Trusting
God: Doctrine of Suffering – Part 2
Our
study is on the faith-rest drill. This has come about because weÕve reached a
passage in our overall study of 1 Thessalonians 1:8 where Paul praised the
Thessalonica believers that the reputation of their faith toward God had gone
out throughout all of Greece. This ought to be a pattern for every Christian
and for every church. We should have a reputation for being people of God who trust
in God and are not shattered by these circumstances of life and the negative
experiences of life.
This
is the context in which we usually utilize the faith-rest drill. WeÕre going
through some sort of trauma in life or some sort of adversity, whether it is a
momentary affliction or whether it is something that has long-term consequences
for us. It is when we are going through those difficult times of adversity and
suffering and hardship that we are driven to God to depend upon Him and to
claim these promises.
One
of the promises that weÕre focusing on at the beginning of this study as we
learn how to mix our faith with is Isaiah 40:31 which says, ÒThose who wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like
eagles; they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.Ó This
is an excellent passage to help us understand how to mix faith with the
promises of God. As weÕre working through this process itÕs important to think
through the promise as we memorize it. We should think it through and think
what the rationale embedded within this particular promise is. We need to ask
why we are claiming this particular promise.
As
we go through this today I want to go back and finish something we started in
the previous lesson, which is, understanding why there
is suffering in our life. WeÕre looking at ten different reasons for suffering.
That will help us to understand the context of our own life and how we need to
claim these particular promises. When we finish looking at that in this lesson
then weÕll go back to the context of Isaiah 40:31 to help us learn how to think
through and work through a promise.
A
great background for being able to do this more effectively in our lives is if
youÕve gone through the series that IÕve done on Bible study methods. ItÕs a
foundation for any believer so they can get more out of their own Bible reading
and their own personal Bible study. Just learning how to make observations of
the text and moving on to interpretation and then application. This is, in some
ways, just sort of a natural application of personal Bible study methods to our
own Christian life.
But
letÕs go back and just review the first five reasons that we suffer. The first
is because of Adamic responsibility. ItÕs the result of sin. We live in a
fallen world where corruption has entered in and it is not the world it should
be. All human suffering: war, famine, economic collapse, drought, weather
disasters, problems in personal relationships, and every problem we experience
in life is a result of living in a fallen world.
This
is not a utopian world. Utopia was lost when Adam sinned and there will not be
perfection on this earth again until the Lord Jesus Christ returns and
establishes His kingdom. Even then itÕs not a perfect world because those who
are born during the future millennial kingdom will still have sin natures. It
will not be until we are in the new heavens and the new earth that we have true
perfection again. Until then we have to recognize that we live in a fallen
world and because of that, there will always be difficulties, challenges,
adversities, disappointments and heartache. This is part of the human
experience because of sin, not because of Òhuman natureÓ but because of this corrupt
thing that entered into human nature called the sin nature.
The
second reason we saw that we suffer is because of individual volitional
responsibility. We make bad decisions and we suffer the consequences. Galatians
6:7, ÒWhatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.Ó In addition to reaping
the consequences of our sinful and foolish decisions, we also may encounter
divine discipline. God may intensify the suffering that is in our lives as a
result of our bad decisions in order to teach us a lesson and to get our
attention so we will focus on Him.
Hebrews
12:6-8 says, ÒFor those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.Ó While it is true
that in trusting Christ for salvation, sin is not the issue. Technically, in a
sort of perverted sense, we can continue to sin as much as we want and all we
want after salvation because all sin was paid for by Christ on the cross. The
reality is that we enter into the family of God through adoption at the instant
of salvation and while we may think we can just sin with impunity, we cannot
because God is now our father and He will chasten us to get our attention and
to train us to be obedient children.
As
it says in Hebrews 12, ÒFor whom the Lord loves, He disciplines and He scourges
[whips] every son whom He receives.Ó It is for discipline in the sense of
training that we endure in obedience through the adversity that comes in our
life through this discipline. ÒGod deals with you as sons for what father does
not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become
partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.Ó So the normal
reality for believers is that we will experience divine discipline.
The
thing we need to recognize is that when we encounter adversity in our life we
should think through these categories and decide where the difficulty comes
from. If it is divine discipline we will know it by examining our life. We
should be able to see a connection. We saw that last time when we saw the
example from David.
When
David was guilty of adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired to have her
husband, Uriah, killed the four-fold punishment were four intensifications of
DavidÕs consequences that were all related to sexual sin and murder. The
violence that he brought into the family of Bathsheba and Uriah was then
visited in kind upon his family. The infant died that was the product of the
adulterous union. Then later DavidÕs son, Amnon,
lusted for his half sister, Tamar, and basically raped her, again a sexual sin
that was related to the sin of David. IÕm not saying that David raped Bathsheba
but it is a sexual sin in kind. Third, Absalom, in revenge for what Amnon did, killed Amnon in 2
Samuel 13 so this is similar to DavidÕs act of murder. Murder is now part of
DavidÕs family. Fourth, Absalom revolted against David. This eventually led to AbsalomÕs death in that revolt and so you see the complete
breakdown within DavidÕs own family which is a result of his attack and assault
on the divine institution of marriage and the divine institution of family
within the marriage of Uriah and Bathsheba. We can usually identify divine
discipline because itÕs related to the sin we have committed.
The
fourth reason I said we suffer is because weÕre connected to someone involved
in either reason number two or number three. YouÕre married to someone. You
have children and your wife or your husband or your mother or your father makes
a sinful decision. Because of our connection to them we reap the negative
consequences of their bad decision. Maybe we work for a company that is poorly
managed like in the infamous case of Enron in Houston. People who worked for
that company may have carried out their jobs with integrity but the management
of the company lacked integrity. Because of that situation, they suffered the
consequence of losing their retirement accounts, their jobs, and their income
all because of sinful decisions made by the management of that company.
It
can happen in a nation. There were many Christians, Jewish believers in the 1st
century who lived in Judea, who because the leadership of Israel had rejected
the Messiah, suffered. The leadership was motivated by an intellectual,
self-righteous idolatry. They had created an idol out of the Mosaic Law and
because of that, it led to a complete breakdown of the nation. God brought the
final judgment of the 5th cycle of judgment upon Judea and Jerusalem and the
temple were eventually destroyed. Many of the people were scattered back into
the Diaspora. Though there were many Jews that were obedient to God, nevertheless,
they suffered tremendously because the nation was in rebellion against God.
This
is a condition we see ourselves in in this nation
now. I predict that unless there is a major shift back to God what weÕre going
to see is a continual fragmentation of the social structures in this nation.
WeÕre going to see an increasing burden of taxation and debt upon people in
this nation. WeÕre going to see a breakdown of social services because when we
move more and more toward socialism where the government controls medicine and
all of these other facets including the regulations related to business it ends
up creating a weight upon business and the medical field that cannot be
overcome. You have doctors, teachers, and business leaders who have to spend more
and more of their time and wealth just dealing with the regulations of
government. This destroys the economy of the nation. This is the direction
weÕre heading in. All of this is because of negative volition.
The
Bible was the center of western civilization. It was the unifying principle of
western civilization from the time of the invasion of Christianity into the
Roman Empire and its expansion throughout Europe in the middle ages. Even
though there were a lot of abuses, nevertheless, that which unified people was
a belief in the Bible. They may have had wrong theologies, such as
works-oriented theologies and ritual-based theologies, but at the core the
Bible was that which unified all of the institutions in western civilization.
This
continued up until you have the advent of 19th century liberal protestant
movement, which caused a breakdown in trust in Biblical truth. By the time you
get down into the 20th century and the beginning of post-modernism you see society
start to break down. Starting in the mid-60Õs we really saw the consequences of
that. WeÕre still experiencing the full fruit of that today because there is no
center of culture any more. ThereÕs nothing that unifies western civilization.
Europe is fragmented. The United States is fragmented. The culture is
fragmented. Everyone is doing what is right in their
own eyes and as a result of that itÕs just going to become more and more
chaotic.
As
a result, those who are believers absolutely must learn promises, memorize the
Word and learn how to implement the faith-rest drill because life is not going
to get easier. ItÕs not going to get better. Life is going to get more and more
challenging and difficult. The hope that we have in Scripture is that our lives
are not dependent upon our circumstances. Our joy is not dependent upon our
circumstances. ItÕs dependent upon the God who never changes, the God who is
immutable. ThatÕs the context that Israel was in as well in Isaiah 40. So
reason number four why we suffer is that we often experience suffering because
someone weÕre associated with is under divine discipline.
Then
the fifth reason that we saw that we suffer is because we live in the cosmic
system. We live in a world that is dominated by fallen people and philosophies
that are erroneous. We live in a world where the ways of living are fallacious
and are morally antagonistic to God. The result is that there are just a lot of
horrible things that occur because we live in the cosmic system. Every believer
has lived in the cosmic system, has survived, and has had tremendous joy and
happiness because of their relationship with God. No matter what those external
circumstances may be, the promise of God is that we have joy in our soul
because our stability is based on Him, not upon the circumstances around us.
Now
the next reason we suffer can be seen in Acts
16:27-31. This is the episode where the Apostle Paul and Silas have been thrown
into jail in Philippi because of their proclamation of the gospel. They have
antagonized various elements within the city of Philippi, especially among the
Jews. ThereÕs a reaction to what they have taught. In this particular instance
they have cast a demon out of a slave girl, which impacted the economics of
those who owned the slave girl. She had a spirit of divination and was telling
fortunes. When Paul and Silas cast the demon out this had economic
consequences. As a result her owners dragged Paul and Silas into the
marketplace.
Why
are they going through this suffering? They are going through it, not because
they did anything wrong, but because they did what was right. Since theyÕre living in the cosmic
system, the devilÕs world, it reacted against what they did. They were put into prison. Romans 8:28 tells us that Òall things work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.Ó It doesnÕt say
that all things are good but God is in charge of the circumstances. HeÕs
working those things together for good.
They
are thrown into jail in Philippi. TheyÕre there overnight. TheyÕre whipped and
beaten which was contrary to Roman law and theyÕre thrown into prison. We see
Paul and SilasÕs reactions in Acts 16:25. ÒAt midnight Paul and Silas were
praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.Ó Now
let me challenge you with something from this. First of all, theyÕre singing
hymns to God. The singing of hymns is a product of the filling of the Holy
Spirit. If you look at Ephesians 5:18 where weÕre commanded to be filled by the
Spirit, there are a series of participles that follow that are all participles
of result, showing the results of being filled by the Spirit. One of those is
singing psalms and spiritual songs. This is something we should do.
The
challenge to each of us is to ask ourselves if we know more than the first
verse of a hymn like ÒAmazing GraceÓ if we were locked up in jail. We should
all be able to sing from memory at least twenty or thirty hymns. If we donÕt,
thatÕs a terrible indictment of the church today. ThatÕs one of the problems we
have with a lot of contemporary Christian music is that itÕs not memorable.
ThatÕs one reason we donÕt sing those at West Houston Bible Church. The tunes
arenÕt memorable and the words are difficult. One of the reasons I like to sing
a lot of the hymns over and over again is that hopefully this will embed them
in peopleÕs minds so they can remember some of these hymns.
So
Paul and Silas are stuck in prison. Trust them; there was no hymn-book
in the Philippians jail. They had to sing hymns that were in their souls. They
knew those hymns and they knew Bible verses that they could claim promises.
TheyÕre expressing great joy and happiness even though theyÕre going through
tremendous hostility and adversity. TheyÕre trusting God.
The
situation here is not too different from the situation with Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego when they were going to be forced by Nebuchadnezzar to bow down
and worship the idol that he had created. When they didnÕt bow down, their enemies
had them arrested and taken before Nebuchadnezzar. Their response was that they
would not bow down to an idol and that their God could deliver them. But they
had no guarantee ahead of time they would be delivered from the fiery furnace.
They said that even if God didnÕt deliver them they were not going to obey the
king; they were going to obey God instead.
Paul
and Silas had no promise from God that He would rescue them from the jail; they
were simply trusting Him. This is evidenced by their
prayer and singing of hymns to God. This had an impact on the other prisoners
that were in the jail. They were listening to them. IÕve been to that jail in
Philippi and the jailer could hear everything going on as well because it
wasnÕt that large. There werenÕt that many people there and you didnÕt have sound proofing so the jailer could hear them.
Then
weÕre told that suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of
the prison was shaken. Immediately all the doors opened and
everyoneÕs chains were loosed. At that point all of the prisoners could
get up, run away, and escape. This is what the jailer assumed would happen. In
the Romans Empire if you were a jailer or a guard in charge of a prison and any
prisoner escaped, then the punishment was immediate and severe. You lost your
life. It was a capital offense if you let a prisoner escape.
This
scares the jailer to death, almost, when he awakens from his sleep and he sees
the prison doors open. He immediately assumes the prisoners have fled. He drew
his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul cried out and told him not to
harm himself. Then the jailer grabbed a light and fell down before Paul,
trembling. He is afraid of what will happen from his commanding officers. He
cried out to them, ÒSirs, what must I do to be saved?Ó They said to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved, he and his household.
TheyÕre
suffering here in terms of Paul and Silas which is
probably category #5, living in the cosmic system. ThereÕs now suffering in
adversity in the jailer who is an unbeliever. God has used this adversity to
scare him into reality. He wants to know the gospel because he knows that his
life is short. ItÕs a wake-up call evangelistically. God may be bringing some
suffering or adversity into an unbeliever's life so that He will have their
attention and it will be an opportunity for us to communicate the gospel to
that person.
A
seventh reason that we suffer is because it motivates us in the Christian life.
Suffering motivates us to trust in God and learn the Word. We see a great
example of this right now in Ukraine. Igor Smolyar
who is a Ukrainian graduate of Jim MeyerÕs Word of God Seminary in Kiev has a
tremendous ministry at a church called the Christmas Church in Tomar, approximately 100 miles west of Kiev. HeÕs further
away from all of this warfare and rebellion thatÕs going on in the southeastern
area of Ukraine in terms of the Russian invasion. But this has impacted all of
Ukraine, especially economically. ItÕs a horrible circumstance and a horrible
situation. Because of this national adversity and the threat of war and greater
violence, it has caused thousands of people to respond to the gospel and to be
more involved in church and their prayer meetings. TheyÕve had just an explosive
response in terms of their attendance.
Suffering
motivates us to get right with the Lord and to focus on that which has eternal
value which is the Word of God. Psalm 119:71 says:
ÒItÕs good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn Thy statutes.Ó
Christianity is not just some form of anesthesia to drug us through some sort
of mindless repetition of something so that we basically become numb in our
thinking against the pain of life. This is the way of the world, the way of religions
where you just have a mantra that you say over and over again until it blocks
out anything in your mind so you become intellectually anesthetized to the
problem and difficulty of life. This is the way people use drugs, alcohol, sex,
pleasure, and entertainment in order to distract them from the misery,
heartache, and difficulties in life rather than using the Word of God. We are
to learn the Word of God so that we can have joy in the midst of suffering
without denying the reality of the adversity that we are facing.
An
eighth reason that we suffer is so that we can be a testimony to others. We can
be a witness not only to human beings but also to angels who are watching us.
There are things they long to look into in terms of how Christians respond to the
adversities of life because they learn about GodÕs love and GodÕs grace from us
in ways that angels were never able to learn. Paul refers to this in 1 Timothy
1:16 where he wrote, ÒAnd yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in
me as the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an
example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.Ó
As
a Christian, our lives are to be different. How we react to adversity should
make a difference. When we receive a medical diagnosis that means we are facing
some serious disease our response to that should be one of joy and one of
happiness. We know that God is in control and that even though this adversity
may surprise us, it hasnÕt surprised God. He has made the provision for us from
eternity past and it gives us an opportunity to trust in Him.
We
need to learn to look at lifeÕs adversities from a divine viewpoint that God is
using these situations to give us the opportunity to reveal in our lives His
grace and His comfort. There are people in each of our lives who
watch us because we are believers. They see how we respond to things. They want
to know if this is something that is real in our life or something that is just
phony.
Sadly,
in the lives of too many Christians, their Christianity, their relationship
with God is so superficial that when something terrible happens, their reaction
is no different from anyone else in the world. IÕve gone through times of
difficulty and IÕve heard unbelievers say, ÒYouÕre human. You need to respond
like one.Ó What IÕm hearing is that IÕm a sinner so I need to respond on the
basis of my sin nature. ThatÕs basically what theyÕre saying. YouÕve gone
through something horrible, something difficult, and something challenging and
they think that you shouldnÕt suppress our emotions. ThatÕs just another way of
saying you should panic and become impatient or overly depressed because
otherwise youÕre suppressing your emotions. ThatÕs how the world looks at it.
When
we look at these circumstances we age to trust God. We know that even though
this isnÕt pleasant and itÕs hard we can have joy in the midst of the
difficulty because God has a plan and we can trust in Him. We can be a witness
to the humans around us, and a testimony of GodÕs grace in the midst of
adversity.
A
ninth reason is similar to that but instead of being a witness to other human
beings, we are a witness in the angelic conflict. We are a testimony to the
angels of GodÕs grace and mercy and love. In Ephesians 3:10 Paul writes, ÒIn order
that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to
the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places,Ó The phrase Òrulers and
authorities in heavenly placesÓ is a term related to the hierarchy of the
angels. There are various authorities within the angels. Sometimes theyÕre
referred to as principalities and powers. Other times theyÕre referred to as
rulers and authorities. This relates to the hierarchy and the chain of command
of the angels.
Not
just the elect angels. Not just the elect or holy angels who are the angels who
maintained their loyalty to God and their faithfulness to God. But this also
refers to the fallen angels, those who chose to follow Satan in his rebellion
from eternity past. They also learn, although negatively. They learn from our
testimony about the grace of God. ItÕs just another plank in the indictment
against them as they see us respond positively to the grace of God.
Then
the tenth reason I have listed for suffering is that we go through these
adverse situations so we can comfort others as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:4,
ÒWith the comfort with which we have bee comforted.Ó As we go through difficult
times and challenges, then we apply the Word of God. God the Holy Spirit
comforts and strengthens us with the Word of God. Then we, in turn, can
encourage others who are going through similar circumstances.
This
is part of the ministry of the local church. This is why itÕs important to
develop those intimate relationships with others within the body of Christ so
that as we go through difficult times, we can communicate with them. ThereÕre
some people in some churches who act like we should be sharing this
indiscriminately with everyone else just because theyÕre believers. ThatÕs not
realistic or very wise. We need to develop a close circle of friends, those who
we trust and know are positive to the Word and are spiritually mature, and then
we can talk openly and honestly with them as we face the challenges in life.
Because they have gone through similar things as well, we can mutually
encourage each other as we reflect upon GodÕs Word and we reflect upon our own
experience of applying GodÕs Word in our life.
These,
then, are the basic reasons that we go through suffering in life. When we
encounter any kind of adversity the first thing we need to do is make sure
weÕre in fellowship. We do that by confessing sin. ItÕs very simple. When I
talk about the spiritual skills we develop in terms of handling adversity, the
first one is confession of sin. So automatically when we encounter difficult
circumstances, we should make sure we are in fellowship by confessing our sins.
If
weÕre walking according to the sin nature, then our instant reaction is
probably going to be one of anger, depression, resentment, or a number of mixed
emotions that may come in. That ought to clue us instantly that, ÒWait a
minute. IÕm out of fellowship. IÕve got to handle this on the Divine resources,
not human resources so I need to be in fellowship first.Ó Unfortunately, for many
of us, myself included, our initial reaction usually comes from the sin nature
and not from the Holy Spirit. So we need to make sure we are walking by the
Spirit and then we can move forward in the correct way.
It
doesnÕt matter what the reason for our suffering is, whether itÕs Divine
discipline from our own sinfulness or itÕs just living in the devilÕs world, we
need to respond by trust in God. That involves waiting on the Lord as weÕve
seen in Isaiah 40:31. You might want to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 40:31 so
we can look at this chapter again and sort of think our way through how we
claim a promise.
We
talked about this a little bit already. We talked about the key word here,
which is ÒwaitingÓ, waiting on the Lord. As we think about this I encourage you
to memorize promises like this that you can recall during times of difficulty.
Then you can pray a promise back to God, telling Him you are waiting on the
Lord. Now waiting does not simply have the connotation of just sitting and
letting time go by. It has the tones of confident expectation. WeÕre waiting
for something positive to happen. WeÕre looking for a future positive
resolution.
That
doesnÕt mean that in the intervening time, things may even get worse as we
suffer difficulty and hardship. We may be living in a society in a time of war
where weÕre going to lose everything we have, including our life, and we may
that in a very painful way. One of the news items that are very prevalent right
now is the actions being taken against Christians by
radical Moslems in the Middle East. You have the reaction in recent years in
Egypt against the Coptic Christians. Under jihad, when there was the revolt
recently where radical Islamist, the Muslim Brotherhood was put in charge of
Egypt, there was tremendous persecution against the Christians there.
Now
we have this horrible, brutal force called ISIS that is moving south in Iraq
and they have taken over Mosul. They confiscated all the title deeds of Christians
that have any property. TheyÕve left them with absolutely nothing except the
clothes on their back. TheyÕre given just a couple of days to leave the country
and leave everything behind. This is a horrible situation and in some cases the
Christians may even be brutalized, physically beaten, and even killed.
What
gives us confidence is that we know this life is transient. ItÕs preparation
for the future and so we have to have a long-term perspective of what it means
to wait on the Lord. WeÕll see that within the context of this particular
passage. WeÕre looking at this promise that those who wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength. We looked at that word earlier and saw that it means to
exchange one thing for something else. This is the idea of exchanging our
limited strength, power, and ability for GodÕs strength. ItÕs not just
something that enhances our strength. It is an exchange of one thing for
another.
The
first part of mixing faith with the promise is to think our way through the
promise. Then thereÕs a result. The result of waiting upon the Lord is that we
will mount up on wings like eagles. We will soar above our problems rather than
letting it get us down. Often when we go through difficult times we have a
tendency to focus on the negative circumstances and we become depressed. Part
of what happens when youÕre down or depressed is that you become weary. People
who are depressed want to sleep because that divorces them reality. Plus
thereÕs a physical impact of adversity on our lives where we just feel so
overcome we feel it in our bones and our muscles. WeÕre just tired. ThereÕs a
loss of energy and strength.
ThereÕs
a physical impact to the spiritual reality because we become vitalized in our
strength and energy so we have the strength and energy to face the challenges
of life. We start with mixing our faith with the promises of God, which means
just thinking through the promise. As I said earlier one of the things you can
do to memorize a passage is simply write it down over and over and over again.
Write it down. Say it out loud. Repeat it back. Then as youÕre saying it, think
through what is being said.
Why
is Isaiah saying this? How does he structure this? One of the things I point
out in Bible study methods is to look at these connective words. These are
words like ÒbutÓ or ÒandÓ or Òtherefore.Ó What is it saying? Is there cause and
effect thatÕs stated within a passage? This is what we see here. ThereÕs a
cause, which is to wait on the Lord, and then thereÕs an effect. They renew
their strength and they mount up with wings as eagles, run and not grow weary,
and walk and not faint.
As
we think through a passage we look at the context. In Isaiah 40:31 we see that
this is the end of a section. I want to walk us back a little bit so we
understand the context. If you go back to Isaiah 40:28 we can begin to
understand the rationale that is embedded in verse 31. It is really more of a
conclusion about those who wait upon the Lord in contrast to those who donÕt.
So in verse 28 we get an idea of what undergirds the promise of verse 31. ÒHave
you not known? Have you not heard?Ó These are two rhetorical questions that
parallel each other.
Much
of prophecy in the new translations will break out the poetry sections of the
Scripture and write it as poetry and not just as prose. YouÕll notice that much
of prophecy is written in poetry format. This verse is what is known as
synonymous parallelism. The writer is repeating the same thought in two
different ways. He asking donÕt you know? How do we learn things? Usually by
hearing them and being taught them. Have you not heard? What heÕs asking here
is, havenÕt you learned this? The assumption is that you should have but let me
remind you.
These
are two rhetorical questions here that are designed on focusing someone on a
piece of important information. The important information is God. Isaiah is
taking us back to the fundamental problem-solver, which is God. In reality
weÕll look at the essence of God here. ItÕs the essence of God that undergirds
almost every promise we come to in dealing with adversity. Isaiah is focusing
on these characteristics of God.
First
of all he says, ÒThe everlasting GodÉÓ And then he defines that by pointing out
itÕs not just any God but the upper case Lord which indicates heÕs talking
about Yahweh, the faithful covenant God of Israel. He further defines him in
the next stanza as the ÒCreator of the ends of the earthÓ and then it says
about Him, ÒHe neither faints nor is weary.Ó Lastly Isaiah states that GodÕs
ÒUnderstanding is unsearchable.Ó
It
begins with two related questions about knowledge, something that we should
know and apply. The reason this is asked is because IsaiahÕs reader isnÕt
applying this so heÕs focusing on the foundation for the promise. He emphasizes
these attributes of God. We look at the essence of God. We see that GodÕs
essence is composed of ten things. HeÕs sovereign, righteous, just, love,
eternal life, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, veracity and immutable.
First
of all he says God is everlasting; He is the eternal One. ThereÕs no beginning;
thereÕs no end to God. The implication is that because God is eternal and our
problems are limited in time, God is able to solve the problems because He is
everlasting. His time span is greater than the time span of the problem. Even
though the problem may last beyond our temporal life span; God
is not limited by that, so He will eventually bring about the conclusion
to that.
We
also see here that Isaiah adds that God is faithful. He is immutable. He is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He describes Him as Yahweh, the covenant,
faithful God. He emphasizes GodÕs sovereignty. When we talk about God as the
Creator of the ends of the earth, He is the One who is the sovereign God over
all He has created. He is in control over all that He has created.
This
also brings into focus His omnipotence. As the Creator he is all-powerful. This
is expanded more in the next stanza where it says, ÒHe neither faints nor is
weary.Ó Your problem is not so great that itÕs going to wear God out. HeÕs
going to throw up in hands in despair. HeÕs not going to become weary by trying
to solve the problem. He is greater than the problem in terms of His power. So
we see in just these few lines, ÒThe everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary,Ó that Isaiah is focusing on
four attributes of God: His sovereignty, His eternality, His omnipotence, and
His immutability.
Then
the last line another aspect is added and that is the omniscience of God, that
God knows all things. ThereÕs nothing about your problem or my problem that God
is unaware of. HeÕs known about that problem from eternity past. He has given
us everything we need to face that problem and so we can rely upon the fact
that God knows everything that we are going through. We could add to this that
HeÕs a loving God so He wants to help me in order to handle the problems that I
am facing. He has the power to solve the problem that I am facing. HeÕs eternal
so HeÕs not limited in time.
We
could also say that because HeÕs eternal He has seen tens of thousands of
others facing the same problem. Because He is immutable He is going to be
faithful to His promise. As we continue to look at this, one of the things we
need to do is go further into exploring the context of the promise. WeÕve seen
that part of the rationale here is to look at the nature of God and see that He
is able to handle the problem. The writer goes on in Isaiah 40:29 saying, ÒHe
gives power to the weak and to those who have no might He increases strength.Ó
Again thatÕs a reference to GodÕs omnipotence.
When
we take this promise and this chapter and look at it in terms of the flow of
Isaiah, something very significant comes out. The book of Isaiah is divided
into two major sections: the first 39 chapters and the last 27 chapters. In
Isaiah 1–39 the focus is on the warning to Israel of GodÕs ultimate and
inevitable judgment on the nation for their disobedience and their idolatry. They
have violated the Mosaic Law. They have disobeyed the instruction that God gave
in the torah. Because of that, God is going to remove them from the land.
ThereÕs a very negative, harsh disciplinary tone to the first 39 chapters
warning of incredible adversity that is coming.
In
the 27 chapters following that in chapters 40-66 the focus is on grace. That is
the promise of GodÕs restoration of the nation in grace. God may bring
discipline into their life. He may bring adversity in their life. He may even
bring great famine, warfare, and destruction in their life
which indeed did happen, leading up to the defeat of the nation in 586
A.D. and the destruction of the first temple.
God,
here, is giving a long term focal point of how He is
going to eventually rescue them and establish them back in the land according
to everything He promised in the covenants to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Chapters 40 through 66 focus on the
promise of GodÕs restoration of the nation in grace and a complete fulfillment
of every promise He made to Israel. So chapters 40-66 focus on this great
deliverance and include the great chapter, Isaiah 53 as the focal point of how
God will redeem Israel from their sins and provide justification for them.
We
see this is a passage of hope and it focuses our attention back on the
character of God and what He is able to provide for us in terms of sustenance
in difficult times. Isaiah emphasizes the character of God through a series of
rhetorical questions. He says in Isaiah 40:12, ÒWho has measured the waters in
the hollow of His hand?Ó Has any idol or false god done that? Has any human
been able to do that? He talks about the fact that God is the only one able to
measure all of the water on the face of the earth. This is a picture of God as
having all the massive amounts of water in the palm of His hand.
This
emphasizes that He is the creator. He is in control of the environment on the
earth. Man, by the way, cannot destroy the environment on the earth no matter
how hard he tries. He may make it miserable in some places and difficult but
God is in control. God has created facets of the environment that end up
scrubbing itself and cleansing itself. This whole idea of global catastrophe or
weather catastrophe is just absolute and complete nonsense. ItÕs built on manÕs
idolatry of creation rather than his worship of the Creator.
Here
the focus is on the immensity of God. If HeÕs greater than any detail in the
creation, HeÕs greater than any problem we experience. We have the initial
question about who has measured the water in His hand and the answer is that
only God has. The second question asks, ÒWho has measured heaven with a span?Ó
God is greater than heaven. He has measured it. He controls it. ÒWho has
calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?Ó Even the most
microscopic particles are counted by God; He has measured every atom in
the universe. ÒWho has weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a
balance?Ó
All
of this is designed to portray God as being the Creator in control of His creation
and that He is greater than all of His creation. This focuses our attention
again on the omnipotence of God and His sovereignty over all of creation. We
just keep going back to GodÕs character qualities in His essence. Isaiah 40:13
asks, ÒWho has directed the Spirit of the Lord or as His councilor has taught
Him?Ó In other words, God is so great in His omniscience that it extends to
everything. Nothing is left out. No one is greater than God. No one instructs
God. God is self sufficient in His knowledge. So again, He not only has great
power. He also has full and complete knowledge of all things.
Then
in Isaiah 40:14 which again focuses on God with a rhetorical question, ÒFrom
whom did He take council. Who instructed Him and taught Him in the paths of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?Ó All of these
questions are designed to show that GodÕs omniscience is self-contained. It is
eternal and infallible. No one is greater than God. He knows everything.
Then
we can go on to Isaiah 40:15 where we see the continuation of these
anthropomorphisms which is a way of communicating GodÕs character to us in ways
we can understand. It is a figure of speech that attributes to God physical
characteristics of the human body, which He does not actually possess in order
to communicate something about GodÕs plans and purposes. God does not have a
hand. God doesnÕt have an eye or a nose or an arm. These are just figures that
we understand by virtue of our frame of reference and they communicate
something about the nature of God. His Òeye going back and forth, scanning to
and fro on the earthÓ is a picture of knowledge. Usually his arm is a picture
of GodÕs power or something of that nature.
We
go on in verses 15-17 where we read, ÒBehold the nations are as a drop in the
bucket and are counted as small dust on the scales. Look He lifts up the isles
as a very little thing.Ó All of these verses emphasize the omnipotence of God
and His control over the affairs of man. Isaiah 40:17, ÒAll nations before Him
are as nothing.Ó Israel is going to face tremendous adversity as a result of
military conquest and then being scattered among all the nations of the earth.
Here they are being reminded that all of these nations where they will be
scattered are as nothing before the Lord. Hamas is as nothing. Hezbollah is as
nothing. Lebanon is as nothing. Syria, Egypt are as
nothing compared to the plan and purposes of God.
In
Isaiah 40 18-20 Isaiah continues to emphasize GodÕs capability in that He is greater
than anything. We canÕt compare God to anything because God is far beyond
anything in our frame of reference. Idols are just something that man creates
but they are nothing that will survive destruction by man. They are simply a
product or a creation of man. This leads us back to where we began in terms of
some of these questions, ÒHave you not known or have you not heard?Ó I want to
pick up next time in Isaiah 40:21 and we will continue to talk about the
context of this promise.