{"id":2086,"date":"2016-07-30T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2016-07-31T02:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2016-07-30T19:44:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T02:44:08","slug":"isaiah-40-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2086","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah 40 – 43"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 40 – 43<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.\u00a0 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,\u00a0and cry to her\u00a0that her warfare is ended,\u00a0that her iniquity is pardoned,\u00a0that she has received from the Lord’s hand\u00a0double for all her sins. (Isa 40:1-2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a passage that begins much of the comfort of the second half of the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 It speaks of a future time, when the Messiah has completed the work for redemption.\u00a0 First, Isaiah is told to announce to the disobedient nation that the basis for their forgiveness has already been accomplished. He is to speak to the heart of Jerusalem (that is what the word “tenderly” means), “and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, and that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”\u00a0 The phrase, “double for all her sins,” does not mean that God has punished the nation twice what their sins required because that would be of no comfort.\u00a0 According to Harry Ironside, this is a reference to an Eastern custom. If a man owed a debt he could not pay, his creditor would write the amount of the debt on a paper and nail it to the front door of the man’s house so that everyone passing would see that here was a man who had not paid his debts. But if someone paid the debt for him, then the creditor would double the paper over and nail it to the door as a testimony that the debt had been fully paid. This is a picture to Israel as a nation that in the death and resurrection of her Messiah will pay her debt of sin twice what is owed.\u00a0 The gift far outweighs the debt.<\/p>\n

In these first eleven verses, three voices are heard. The first, announces forgiveness. The second voice is in Verses\u00a03-5: A voice cries:\u00a0“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,\u00a0make straight in the desert a highway or our God. Every valley shall be lifted up,\u00a0and every mountain and hill be made low;\u00a0the uneven ground shall become level,\u00a0and the rough places a plain.\u00a0And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,\u00a0and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isa 40:3-5)<\/strong><\/p>\n

We need not be in doubt as to whose voice this is because the gospels tell us that this is what John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord, said about himself. \u00a0The more I spend time with this, the more convinced I am that wilderness and the desert refer to our own lives and our hearts.\u00a0 Without God, our hearts are that wilderness and our lives are that desert.\u00a0 And thinking about the illustration of John\u2019s life and where he ministered, it seems very likely to me that God had a deeper message to communicate by locating John in the wilderness. John not only ministered in the wilderness, but that wilderness was a picture of every heart without Christ.\u00a0 This seems to me to be a pretty remarkable picture of the work of God in the life of one who opens his heart to redemption.\u00a0 There were many things that block our growth, and God declares that every mount and hill will be made low and the uneven ground shall become level, the rough places a plain.\u00a0 And that change in your life and mine will reveal the glory of the Lord.\u00a0 That is the power in the gospel, your changed life and my changed life, and that is our witness.<\/p>\n

Ray Stedman writes that God was declaring there would be a highway, built in the heart, for God to travel on. Four steps would be involved in the building process for this road: “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain.” Construction engineers know that this is exactly how highways are built yet today.<\/p>\n

In this beautiful symbolic language the prophet is saying that this is what God undertakes when he comes into our lives. When we have received his forgiveness, the next step is that he begins to change us, to reconstruct our lives. “Every valley is lifted up.” In the low places of life, the discouraging times, times when you feel crushed and defeated, there will be comfort and encouragement from the Lord. Also, “Every mountain shall be brought down.” All those places where our ego manifests itself, our proud boasts, our attempts to have hold onto the power in our lives, these must be removed and replaced. “The crooked places will be made straight.”<\/p>\n

In Verse\u00a06 the first voice, there is a sort of dialogue with God and Isaiah: A voice says, “Cry!”\u00a0And I\u00a0<\/strong>[the second voice]\u00a0said, “What shall I cry?” <\/strong>[The answer is]\u00a0All flesh is grass,\u00a0and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.\u00a0The grass withers, the flower fades,\u00a0when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;\u00a0surely the people is grass.\u00a0The grass withers, the flower fades,\u00a0but the word of our God will stand for ever. (Isa 40:6-8)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, but it is more than that, as we see in Verses 6-8. It is a word of\u00a0reassurance<\/em>\u00a0as well. What is man? “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.” All the great things we boast about will fade away and disappear. All man’s knowledge and power amount to nothing. “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; … but the word of our God will stand for ever.” Our natural strength will never accomplish what we want; human help will fail us. “But the word of our God will stand forever.”<\/p>\n

“Get you up to a high mountain,\u00a0O Zion, herald of good tidings,\u00a0lift up your voice with strength,\u00a0O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,\u00a0lift it up, fear not;\u00a0say to the cities of Judah,\u00a0‘Behold your God!'” (Isa 40:9)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This speaks about telling others about the good that God has done.\u00a0 This is what it means to be a witness, because you are telling others what God has done in your life.\u00a0 Ever wonder why some people are better at sharing about God?\u00a0 Could it be because what God has done in their life is still fresh?\u00a0 You want to revitalize your sharing, focus your attention on what God has done in your life and make it your goal to tell others about God\u2019s work in your life.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t done anything recently?\u00a0 Then you really are not paying attention because He has done everything in your life.<\/p>\n

If you cannot tell somebody of God’s grace in your life, you cannot be a witness. All you can witness to is your knowledge of a certain set of verses, perhaps, and that is not true witnessing. When something has happened, when you have been changed, when you sense the work of God in your heart, then you will “lift up your voice” and say to the all the people around, “Behold my God.” What kind of a God? The voice goes on: Behold, the Lord God comes with might,\u00a0and his arm rules for Him;\u00a0behold, his reward is with Him<\/span>,\u00a0and his recompense before Him.\u00a0He will feed his flock like a shepherd,\u00a0he will gather the lambs in his arms,\u00a0he will carry them in his bosom,\u00a0and gently lead those that are with young. (Isa 40:10-11)<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I love about this is the short phrase, His reward is with Him.\u00a0 The presence of the Lord is His reward to His flock.\u00a0 Being gathered will be our reward.\u00a0 We search for earthly rewards because it is the best we know.\u00a0 When we are in His presence, we\u2019ll wonder why we ever loved the things we love now.<\/p>\n

Then we begin to hear a little about God\u2019s view of how unique He is.\u00a0 To whom then will you liken God,\u00a0or what likeness compare with Him?\u00a0<\/strong>[Who is like God?]\u00a0(Isa 40:18)\u00a0 <\/strong>And again in Verse\u00a025: To whom then will you compare me,\u00a0that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (Isa 40:25)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going back to verse 12, we read: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand\u00a0and marked off the heavens with a span,\u00a0enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure\u00a0and weighed the mountains in scales\u00a0and the hills in a balance? (Isa 40:12)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here God Himself is asking man, “Can you do what I do? Can you hold the waters of earth in the hollow of your hand?” My wife loves the beach \u2013 I am not sure why but she finds comfort in the breaking waves.\u00a0 Perhaps in her spirit, the principles of these verses rides on the crest of every wave, “Who has measured the waters and held them in the hollow of his hand?” God Himself in majesty and greatness controls all the forces of earth. Verses\u00a013 and 14 speak of God’s incredible wisdom. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,\u00a0or as his counselor has instructed Him?\u00a0Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,\u00a0and who taught Him the path of justice,\u00a0and taught Him knowledge,\u00a0and showed Him the way of understanding? (Isa 40:13-14)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who could do that? I think we can all admit to attempting to tell God how He could solve our problems.\u00a0 And we are often surprised by how and when God does overcome what we thought was insurmountable. We begin to realize that God sees more than I could ever see, and that He knew of obstacles we had not known about.<\/p>\n

Why do you say, O Jacob,\u00a0and speak, O Israel,\u00a0“My way is hid from the Lord,\u00a0and my right is disregarded by my God?” (Isa 40:27)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In verse 27, Isaiah writes to the heart who wonders if God really cares about them.\u00a0 Maybe you have felt that God does not notice you, that He has no concern about the trouble you are facing? This is God’s answer to this.\u00a0 Have you not known? Have you not heard?\u00a0The Lord is the everlasting God,\u00a0the Creator of the ends of the earth.\u00a0He does not faint or grow weary,\u00a0his understanding is unsearchable.\u00a0He gives power to the faint,\u00a0and to him who has no might he increases strength.\u00a0Even youths shall faint and be weary,\u00a0and young men shall fall exhausted;\u00a0<\/strong>[Watch the Super Bowl today and you will see it happen.]\u00a0but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,\u00a0they shall mount up with wings like eagles,\u00a0they shall run and not be weary,\u00a0they shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:28-31)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Believers have taken these promises literally and found that to “wait upon the Lord” does this very thing, it lifts us up.\u00a0 However it all hinges on that one word, wait<\/em>. Wait! \u00a0Seems like the most difficult to learn. Wait. \u00a0Let God work. The Hebrew word has a note of expectation about it: expect God to work, wait in expectation that God will move. It takes time, you cannot have patience overnight, but they that wait upon the Lord shall find their own strength renewed. They shall find their spirit mounting up like the eagle in its flight, their souls able to run the long game. They shall not be weary. And they shall walk (in body) and not faint.<\/p>\n

I want to encourage you to read Chapter\u00a041 but we\u2019re going to fly over that chapter just noting verse 8,10.\u00a0 But you, Israel, my servant,\u00a0Jacob, whom I have chosen,\u00a0the offspring of Abraham, my friend;\u00a0you whom I took from the ends of the earth,\u00a0and called from its farthest corners,\u00a0saying to you, “You are my servant,\u00a0I have chosen you and not cast you off”; (Isa 41:8-9)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is a very firm promise to Israel, that even though they turn their backs on God, even though they wander off in unbelief and seem to jump into almost every trap possible, still God will not cast them off. The Apostle Paul picks up that argument in Romans 9, 10 and 11, and asks the question, “Has God rejected his people?” (Rom 11:1). His answer is, “Absolutely not.” God has a future for Israel, That is why the nation exists today even if they continue in unbelief. God has promised to deliver them some day and to consider that God could or would break that promise is to lack understanding about the character of God.<\/p>\n

All of this speaks to us as well.\u00a0 Even though we turn our backs on God, even though we wander off in rebellion and hurtful, hateful submission to the idols that men follow today, God does not abandon us. He works in our lives to bring us back. In a remarkable passage, Verses\u00a021-24 of Chapter 41, God challenges these idols of men to prove their word.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let you read that.\u00a0 But it ends with this: Behold, you are nothing,\u00a0and your work is naught;\u00a0an abomination is he who chooses you. (Isa 41:24)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,\u00a0my chosen, in whom my soul delights,\u00a0I have put my Spirit upon him,\u00a0he will bring forth justice to the nations.\u00a0He will not cry or lift up his voice,\u00a0or make it heard in the street;\u00a0a bruised reed he will not break,\u00a0and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;\u00a0he will faithfully bring forth justice.\u00a0He will not fail or be discouraged till\u00a0he has established justice in the earth;\u00a0and the coastlands wait for his law. (Isa42:1-4)<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an interesting thing that happens with some passages, in that even the writer doesn\u2019t fully understand what the Holy Spirit moves him or her to write.\u00a0 This first section that speaks of a servant seems to be without any doubt, Jesus.\u00a0 Then later in the passage, the servant appears to reflect the nation of Israel.\u00a0 When you are reading through this, and I hope you do, try to distinguish the different parts and how it turns quickly from one to another. Verses 42:1-4 are clearly about Jesus.<\/p>\n

But now thus says the Lord,\u00a0he who created you, O Jacob,\u00a0he who formed you, O Israel:\u00a0“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;\u00a0I have called you by name, you are mine.\u00a0When you pass through the waters I will be with you;\u00a0and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;\u00a0when you walk through fire you shall not be burned\u00a0and the flame shall not consume you.\u00a0For I am the Lord your God,\u00a0the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isa 43:1-3a)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the explanation of why the nation of the Jews, subjected to the most terrible tortures known to man, including the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, have survived and still remain a nation on the earth. “When you pass through the fire, you will not be consumed.”<\/p>\n

These verses, of course, apply to our hearts in a spiritual way. How many thousands have rested upon this promise, that God would sustain them through times of difficulty? Dealing with stress, these are verses worth remembering and even memorizing.\u00a0 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, when through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Then God tells you why: Because you are precious in my eyes,\u00a0and honored, and I love you,\u00a0I give men in return for you,\u00a0peoples in exchange for your life.\u00a0Fear not, for I am with you; (Isa 43:4-5a)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is God’s repeated promise. It is the answer to all our fears. Then comes the promise of ultimate gathering:\u00a0 I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you;\u00a0I will say to the north, Give up,\u00a0and to the south, Do not withhold;\u00a0bring my sons from afar\u00a0and my daughters from the end of the earth,\u00a0every one who is called by my name,\u00a0whom I created for my glory,\u00a0whom I formed and made. (Isa 43:5b-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n

What remarkable language! And breathe in that phrase \u2013 whom I created for my glory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,\u00a0“and my servant whom I have chosen,\u00a0that you may know and believe me\u00a0and understand that I am He. (Is a 43:10a)<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is God’s purpose for calling anyone to Himself: that you may know Him; that you may understand Him, and believe Him. The reason for this is that he is absolutely unique and does what no other can do.<\/p>\n

Before me no god was formed,\u00a0nor shall there be any after me.\u00a0I, I am the Lord,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and besides me there is no savior. (Isa 43:10b-11)<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no savior besides the Lord. He, alone, has power to deliver men from their sins.<\/p>\n

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Isaiah 40 – 43 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.\u00a0 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,\u00a0and cry to her\u00a0that her warfare is ended,\u00a0that her iniquity is pardoned,\u00a0that she has received from the Lord’s hand\u00a0double for all her sins. (Isa 40:1-2) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[108],"tags":[117,98,116,118],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}