Series: Inspiration in Isaiah #10

September 10, 2006

GOD IS GREAT

Isaiah 40

          This past week as I was praying, I found myself getting anxious about the world.  I had heard some things on the news about the middle east that were troubling, and the ongoing war with terrorism seems to be getting worse, and I see militant Islam making huge gains all over the world, and I really do think the world is getting warmer and that we are going to run out of oil sooner than anyone is planning for, and the politicians always seem much more concerned about staying in power than doing what is really best for the country long term, etc. etc. 

          But then I remembered the passage I was preparing to preach on today, and I thought, OK.  I can relax.  God is in control. 

          I don’t know what you might be facing today that makes you anxious.  It could be a health crisis, or a job crisis.  It could be your marriage is in trouble, or your kids are in trouble. Some of you are worried about your aging parents; others are worried that you’ll never get married. 

          And if it happens that you are in a really good place right now, and all is going well for you, rejoice!  But know for certain that that will change, and the time will come when you find yourself biting your nails or compulsively eating or tapping your foot, or whatever it is you do when you are anxious about something. 

          Whenever we’re in that place, Isaiah 40 is a great chapter to turn to. 

          Isaiah begins with words of comfort for the people of Israel, addressed to them in bondage, in captivity in Babylon.  They have been suffering God's punishment for their sins, and now God speaks words of comfort to them.  They have "done their time" as it were, and now God is going to bless them. 

          But they might have some legitimate questions about whether He is able to do that.  Babylon was the mightiest empire on earth at the time.  Israel had been devastated by the Babylonian armies, and were a subjugated people living in Babylon, far from their homeland.  They were a persecuted minority, experiencing great prejudice from the Babylonians.  They were oppressed and powerless.  How could God overcome their problems and bless them, bring them comfort?  The rest of the chapter is God’s answer.

          I am treating this chapter thematically, and since Isaiah is writing poetically instead of systematically, we'll be jumping around a bit.   The first thing to notice is that God is sovereign.

I.        Here Is Your God

          A.      Sovereign  v.6-8, 10, 15-17, 21-24

                   Verses 6-8 make the announcement that all men are like grass.  The grass withers and flowers fall, and so do we, but the word of our God stands forever.  God is sovereign.  Whatever He says He will do, He will do--His word stands. 

          Isaiah 40:10,

    “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,

        and his arm rules for him.” 

He is the one with supreme authority and power.  He does whatever He wants.

          In verses 15-17, Isaiah illustrates God's sovereignty over the nations.  Isaiah 40:15, 17

    “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

        they are regarded as dust on the scales;

        he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust…

    [17] Before him all the nations are as nothing;

        they are regarded by him as worthless

        and less than nothing.”

          Notice what a difference that made to this bucket, how significant that was!  Do you know how many drops like that it would take to fill this bucket?  All the nations of the earth, including superpowers like the Babylonian empire and the USA, are no more than that to God.

          The nations of the world, and the islands like Cuba, Greenland, Madagascar, New Zealand, and the thousands of islands in Indonesia, are as inconsequential to Him as the few specks of dust that have accumulated on this scale. Before Him all the nations are as nothing, they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing.

          Isaiah 40:22-24,

    “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

        and its people are like grasshoppers.

    He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

        and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

    [23] He brings princes to naught

        and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

    [24] No sooner are they planted,

        no sooner are they sown,

        no sooner do they take root in the ground,

    than he blows on them and they wither,

        and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”

This slide shows God's perspective on the earth, according to v.22.  He sits enthroned above the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.  He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.  Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon; Cyrus, King of Persia; Alexander the Great; Julius Caesar; Napoleon Bonaparte; Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Chairman Mao, Mikhail Gorbachev,...the list goes on of powerful rulers the Lord has reduced to nothing. 

          Is there someone who opposes you, who makes life difficult for you?  Is that person more powerful than the most powerful leaders of the world?  God is sovereign.  He can handle them.  All He has to do is blow on them, and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

          In v.12, Isaiah gives us another picture of our great God, that of the

          B.      Creator and Sustainer of the Universe  v.12, 26, 28.

                   Isaiah 40:12, “ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?”

          If you have ever flown in a plane over one of the Great Lakes, or over the ocean where you could see nothing in any direction except water, this image of God measuring the waters in His hand will speak to you.  Or if you have flown over the Great Plains of this country, or the Rocky Mountains, it gives you some idea of the greatness of our God if He can hold the dust of the earth in a basket or weigh the mountains on His scales.

          Isaiah 40:26, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”  I found something in National Geographic years ago that I think illustrates this verse nicely, and gives us some idea of what God was saying:
 

	The Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun.[1]  It is 93 million miles from the Sun to Earth, which seems like a very long way, but it takes light only 8 minutes.
	It takes light 4 years 4 mo. to nearest star (Alpha Centauri); neighborhood here = 20 light years.  Our neighborhood shrinks to insignificance in our galaxy, the Milky Way, which is 50,000 light-years across, containing hundreds of billions of stars.
	But our galaxy is not the only one around.  In fact, there are billions of galaxies.  Just within the "local group", there are 20 galaxies, spread out over 2 million light-years.
	But then things really get beyond our capacity to grasp when we go up another level.  Our "local group" is part of a "local supercluster" of other local groups of galaxies, stretching perhaps 75 million light-years across. Even this mind-boggling giant is dwarfed in the observable universe, which is estimated at tens of  billions of light years across, comprised of many superclusters. [2]

          Isaiah 40:26, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”   Friends, I am here to tell you today that the Creator and Sustainer of this universe has pledged Himself to be our God!  Our problems shrink to insignificance in comparison with Him.

          This great and mighty God is also

          C.      Omniscient  v.13,14

                   Isaiah 40:13, “Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? 14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?”

          God didn't need anyone to teach him anything. He knows everything.  And in particular, He knows all about us.  He understands our troubles, and our fears about them.  He understands how we got in these difficulties, and what our response to them needs to be.  He understands all the inner workings of our mind and heart—God knows us better than we know ourselves.  God understands why there is so much suffering in the world, why some of our prayers go unanswered, and why the toast always falls peanut-butter side down.  There are lots of things I don't understand, and the older I get, the more things like that there are.  But that’s not true for God.  Nothing is beyond Him.  He knows everything there is to know.

          Now, here's the surprising thing.  This great, mighty, all powerful, all knowing God is also our

          D.      Good Shepherd  v.1,2, 10,11

                   Look how He speaks words of comfort to His people in v.1,2.   

    “Comfort, comfort my people,

        says your God.

    [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

        and proclaim to her

    that her hard service has been completed,

        that her sin has been paid for,

    that she has received from the Lord's hand

        double for all her sins.”

He instructs the prophet, who has been foretelling doom and destruction on them because of their sin, now to speak tenderly to them, to assure them that their time of suffering is over.

          There is an amazing contrast between the two images of God in v.10 and 11.  In verse 10, God is the Sovereign Lord, coming with power, ruling with His mighty arm.  But look at Isaiah 40:11,

    “He tends his flock like a shepherd:

        He gathers the lambs in his arms

    and carries them close to his heart;

        he gently leads those that have young.”

What a beautiful, tender picture.  Can you let yourself believe that the Sovereign Lord, who rules the nations and regards them as a drop in the bucket and as dust on the scales, that the Omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the all-knowing One, is also your Good Shepherd?  That He will treat you this tenderly and gently, that He will show this kind of compassion and care for you? This is awesome!  Picture Him, the one who stretches out the heavens like a tent, picking you up from your hurt, your pain, your difficulties and problems, and carrying you close to His heart, protecting you, loving you, caring for you, treating you as one infinitely precious to Him. Wow!

          No wonder Isaiah says He is absolutely

          E.      Incomparable  v.18-20, 25,26

                   v. 18-20, he says there is no substitute god even worth comparing to our God.  Certainly no image, or idol, such as other peoples worshiped in Isaiah’s day.  In v. 25, God asks, "To whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal?"  We have become much more sophisticated in our idolatry than they were in the 7th Century B.C., but we are idolaters, nonetheless.  Instead of carved images of birds or bulls or whatever, today we have moved up the created order to worship man himself.  This is the humanist credo, that Man is the measure of all things, that man is the ultimate being in the universe.  Now, we have to give it to the humanists, that they have come very close.  Man is indeed the second greatest being in the world.  But when we compare him with the description of God in Isaiah 40, he is a distant second.

          Or we may not worship specific people, or even the philosophical idea of mankind.  We may worship less tangible things like wealth, or power, or pleasure, or status, or popularity.  Whatever is in first place in our lives is our god.  Whatever it is that we think is more important than anything else, that is our god.  And none of them hold a candle to the God of the Bible.  We really need to get our eyes off these cheap substitutes, and onto the real thing--the God who created the universe we just saw portrayed for us.  God is absolutely incomparable.

II.       So What?

          What difference does all this make to us today?  In a sentence, God is greater than our problems.  Isaiah 40:27, “ Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

          We have all felt like the Israelites did, haven't we?  Like God is not listening to us, our prayers don't seem to go anywhere, the Bible doesn't speak to us, etc.  That often happens when we focus on our problems, instead of the Lord.  So Isaiah points us back to the Lord again, and says, "Wait on Him.  Hope in Him.  He will come through for you.”

          No matter what you are facing today: ill health, cancer, financial problems, bankruptcy,  unemployment, friends deserting you, enemies hurting you, marriage problems, parents who don't understand you, the pressure of school, peer pressure to conform to the world, children who don't follow the Lord, elderly parents who act totally unreasonably, 3 kids under school age,   --what is your problem?  I don't want to minimize it.  Describe it in as serious and dangerous and scary terms as you like.  No one can say it isn't that bad for you—because we each live in our own private world of pain that no one else can fully understand.  But no matter how bad it is, God is greater than your problems!  He is greater than all of them put together.

          This week, as these difficulties crowd in on you, think about this great God we have.  Reread Isaiah 40.  Read it many times.  Try to grasp what God is saying to you here.  And then hold your problems up next to Him, and see what happens to them.  They will shrink into insignificance, much as our planet, and solar system, and entire Milky Way Galaxy shrink when we see them in the context of the whole universe.

          Think of an astronomer using a huge telescope to see the enormous wonders of the universe that God has created and sustains.  What God invites us to do is to go around to the other end of that telescope, to His end, and look through it from God's perspective at our problems.  What will happen?  They will look infinitesimal.  Is that a distortion of their true size and significance?  No.  That is how they really are to God.  Because our God is an awesome God!