Dennis Tuuri

# Isaiah 40: The Gospel of Comfort

Sermon text today is Isaiah 40. I would encourage you to really keep your Bibles open for today’s sermon. We’ll be doing an overview of Isaiah 40, although our focus will be the comfort of God and his attributes. So Isaiah 40, please stand for the reading of God’s word.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The voice said, ‘Cry out.’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God stands forever.

Oh Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. Oh Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure. Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord? Or as his counselor has taught him. With whom did he take counsel? And who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the small dust on the scales. Look, he lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beast sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing and they are counted by him less than nothing and worthless.

To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? The workman molds an image. The goldsmith over spreads it with gold and the silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter.

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? 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 out like a tent to dwell in.

He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted. Scarcely shall they be sown. Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

To whom then will you liken me? Or to whom shall I be equal? Says the holy one. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things. Who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one is missing.

Why do you say, ‘Oh Jacob,’ and speak, ‘Oh Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God.’

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail. But those who wait on 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.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the revelation of who it is that we behold this day in your scriptures. Help us, Father, to understand more of your person, your attributes, who you are and particularly in relationship to us. We thank you for this great message of comfort. Now bless it to us by your spirit. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen.

Please be seated.

—

## The Comfort of the Gospel

Comfort. This is a gospel word. We read in Luke that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, for the comfort of Israel. That comfort is declared here. This is the beginning of the second half of the book of Isaiah. The first half is found in chapters 1 through 39. And the second half begins at chapter 40.

It’s been marked by various commentators. There are 39 chapters in what may be seen as the Old Testament of Isaiah. Right? There’s 39 books in the Old Testament of our Bibles. And there’s 39 chapters the way that whoever marked them out. They’re not inspired, but still 39 chapters of the Old Testament of Isaiah. And that’s a section predominantly of cursings and woes and burdens and death announced to Judah.

And then there are 27 chapters in the rest of Isaiah just like there are 27 books in the New Testament. And so you can sort of think of this as the New Testament of Isaiah—the second half. And just as the New Testament in our scriptures begins with the gospel, right? The four gospels. So here the New Testament, we could say this second half of Isaiah, in which he announces the resurrection of Judah.

Isaiah is a message of death and resurrection. Jesus died for our sins and was raised up and ascended. So in the second half, focusing on the ascension, the resurrection of Judah rather than going back to the land, this also begins with statements—not radical, but very obvious statements of gospel are found in this section as well.

This chapter is filled with very familiar texts to us. The very opening phrases of it are familiar because every Christmas season—which, until we changed the calendar to beginning at family camp, is the time that our church—that was an inside comment I probably shouldn’t have made it. Some of the youth came up with an idea that, yeah, let’s change the calendar to start at RCC with family camp. I told them not to write an initiative. But this church, we start our calendar, our Sunday school program with Advent Christmas times—kind of the beginning of everything. It’s the beginning of the new creation, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And every Christmas, of course, many of us hear, most of us will hear the strains of Handel’s Messiah with this opening verse of Isaiah predominant in it. So it’s a very common text to us. It contains this great familiar language: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.”

Verses 3 and following are quoted in all four of the Gospels of the New Testament. So it’s not often you have a quote from an Old Testament book found in all four gospels, but verse 3 is. It’s clearly a prophecy of the coming of John the Baptist. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.”

So clearly gospel cited in all four gospels. So ultimately this text is fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist announcing, as the herald, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The last half of verse 6 and verse 8 are quoted in 1 Peter 1:24 and 25. So they’re very familiar to us. “All flesh is grass and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever.”

So there is great comfort in this and great familiarity in Isaiah 40 to us. Verse 8 is quoted again in James 1:11. It’s quite familiar, being used throughout church history to assure people of the stability of God’s word. And as we’ll look at the development of this chapter, you know, it’s really emphasized that the word of the Lord stands forever, not in isolation, but to make the point that the wonderful gospel promises of Isaiah 40 will come to pass. It’s sure. And so that’s kind of the purpose there. But it has become part of our normal use from the New Testament to comfort ourselves with the sureness and stability in God’s word.

Verse 8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

Verse 11 has found its way into many baptismal and eucharistic liturgies. It’s a wonderful picture of the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his care for his people. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.”

Very familiar text. Not because it’s quoted directly in the New Testament, but rather because the church in her documents—baptismal liturgies, eucharistic liturgies—have focused on the work of the good shepherd that’s pictured for us in Isaiah 40:11. He’ll carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. We’ll come back to that at the end of the sermon.

Verse 13 is cited in Romans 11:34 and alluded to in 1 Corinthians 2:16. “Who has directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him.” And I might mention there that I think that as we look at “Behold your God” as a header for what happens in the rest of Isaiah 40, one of the things that’s described is God’s omniscience. His omnipotence and omnipresence are described as attributes, but his omniscience. And so that text quoted twice in the New Testament is about the omniscience of God. He doesn’t need anybody to teach him anything. He knows all things.

Finally, verse 31 is a wonderful picture of encouragement to those who wait for the Lord to work out the wonderful gospel promises of this chapter that are made. Verse 31 says, “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.”

Very familiar text. And it’s the conclusion of this opening chapter of gospel. The comfort is linked then with this end of the text. The strength that God’s people will receive.

This of course was the verse that was used in Chariots of Fire as Eric Liddell abstained from running on the Sabbath—the Christian Lord’s day, Christian Sabbath—and this text was beautifully spoken as a text, going on pictures of people that were running on the Lord’s day were falling in the dust, etc. And of course Eric was justified in his devotion to God and became quite victorious at those Olympics.

So the opening verse of chapter 40 not only opens the rest of this chapter but, as I said, in a very real sense the rest of the entire book of Isaiah. This is gospel. This is a message of great comfort. It’s encouragement. It is a tremendous picture of blessing and comfort to us. And as I said, ultimately it of course is fulfilled in the coming of what Simeon referred to as the consolation or comfort of Israel.

So comfort is a gospel message. It is the gospel message.

## The Structure of Isaiah

One way to summarize it, and as Isaiah’s gospel begins, it begins with this great word comfort. The way I’ve outlined the book of Isaiah for the Sunday school class is there are seven sections and each section begins with a particular word. And this section that begins the whole second half of the book—but this is the fifth of seven sections—and the first word put forward is comfort.

And it then, I think, tells us if we look at the text that all the section that we find herein is to be understood on the basis of that first word. This is a section of comfort and gospel. This comfort, this gospel begins in our text with forgiveness.

## Forgiveness of Sins

Right? It’s first and foremost the forgiveness of sins. It says that her iniquity has been pardoned. Right? So if you look now, as I said, please have your scriptures open.

Verse one is this announcement of comfort. By the way, the comfort is limited to “my people.” “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” As well as the forgiveness that’s talked about is “her sins.” Right? Not everybody’s sins have been forgiven. No, her sins.

Verse two says, “I speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her.” What is this comfort then? What’s this gospel? Well, first and foremost, it’s forgiveness. “Her warfare is ended. Her iniquity is pardoned. She has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

Now, in the immediate context, so we’ve got a double fulfillment going on in Isaiah 40, right? It’s an announcement that Judah, having been taken into exile in Babylon, will be brought out by the Lord and restored to the land of Israel. I mean, literally, there’s they’re going to walk a road. They’re going to go back under Nehemiah, right? They’re going to rebuild. And so it’s about return. But ultimately, of course, it’s about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this coming brings forgiveness of sins, and that is the opening message of what comfort is.

So comfort is gospel and that gospel specifically begins with a discussion of the forgiveness of sins.

Now there are two words used here in terms of forgiveness: iniquity and sins. In the scriptures, iniquity and sins—the Hebrew word translated iniquity—we kind of meld them all in our minds. Iniquity, trespasses, transgressions, sins—it’s all the same thing. But it’s not. There’s specific words being used for particular purposes.

Again, like Leviticus is a prism to show us what the one offering of Christ will accomplish, these words are kind of a prism for the one—or the effects that our sin has upon us. And this word iniquity specifically refers to liability for punishment.

So we trespass God’s law. We transgress. And usually in the Old Testament, the word that’s talking about the actual breaking of what God has told us to do—the word in our English translations will be trespass or transgress. So that’s the actual violation. But the violation produces a liability for punishment upon us. We’re liable to be punished because we broke God’s law. Okay?

It’s supposed to produce fear. You know, fear is a good thing. Fear is a recognition of liability for punishment of someone who has broken God’s law. Now, fear can be a bad thing, but there’s a great godly use of fear. And iniquity is related to that. It means a liability for punishment.

And so, this gospel is that the liability for punishment has been removed. The punishment has been meted out. Ultimately, when we talk about Jesus, that punishment is meted out through the person and work of Jesus. He took upon himself our punishment, our iniquities, our liability to punishment.

The next word that’s used here is sins. And the word sin usually in the Old Testament when you see the word sin, it doesn’t mean the violation. It means the resulting impurity from breaking God’s law. Okay?

So, I do something I shouldn’t and I’m liable to be punished. So, I have fear and I’m also impure. There’s a state of impurity. The sin offering of the Old Testament in Leviticus was to remove impurity. Okay? And that’s why, that’s why we know that sin means impurity.

And this impurity produces shame. So we’ve got true moral guilt in front of God. We’ve got fear because he’s going to punish us. And then we’ve got shame. We’re shamefaced because of our sins. Okay.

Now Jesus Christ takes care of all of that. Again, fear is a good thing. Shame is a good thing. Guilt is a good thing. We shouldn’t think these things are bad. That’s what God uses to help bring us to repentance. But Jesus takes the place of all those.

Now, if this sounds familiar to you, I hope it does, because for a couple of months now, we have used a confession of sin that really kind of focuses on these things. If you turn back your order of worship—turn back in your order of worship, please—to the confession of sin you just read.

And beginning in the second or third sentence, we confess that these trespasses—okay, so that’s the actual violation. Apart from your grace, result in our impurity. That’s sin. And also makes us liable to receive your just punishments. You see there, there’s three things going. We break the word. It makes us impure and it makes us liable for punishment.

And so then we go on to say, “We confess our sins, our impurities, ask that you wash us from our impurities through the cleansing blood of Christ.” And he does that. “We acknowledge our iniquities, our liability to punishment. And we ask that you shield us from punishment through the atoning death of the Savior.” And he’s done that. “And from our violations of your just law, our trespasses or transgressions, our actual violations, forgive us through the perfect obedience of our Lord. Empower us to do what’s right.”

So, so every week we’ve been kind of learning about these different elements of sin and its results in the scriptures.

Well, here the good news, the comfort is that there’s no more liability for punishment and there’s no guilt from our violation. There’s no impurities left. It’s all been taken care of. That’s great gospel. Okay.

And the implication, of course, is that this will come through—ultimately through—the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now what’s interesting is—thematically this is true. So the idea is that now we’ve moved—we’re coming back into the land. We’re coming out of our sins in the New Testament and God has accomplished this, right? And so thematically that’s what’s going on: that the—we’re not supposed to see much sin going on in the rest of this chapter and we don’t.

But linguistically it’s also going on. These two words, sin and iniquity—or the word for trespass, which isn’t even found here—none of them are found in the rest of the chapter. So, it’s kind of cool. It’s beautiful, I think, the way God says these things have been taken care of and they go away. I think that’s very nice the way God writes his scriptures and we don’t always see that.

So, forgiveness of sins is certainly at the very beginning point of what this comfort, this gospel of comfort is. And this is demonstrated to us because this is the beginning of the message and this is how the message starts and it kind of puts a context in it for the rest of it.

Now we might just remember in 1 John we’re told that if we confess our sins he washes us, he forgives us and he washes us from our impurities, right? Of our unrighteousness. So when we come into the Lord’s service, while definitively all these things have been rolled away by Christ, we still continue to sin. We still begin to feel some degree of fear, liability for punishment, and proper shame for our sinfulness.

And God assures us at the beginning of worship that Jesus Christ has taken care of all that. And as we keep confessing our sins, the realization, the recognition, the belief that God has removed impurity, removed liability for punishment, is continually ministered to us by preaching the gospel of comfort—these first couple of verses of Isaiah—to ourselves participating in the liturgy of the church, etc.

## The Context of Passover and Exodus

Now this comfort is set in the context of Passover and Exodus. Okay. So this theme of return from exile begins in verse three.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

We are familiar with the text. What is it talking about? Well, in its first application, it’s saying you’re in Babylon and God will make a roadway for you to go back to the land of Israel. I mean, literally, there’s—they’re going to walk a road. They’re going to go back under Nehemiah, right? They’re going to rebuild. And so it’s about return. But it’s a return that’s premised upon Passover. You know, before—before Israel comes out of Egypt, before the Exodus, is Passover.

And so here, in the context of this book, the same thing is true. Chapters 36 to 39 are the historical account of Sennacherib surrounding the city of Jerusalem. He’s going to destroy it and God saves them. And there are some interesting correlations between this account in chapters 36 to 39 and Passover and then Exodus.

For instance, chapter 36:1 in Isaiah says that the events happen in the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign. And we know from the scriptures from Leviticus that Passover happens on the 14th day. So we got 14th year, 14th day.

The deliverance in Hezekiah’s historical record in 36-39 happens at nighttime, right? He goes and prays in the temple and over in the morning. They see that God has delivered them at night. And of course, the Passover happens at night as well.

Specifically, the angel of the Lord is said to have destroyed Sennacherib’s hosts around the walls of Jerusalem. And of course, the angel of the Lord comes to destroy—well, to destroy the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s son, etc. So, they’re specifically connected that way as well.

You know, both groups would seek to enslave God’s people—Pharaoh and Sennacherib and the Assyrians. And in both cases, God delivers his people through Passover. He kills their enemies and they don’t die. Pharaoh’s own house was attacked. It’s interesting that Sennacherib, at the end of our account in Isaiah 36 through 39, it tells us what happened when Sennacherib went home and he’s killed by his own sons and specifically in the house of his god.

So he’s in the useless house of his god. Hezekiah has gone into the mighty house of his God at the temple in Jerusalem. And so both Passovers demonstrate God’s power over the false gods, the idols of the people.

And so this connection between Isaiah 36-39 to a Passover—Hezekiah himself is passed over. You know, it’s interesting because it doesn’t end with them just being redeemed from Assyria and Sennacherib in 36-39. The next thing that happens before comfort comes is Hezekiah almost dies. He’s death-like. They’ve been delivered from the sin. So, he’s gone home, but then sometime later or sometime thematically later in the account, Hezekiah’s near-death experience is described, and you know the story, right? I mean, God miraculously heals him.

Do you remember what he was going to be killed of? It was a boil, which is kind of odd because, you know, how often do you hear somebody dying of a boil. But a boil is used a few times in the scriptures and one of the times it’s used is of the plagues in Egypt. So you know, Hezekiah himself is passed over by the angel of death on his deathbed. Hezekiah prays for himself.

So we’ve got Passover themes going on and the Passover of 36-39 now becomes the Exodus, the return, the march forward in Isaiah 40.

So while forgiveness of sins—Passover is part of it. It doesn’t stop there. It moves forward into Exodus and coming into God’s land.

## The Postmillennial Purpose

There’s a postmillennial purpose to this Exodus theme, right?

So again, looking at the text, what is the purpose of this Exodus? Verse 5: “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. All flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

So the end result of Passover and Exodus is ultimately the salvation of the world. All flesh will see the glory of the Lord. Okay?

Now you know that’s kind of in the context—historical context in its first fulfillment. All the nations heard about it. But with the coming of Jesus Christ, I think it’s a promise that through time all flesh will behold this glory of the Lord as he brings his people into the blessings of the great gospel comfort that are spoken of here.

So, we have this new Exodus that are talked about as well, and it’s talked—there’s various texts that I’ve listed there that kind of link up Exodus in the context of Isaiah to what happens here. And again, this is found in all four of the gospels, this section of Exodus of going into blessing. Passover work has been done and then the greater Exodus Jesus accomplishes in his incarnation, his death, his resurrection and ascension.

And this purpose is described, as I said, in verse 5. It’s a postmillennial purpose. The gospel begins with forgiveness, folks. That’s certainly true. But it doesn’t stop there. It continues in the visible manifestation of the glory of God through a people who have been redeemed and re-empowered as his image bearers so that they might—with the renewed strength of the eagles—go forth in strength. And that’s how chapter 40 ends.

Verses 29 through 31 is the end of comfort. It’s the bookend of what we begin with. And it talks about: “He gives power to the weak, to those who faint. He increases strength. And so they’ll run and they won’t get weary. They’ll mount up with wings like the power of wings of eagles.”

So we move from forgiveness to an empowered people who will move in that power. And as a result see the coming or the gradual manifestation of God’s glory in all the earth. It’s a postmillennial hope that is established by this statement of great comfort in Isaiah 40.

So this is the great opening and closing message of the beginning of the gospel section of the book of Isaiah. And then we talk about—that’s a wonderful message. It’s hard to believe. It’s hard for us to believe, right?

I mean, these people were—when they got this message originally, it would actually preceded their going into Babylon, but they’re sitting in Babylon. They’ve got Isaiah’s old prophecy there. And how do you believe it? You’re sitting in Babylon. You’re insignificant. You’re trying just to hang on to your kids, making sure they try—they believe mostly what Yahweh has told them in the scriptures. You’re trying to keep them from converting to Babylon’s ways or being seduced by Babylon’s secularism. You’re surrounded by, you know, gross idolatry. You’re a conquered people.

You know, it’s maybe not quite like we are today, but I think we can see some relationship between that and how the church increasingly sees herself in America.

And you wonder to yourself, “Oh, Dennis, yeah, those are great postmillennial hopes, but man, I’m just having a hard time believing it. I’m having a hard time believing.”

And I think that’s why the text goes on to talk about—in verse 6, “The voice said, ‘Cry out, what shall I cry?’” And God says, “Look, tell these people that people come and go, but my word stands forever.”

His word has told us about forgiveness of sins, which is hard to believe. And it’s told us about the progression of history, which is even harder to believe. And he wants us to know that his word is a sure word. It’s a sure word.

So, you know, it isn’t really so much the emphasis, I don’t think, in these verses about the frailty of humankind. I think it’s primarily the idea is that God’s word is sure. It’s a sure word we hear. That’s great gospel, right?

The sure word of comfort, of forgiveness and victory in the person and work of Jesus Christ is given to us by the word. And then he goes on to talk about who this God is who has issued this word.

## Behold Your God

So he says this, and then in verse 8, the word of the Lord stands forever. And then Zion is called upon in verse 9 to proclaim something, to bring good tidings. And here’s the summation of it at the end of verse 9: “Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God.”

So he says, the gospel message is the declaration of who God is. That’s the message you have. That’s the gospel. Behold your God.

And the rest of the chapter, you know, talks about God’s attributes in the context of what he has described here.

His omnipotence, for instance, is talked about in verse 10: “The Lord shall come with a strong hand. His arm shall rule for him. Your God has great power.” Okay?

He’s also got great tenderness. “He’ll feed his flock.” And then he says “he’s measured the waters in the hollow of his hand.” And he talks about God’s omnipotence, his omnipresence, his vastness, his great glory, his hugeness, and not just his power and strength.

It goes on to talk about his omniscience in verse 13. As I said earlier, who has instructed God? Nobody. So “Behold your God” leads into a discussion of the attributes of God. He is all powerful. He’s the creator. He is vast beyond what we can even imagine. And he’s all knowing. He’s omniscient. Nobody had to tell him anything. He’s the beginning and end of all knowledge and wisdom.

So the attributes of God are laid out for us here: his omniscience, his creation, his vastness, as well as his omnipotence in the earlier verses.

So, “Behold, your God” is linked to this gospel message of comfort. And your God is described in a series of statements that describe who he is, what we might say are his attributes. And then the next section beginning in verse 15 is sort of like, you know, you hear this and you say, “Okay, your word’s powerful and sure. Okay, we’re going to win. And okay, we understand who you are, but do you understand who our enemies are? What about these nations that are ruling? What about men who trust in idols? What about princes and rulers of the earth?”

And the next section of Isaiah of chapter 40 goes on in verses 15 to 17 to talk about the nations and God says they’re nothing to him.

Verses 18 to 21, he says the idols are stupid and they’re going to make them are even stupider.

And in verses 22 to 24, he says, “The princes and rulers? Forget it. I raise them, I plant them, I blow, they’re gone.”

So God in his comforting of us assures us not just that he’s greater than anybody else, but that his power is more vast than nations, than idolatry, and then princes and rulers. So he gives us specific enemies of his that would be contemporary to them and contemporary to us.

Our land is filled with gross idolatry. Never seen such a land so dependent upon something other than God for the basic sustenance of life, right? It’s not an obvious idolatry to a lot of people, but it’s becoming more and more so.

So, we have great idolatry. We’ve got nations all around us that threaten us, and our own nation is filled with rulers and judges that are really becoming more and more lawless and more and more tyrannical.

And God tells us, you know, I’m not just big and vast in forgiving you your sins. I’m not just powerful and all knowing. I’m more powerful than what you’re experiencing now. What you’re experiencing now is nothing to me. I am well able. And in fact, I’m going to tell you specifically: this guy, forget it. This nation, don’t worry about him. Idolatry, no, not a problem. Now, we got to be faithful. But God says there’s no problem in the battle between him and all of these enemies around us.

Then, and this is then what he turns to, is he talks about his caring for us. It’s very interesting.

## The Vastness of God

Let’s let’s let’s first of all just hear these verses that one more time that describe the vastness and power of God. Just listen to it. Try to picture what God is saying here.

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?”

He thought that’s about the lakes. All waters he measures it in the hollow of his hand. Huge beyond thought. He measures the water in the hollow of his hand. He measures heaven with a span. A span is the breadth, the width of his hand. He measures it with the width of his hand. God is huge.

“Who’s calculated the dust in the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.”

Yeah. He’s like a guy who gets the hills, the mountains, the world, just put it into balance and weigh it out. God is so vast and so huge.

That’s verse 12. In verse 15: “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket.”

Drop in a bucket. Got a bucket. Little drop in it. To us, the nations are huge. To God, no. Nations are a drop in a bucket. No big deal. Very tiny deal. They’re regarded as dust on the scales.

The kids’ coloring page today, you know, you got the world here on this thing. A little bit of dust over here on this side. To God there’s not much difference. Not much difference. Right?

God is vast. God is all powerful. God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere present in this entire created order. God is huge.

Behold your God. Think about it. Think about who this God is.

Isaiah is saying verse 17: “All nations before him? There is nothing. They’re accounted by him as less than nothing and worthless. Not isn’t even dust. Now it’s less than nothing. It’s a negative compared to the vastness of God.”

I mean, he is huge. Incredible.

Verse 22: “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth. Right? You know, we can see the earth. It’s got a kind of a circle and up there he sits enthroned. Its people? You and I? We’re like grasshoppers to him. We’re itty. You ever been in a plane and you’re landing and people look like, you know, grasshoppers? Well, that’s the way it always is to God. Even more than that, we look so small and insignificant to him.”

“He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

We’ve kind of lost a sense of that through all the light in our atmosphere now, but we’re regaining a sense of the vastness of the heavens and then some with the Hubble telescope, with various astronomical telescopes and imaging systems. We’re getting an incredible view of the vastness of the tent that God dwells in.

He lays it out as a tent for himself, right? I mean, the Isaiah 40, this chapter of comfort is filled with descriptions of God that in isolation are frightening, aren’t they? To think of the vastness of God. I know people who have told me directly, “When I think of the vastness of God, when I think of eternity and God’s dwelling in it, I get scared.”

Well, yeah, to think of it in terms of that. Yeah, there’s some sense to that, right?

So, you know, it says that “Lift up your eyes on high. See who has created these things, all the things in the heavens. Who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name.”

How many stars there are? God calls them all by name. Okay, this is “Behold your God.” He calls all the stars of the heaven by name “by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one is missing.”

His providence, his creation is stated over and over again in this chapter. And his providence is alluded to here as well. He sustains and upholds all these things.

This is the God we serve. This is the vastness of that God.

## God’s Vastness and His Care

Now the amazing thing, and the very important thing to grasp here, is these are not given in isolation to other truths in Isaiah 40. These are not—I just abstracted them out and we could build a theology of God and his attributes based on this. And I don’t know, maybe that’s an okay thing to do. But that’s not the way God describes it in this chapter of comfort.

When we read verse 26, right? We just read that about the heavens and the greatness of them. And then look at verse 27: “Why do you say, ‘Oh Jacob,’ and speak, ‘Oh Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God.’”

And then look at verse 28: “Have you not known? Have you not heard the everlasting God, the God who the creator of the ends of the earth?”

So little Jacob, right? He’s huge. Why do you say your way is hidden from him? He’s huge. Now, it’s not obvious on the face of it what verse 27 is saying. You might at first think, oh, people are trying to hide their sins. Remember what I said earlier? The sins are sort of gone by this point in time.

So you know, big vista stuff is surrounding a statement that I think refers to man’s feeling of insignificance. In Isaiah 49:14, a similar statement is made later in this same section on—go on comfort. We read in Isaiah 49:14, a parallel text to what we just read: “Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me.’”

Like so I think what God is saying in between these statements of his vastness is our temptation is not to hide our sin. That’s not what’s going on. It’s to say, “Well, he’s so vast, but he doesn’t really care about me. He doesn’t really—He won’t write my—He doesn’t even care. He won’t take the time to write my wrongs, the things that have been done in injustice against me, right? He doesn’t care about my problems. Not enough. If he’s that big, you know, what does that mean to me in my particular situation?”

You know, it’s kind of like Humphrey Bogart, right, in Casablanca, you know, he said this, you know, at the airport scene: “It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, right?”

That’s kind of how we feel. We’re tiny. We’re insignificant. We’re less than grasshoppers. We’re less than nothing to God. If we read those verses in isolation, but those verses are written around a text directly addressing this feeling on the part of his people.

Those verses are given to assure us, not to cause us to back away from but to assure us of his care and compassion for us.

In Isaiah 40, the great comfort of the text is that “Behold your God” is the very God who is delivering you and who cares about you. And yeah, you think you’re going to be in Babylon forever. And yeah, you think you’re going to be in debt forever. And yeah, you think you’re going to have enemies—whoever—who treat you unkindly and cruelly. And yeah, you think you’re going to argue forever with people around you.

Yeah, you think you’re going to be oppressed forever by this government. All kinds of problems. You think it’s never going to end, but God is saying it is ending. I’ve given you my word. My word is sure. And I’m telling you now: don’t be tempted to think that I don’t care about the problems of three little people or one little people.

His vastness, his attributes are given specifically in the context of assuring us of his comfort and care for us.

The same thing’s true earlier in the chapter. Look at verse 11: “He’ll—he’ll feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, gently lead those who are with young.”

And then look at verse 12: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.”

And you see the juxtaposition throughout Isaiah 40 of the vastness of God and his taking care of the problems of you and me—individual people. You know, those things are juxtaposed not to frighten us or to discourage us but to give us comfort.

The chapter begins by saying comfort my people and the comfortable message—the consolation of his people—is that God is vast and well able and intended to take care of you.

Yeah, he’s big. Vast stuff. He holds the waters in the hollow of his hand. But that’s given specifically—specifically—after telling us of his care, not just for every person that’s sitting here but his care of the mother with a child inside of her. He leads the mother with child. God’s care, God’s provision, his knowledge is not just vast. It’s minuscule as well.

He knows the smallest things. And he cares for that child inside a mother’s womb. And he is leading that child, him directly leading that child with care as he brings them into the blessings of the promised land.

God’s attributes in Isaiah 40—in this chapter, this gospel chapter, this chapter of comfort—this chapter where we’re liable to remember all this vastness of God, the attributes of God are specifically given to comfort us and to assure us in response to fears about nations or idols or powers or rulers or fears about the forgetfulness of God and his inattention to our particular little problems.

His attributes, his vastness is specifically given in the context of comfort, assurance, gospel to you and me. They’re not given in isolation. They’re given to bring us comfort.

Don’t ever think like Humphrey Bogart said, don’t ever think that your problems, your difficulties aren’t worth a hill of beans. To God, he is as concerned about your problems and even an unborn person’s problems as he is about calling all the stars and the hosts by name.

This chapter tells us that the attributes of God should never be abstracted out somehow from his attribute of love, tenderness, concern, redemption, providence. You see, they’re put together and God wants us to be assured of his care by the very statements that when we abstract them out can kind of frighten us or discourage us.

No, the text tells us indeed that these things are given to us by God.

Never doubt that the Lord God cares for you. Never doubt that his vastness is anything other than an assurance to you in this chapter of his care, love and guidance of you.

## The Comfort of Providence

Isaiah 51:11 and following: “The ransom of the Lord shall return. They’ll come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

I even I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that will die or the son of a man who will be made like grass? And you forget the Lord your maker, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth. You have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he is prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?

The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit and that his bread should not fail.”

It’s the same thing in Isaiah 51. He lays his attributes, his vastness, and his power right alongside of a gentle chiding of us. Don’t be tempted to say that God has forgotten you. God doesn’t forget.

The great gospel message of comfort is that God is concerned. Cast all your cares upon him knowing that he cares. He’s thinking upon you and he speaks to you today from Isaiah—from his vastness. He speaks words of comfort to you today and the assurance that the world and history and your personal life is moving in the context of the establishment of his glory and your own well-being.

Let’s not doubt it.

Let’s pray. Lord God, we thank you for your vastness and we thank you for this beautiful way that you have placed this vastness in juxtaposition with your care for the small things of life. Bless us this week, Lord God. Give us a confidence. Give us a hope. Give us a comfort and consolation knowing that your hand is upon us and the spheres of all the universe for good. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.