“THIS IS YOUR GOD”
Isaiah 40
Theme: Our strength is not found within ourselves. It is found by gaining a greater vision of God.
Key Text
“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.”
Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
Introduction
Everyone eventually reaches a place where their own strength is no longer enough.
Isaiah 40 was written to people in exactly that place.
- Israel had spent seventy years in Babylonian captivity.
- Their city was gone.
- Their Temple had been destroyed.
- Their future appeared hopeless.
- Many wondered if God had forgotten His covenant.
Into that darkness God speaks one word:
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” (Isaiah 40:1)
Notice that Isaiah 40 begins with comfort and ends with strength.
The journey from verse 1 to verse 31 answers one important question:
How does God restore strength to weary people?
The answer is beautifully simple.
He first gives them a fresh vision of Himself.
I. The God Who Comforts
Isaiah 40:1–2
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
Before God speaks about their future…He speaks to their hearts.
Before He changes their circumstances…He changes their perspective.
Notice what He does not say.
- He doesn’t begin by rebuking them.
- He doesn’t begin by reminding them why they are in Babylon.
- He begins with compassion.
Principle
God often comforts His people before He delivers His people.
- Sometimes God changes our circumstances.
- Sometimes He first changes us.
- Sometimes He simply reminds us that we are not alone.
Application
#Virtualamen: Many of us are waiting for God to remove the burden. But, sometimes His first gift is simply His presence.
II. The God Who Prepares the Way
Isaiah 40:3–8
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD…” (v.3)
God announces that He is already preparing a road home.
- Every valley…
- Every mountain…
- Every crooked place…
- Every rough place…
will be made ready.
Long before Israel ever left Babylon…God was already preparing their journey.
Great Principle
God is already working in places you haven’t even arrived yet.
Many times we think we’re waiting on God when God is actually preparing us for what He has already prepared for us.
Then Isaiah reminds us why we can trust Him.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (vv.7–8)
Everything around us changes.
- Cultures change.
- Governments change.
- Health changes.
- Circumstances change.
But God’s promises never change.
III. “Behold Your God!”
Isaiah 40:9
Then Isaiah reaches the centerpiece of the chapter.
“Behold your God!”
Everything after this point answers one question.
Who is this God?
Isaiah doesn’t spend the next verses talking about Israel.
He talks about God.
#Virtualamen: Weary people don’t gain strength by looking at themselves…They gain strength by seeing God more clearly.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention?
I want to Introduce to you
In this corner of the good and the right
stands a champion robed in white
His height exceeds the heavens, His weight outweighs the world
His reach reaches everywhere, His age is evermore
He is higher than the highest
Greater than the great
No one will ever take His crown away
He’s more mighty than the mightiest, He reigns from above
He’s the all-time undisputed, undefeated champion of love
He left His hometown to enter this arena,
to raise His hands in victory for me
An angry crowd crucified this king who wore their crown
as they gladly watched the champion going down
Oh but I will never count Him out, for I’m a witness of
The day He rose to reclaim the title “Champion of Love”
He is higher than the highest
Greater than the great
No one will ever take His crown away
He’s more mighty than the mightiest, He reigns from above
He’s the all-time undisputed, undefeated champion of love
This is your God…
He rules with absolute authority.
Isaiah 40:10
“Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might…”
Nothing happening in your life is outside His rule.
This is your God…
He shepherds with perfect compassion.
Isaiah 40:11
“He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms…”
The hand that governs the universe is the same hand that carries weary believers.
This is your God…
He created everything by His power.
Isaiah 40:12
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand…”
If He measured the oceans in His hand…
He can certainly hold your life together.
This is your God…
He possesses perfect wisdom.
Isaiah 40:13–14
“Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?”
Nothing has ever surprised Him.
Nothing has ever confused Him.
Nothing has ever required Him to ask for advice.
This is your God…
He reigns above every nation.
Isaiah 40:15–17
“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket…”
Empires rise.
Empires fall.
God remains.
This is your God…
He alone is worthy of worship.
Isaiah 40:18–19
18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
- Idols have to be built.
- They have to be carried.
- They have to be protected.
- We serve the God who is building us, protecting us, and carrying us!
This is your God…
He knows every star by name.
[Isa 40:21-26 ESV] 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? 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, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 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. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
If He has never forgotten a single star…
He has certainly not forgotten one of His children.
Now Isaiah asks a searching question.
[Isa 40:27-28 ESV] 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.
After seeing a God like this how could we ever believe He has forgotten us?
IV. The Strength You Need
[Isa 40:29-31 ESV] 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 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.
Notice who receives His strength.
- Not the strong.
- Not the self-sufficient.
- The weary.
- The exhausted.
- The faint.
God specializes in strengthening people who have reached the end of themselves.
Conclusion:
Because God Lifts Us…
We soar above our circumstances.
Sometimes God gives us supernatural perspective.
The storm is still there…
but it no longer controls us.
We run with power.
There are seasons when ministry is demanding.
Life is exhausting.
Responsibilities increase.
Yet somehow…
God supplies strength we never knew we possessed.
Not because we are strong…
but because He is.
We walk with endurance.
Notice Isaiah’s order.
First we soar.
Then we run.
Finally…
we walk.
Most of life is not lived soaring above the clouds.
Most of life is lived one faithful step at a time.
Walking with Christ.
Trusting Him.
Obeying Him.
Remaining faithful.
Perhaps the greatest miracle of Isaiah 40 is not soaring like an eagle.
It is walking with God day after day without losing heart.