Here Is Your God – Part 6
Isaiah 40:1-31 (27-31)
February 11, 2024
So tonight let’s GET TO THE HEART of the matter.
We know the purpose of the chapter, that was made clear at the outset.
(1) “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”
GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE COMFORTED.
• This is a message to the troubled children of God.
• This is a message to the child of God who is in despair.
• This is a message to the child of God who feels neglected, abandoned, and confused.
And the reality is that life has a way of doing that to us, even as believers.
We face trials. – We face struggles. – We face adversity.
These things are promised to us in life.
• Partly because of the sin-stained world in which we live.
• Partly because God uses it for our sanctification.
The problem occurs when
We as God’s children don’t know how to handle it.
Isaiah 40 represents people in that boat.
• Exiled to Babylon.
• Having spent decades there.
• They feel neglected and abandoned.
And here has been the kicker for the entire chapter.
THEIR DESPAIR IS THEIR FAULT.
It is the direct consequence of
Having forgotten who God is and what God does.
Isaiah has been commissioned to
• Stand on a high mountain
• Remind God’s people who He is.
We’ve already seen the first two realities that these refugees forgot.
#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11
• Namely that God forgives His children
• And He will send a glorious Shepherd King to deliver them.
#2 GOD’S POWER
Isaiah 40:12-26
Namely that God is nothing like:
• Men – He’s infinitely wiser
• Nations – He’s infinitely larger and more powerful
• Idols – He’s actually present
• Rulers – He’s got real authority
• Universe – He’s a reliable guide
And the implication that we left off with this morning is that
If God so intimately cares for the stars,
Many of which no one even knows exist but Him.
How much more will He care for His children whom He has redeemed?
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
God has made you PROMISES
God definitely has the POWER to bring those promises to fruition.
Well tonight, let’s look at the 3rd thing these disillusioned refugees forgot.
#3 GOD’S PERSEVERANCE
Isaiah 40:27-31
When we speak of God’s perseverance we mean it in the sense that
God never gives up on His promise or His people.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
That is the same thing Paul meant when he reminded that:
Romans 11:29 “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Or earlier in that chapter.
Romans 11:1-2a “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”
It is that final doctrine of grace that we love so much.
• The standard TULIP refers to it as “The Perseverance of the Saints”,
• But it is more rightly understood as “The Preservation of the Saints”.
It is not so much a focus on the saints ability to endure
As it is on the reality that
God will accomplish the salvation that He promised.
He does not quit.
He does not stop.
He does not grow disillusioned.
He does not throw in the towel.
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Or as we love in Romans 8:
Romans 8:30 “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”
It is that reality that is mentioned by Isaiah here in verse 28
When Isaiah says that God “Does not become weary or tired.”
He rested on the 7th day, but not due to exhaustion.
He rested because He was finished
He will not rest again until His work of redemption is finished.
And this is IMPORTANT FOR US TO REMEMBER,
Especially when we face circumstances that might bring us despair.
• We must remember God’s promises.
• We must remember God’s power.
• We must remember God’s perseverance to see it through to the end.
And that is where we want to land this evening
As we look at these very familiar verses.
And again, as we have done, let’s break this down a little bit further.
Tonight let’s take a closer look at the despair that prompted this chapter
And then find the remedy for it.
1) THE SOUND OF 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”?”
We have already referenced this verse a number of times here in Isaiah 40
As it gives us great insight into the motivation behind the chapter.
These refugees are distraught.
But what exactly is their lament?
What exactly is their complaint?
We have already discussed the implications here that perhaps GOD DOESN’T SEE.
• That is implied in the phrase “My way is hidden from the LORD”
• That is of course absurd since God is not like man or idols.
• He definitely knows what is going on.
We have also addressed the implication that perhaps GOD IS DISINTERESTED.
• Implied in the phrase “the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”
• As though God just has sort of lost interest in what’s going on in your life.
• But the God who holds the stars certainly has not forgotten His children.
We could even discuss that perhaps God is acting unjustly.
• Implied by the statement that I have not received “the justice due me”
• That was Job’s complaint.
• That perhaps God has failed to rightly reward me for the way I have lived.
We spot a bucket full of problems with that insinuation.
Now WHAT IS INTERESTING is that
So far Isaiah has NOT really directly addressed their accusation.
Isaiah has talked of God’s promises of mercy and salvation,
• But the complaint here wasn’t that God hasn’t made promises to us.
• They don’t say, “God hasn’t promised me any good.”
Isaiah has talked of God’s power over and above the powers of this earth,
• But the complaint is not that God isn’t powerful.
• They don’t say, “God is too weak to help.”
The real heart of their complaint is not that
God hasn’t promised or that God doesn’t have power.
The real heart of their complaint is that
God has for some reason forgotten, or given up, or failed to care.
THE ACTUAL ACCUSATION HAS TO DO WITH GOD NOT CARING.
• You just don’t care anymore.
• You just don’t love me.
• You have grown disinterested.
• You must have quit on me.
Why else would I still be here in Babylon with no explanation?
That is the sound of despair.
Psalms 77:7-10 “Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah. Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
It is the cry of the disciples in the boat:
Mark 4:38 “Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
It is the cry of the EXILE.
It is the cry of the PRISONER.
It is the cry of the LONELY.
It is the cry of the SICK.
It is the cry of so many in their affliction.
And it is the cry that has inspired this entire chapter.
And so now, at the conclusion Isaiah gets to the thing, perhaps they needed to remember more than anything he has said thus far.
The Sound of Despair
2) THE SOURCE OF DESPAIR (28-29)
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.”
There it is again.
• It’s time for Isaiah to discuss something either you didn’t know or something you heard and have forgotten.
And it is all bound up in theology.
Once again you have forgotten who God is.
We already said you forgot His PROMISES and His POWER,
Well now let’s discuss what else you have forgotten.
HIS PERSONALITY
“The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”
Well there is a mouthful of theology!
“The Everlasting God”
Think on that for a moment.
It speaks of His eternal nature.
When Moses asked God what His name was
So that he could answer the children of Israel in Egypt
God answered by saying His name was “I Am”.
NOT “I Was” or “I Will Be”
God is always in the present.
He does not dwell inside of time like we do.
• Our lives our confined to milliseconds at a time.
• We can’t go back to a moment ago,
• We can’t speed forward to a few moments from now.
• We are always stuck.
• We have a past, we have present, and we have a future.
But God doesn’t dwell in any of those – HE IS.
He is the God “who was and is and is to come.”
It is INCONCEIVABLE to our minds that
God is present in the past, the present, and the future.
Psalms 90:1-2 “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
He IS God, not was God or will be God,
But “from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
Now that is impossible for us to reconcile in our minds.
It is too lofty.
However, it is important that you grasp some sense of it
Because it will greatly change how you view God’s promises.
If I make my kids a promise about something in the future,
• I can have every intent on fulfilling it.
• Even something simple like, “When church is over, we’ll go home.”
That’s well within my intent.
That seems well within my power.
BUT even at that, there are contingencies that I can’t possibly know
And so even the best of plans are subject to change.
Any number of things could happen that could keep me from keeping my promise.
But when God makes a promise bout the future,
There is no possibility of some contingency changing His plan
Because as He makes that promise HE IS ALREADY IN THE FUTURE.
IT’S DONE.
• He’s not just looking ahead to the future, He’s in the future.
• He’s not just learning from the past, He’s in the past.
• He’s not just observing the present with us, He’s here.
This is what makes His promises so certain.
• There is no, “if everything goes to plan” type promise with God.
• There is no, “we’ll wait and see” with Him.
• There are no, “good intentions” or “I’ll do My best” with Him.
• It’s done. He is eternal.
So how could you question God’s awareness of your problem?
How could you question God’s plan to fix it?
God has not just promised you what He will do,
He has promised you what He has done,
You just haven’t gotten there yet.
He is “the Everlasting God”
But Isaiah also reminds that He is “The LORD”
• That is the covenantal name by which He relates to His people.
It is interesting in this sense that when Isaiah addresses these people
In verse 27 he calls them, “O Jacob”.
It is a reminder who they are to God and who God is to them.
And let’s just think there for a second
How the reality of Jacob’s life could be so relevant to their situation.
Do you remember when God approached Jacob and entered into a covenant with him?
Genesis 28:10-15 “Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The very promise of God to him was, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Do you think it is a coincidence that Isaiah now calls these refugees “O Jacob”?
OF COURSE NOT!
Even at the end of Jacob’s life as he was once again outside of the borders of the Promised Land and lay dying in Egypt.
Jacob said:
Genesis 48:21 “Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.”
Jacob knew who the LORD was.
He was the covenantal God to them.
So often referred to as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”
• The One who promised to bless and care for their descendants
• And to give them this land of promise.
Here Isaiah reminds them not only of God’s ETERNAL NATURE,
But also of God’s COVENANTAL NATURE.
He is not just the eternal God, He is YOUR God!
HOW CAN YOU ASK IF HE HAS FORGOTTEN YOU?
Later Isaiah will reveal:
Isaiah 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.”
God does not forsake His people.
Christ does not forget those for whom He died.
He is “The Everlasting God, the LORD”
And Isaiah also reminds that He is “the Creator of the ends of the earth.”
We AREN’T just talking about creative power here,
Though that is certainly in play.
“the ends of the earth” is a phrase that speaks of the far distances of nowhere. It is far far away.
BUT GOD IS THERE.
Psalms 139:7-12 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”
And if God is at “the ends of the earth” do you seriously think He is not in Babylon?
Do you think yourself to be outside of His jurisdiction?
In every land, in ever ICU room, in every prison cell, in every battlefield, in every fiery furnace and lion’s den.
• He is there.
• He is always there
• And He is already there.
Don’t forget who He is.
You are lamenting that somehow God must not know what is going on,
Or that if He does know He no longer cares.
Nonsense, that’s not who He is at all.
You need to be refreshed about HIS PERSONALITY.
Or how about HIS PERSEVERANCE
(28b) “Does not become weary or tired.”
• He has never known exhaustion.
• He has never had to take a break.
• He rests when He is finished not when He is discouraged.
No challenge is beyond Him
Therefore no challenge can discourage Him.
No foe is equal to Him
Therefore no foe can battle Him to the point of being tired.
Your battle may be exhausting you, but it is not exhausting God.
He doesn’t get tired.
He is always able.
Or let’s talk about HIS PERCEPTION
(28c) “His understanding is inscrutable.”
He is always wise.
Nothing stumps Him.
Psalms 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”
He knows what to do and He knows what He is doing.
When you are in a trial and you don’t know what to do,
Don’t assume that God is as confused as you.
Just because God hasn’t seen fit to explain the situation to you
Does not mean He doesn’t know what to do.
As I read this week:
“We don’t live by explanations, we live by promises.”
We don’t expect God to explain everything to us,
We just believe what He promises and know He’s got it all figured out.
Or let’s talk about HIS PROVISION
(29) “He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.”
Do you not know this about God?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE
That the complaint of these refugees was that they had received no “justice”.
• By justice they meant deliverance from their slavery in Babylon.
• They thought it to be unjust, seemingly having forgotten the idolatry and sin that landed them there.
But all along instead of asking for “justice”,(i.e. “deliverance”)
They should have been asking for “strength” and “power”.
God promises these things for His afflicted people.
He is the source of such things.
And it is apparent that these refugees had forgotten all of that.
THAT WAS THE SOURCE OF THEIR DESPAIR.
They were languishing in Babylon
As though God was nowhere near, couldn’t see, had forgotten,
And didn’t care about them.
And it is easy for us as humans to fall into that error,
Especially when we think God to be like us at all.
So Isaiah strengthens their theology yet again.
GOD IS EVERLASTING,
• He is not only present in your trial, but He is standing at the end of it.
GOD IS COMPASSIONATE,
• He is the LORD, your covenantal God,
• The One who chose to save you and the One who will bring it to pass.
GOD IS PRESENT
• Even at the ends of the earth and He is certainly present with you.
GOD IS TIRELESS
• In His work and efforts.
GOD IS WISE
• And knows exactly what is going on.
GOD IS BENEVOLENT
• And eager to give you what you need in the moment.
Have you forgotten that about God?
Have you failed to take advantage of who He is?
YES YOU ARE IN EXILE.
YES IT IS DIFFICULT.
BUT
• You are NOT there because God is absent.
• You are NOT there because God lacks concern.
• You are NOT there because God is weary or tired.
• You are NOT there because God doesn’t know what to do.
And take that for a moment
And apply it to whatever circumstance YOU FIND YOURSELF in.
If you think the trial in your life is because
• God hasn’t forgiven you
• Or because God hasn’t saved you
• Or because God is absent
• Or because God doesn’t care
• Or because God is tired
• Or because God is confused about what to do.
Then you don’t know God at all.
And it’s no wonder why you are in despair.
AND AT THIS POINT we would almost expect one of those refugees or someone even today who is suffering to interject and ask:
If I’m not in this situation because God is absent or because God is unconcerned or because God is weary or because God is confused…
THEN WHY AM I HERE?
And here comes the answer.
IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW WHY,
IT IS FOR YOU TO KNOW HIM.
This chapter is addressing suffering people
Who are confused about their suffering
And Isaiah has spent 29 verses addressing their issue.
But he has not said one word about why they are there.
• He has not even mentioned the idolatry that is clearly laid out in Jeremiah.
• He hasn’t said anything about the mistake of Hezekiah to show off his treasures to Babylon.
• He hasn’t said anything about Manasseh and the way he shed innocent blood.
These people were in despair and Isaiah hasn’t devoted one word
To explaining to them why they are there.
But he has devoted 29 verses to explaining to them who God is.
When you face these trials
It is not for you to know why it is for you to know Him.
So that brings us now to the famous passage and
THE PRIMARY POINT OF ISAIAH.
The Sound of Despair
The Source of Despair
3) THE SOLUTION FOR DESPAIR (30-31)
“Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
First we recognize the often used strategy of God
And that is to put you in a situation beyond your strength.
“Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly…”
God is not the type of God who likes to put you in situations
Which can be solved by your own strength or your own intellect.
He puts you in situations that are beyond you.
He puts you in situations that you cannot handle.
Because He is cruel? NO!
It is so you’ll come to Him.
You are not there to know WHY, you are there to know HIM.
2 Corinthians 1:8-10 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,”
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
Paul spoke of the purpose of his trials.
It wasn’t to know why, it was to know Him.
And look at this glorious promise!
“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
• Isaiah speaks of a reality where a person can soar like an eagle.
• Isaiah speaks of a reality where a person can run without getting tired.
• Isaiah speaks of a reality where a person can walk without weariness.
And you say, “That’s not humanly possible.”
Exactly.
• We are talking now about something beyond human ability.
• We are talking now about something that isn’t natural,
• We are talking about something that is supernatural.
We are talking about God doing something in you, through you,
And even for you that you can not do on your own.
He has not placed you in this trial so that you will see how strong you are.
He has placed you in this trial so that you will see how strong He is.
SO WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
Isaiah calls it “new strength”.
• It is an influx of power that you didn’t think was possible.
• It is endurance beyond your normal ability.
Let me tell you what Isaiah is talking about here.
IT IS HOPE
When Paul told the Philippians to be anxious for nothing,
• He told them to pray to God
• And God would supply a peace that is beyond comprehension.
• It is a peace when you shouldn’t be at peace.
Well this is a hope when you shouldn’t have hope.
• This is a calmness when you shouldn’t be calm.
• This is assurance when nothing you can see should cause assurance.
Where does this come from?
“Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength.”
The Hebrew word for “wait” is (KAW-VAW)
It means “wait” or “look for” or “hope” or “expect”
Isaiah 5:2 “He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.”
• It is the person who in the trial has believed GOD’S PROMISES.
• It is the person who in the trial has believed GOD’S POWER.
• It is the person who in the trial has believed GOD’S PERSEVERANCE.
They refuse to dwell upon the circumstances that they see with their eyes
But they believe God is doing what He said He would do.
They don’t fear men because God is wiser than men.
They don’t fear nations because God is more powerful than nations.
They don’t fear idols because God is bigger than idols.
They don’t fear rulers because God is more authoritative than rulers.
They don’t fear horoscopes because God is more accurate than the stars.
They don’t fear condemnation because God has promised forgiveness.
They don’t fear destruction because God has promised a Savior.
In the middle of their despair, they fix their eyes on Jesus
And out of nowhere comes this hope to endure another day.
In the middle of hardship, they focus on God and His promises
And there is strength beyond what they could have imagined.
If the hope you have is in your own ability or intelligence,
You have a miserable powerless hope.
Our hope; our strength; comes
• When we look beyond our weakness and failure to the ginormous, powerful, all-wise, eternal, omnipresent, compassionate God of the universe!
Our hope comes
• When we focus on what He has promised.
And then somehow, in a way that we cannot understand,
This great God of ours puts within us His supernatural strength
To carry on another day, and then another day, and then another day.
Poured into our hearts is a hope that we cannot explain!
It is the hope of Job:
Job 19:25-26 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;”
It is the hope of Asaph:
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
It is the hope of Paul:
2 Corinthians 4:8-10 “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
AND IT IS THE HOPE AVAILABLE TO YOU.
Hebrews 6:19 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,”
Romans 8:24-25 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
Fix your eyes on Jesus!
Fix your eyes on the glorious promises of God!
Fix your eyes on the glorious power of God!
Fix your eyes on the glorious perseverance of God!
Expect Him to do what He has promised.
Gaze upon His mighty power.
Remember that He never grows tired or weary.
And you will find the strength you need to endure,
Even beyond what you are able on your own.
And you will find “comfort” even in your trial.
