The Greatness of God
“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 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. 5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”
January 15, 2012
Isaiah 40, The Greatness of God
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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Listen to Isaiah 40:12-31 and pay particular attention to the images and words used to describe God and everything that the chapter says God does for us as the Lord’s people.
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?
13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?
Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. 20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood—wood that will not rot— then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 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, & spreads them like a tent to live in;
23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
27 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”?
28 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.
29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those 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.”
Isaiah 40 contains one of the most majestic and awesome descriptions of the Almighty in the pages of the Bible. Compared to the Creator, even the nations are like mere drops in a bucket and “less than nothing.” Nothing and no one can compare to The Greatness of God. In doing several sermons on whole chapters of the Bible, part of what we’re doing is listening to some great and inspiring passages of scripture. It also means that I will be doing more of a broad and sweeping look at the passage rather than going deeply into all that is there because that would require more time than we have in Sunday morning worship.
Isaiah 40 describes eight attributes of God.
1. God’s mercy (40:1–2) The Lord comforts his people (40:1). The Hebrew word is naham. It’s a deeply emotional word, overflowing with feelings of pity and concern. It’s a word that often has the meaning of consolation. Isaiah has cried out against the spiritual insensitivity of his generation and warned of devastating punishment. But God’s love for the people has never weakened. So now Isaiah speaks directly to the shaken survivors of the destruction by the Babylonians to comfort and console them. God remains committed to His own. God comforts and forgives. Martin Luther King, Jr., said in Strength to Love, (1963), “We need not join the mad rush to purchase an earthly fallout shelter. God is our eternal fallout shelter.” God is merciful and comforts us in our need.
2. God’s glory (40:3–5) Isaiah says the time will come when the glory of God will be revealed in such an unmistakable way that “all people shall see it together.”
These verses predict the ministry of John the Baptist who called Israel to repentance in preparation for the glorious appearance of the Messiah. The glory of God is not dependent upon human belief or response. It is. C.S. Lewis, wrote in The Problem of Pain
3. God’s eternal nature (40:6–9, 28): God’s word stands forever, unlike people and our words. “The Lord is the everlasting God.” There is quite a contrast between God who is eternal and people who are more like grass and flowers which are on earth but a short while. It is hard to get a grasp of the difference between God and ourselves. Saint Augustine wrote, “God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed.”
4. God’s gentleness (40:11): God will treat his own with the same tenderness a shepherd displays for his flock. Christian mystic Thomas Merton emphasized that “True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God.” The closeness of shepherd and sheep was an image the people of biblical times could readily identify with because they lived it and saw it all around. God is gentle and we can draw near and be welcomed or we can choose to pull away or withdraw from the Lord and go our own way. However, as Augustine admonished, “Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.”
So far we’ve mentioned God’s mercy & comfort, glory & eternal nature, and gentleness. We also see in Isaiah 40 God’s Creative Power (40:10, 12, 26, 28):The Creator is master over all nature. Everywhere we look at nature and creation we see the greatness of God. God “has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span.” Go stand in the ocean sometime, preferably when it is warmer than today, and see how much water you can hold in the palm of your hand. Think of God holding an ocean in the palm of his hand. Stretch out your thumb and index finger as wide as you can, that is a “span” and think about being able to mark off not a few inches but the heavens. As Psalm 19 expresses, “The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” Nature helps to reveal God’s greatness and glory. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge observed, “Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.” American author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
“Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, secretly all nature seeks God and works toward him.” Meister Eckhart
6. God’s Wisdom (40:13–14): God knows and understands all things and needs no one’s counsel or advice. God never had to go to school or study for a test. Robert H. Schuller observed, “Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count all the apples in one seed.”
7. God’s sovereignty (40:15–17, 21–24).
All nations are as a drop in the bucket, as dust on the scales to God (40:15–17).
The Lord is enthroned above the circle of the earth (40:21–22): He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. God is so far beyond us we want to maintain a proper perspective on God’s sovereign power and greatness compared to us puny, little people. We are God’s servants and not the other way around. 20th century American preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, shared in a sermon, “God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done.”
God rules over all people (40:23–24). C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters
, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.” Isaiah 40 is trying to lead us toward being people who worshiped God and seek to do the Lord’s will.
8. God’s uniqueness (40:18–20). Verse 25, “To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.” God simply cannot be compared to anyone or anything. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame.” Or as Woody Allen stated, “As the poet said, “Only God can make a tree” – probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.”
God has so many great attributes: God is merciful and comforts us. God’s glory and eternal nature are beyond our comprehension. God treats us with gentleness yet is awesome in creative power. God is wise beyond words, totally sovereign over the universe, and utterly unique. Corrie Ten Boom advises us when we are in trouble, “Let God’s promises shine on your problems.”
Rick Reilly is one of my favorite sports writers and he wrote a great story on Friday about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow who truly believes in the God Isaiah describes. This is what Reilly wrote, “I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde. No, I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am. Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster’s), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts. Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.
Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?
Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes. “Here he’d just played the game of his life,” recalls Bailey’s mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., “and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, ‘Did you get anything to eat?’ He acted like what he’d just done wasn’t anything, like it was all about Bailey.”
More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.
Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener’s granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.
“It was the best day of my life,” she emailed. “It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can’t rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises.”
I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.
“Why me? Why should I inspire her?” he said. “I just don’t feel, I don’t know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me.” It’s not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It’s high school girls who don’t know whether they’ll ever go to a prom. It’s adults who can hardly stand. It’s kids who will die soon. For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.
“He walked in and took a big sigh and said, ‘Well, that didn’t go as planned,'” Rainey remembers. “Where I’m from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met.”
There’s not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I’ve looked everywhere for it. Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos’ team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.
And it’s not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow’s guest for the Cincinnati game. “The doctors took some of my brain,” Driscoll says, “so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I’ll never forget. Tim is such a good man.”
This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.
Isn’t that a huge distraction?
“Just the opposite,” Tebow says. “It’s by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn’t really matter. I mean, I’ll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it’s to invest in people’s lives, to make a difference.”
So that’s it. I’ve given up giving up on him. I’m a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.
Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He’d be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.
Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?
“Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what,” Rainey says. “I am.”
“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.
29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those 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.”
Prayer:
Almighty, true and incomparable God, You are present in all things,
yet in no way limited by them.
You remain unaffected by place, untouched by time, unperturbed by years,
and undeceived by words.
You are beyond all corruption and above all change.
You live in unapproachable light and are invisible,
yet You are known to all those who seek You with faith and love.
You are the God of the universe and of all who hope in Christ,
Renew our faith and our strength so that we may run the race of our life and not be weary, that we may walk and not faint. Amen.
Blessing: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself & God our Father, who loved us & through grace gave us eternal comfort & good hope, comfort your hearts & strengthen them in every good work & word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17