Slideshow image

Overview

This chapter seeks to bring comfort and encouragement to the people of God. Ultimately, the means of this comfort is the character of God. God is omnipotent. God is faithful. There is no one like YHWH. No one. 

Isaiah 40:1-5

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is 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.”

We often think of salvation in a forensic sense—just dealing with the forgiveness of sins. But salvation is holistic. Salvation brings you out of the desert. Salvation lifts us out of the valleys and brings us down off of the mountains of pride. Salvation makes our paths straight. Salvation helps us to see the glory of God and hear the voice of God. 

Isaiah 40:6-8

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.

The eternality of God’s word. It is eternal because it proceeds from God and only God is eternal. Everything else fades away in this life. Flowers fade. Friendships fade. Our minds fade. Our bodies fade. Our loved ones fade out of our lives. But not God’s word. It stands in this life and the life to come. And so—why would you not pursue what is forever? Especially when the pursuit of what is forever promises to bring blessings in the present. 

Isaiah 40:12-15

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? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way 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.

The greatness of God. There is none like Him. These verses unleash the vastness, the majesty, the supremacy of God. 

How does this view of God affect us? Change us? Sanctify us? It does all of this because we realize we can trust Him. It reminds us that we can rest in the Father’s omnipotent arms. If God is for us, who can be against us? This view of God does make us small, but makes God big. And when we see ourselves properly through the lens of His greatness, our souls are moved to worship. Why would we worship ourselves—like we often do? I am not as great and powerful as God. Actually, I am nothing. If the nations are a drop in a bucket, who am I? And yet, we are something to God. In truth, we are the pinnacle of His creation. The angels seek to understand why we are above them. Why do we inherit redemption and they do not. 

Isaiah 40:28-31

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 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 youths 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; they shall walk and not faint.

I imagine most of you have seen verses 30 and 31 framed on a wall or stitched into a pillow. These verses inspire. These verses fuel us to continue to run. And what is the point? Since God does not faint and He does not get weary, therefore, when we lean on Him we shall run and not be weary. Even young men fall exhausted—those in the prime of their lives. But with God—because He never gets tired, we can fly like eagles through the empowerment of God. We can run because He runs in us and through us. We can walk steadfast, even through the valley of the shadow of death, because He is with us. 

It is a lie that God will never give us more than we can handle. God ALWAYS gives us more than we can handle. And why does He do that? So we can learn to fly in our weakness—rested on His powerful wings, not ours. If you feel faint today, cry out to God. He promises to be your strength, to carry you when you have nothing left.