressing here in Isaiah 40 is
A DIFFERENT CONSEQUENCE OF IDOLATRY.
Isaiah isn’t so much addressing God’s wrath which idolatry incites, But the inevitable consequence of despair which idolatry produces
Your thoughts about God have consequences which affect your life.
• If you believe God to be a gracious God then you will rejoice in the fact that He has shown grace to you.
• If you believe God to be a loving God then you will rejoice in the fact that He has loved you.
• If you believe God to be like a cow then on the day you need deliverance you are going to be sorely disheartened because cows aren’t not known for their saving power.
And this is where the children of Israel have found themselves.
I remind you again of their despair.
(27) “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?”
This was THEIR COMPLAINT.
More than that, it had become THEIR BELIEF.
• They actually believed that God could not see them in their affliction.
• They actually believed that their plight was hidden from God.
They were not seeing Him as the all-knowing omniscient One.
These refugees in Babylon had instead seen God as regional
And limited in His knowledge and therefore unable to help.
THE QUESTION I would bring to you again is:
WHAT CAUSED THEM TO DEVELOP SUCH LOW VIEWS OF GOD?
And the answer is: IDOLATRY
• The children of Israel had dumbed Him down.
• The children of Israel had distorted who He is.
• They had stepped into idolatry and it wasn’t long before they began to
associate the attributes of their idols to God.
AND THE INEVITABLE EFFECT WAS DESPAIR.
If your theology reduces God to something less than He is,
Then on the day that you need the glorious God of the universe
You will be in despair.
It DOESN’T MEAN that you will have succeeded in dumbing Him down.
He is still as glorious as He ever was, it is just that you will fail to see Him and trust Him,
Having forgotten who He is and what He does.
Idolatry can have disastrous effects on your life.
THE SOLUTION to that problem then is to have your theology corrected.
And this is Isaiah’s chief mission.
(9) “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
The objective of Isaiah is to climb the highest peak
And to hold up a right view of God before the people.
HE IS ON A THEOLOGY CORRECTING MISSION.
He has set out to remind these refugees of 3 things.
1. God’s Promises
2. God’s Power
3. God’s Perseverance
We spent the first 3 sermons talking about:
#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11
• He promises forgiveness for His children
• He has promised a coming glorious shepherd King to come and deliver
• Remember that and your despair will begin to disappear.
#2 GOD’S POWER
Isaiah 40:12-26
We started this one last Sunday night.
We might even better refer to it as God’s Preeminence.
Israel had not only forgotten that God was gracious and merciful and One who forgives iniquity and saves His people.
ISRAEL HAD ALSO FORGOTTEN THAT
God had the power to do that which He promises.
You can be merciful or gracious or loving,
But if you have no power it is an empty sentiment.
In these 15 verses God is rising up to defend His power.
Israel had dumbed Him down by comparison.
They had begun to compare God to MEN
• That in some way God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom are similar.
They had begun to compare God to NATIONS
• That in some way God’s power and the power of nations are similar.
They had begun to compare God to IDOLS
• That in some way God’s opportunity and that of idols are similar.
They had begun to compare God to RULERS
• That in some way God’s decrees and that of earthly rulers are similar.
They had begun to compare God to STARS
• That in some way God’s guidance and that of the stars is similar.
In these 15 verses God sets the record straight on each one of them.
We saw the first two Sunday night.
As God compared Himself:
1) TO MAN (12-14)
The point there obviously had to do with wisdom.
• We are so certain that we know what to do.
• We become so puffed up in our wisdom and logic.
Often times we will even ignore what God has to say
Because it doesn’t make good sense to us.
• We are prone to sit in judgment of God’s decrees.
• We are pone to question God’s directives.
All of this is a sort of THEOLOGICAL IDOLATRY.
It is to bring God’s wisdom down to the level of man.
God is not impressed.
(13-14) “Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?”
• We have a God who created the heavens and the earth.
• We have a God who imagined the beauty of the seas and all the fish in them.
• We have a God who formed humanity and the intricacies of the human body.
• We have a God who determined natural laws like gravity or inertia.
And the simple question is: WHAT MAN HELPED HIM?
NO ONE!
Would you really seek to compare the wisdom of God to the wisdom of man?
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 1:25 “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Saying God is wise like man is a foolish comparison.
HE IS WAY WISER!
Psalms 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”
Isaiah will close this chapter in verse 28 saying, “His understanding is inscrutable.” (i.e. impossible to understand or interpret)
NO COMPARISON.
We also saw last Sunday night God compare Himself:
2) TO NATIONS (15-17)
Nations were remarkable symbols of power.
• These refugees were actually held captive in Babylon.
• No one could thwart them or stop them.
• They were the “super power” of the day.
And the refugees could not imagine that even God would be able to do anything with such a mighty foe as Babylon in control.
Similar to today
• When men get so concerned about the power of Russia or China
• When men assume the United States is some unfailing power to deliver.
But again God reminded that He is not like the nations.
(17) “All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”
• He called them “a drop from a bucket”
• He called them “a speck of dust on the scales”
You just can’t get more insignificant than they are.
We saw how Daniel spoke to Babylon and named not only the country who would topple them, but 2 more kingdoms after that.
• Babylon then Persia then Greece then Rome.
• They all thought themselves to be eternal in power and none of them lasted.
GOD IS NOT LIKE THEM.
If you think God’s power is no greater than the nations
You are going to be sorely disappointed.
So once again there is NO COMPARISON.
• God’s wisdom is not like man’s wisdom.
• God’s power is not like the power of the nations.
• He is infinitely greater!
We saw those last time. Let’s move forward THIS MORNING.
Next we see God’s comparison
3) TO IDOLS (18-22)
“To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to 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 out like a tent to dwell in.”
God begins to address the typical comparison that is made
Of God to graven images.
This practice is EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN in the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
The irony of this text is that
• While God was giving that command to Moses on Sinai
• Aaron was at the bottom of the mountain fashioning a golden calf.
And we pay special attention to what was said by Aaron
Upon completion of Israel’s most famous idol.
Exodus 32:4-5 “He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”
• The children attributed all the miracles of the Exodus to that calf.
• Aaron then proclaimed “a feast to the LORD” (to Yahweh) before it.
The children of Israel were not trying to replace God with this calf,
They were seeking to define Him.
They were seeking to represent Him or explain Him.
They wanted something they could see and touch.
They wanted something they could understand and associate with.
And after all they had just gone through and witnessed:
• The plagues on Egypt
• The death of the firstborn
• The Passover
• The pillar of fire
• The parting of the Red Sea
• The powerful storm descending on Sinai
THE BEST THOUGHT they had in describing who God was,
WAS TO MAKE A MOLTEN CALF?
God is like a golden calf?
But this is why men like graven images.
• They are visible
• They are seemingly present
• They are simple to understand
BUT THEY ARE UTTERLY OFFENSIVE TO GOD.
“To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”
• We just found out that He poured the oceans from the palm of His hand.
• We just found out that He measured the universe by the span.
• We just found out that He lifts the islands like specks of dust.
No go through your room of graven images
And you tell me which one is most like Him!
(19) “As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, and goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver.”
Isaiah isn’t rebuking idolatry here, he is merely explaining it.
• Man designs it.
• Man clothes it.
• Man adorns it.
This is a god made up by the thought of man.
It is a god of a man’s own choosing and design.
Designed to look and be like whatever man wants.
Now, granted not everyone can afford a golden idol with silver chains.
(20) “He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot; he seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.”
Not as flashy, but still the same basic idea.
• It is a god designed by the thought and ability of man.
• It looks like what man intends.
• It is man’s best attempt at defining who God is.
Humorous that in both cases this new deity only has one real ability… “not totter”
That’s asking quite a lot of your god!
IS THERE ANY WONDER then whey the refugees in Babylon would have lost confidence that God would be able to come and rescue them?
They’ve spent their whole lives dumbing God down
To make Him equal with some gold covered piece of metal
Or some chainsaw carving that doesn’t fall over.
And one thing they all instinctively know while in Babylon.
THOSE GODS AREN’T COMING TO SAVE THEM!
(If God is like them, you’re toast!)
SO WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION TO MAKING THESE IDOLS?
The attraction was the visibility and the presence of the idol.
• Their god appeared present.
• Their god could be talked to.
• Their god could be touched.
• They could see him.
But with this idolatrous compromise not only did they offend God,
But they also cheated themselves out of much comfort.
Because now they have no idea just how powerful God really is.
So God steps up with His third comparison.
(21-22) “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to 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 out like a tent to dwell in.”
Again we get 4 questions from Isaiah.
These all come with a condescending exposure of their utter foolishness.
After all these years of being the people of God
Are you seriously going to tell me that you don’t think
God is bigger or better than those stupid little idols you forged?
“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth”
That idol might sit nicely in your living room, but God sits in the heavens!
When Jesus spoke of God and His temple:
Matthew 5:34-35 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”
When Paul visited Athens and saw all their temples:
Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;”
When Solomon completed the temple that was actually designed by God:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”
There is no comparison, He sits above the earth.
“And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers”
• This was one of the concerns the children of Israel voiced when they were afraid to go into the Promised Land.
• They said the land is full of giants and we looked like grasshoppers in their sight.
• That is to say, we were insignificant and posed no threat at all.
And Isaiah uses the same language here.
It is another analogy of the bigness of God in comparison to us.
“Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
If you want to conceal your idol, it’s easy,
Just put it in a closet or throw a bed sheet over it.
But it would require the whole of the cosmos to conceal God.
Are you getting the point?
THERE IS NO COMPARISON.
Here you are in Babylon
• Your little living room idol couldn’t save you.
• What is more, it didn’t come with you.
• What is more, it isn’t coming for you.
• It can’t see you and you can’t see it.
• It might not even be a god anymore at all.
ALL OF THAT IS TRUE!
BUT YOUR GOD IS NOT LIKE THEM!
Psalms 115:2-8 “Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”
Jeremiah 51:15-19 “It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain And brings forth the wind from His storehouses. All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And of the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.”
If you have compared God to some idol
It’s no wonder you are disillusioned.
And notice the distinguishment Jeremiah makes there.
• He calls God “The portion of Jacob”
• He calls Israel, “the tribe of His inheritance”.
This God who dwells in the heavens, who beholds all the works of men
IS YOUR GOD.
He is present with you.
He sees what is going on.
And He, unlike your idol, has the power to fix any situation.
You say your way is hidden from God, wrong.
It is your idol who can’t see, the living God is well-aware.
Compare God to men – God is wiser!
Compare God to nations – God is more powerful!
Compare God to idols – God far more aware!
That brings us to the 4th comparison:
4) TO RULERS (23-25)
“He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.”
Even in our world we understand the effect of rulers.
We remember 2020 when we all found out the meaning of the phrase, “Executive Order”.
Rulers come not just with power, but with AUTHORITY.
And when a ruler won’t give in or change his mind
We wonder what in the world are we to do.
The refugees Isaiah addresses are in a foreign land under Nebuchadnezzar’s authority.
• They live where he lives.
• They eat what he eats.
• They face commands like “bow to this golden statue”
RULERS HAVE AUTHORITY, THEY DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
BUT THE MISTAKE is made when we assume that
God’s authority resembles theirs in any way shape form or fashion.
God’s authority is not granted authority, it is intrinsic authority.
But man’s authority, even the highest is all derived from God.
Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
While you may see and even lament the authority of man,
DO NOT for one second assume that
Man’s authority is in any way on par with the authority of God.
Isaiah points out the degree of authority that God has over world rulers.
“He it is who reduces rulers to nothing…”
• Ask Saul what it is like to have the kingdom taken from you?
• Or go and ask Rehoboam what it feels like.
• Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar himself would agree with this assessment after God stripped sovereignty from him for 7 years.
NO ONE REDUCES GOD.
No one takes authority from Him.
Yet He does it to any man He chooses.
Isaiah says He “makes the judges of the earth meaningless.”
While we do lament and suffer under corrupt decisions by foolish courts,
There is a part of what they do that is ACTUALLY LAUGHABLE.
• As though some human judge could determine if it is acceptable to murder
an infant in the womb.
• Or of some judge feels at liberty to redefine marriage.
They can make their ruling, but it won’t hold in heaven’s court.
Their rulings are “meaningless”.
“Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”
EARLIER He reminded us that “all flesh is like grass” and it won’t last, but God’s word “stands forever”.
HERE ISAIAH DOUBLES DOWN.
It’s not hard to pick out THE WORD OF FOCUS.
Isaiah three times uses the word “scarcely”.
This is interesting, it’s actually two words in the Hebrew.
(AF) & (BAL)
AF is a word that signifies addition.
(also, furthermore, yea, so much the more)
BAL is a word that speaks of “nothing” or “not”
(not, hardly, else)
Isaiah says here that they are “a whole lot of nothing.”
Take how much nothing they are and double it!
By comparison their authority is less than zero!
• Their decrees will fall.
• Their orders won’t last.
• Their legacy won’t be anything.
• They just aren’t as big as they think.
SO GOD ASKS AGAIN:
(25) “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.”
Which world ruler are you going to say God is most like?
• God is most like Pharaoh? – Pretty sure God can swim.
• God is most like Sennacherib – God isn’t swayed by rumors.
• God is like Nebuchadnezzar – God has never lost His sanity.
But when you reduce God to something you can understand
Then you languish thinking that He cannot deliver.
LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT GOD HAS AUHTORITY TO DELIVER.
(Just remember the Exodus)
Deuteronomy 4:32-39 “Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? “Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. “Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
You act like you are stuck here and there is nothing that can be done.
• Have you forgotten who your God is?
• Have you reduced Him to having no more authority than some world ruler?
Listen, your God is authority!
He acts and no one can reverse it.
Don’t compare His wisdom to mans – God is wiser.
Don’t compare His power to nations – God is stronger.
Don’t compare His awareness to idols – God is present.
Don’t compare His authority to rulers – God is sovereign.
One more comparison:
5) TO THE UNIVERSE (26)
“Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
Stars are mentioned because astrology was huge to the Babylonians.
To them the stars were the guides.
And we’re NOT talking about ASTRONOMY where a person can get a bearing from the north star or from the southern cross.
We’re talking about astrology and the horoscopes and all of that nonsense that continues even to this day.
It is the mystical and pagan religion of looking for a sign in the heavens
To dictate what is going to happen on earth.
THE QUESTION OF ISAIAH IS THIS:
Do you really equate the direction of God to be no more reliable than that of the stars?
WE ARE NOT EQUALS!
In fact, I created these stars!
“Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars”
And I don’t get My direction from the stars, I’m the One who leads them!
“The One who leads forth their host by number”
I’m their Creator and I’m the One who named them.
“He calls them by name”
Furthermore I am the One who sustains them.
“Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
Who gives better direction, the stars or the One who created them?
WHY would you reduce the direction of God
To the level of some mystical horoscope?
• They are not accurate, God is never wrong.
• They are not clear, God speaks with extreme clarity.
• They are not dependable, God’s word never fails.
• They are not authoritative, God’s word has ultimate authority.
DO YOU SEE THE NONSENSE?
BUT YOU ALSO SEE WHY ISRAEL WAS IN SUCH A PIT OF DESPAIR.
THEY HAD REDUCED GOD IN THEIR MINDS.
THEY HAD FORGOTTEN WHO HE IS.
Because they were not faithful to keep their word,
• They assumed God was not faithful to keep His.
Because they didn’t understand what was going on.
• They assumed God didn’t understand either.
Because no nation could stand against Babylon,
• They assumed God couldn’t stand against them either.
Because their idol didn’t come with them to Babylon,
• They assumed God didn’t come either.
Because their idol wasn’t coming to save them,
• They assumed God wasn’t coming either.
Because no one could question Nebuchadnezzar’s authority,
• They assumed God couldn’t overrule him either.
Because the stars had failed to give accurate direction,
• They assumed God couldn’t give it either.
By lowering their view of God they only ended up harming themselves.
NOW HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS.
Regardless of how you may have reduced God in your theology,
Rest assured, you haven’t actually affected who He is at all.
• Just because you didn’t recognize His wisdom doesn’t mean He isn’t wise.
• Just because you didn’t recognize His power doesn’t mean He isn’t strong.
• Just because you didn’t recognize His awareness doesn’t mean He doesn’t know.
• Just because you didn’t recognize His authority doesn’t mean He isn’t sovereign.
• Just because you didn’t recognize His guidance doesn’t mean He can’t do it.
You haven’t harmed God, you’ve only harmed yourself.
And your despair is a result of having forgotten your God.
YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN
His promises of forgiveness and salvation.
His power and His ability to do that which He has promised.
SO REMEMBER THOSE THINGS AND RUN TO HIM.
Listen to Isaiah,
Who is standing on a high mountain declaring, “Here is your God!”
• And when you begin to behold Him rightly…
• And when you begin to see Him as He reveals Himself…
I promise the threat of man and nations and idols and kings and mystical horoscopes will no longer unnerve you.
BECAUSE OUR GOD IS NOT LIKE THEM.
HE IS ABOVE THEM ALL.
Stop lamenting in your pity party
That God must have forgotten or that He does not see.
Instead “Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
And if God leads the stars, will He not lead His children?
And if God preserves the stars, will He not preserve His children?
Stop your worrying…
Stop your fretting…
Stop your whining…
See who your God is and start trusting Him!
REMEMBER HIS POWER.
We’ll finish this chapter up tonight.
