Invite you to open your Bible with me tonight to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40. Last Sunday night we were in Isaiah chapter 41, and I've been thinking about doing a series in Isaiah, it's just a very large book, but we're gonna take a portion of Isaiah, chapters 40 through 55, and we're gonna have a short series on those chapters, Isaiah 40 through 55. And so last week 41, we're gonna back up just to chapter 40, and gonna read the entirety of the chapter, This section of Isaiah is written to God's people when they are in a time of trouble. They're going to face Babylonian captivity, and God is calling them to see who He is, the truth about their God. Let's give our attention then to Isaiah chapter 40. We're going to begin reading at verse 1. Actually, I'd like to back up. So if you just quickly look at chapter 39. I'll briefly just describe what's happening. Hezekiah, king of Judah, southern two tribes, has gotten sort of full of himself and some envoys from Babylon came and Hezekiah decided to show off and show all the treasures that he had, as though he had gained them for himself. Isaiah comes and rebukes him, if you look at verse 5. Isaiah says, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Horrible news. Hezekiah, as a selfish, sinful man, said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought there will be peace and security in my days. He's the one who's going to ... He sinned, and the people are going to pay for his sin. He's just happy that it won't happen while he's alive. Immediately now after that pronouncement of judgment, God comes with this word of comfort, and let's give our attention. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries, in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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." 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. Behold, the Lord comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. 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. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, and closed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows Him His counsel? Whom did He consult? Who made Him understand? who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the ways of understanding. 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, an emptiness. 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 its 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." 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, 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. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him, says the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high and see. Who created these? Who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name? By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow faint. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. shall walk and not faint. Let's ask the Lord to bless. O God in heaven, you've called us to see you and we need your Spirit to that end. I pray that, Lord, you'd open the eyes of our heart that we might see the glory of our God and seeing Him, O God, trust in you and experience, Lord, the comfort and the courage that you give. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Several years ago, Tessa Thompson, former member of this church, wife of Nicholas Thompson, who's there down now in Chattanooga in the OPC, Tessa wrote a book called Laughing at the Days to Come. It's an excellent book. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it to you. Tessa writes about her experience of being diagnosed when she was 16 years old with a debilitating disease that would rob her of her hearing. It's not only done that, she's been paralyzed on a part of her face. She has weakness. This is a disease that will just slowly, slowly rob her of her life. She writes about being a 16-year-old girl who had everything was going wonderfully. She had friends. She was popular. And then suddenly this disease intrudes, and the prognosis is dire, and she's terrified to think about the future. And as the disease began to increasingly rob her of her abilities, she just struggled with what to do with a God who would allow this to happen to her. And she was struck by the comment in Proverbs 31 about the The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, and one of the things that's said about her is that she laughs at the days to come. Tessa just tells in the book how that caught her attention. How in the world do you laugh at the days to come? There are a lot of Christians who are fearful about the days to come. I have to confess that when I read the newspapers, I see what's happening on the stage of world history. And if you know enough history, things that have happened in the past, you know that terrible things can happen. And terrible things can happen to us. Our American military might is no protection from the reality of the brokenness of this world. And it's easy as we look around and we see in a sense foundations crumbling, it's easy for us to be concerned and anxious and fearful. Tessa talks about Psalm 112 verse 7. This is one of the verses as well that God used. Psalm 112 verse 7 talks of a man who is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm. trusting in the Lord. And Tessa decided that she was going to do a study then on the character of God, that there must be something about the reality of God, the character of God, that gives people the ability to not fear, gives people the ability to laugh in the face of days to come. Well, God is speaking here in Isaiah chapter 40 and following. He's speaking to a people who are going to experience trouble, greater trouble than they can imagine. Even though Isaiah prophesies of it, you can't really imagine what it's like to have an invading army come in and kill your young men, rape your young women, dash your children against rocks, and then drag the rest of you into captivity. That is what's going to happen to the southern tribes of Judah. And God wants Israel, He wants Judah to know as they face this judgment of God, He wants them to see the reality of their God so that they're able to withstand, they're able to survive, they're able to maintain their faith in these difficult, dark days. And so the text begins with God's concern. A God who's going to judge Israel speaks comfort to them. Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended, her iniquity is pardoned, and that she's received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Even as God is preparing to discipline Judah and to discipline them severely, His strong desire is that they would be encouraged and comforted. Matthew says in his commentary, they have abandoned Him, but He has not rejected them. Like tiny children, they have stumbled in the uncertain paths of the world and will be bruised by their fall, but they have a God who rushes to pick them up in His arms. One of the things that God wants His people to remember is that His anger is but a moment. His loving kindness is forever. He is quick to show mercy and delights to forgive. And notice if you follow through the text here that God promises that something is going to happen. There's going to be a road that is prepared. And along that road in Jerusalem, God is gonna send someone who's gonna reveal the glory of the Lord. So we take verses three through five as a messianic promise, and that, of course, is exactly what it is. But God wants them to understand the glory of the Lord will be revealed, all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And it is that idea of the glory of the Lord, the reality of God, that is the theme of this chapter. If you have your Bible, verse 9 really captures the theme of this chapter and the coming chapters. 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 and fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold your God. See what God is really like. God is calling His people to pay attention, to focus. on who He really is and what He is really like in His glory. And the chapter then goes on to tell us things about the glories of God. For instance, in verses 6-8, the glory of His immutable Word. A voice says, cry, and the prophet says, what shall I cry? All flesh is as grass. The grass withers, the flowers fade when the Lord blows on it. Isaiah is just commenting on the Well, humanity is made of weak stuff, like a flower that fades when the heat of the sun comes on it. Well, people do the same. When the pressure mounts, people melt. Promises are broken. Moral courage disappears. We are fickle beings. But against the fickleness of humanity stands this wonderful, infinite faithfulness of God. The grass does wither. The flowers do fade. But the Word... of our God will stand forever. The Word of our God will stand forever. What God has said, He will do. What God has promised, He will perform. That really matters in a world like the world we live in. A world of transience and fickleness and spin and duplicity and deceit where nothing stands. Politicians make a promise one day and then the next day are saying something completely different. Where people will make promises to you and just break them thoughtlessly with no concern. In a world where you wonder what can you believe in, right? There's fake news. What can you trust in? What can you hold onto? Well, you can hold on to the Word of God. Take your Bible as a rock to stand on. This Word is immutable. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it, and it's going to happen. The prophet goes on. God reveals not just His immutable Word, but His tender strength. Verse 10, the Lord comes with might. His arm rules for Him. The command of verse 9 is repeated here. Behold, see, look, understand what your God is like. He's a God of infinite power, but also infinite love. Verse 11, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. This is precisely what little children love about their fathers. Every young child is impressed with their father's strength, right? I remember having arguments when I was a kid about whose dad is strongest and whose dad can beat up whose dad. Every child's convinced that their dad is mighty. But a great dad isn't just strong, a great dad is tender and loving and gentle. He can carry the little ones and comfort them. God is saying to his children, that's what I'm like. He gathers the lambs, in other words, the little ones, the weak ones, the fearful ones. And he carries them in his bosom, close. He gently leads those that are with young, the pregnant sheep, the burdened ones, the weary ones, the ones who are just so tired. And he gently leads them. He's not just infinite in power, but infinite in his tender love. No earthly father loves like Thee, no mother half so mild. That's the truth about our God, and God wants us to see it, to trust it. The text speaks of God's creative, controlling genius. If you look at verses 12 through 26, it's an extended symphony of praise to the greatness of God. Matthew again says, in one way or another, the fourfold Old Testament doctrine of God the Creator is represented here. He originates everything, He maintains everything, He controls everything, and directs everything to the end that He appoints. The text speaks about God's marvelous wisdom. Look at verse 12, 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? It's just talking about God the Creator who's perfectly blending everything together so that there's perfect symmetry and order and balance in creation. I hope you've noticed that about this world we live in. The colors and textures and landscapes and ecosystems are displays of incredible complexity and interdependence and beauty. And the question that the text asks is, who taught God how to do all that? We have one of the, kind of a tongue in cheek saying, when we see something really marvelous and we're, as a family, we're noticing it and just marveling at it, someone might say, man, evolution is just amazing. Tongue in cheek. God is astounding. And who taught Him? Verse 14, whom did He consult? Who made Him understand? Where did God go to learn all this stuff? How to do all this? And of course, the answer is no one. He is wisdom personified. Perfectly understands everything. Orchestrates everything toward His determined ends. Friends, it's so critically important that we Remember that when we come into hard times where we don't understand God's ways, when a loved one dies too soon, and a disease robs us of our abilities, when a tragedy strikes. Our instinct is to say, why? And a hidden question or hidden in that question is this. Subtle, sometimes not so subtle, accusation against God. It shouldn't be this way. God has erred. God has made a mistake. He's blundered. He's dropped the ball. But God can't drop the ball. His understanding is unsearchable, verse 28. And confidence in that, you see, confidence in God's wisdom needs to be as fixed in our minds as our confidence in gravity. One of the stories in the Old Testament that I love is the story of Daniel's three friends when they're gonna be thrown into the furnace. You see, their confidence in the wisdom of God is what allowed them to not panic when the news came that you're going to have to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol, golden image, or you're going to burn in the fiery furnace. So when they're brought before the king, Daniel 3 verse 17, they say, if this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." And so they say to the king, our God is able to deliver us. We believe that he will deliver us. But if not, and when I read that I go, wait a minute. Full stop. What do you mean, but if not? It means, you see, that they can conceive of the possibility of their God who is able to deliver them, to not deliver them, to let them burn in the fiery furnace. You see, we often won't go there, right? So when we face a trial, our God is able to deliver us, we believe that God will deliver us, and we believe that if we believe it strongly enough, then it will be true. We don't stop to say the but if not part. And you can't go to the but-if-not part. You see, if you don't have confidence in the wisdom of God, the reason they are able to say, but if not, we're going to continue to worship Him. He's worthy of our worship. He's worthy of our praise, even if He allows us to burn, because our God is wise. We trust the wisdom of our God implicitly, completely. One of the things that that I fear, I suppose I could say, is that when trials come, one of the things I'm most concerned about is that I would think hard thoughts of God. Because I know it's in there. And I can see myself charging God with wrong. And that's sin. It's a sin against God. It's a failure of faith. And I'm just convinced that the only way to protect myself against that is to be absolutely convinced, fixed on the truth of God's wisdom, that God knows what He's doing. Notice also the glory of God's great power. I love verse 21. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Hello? I mean, these are rhetorical questions. Hasn't it been told you from the beginning? It is He, our God. who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in. He brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as emptiness." You see, Israel needs to understand, the people of Judah need to understand that the kings of Assyria and Babylon are not the ones writing the history books, and that when they're taken into captivity, God has not abdicated His throne. God has not handed over. the rule of his people to a pagan king. God is still on his throne, and the one who's writing the story of their life is still God, their God. You see, they need a theological grasp of political realities, and boy, do we need that today, where you see Christians panic on the right and on the left. as though the politicians and the kings and the presidents are the ones actually controlling and moving human history. Shame on us. Shame on us. It's not true. We've forgotten, you see. Do you not know? Haven't you heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? that God actually controls all things? You see, His vast controlling power extends everywhere, even to the farthest reaches of the universe. Verse 25, to whom then will you compare me that I should be like Him, says the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. who brings out their host by number, calling them all by names, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing." Scientists readily admit they have no idea how many stars there are. They just make these crazy guesses. They don't even know how many galaxies there are. I saw estimates from 70 billion trillion, which is a number beyond my ability to grasp, but 70 billion trillion to 200 billion trillion galaxies. Their best guess, in other words, they really don't have any idea. And that's galaxies. No concept, no concept of the number of stars. And God knows all of them. He leads them out, the text says. It's like a shepherd calling out his sheep. And he leads them out, and not only numbers them, but he calls them all by name. We had about 50 cows on the farm. We tended to number them, name them, so most of them had names, but cows come and go, and sometimes it would just be number three, number 42. They had little ear tags, and we thought that was pretty good, that we could name 50 cows and tell them apart. Our city slicker cousins were impressed. God knows all the stars. numbers them, and calls them all by name. And he leads each one out, and because of his great power, not a single one is missing. Now that is just, that is a mind that is so vastly beyond our imagination. You just have to bow down and worship. But you see, it raises a question. Verse 27, so why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my might is disregarded by my God? Because that's what people say. God's people will say that when times are hard. He's lost us. He's not paying attention to our particular case. Our right has been disregarded. God is not doing right for me and by me. And God is just saying in light of what He's actually like, in light of His glory. Why do you say that? It is foolishness on the face of it. Is it remotely possible that the God who numbers and names the stars in heaven is going to lose track of you, His child? Parents lose kids, right? You go to Target and you turn around and they're gone and you're frantically looking for them. God doesn't lose track of His kids, ever. And He'll never do injustice to them. It's unthinkable in the face of it because of what He's like. He cannot do injustice to His children. So why do you say my right is disregarded by my God? Well, the reason we say it is because we've forgotten. And so when the text says, do you not know? Have you not heard? Well, it's a rhetorical question, isn't it? Of course they know. Of course they've heard. The law and the prophets have been speaking about this from the beginning. God has revealed himself to be this way. They've heard. They've just forgotten. And that's exactly what happens to us. We just forget. But we forget the most profound, amazing things. We forget the most incredibly important things. We forget what God is like. You see, the people had forgotten that the Lord is the everlasting God, that He always was and will always be God. They forgot that He's the everywhere God, the creator of the ends of the earth. They forgot that He's the ever-reliant God. He doesn't faint. He doesn't grow weary. You see, the pagan gods of the surrounding nations were made in the image of men, and so pagan gods would get married. Pagan gods needed naps. Remember when Elijah is facing the prophets of Baal, and they're beseeching their God, and he doesn't respond. Elijah says, well, he might be taking a nap. Maybe he's falling asleep. Maybe he's hit the restroom, right? These gods, they can be like that. Well, the Lord just thunders, not the living God. He doesn't sleep. Psalm 121. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep, ever. It's a wonderful truth. And the whole point of it is that the path to comfort and courage in troubling times is to see the truth about God. To be students of the glory of God. To not just hear these things and then forget it, but to hear these things and take them to heart. to apply these things to the realities of our life. You can just sort of deduce, as you face a trial, what's happening. Well, here are the things that we know to be true about God. And so whatever hard thoughts there might be in our mind against God, we can erase those off the board. Those things cannot be true. God has revealed himself to be this way. But the blessing, you see, of these truths The comfort that they offer is only for those who actually take them to heart. So verse 31, they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. And those who wait on the Lord shall run and not be weary. And those who wait on the Lord shall walk and not be faint. And everybody else is gonna be struggling. They who wait on the Lord, to wait on the Lord simply means you take the reality of God as he's revealed himself and then you come and you say, okay God, I take this to be true. And I don't know why you're doing what you're doing and I don't understand why these things have happened. But I take the truth of my God and the character of God as you've revealed yourself. And that's what I hold to. That's what I stand on. That's what I say to myself when I go to sleep at night. That's what I remind myself of when the fears come. That I have a God who's revealed himself, a God who's promised to be my God and this is what he's like. Dear friends, if God's children in the Old Testament had multitude reasons to trust God, then how much more do we? Because we are the recipients of the fullest revelation of God in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verses 3 and 5 are speaking about Him. There's going to be a highway laid down that the salvation of God is going to come to God's people. The glory of the Lord is going to be revealed, and that's exactly what we have in Christ. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we have the full revelation of what God is like. He is a God of justice. A God who is so committed to justice that He put His Son to death bearing our sin that justice might be satisfied. He's a God of mercy. A God who is so kind, so gracious that He put His Son to death that we might be rescued from our sin, that our iniquity could be pardoned, that our warfare with God could end. And we could receive from the Lord's hand double grace for all of our sin. And that Jesus, friends, is the one who is now at the right hand of God. That Jesus is the one who all authority and power have been given to him. You see, the amazing thing is that this great Jesus, this great king, is our great shepherd. He exercises all of his strength and tenderness for his people, his sheep. He keeps his flock like a shepherd and gathers the lambs in his arms. Tonight we're gonna be coming to the Lord's Supper. And Jesus has given us a sacrament so that we could see, that we could behold the glory of God, that it becomes real and tangible. That we can be astonished at the truth that the hand that spun the galaxies was nailed to a cross. in love to bear our sin and to rescue us and bring us into the glory of God. And so at the table, at the cross, we see the glory of God revealed and we're invited to see it and to lay hold of it, to behold our God, to wait on Him, to trust in Him. If God has loved us this much, will He ever fail us? If God has loved us this much, can anything possibly separate us from this love? I was reading an article by Samuel Say, just recently, I recommend it to you, Samuel Say, S-E-Y, and he says a wonderful line in there talking about 2022, a new year, and he goes, new year, same God. New year, same God. Same Jesus Christ who was the same yesterday, today, and forever. We have nothing to fear. Let's pray. Oh, Father, I thank you for what you are like, triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, a God of infinite might, infinite love, and a God who promises to exercise all that might and wisdom and love on our behalf. Lord, forgive us for subtly charging you with wrong. Forgive us for doubting your ways. Forgive us, Lord, for our fear. for living as though we had no God, as though we had not known and not heard. Father, I pray that as we move through this study, Lord, that your spirit would help us to see the truth about God in a way, Lord, that would remove our anxiety and fear, in a way that would fill us with courage and comfort and strength as we stand in difficult days. Father, thank you that this is your desire, and as we wait upon you, we can expect to mount up on wings like eagles, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. And we give you the thanks in Jesus' name, amen.