We've been talking about a time for confidence,
and in this session, we're going to talk about our confidence must be in God. To help us get a handle on this, we're going
to go back to Isaiah chapter 40. This has to be one of the most beautiful chapters
in all of Scripture, Isaiah chapter 40. You know, it begins with these great words,
"Comfort, comfort my people." And, of course, you almost can't read that
without hearing Handel's 'Messiah' going off in the back of your head. What is happening here is that we have had
chapter upon chapter of judgment. This is a bleak book, Isaiah, from chapters
1-39. You begin looking at the nations, you begin
looking at Israel, and you just see oracle of judgment upon oracle of judgment. And then, all of a sudden, at chapter 40,
the tone now shifts. And it shifts, in fact sometimes these last
chapters of the book -- chapters 40-66 -- are sometimes called 'The Book of Comfort' because
those first chapters are so harsh in their judgment. Well, what we have here is Isaiah prophesying
ahead of Israel's captivity in Babylon. But not only does Isaiah see that Israel's
going to be taken captive by Babylon -- the writing is literally on the wall, so just
about anybody could see that if they were paying attention -- but what Isaiah also prophesies
is "not only will you be taken, but you will be brought back." And so, when we get into these chapters, we
have now gone past judgment and now we're talking about restoration. And so the opening verses of chapter 40 assure
Israel that they will be restored to the land, and that is why this is a book of comfort. "You will be brought back to the land." But I want to think about this for a little
bit. So, let's put ourselves in the campfire, right,
in Babylon. And we are the captive Israelites in exile. And we have the Isaiah Scroll. And we're reading that we're just going to
simply waltz back to our homeland. Now, let's think this through. For one thing, between where we are and Israel
is a huge desert. So we've got geography to overcome. But much more palatable, or much more formidable
than that is Babylon. In order for this to happen, the king is just
going to have to up and decide, out of the magnanimous joy of his heart, that we can
go back home. And, of course, Babylon is going to pass off
the scene, and Medo-Persia -- Cyrus is going to be the guy. Now, if you know anything about world history,
you wouldn't look at Cyrus and think that he's got a magnanimous heart, who just wants
to do kind things for people. He's interested in conquering the world. And so, if we're sitting there and we're hearing
that God's going to restore us, I think this would raise a question: Really? Is God able to fulfill this promise? Right? So, as I look at verses 12 through the end
of the chapter, what I see here are a series of demonstrations of God's power, so that
as God promises to restore Israel -- like a shepherd will gather up the lambs and carry
them in his bosom, and take them back to the safety of their sheep pen -- Israel will be
brought back to the land. They will be restored. And you can count on it. God is a faithful God and, if you put your
confidence in God, you will not be let down. And so here we have a series of demonstrations
of God's power. In this chapter, or in these verses -- from
verse 12 through the end of the chapter -- we're going to see that God's power is demonstrated
over creation. We'll see the waters, and the mountains, and
the lake, and the stars. We're going to see that God's power is demonstrated
over the nations. And we're going to see that God's power is
demonstrated over the false gods. And we're going to see a final demonstration
of God's power as Isaiah brings this chapter to a close. So let's take a look at it. And you see it there in verse 12 of Isaiah
chapter 40, and from verses 12-13 we have the first demonstration of God's power over
creation: "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 on scales and the hills in a balance?" Now, of course, you look at any one of these
and you think of the great waters, right? And if any of you have ever just seen the
ocean or been on an ocean-going vessel, you recognize what a tremendous force this is
of the waters. And yet they are simply in the hollow of his
hand, right? The grandeur of God, the greatness of God. And then the heavens! Now, this is Isaiah's day. In our day, we've got the Hubble Telescope
that is still out there beaming back the galaxies and showing us these remarkable pictures of
not just the stars, but of the galaxies! And yet, Isaiah tells us that God measures
them with a span, right? And then these great mountains. Now, I used to live in Pennsylvania, and central
Pennsylvania, where we had hills. I grew up in western Pennsylvania -- not too
far from original Ligonier country -- and there we had mountains. We had the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We had genuine mountains. In fact, to get from where I lived up to Ligonier,
you had to go about three miles up on the mountain, up where Ligonier was. But in Florida, it's pretty flat. You could get yourself up on the top of a
roof of a house and you can see pretty far. So we really have to go somewhere else, if
we live in Florida, to see mountains. But when you do see mountains, immediately,
as you are dwarfed by them, you recognize the grandeur of mountains. And yet, you can almost see Isaiah trying
to portray this for us as God just sort of 'plops down' a mountain in creation. So all of these things that awe us in the
natural world, God is powerful over them. Isaiah turns to the false gods. He says, in verse 14: "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?" Now, it seems like, at this point, Isaiah
has sort of shifted gears from what theologians talk about as the attribute of God as 'omnipotent'
-- that is, He is all-powerful -- that Isaiah now is talking about God as 'omniscient'. He is all-knowing. And so who has taught Him? There's something else that I think's going
on here. In the Babylonian pantheon of gods, the supreme
god was Marduk. Now, I always have to remind myself it's Marduk,
not Marmaduke. Remember? Marmaduke is the big dog, the cartoon? OK. That's not the Babylonian god. It's Marduk. But Marduk takes counsel with the other gods. So when Marduk needs to make a decision, he
brings together -- like a president would bring together his cabinet, or a king would
bring together his advisers -- Marduk assembles the gods. And so he consults with, you know, the god
of thunder, and he consults with this god and then, once he gathers that information,
he makes a decision. This is a direct frontal assault that God
is more powerful than the Babylonian gods. And why is this important? See, in the ancient world, if one nation conquered
another nation, it meant, very simply, this: that nation's gods were the superior gods. And so you often find this in the Old Testament. You know? That Israel was crying out for God to vindicate
His name by protecting Israel. And so the idea here is if Israel's conquered,
what does that say about the Babylonian gods? And clearly here, God is demonstrating that
He is over Marduk, and that He is over the false gods. Then we turn to the nations. You all remember the story of Eric Liddell. Eric Liddell was a son of missionaries in
China, medical missionaries. And of course, he's famous for his winning
bronze, and especially gold, in the 1924 Paris Olympics. But he also had this wonderful life after
the Olympics where he went back to China and served as a missionary for the remainder of
his life. But there's that moment in the movie 'Chariots
of Fire' -- and there's a little bit of license going on there in the movie -- where Eric
Liddell who was a sprinter, and his main race was the 100-meter dash. His secondary race was the 200 meters. Those are both considered sprinting distances,
right? And in the movie, we find out that he gets
to Paris, and, like, the week ahead of the time trials for the 100, he finds out that
they're on a Sunday. Well, sorry to sort of shatter the drama of
the movie. He actually knew, they all knew. The schedule was posted a couple of months
before. So it wasn't quite a dramatic moment as the
movie makes it out to be. But it still was a dramatic moment. He had trained for years for the 100-meter
dash. This was his race. And he's a Scottish Presbyterian, so he takes
"Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy" very seriously. And so he will not run in the time trial on
a Sunday. Now, let's just imagine that the movie's accurate
for a moment. So, in the movie, they bring in the Prince
of Wales, right? So I'm not sure all of the duties that are
on the Prince of Wales' agenda, but apparently one of them is making sure the British Olympic
athletes stay in line. So they bring in the British Prince of Wales
to admonish him, for country, that he needs to run in the 100, because that's their chance
for gold. And he stands up to that pressure. And, in fact, in the movie -- and this part
is true -- instead of running in the 100-meter time trials, he preaches. And guess what text he uses? Of course he's going to use Isaiah chapter
40, because it has people running at the end and soaring like eagles! This is a great text to boost your confidence
before you go into the Olympics. But he also reads it because of this. Look at this, at verse 15: "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." Liddell did not cower or cave under the pressure
of his king. He recognized that the nations are like a
little drop that just goes right into the bucket, recognized the nations for what they
are. And behind the nations, and that power of
the nations that they represent -- and sometimes that power is so strong it's all we can see. It blocks the sun, as it were, and we can't
see beyond the horizon of our existence because all we see is what is in front of us, the
nations. But the true perspective is they are a drop
in the bucket. And Liddell knew this. Liddell knew this. Of course, he got bronze in the 200, and then
he trained for the 400. And this is a remarkable thing: the 400 is
not considered a sprint. It's considered a middle distance. And sprinters don't usually make for good
middle-distance runners. And Liddell shocked the world when he took
gold in the 400 at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Well, as we go back to the text, at verse
18, we turn our attention back to the false gods. "To whom then will you liken God, or what
likeness compare with Him? An idol?" And here's where a little sarcasm comes out. I love this, in here. And I love it when the biblical authors get
a little sarcastic. And here is a case where we see that: "A craftsman casts it, a goldsmith overlays
it with gold and casts it for 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 or totter." So be careful you don't get a shoddily made
wooden idol, because it may not just sit right on the shelf and, you know, when the kids
come in the house and they go buzzing by, they might just cause enough disturbance to
knock it over. How silly is it that these Babylonians were
putting their confidence in these idols made by man? And so we're reminded that God demonstrates
His power over the false gods. We return to creation, in verse 21: "Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to 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" -- we're back
to the nations again -- "and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness." Yes, even Cyrus, even Cyrus, the great Medo-Persian
king. Armies just simply melted when he came onto
the scene. So great was his reputation. "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." It's a wonderful conclusion reached in verse
25. It's a rhetorical question: "To whom then
will you compare me that I should be like him? says the Holy One." So we have here these series of God's demonstrations
of His power. But He has saved the best demonstration of
His power for last. And that is: God ultimately delights in demonstrating
His power in His people. We're going to see this in these last few
verses. So, as we look at how this closes, we find
what is a very honest question: "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 'My way
is hidden from the Lord, my right is disregarded by my God'?" So let's go back to the campfire. Remember? Last time we visited the campfire, we were
hearing that God's going to restore us. We have our doubts. God's just demonstrated all these things. Now we have another question: but what about
me? Does God notice my situation? Yes, I can check the box, He's Creator so
He's more powerful than creation. Yes, if we press far enough, we will say the
nations really are a drop in the bucket. Yes, we know, we know how ludicrous false
gods are. So we can check that box. But what about in this particular situation? Does God notice? And does God care? There's an injustice here. My right, right? -- as His people, to enjoy
His promise, will that go disregarded? Does God notice me? Well, we speak to this, don't we, in the next
few verses? "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." Now, we're going to see it applied: "He gives
power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength." Well, that makes perfect sense. Those who need power, God gives it to them. But there's another category here: "Even youths
shall faint and be weary." Do you know what the world record is for the
high jump? I had to look this up. It is eight feet point zero three inches. Can you imagine? We should put a mark on the wall of where
eight feet is. A human being cleared eight feet point zero
three inches. It was Javier Sotomayor. He was from Cuba. And, in 1993, he set the world record. Amazing feat. He's still alive. I don't know how high he is jumping, but I'm
pretty sure he's not clearing eight feet anymore. No matter how strong we seem to be, how invincible
we seem to be, we have our limitations. And so, even the youth -- and Isaiah's going
to go on to say "young men," right? -- that symbol of human vigor and of human strength,
and of human capacity, and of human power: even that will have its limits. "And the youth will faint, and the young men
will fall exhausted." It was a couple of weeks ago, at Reformation
Bible College, we had an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I had never played Ultimate Frisbee in my
life. You have to run a lot in Ultimate Frisbee. And these are 18-22 year-olds, and they seem
to have no stop to their energy. And then I read a verse like this and I think,
"Oh yes, eventually they'll get weary and I can't wait to watch them fall exhausted." Do you see what Isaiah's trying to do here? He's trying to say, "No matter where you sort
of find yourself, there is a limit. And that's a good thing because, if there's
not a limit, you know where you would put your confidence in? You'd put it in yourself. But your confidence must be in God." And so, Isaiah tells us, "But they who wait
for the Lord, they'll renew their strength; they'll mount up with wings like eagles; they'll
run and not be weary; they'll walk and not faint." Now, every time I look at this, I think, "I
do not get that order." It really should be reversed. It seems anticlimactic. We start off soaring like eagles. That's pretty exciting. Then we're running. OK, I like that. But then we're just walking. How common! How ordinary! Isaiah got it wrong. We really need to reverse the order. We walk, and then we run, and then we soar
like eagles! But how right this is. It's a metaphor, so let's not overdo the metaphor. But how infrequently do we need that sort
of burst of soaring like an eagle? And even occasionally, the run? But then it's the constant, the common, the
ordinary, and it's the walk. And at every turn, God's power is there to
meet us. And so, we can rightly put our confidence
in God. Dr. Sproul has said this many times. Recently, in a conversation with him, he mentioned
this. Our problem, really, is this: we don't know
who God is, and we don't know who we are. That's our fundamental problem. And this text only scratches the surface. We're talking about God's omnipotence here,
and His omniscience. We could be talking about God's faithfulness. We could be talking about His purity, His
holiness, His righteousness; that God is life, that God is light, that God is love, that
He's full of mercy, that His compassion knows no bounds, that He is kind, most kind; that
He's omnibenevolent, all-good. This is who God is and this is where our confidence
must be. It can't be in ourselves, and it can't be
in the nations. It can't be in those idols. It can only be in God. Our confidence must be in God. You know, I didn't quite get it right when
I said that ultimately God delights to demonstrate His power in His people. Because the only reason that we can soar like
eagles, and run and not grow weary, and walk and not faint is because there was One who
did faint. There was One who could not walk, who was
literally crushed by the weight of the cross. And it is because God sent His Son -- and,
ultimately, God demonstrated His power, demonstrates His power in the Son, and in the Son's death
on the cross -- that we can claim this promise. The ultimate demonstration of God's power
is in the cross, and in the Son. And because of that, He delights to demonstrate
His power in our lives. And our confidence has to be in him. It must be in Him. Next, we're going to look at how our confidence
also needs to be not only in God, but also to put our confidence in the Word that God
gave us. We'll look at that next time, together.
