Isaiah 40 “Behold Your God!” V 10“Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.”
When God’s people are weary and fearful, of the future God calls us to lift our eyes from our circumstances and focus on His glory, faithfulness, and coming deliverance both now and for eternity.
Looking Back at the First Thirty-Nine Chapters Isaiah is often called “the Bible in miniature.” The Bible contains sixty-six books and Isaiah contains sixty-six chapters.
The first thirty-nine chapters largely emphasize: God’s Holiness – Isaiah’s ministry began with a vision of God’s holiness: Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts.” God’s people had forgotten who He is.
Judah’s Sin and Rebellion – God’s people were filled with idolatry, empty religion. injustice, pride, and biblical and religious compromise. Isaiah repeatedly called them to repentance.
God’s Judgment which would come through Assyria, Babylon and then exile from God’s Land. Isaiah warned that Jerusalem would eventually fall because of persistent disobedience.
Hope Beyond Judgment in his prophecies of judgment, Isaiah continually pointed forward to the coming Messiah (Isaiah 7, 9, 11), The future kingdom, The salvation of the nations and the restoration of Israel
Isaiah 39 ended with a dark prophecy in response to Hezekiah’s pride leading him to show the Babylonian envoys all the treasures entrusted to God’s holy people. Isaiah announced: “The days are coming when all that is in your house… will be carried to Babylon.” (39:6)
The first half of Isaiah seems to end in tragedy with exile and judgment coming. But then comes one of the greatest transitions in all of Scripture: “Comfort, O comfort My people.” Judgment is not God’s final word. Grace is.
Isaiah 40 marks the beginning of a new section of the book. Chapters 40-66 focus largely on Comfort after judgment. God’s future restoration of Israel and the coming Messiah who will bring redemption and salvation to Israel and the nations, through the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah 40 answers the question “Can God be trusted after everything has fallen apart?” The answer to those seeking hope in dark times is yes behold your God!” This chapter reveals four great truths about God starting in v. 1
- God Comforts His People The repetition emphasizes God’s compassion. The God who disciplines is also the God who comforts.
God’s discipline is never the end. Psalm 103:13: “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.”
Lamentations 3:31-32: “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion.”
Israel would go into exile. But exile would not be the end of the story. God still calls them “My people.” This reminds us of God’s amazing grace.
V 2 Her warfare has ended. The Hebrew word for warfare means hardship and struggle. God promises here His forgiveness, restoration and peace.
V 3-5 “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness.” This prophecy looked ahead to John the Baptist. All four Gospels apply this passage to him. John prepared Israel for the coming of Messiah.
But the language also points beyond the first coming to the ultimate restoration when “The glory of the LORD will be revealed.” This is the second coming of the Messiah. One day all humanity will see the King. Phil. 2:11-12:
So that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The substance of that Scripture is recited every Shabbat in most Synagogue services.
V 6-8 “All flesh is grass.” Human strength is fleeting. Kings rise and empires fall but “The word of our God stands forever.” This was exactly what the exiles needed to hear as they headed into captivity for 70 years. Everything around them would collapse. But God’s promises would never fail.
V 9-11 – God through Isaiah issues the command to “behold your God!” In v 10 He comes with power, yet He gathers His lambs in His arms. Our God is mighty in His sovereign rule, yet gentle enough to carry His lambs tenderly.
- A second response to the question can God be trusted when everything is falling apart in:
V 12-14 God Is Incomparable The focus shifts from comfort to worship. Isaiah asks a series of questions that presents why Israel can trust God for comfort and hope through all her trials and discipline.
Through a series of questions, God is shown to be the powerful Creator. The answer to these questions shows the Lord’s superiority over all creation. God is the Creator and sustainer of all things (v. 12). God has a mind that no man can understand or advise (v. 13). No one improves His plans He is infinitely wise. He determines the course of all the events of the world by His own wisdom (v. 14). This speaks of His sovereignty over all things.
V 15-17 God is compared to the nations that pale in comparison to His power and majesty. Babylon looked invincible. Assyria looked unstoppable. But to God, they are insignificant. They are as dust when weighed against the Lord’s weight (Heb. Kivod=glory) (v. 15). Even Lebanon, noted for its cedars, is as nothing before God. The splendor and power of the all the nations are insignificant to God (vv. 16-17). Creation itself proclaims His greatness.
V 18-20 After comparing God to the nations, Isaiah considers the idols of the nations. They were usually carved from wood (v. 20), overlaid with gold and silver (v. 19), and then, in some cases, dressed in fine clothes. These idols represented a place where god supposedly revealed its presence. They were fashioned with artistic care and creativity. They were believed to be a medium to communicating with the gods and an image of the god they revered. The comparison between God and idols should not be taken lightly. While it may seem in our day difficult to believe that physical idols made with human hands have any power, in those days they were deemed to be potent and responsible for blessings and judgment.
Isaiah mocks idols as he notes how people make them with their own hands and then bow before them. Anything we trust in more than God becomes an idol. Today this can include other people, money, success, power, security, even religion.
Isaiah asks, “To whom then will you liken God?” The answer is no one. There is no one like Him. All other people and things will disappoint and fail us but not God.
- A third response to the question can God be trusted when everything is falling apart is found in:
V 21-26 God Rules Over the Universe – He Sits Above the Circle of the Earth. This also is a prophetic word regarding the truth that the earth is not flat but round, long before science and modern observation confirmed this truth.
God is transcendent which means He exists above, beyond, or independent of the created world, human experience and understanding. When we say God is transcendent, we mean that He is infinitely above and beyond His creation. He is not limited by space, time, matter, or human understanding:
Isaiah 55:8–9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
The inhabitants of earth are like grasshoppers before Him. Kings and rulers may seem powerful. But God “reduces rulers to nothing.” This is a reminder for us today and for every future generation. Governments change and leaders rise and fall but God remains on His throne over all. God is pictured as being a powerful military leader to whom even the stars show their obedience, who is willing and able to preserve Israel. No idol can make the same claim, and certainly no leader who is a mere man.
In v 26, in order to help us understand why we can trust God when things are falling apart, we have a second command. The first was in v. 9 where Israel was told to lift up their voice and declare to the cities of Judah to behold their God. The second is Lift up your eyes on high and consider the testimony of our God.
This speaks of general revelation which is God’s self-disclosure through creation, human conscience, and His providential ordering of the world. It is available to all people, always, and in all places. It reveals that God exists and displays His power, wisdom, and divine nature, but it does not reveal the way of salvation. Key Scriptures revealing this truth are Psalm 19:1–4; Romans 1:19–20; Romans 2:14–15; Acts 14:15–17; Acts 17:24–28
Special Revelation is God’s direct disclosure of Himself, His will, and His plan of salvation through His Word and ultimately through His Son, Jesus the Messiah all revealed in Scripture.
General revelation reveals that God exists, while special revelation reveals who God is. General revelation is available to all people through creation, conscience, and providence leaving all mankind without excuse about knowing that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe.
If people respond to general revelation seeking to know the God who is revealed in His creation God will bring such a person to either special revelation or judge him based on his response to general revelation in his heart and mind. Thus, all mankind is and will be without excuse when they stand in judgment before God with regard to their eternal destiny.
- Finally, A fourth response to the question can God be trusted when everything is falling apart is found in:
V 27-31 – Where we learn that God strengthens the weary. This final section is written to speak to discouraged and doubting believers. It begins with the statement: “My way is hidden from the Lord.” We need to understand that nothing is hidden from the Lord. This question, whether we think or speak it, infers not only that God doesn’t see but also that “He doesn’t care and has forgotten me.” All of us at times have felt that way, haven’t we?
God’s response in v 28 is “The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.” We grow tired but God never does. He neither slumbers nor sleeps (5:27). Our strength is finite His is infinite.
Then Isaiah coveys to us this important truth: He gives strength to the weary (v.29). This relates one of the multitudes of Biblical paradoxes that the strongest people are those who know they are weak. God gives strength to those who recognize their need.
This strength comes as Isaiah and the Lord teach us to those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength (v.31). This means trusting, hoping, relying, and expecting. It is a living faith strengthened by God’s Word. Isaiah relates a vivid picture to portray this truth of renewed strength: Soaring “They will mount up with wings like eagles.” lifting us above our circumstances. Running “They will run and not get tired,” strength for in times that would normally overwhelm us. And Walking, since most of life is simply walking in the Lord, being faithful in our day to day walk with the Lord. Trusting God by obeying His commands revealed to us by His Word and Spirit.
So, considering this we need to remember that God’s discipline never nullifies His promises. Judgment came to Judah, as it does to us, but so too did and does comes God’s comfort.
No matter what trials or circumstances we are experiencing God’s power and will for our lives will never be diminished. When Israel was brought into captivity being removed from the Promised Land they did not lose their covenant relationship with God, neither in that day nor today. God’s discipline is an expression and marker of His faithful love for us.
Throughout this book, Isaiah reminds us to lift up our eyes and behold our God. Our problems become smaller when our view of God becomes larger.
God gives strength to those who depend on Him. The life of a child of God is not lived in our own strength but by continually waiting upon the Lord.
Isaiah 40 is a doorway to the rest of Isaiah, where we will discover that the God who comforts His people will do so through His Servant, the Messiah, who will bear our sins and bring His salvation and deliverance to Israel and the nations.
