We live in a society that has lost the understanding of how great God is. Because of this our society is bent on the elimination of God, the abolition of truth, the deification of man, the justification of sin and the elevation of death. We are living in a death-oriented culture because we have lost the picture of the true God who is life. In this society, parents kill their children (This is called abortion). Adult children kill their parents (This is called euthanasia). Students kill their classmates and then we seek to find out why it is happening.
Isaiah was also living in a time of great moral bankruptcy. Years earlier he had seen the glory of God and it changed his life. Now he comes to a point in his prophecy where he is declaring the necessity to prepare for the coming of God. Verses 3-11 describe the necessity for this preparation. Verses 12-31 describe what kind of God this is who is coming. The prophet begins with God and proceeds outward. Because of who God is Israel can have a future, and so can everyone who has found forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Isaiah breaks this material into three clear sections that should shape the way we think about God.
I. The Imagery of God’s Greatness
First, we see the imagery of God’s greatness. In this section, we see Isaiah painting a picture of God so complete that those who took to heart the poetic imagery in this section would no longer look at God in a way that minimized Him or His work among mankind. Verses 18 and 25 are the key verses in this section. Verse 18 says, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” Isaiah’s thesis (if you will) in this section is that no one can be compared with God. He is incomparable. And His greatness has great application to our lives. In this passage of Scripture Isaiah gives us four amazing characteristics of God’s greatness.
A. Infinite Power (vv. 12, 26)
The first amazing characteristic of His greatness is His infinite power. We see this in verses 12 and 26. Verse 12 says, “Who measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales?” Verse 26 says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power not one of them is missing.”
These verses speak of God’s infinite power in both realms of the universe. Verse 12 speaks of the realm of the earth and verse 26 speaks of the realm of the heavens. In verse 12 we see God measuring the multiplied trillions of gallons of water in the palm of His hand, and using a measuring cup to calculate the dust of the earth. Isaiah makes the earth look insignificantly small in comparison to God. He makes the earth look like God’s sandbox and the ocean his kiddie pool.
In the realm of the heavens, God is seen as leading forth all the heavenly bodies in their paths throughout space. He calls them all by name. His power is so great that it does not tire Him to individually name the stars. Scientists use number designations for the stars that the catalog. They name a few but are unable to name them all or even a substantial number of them. Yet God marches them around like an army. And all of this activity in the heavens is attributed to the greatness of His power.
What do we mean that God has infinite power or is omnipotent? Infinite power means that there is as much energy left over after the expenditure as there was to begin with; God’s “work” does not actually “use up” His power. The creation of the universe did not diminish His power one bit. This all suggests that God’s work is done effortlessly. Being infinite (without limits), God can expend all His power on one speck of dust and concentrate all of it everywhere else at the same time. The same is true for all His attributes. Job after his account of God’s creative activity said, “Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a whisper we hear of Him!” These great manifestations of God’s infinite power are but infinitely small blips on the radarscope of His might.
In the evening, Theodore Roosevelt and his friend, the naturalist, William Beebe, would go out and look at the skies, searching for a tiny patch of light near the constellation of Pegasus. “This is the spiral galaxy in Andromeda,” they would chant. “It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would turn to his companion and say, “Now I think we are small enough. Let’s go to bed.”
This infinite power of God ought to cause us to look up and take notice of this God who made all there is from nothing. It is this God of whom Isaiah speaks. He power is beyond comprehension and comparison.
B. Infinite Knowledge (vv. 13-14)
The second amazing characteristic of His greatness is His infinite knowledge. Isaiah describes this infinite knowledge in verses 13 and 14. “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, and informed Him of the way of understanding?”
Through a series of questions Isaiah details for us just who it was that taught God everything He knew. And the answer to all of Isaiah’s rhetorical questions is “No one.” He always possessed the knowledge of everything. His wisdom needed no boost. God did not need anyone to train Him. He hired no consultant as to what should be done in the universe. He gathered no think tanks to solve the problem of how to maintain peace on the earth. He called no informational meetings as to the best method of creating the universe.
God has always known all that ever was, is and will be. He does not need to recall or learn anything neither does He forget anything. He doesn’t have to find out who is naughty or nice because He knew everything about everyone before they ever existed.
Those who boast about their knowledge and how much they know fail to understand how very little they really do know. Science, medicine and every other field are becoming more and more specialized because people are recognizing that in all the wealth of knowledge that is becoming available they know really very little. When we compare this with the fact that God knows every thing like how many atoms are in your body, what you are thinking at this very moment, and what is most important to you (as well as this for everyone else in the world) it ought to cause us to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we truly know very little.
But God’s knowledge is more than just having the facts right. It is more than just being able to list pi to 37 significant digits. After all we didn’t care for those in high school who memorized pi to that many significant digits and then bragged about it. What makes God different? God has that knowledge and uses it in combination with His wisdom to bring to pass a great and glorious plan in all of human history. He correlates all of this information, zillions and zillions of megabytes of it, and He uses it to bring ultimate good from it. He knows how to turn people’s evil intentions and actions into good. I know many times that God used other people’s evil against me for His good purposes. How many million or more other instances of this has God brought about in my life and in the life of others about which I know nothing? We may see many evil things in the world and ask why doesn’t God stop them? Yet if we were to see it from God’s perspective, we would say, “Aha, that is what you are doing!”
We, who cannot remember where that safe spot that we store things in is, should not boast about the vastness of our knowledge especially in comparison to a God who knows everything as if it was the only thing about which He had to think.
C. Independence (vv. 15-17)
The third amazing characteristic of His greatness is His independence. Verses 15-17 portray this characteristic. “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”
The idea that God is independent means that He needs nothing to complete Him. He is not lonely. He did not create the world because there was something missing in His heart. He didn’t need people around Him cheering Him on because His ego itch needed scratching. God knows how great He is. He is completely self-sufficient. He is independent. There are two ideas that Isaiah notes in this passage. First God is independent, politically. He says that the nations are less than nothing and meaningless. He can accomplish His purposes without the nations. They add not one thing to Him. The powerful United States of America is nothing in His sight. Was God hurt when Russia declared as a nation decades ago that there is no God? When another country like China embraces a humanist viewpoint is God dismayed? No! God’s existence is not harmed; He is not taken aback by it. He is secure in His own being. He is the great I Am.
Next, Isaiah says that He is independent religiously. He does not need people’s worship. The imagery he uses is that of a significant region of the world. Lebanon, with its many wonderful cedars for burning would not produce a big enough altar for Him. Lebanon, with its mountainous regions filled with animals available for a burnt offering would not allow for a great enough sacrifice. God does not need worshippers. His existence is not based on how many fans He has or what His approval rating is. God is independent of all that. He is secure in who He is because long before any of us human beings arrived on the scene God was.
So we might ask the question, “If God does not need this creation, if He does not need us, then why did He make us?” Jonathan Edwards uses the analogy of a good spring of water. Because of who God is. The goodness of His character has caused Him to create the world and all that is in it so that He might bless it out of the goodness of Himself. As a spring bubbles forth all its sweetness to the area around it, so God bubbles forth in a creative work of blessing through which He desires to make His wonderful character known (so that they might be blessed) to as many as whom the spring might flow out and reach. In God’s independence, He is not like a water trough that needs filling. He is like a spring that is dependent upon nothing else, but goes forth to bless those around with the refreshing coolness found in its source.
Before we complete this section on God’s independence I think it is worth noting that though God is independent and does not need any of us, yet He chooses to be involved with us. He wants for us to know Him because He knows that this is the best thing for us. The best thing that could ever happen to anyone here is to come to know God (or as the Apostle Paul says, “to be known by Him”). As Tom Odens wrote, “The most enjoyable of all subjects to study has to be God, because He is the source of all joy.” Though Isaiah describes this scene in which God is completely independent of His creation verse 11 shows Him to be a loving shepherd who gently carries His lambs in His bosom. Though He is independent and has no need for us, He chooses to be involved with us.
D. Sovereignty (vv. 22-24)
The fourth amazing characteristic of God’s greatness is His sovereignty. Isaiah describes this in verses 22-24. Here in these verses Isaiah gives us four familiar images that show God’s controlling hand over the creation. He is depicting how the power of God is seen in comparison within the history of mankind. Isaiah wants us to know that God did not create the world and then leave it to its own designs. He created it and now carefully superintends it for His own purposes.
The images that Isaiah presents to us show the veritable ease with which God rules the world. The first image shows God sitting over His creation the way a child would sit and watch insects going about their business and perhaps redirecting their paths with a stick or leaf as he should chose. The next two images describe the effortlessness with which someone would throw open a curtain in the morning or spread out their sheets as they make their bed. God controls every cosmic display of the universe that we see or don’t see.
The last image seen in verses 23 & 24 is described this way. “He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.” The rising and falling of world rulers is seen merely as all in the hand of God. When He desires to remove them from their place, He blows as we all have done to a dandelion when its seed is ripe and they merely fly away with the wind.
Isaiah does not describe God in these terms to show that God is unconcerned about the affairs of men. That somehow they mean nothing to Him. He is intimately concerned and connected to the affairs of this world. Other Scripture shows that. But here Isaiah is merely affirming that ordering the events of this world is not something that taxes God to His limit. He doesn’t have more than He can handle in running the world issues. He isn’t just reacting to this ruler or that ruler. He has not been taken by surprise by all that happens. He confidently and carefully is in charge. And this is something in which we can rest. Before I knew God and His plan for this world and my own life I would often worry about the future of this world. Would it last until I got older? Would we be involved in some devastation that would end life as we know it? What is the application in this? I need not worry about who is in power in the countries of this world, because One is in power will not allow it to overturn His plan. There is One who is superintending the world who will bring to pass all that He has foretold.
II. The Imagery of Idolatry’s Folly (vv. 18-20)
In verses 18-20, we see the imagery of idolatry’s folly. The worship of other gods in the pagan world was rampant. Even in Israel (God’s country if you will), idolatry was practiced with increasing fervor. Here Isaiah describes the foolishness of idolatry considering the imagery of God that He just laid out for the people.
Unfortunately the practice of idolatry continues today. And not just in some secluded tribal group but in every country of the world including America. And I dare say that many of you here this morning have practiced idolatry within this very week.
I can say this with assurance from the Word of God because idolatry is simply the putting of something else in the place of God. It is a breaking of the first commandment. If you put something or someone else ahead of God you committed idolatry. The Scripture lays out several kinds of idolatry. Self can be an idol. Mark 8:34 says, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.’ This is totally contra the current self movement (i.e., self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, self-fulfillment, etc.). Relatives and friends can be an idol. Matthew 10:37 says, “He who loves father or mother . . . son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Money can be an idol. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and money.” Physical appetite can become an idol. The apostle Paul says that there were those whose god is their appetite (for whatever that appetite might be). Others’ possessions likewise can be idolatry. Colossians 3:5 says, “greed, which amounts to idolatry.” How come we seek idols? The natural tendency of the depraved heart is away from God and toward idols.
So Isaiah describes two qualities of idolatry in this passage that speak to us of its pervasive nature.
A. Its Universality
The first quality of idolatry that Isaiah describes is its universality. In other words, it affects everyone. In these verses Isaiah notes that both the rich and the poor are led astray into idolatry. No one is immune from its demonic grasp. And I say demonic grasp because there is indication throughout Scripture that idolatry is demonically fueled. And unless we recognize the spiritual warfare that is going on around us, Satan will lull us to sleep through idolatry and render us useless in this warfare in which individuals’ souls are at stake. And why shouldn’t idolatry be demonically induced? At its heart it has the replacement of the true God for its goal. Idolatry is universal.
The idol of gold and silver describes those rich who are able to afford expensive idols. These idols were shaped out of precious metals. It was the lure of the gold and silver that prompted people to worship it. These extravagant idols are pervasive in a society like ours in which materialism dominates the popular culture. We have to have the newest, the best, the largest, the fastest or the most expensive. Did you ever see anyone on a commercial with something old or worn out? Idolatry affects those who are rich. Their wealth becomes that in which they trust. Their stocks, their bonds and their real estate is what truly brings them security. And they continue to reach out for more of it.
Those who are unable to afford the extravagant idols find themselves trusting in whatever they can get their hands on. Verse 20 says, “He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot; he seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.” Not all can afford all that the world has to offer. But they will find something else in which to put their trust. They will put all their trust in their intelligence, their connections, their youthful strength, their government, their ability to escape through drugs or alcohol, their own pleasure.
Any time we substitute trust in something else for God, we are committing idolatry.
B. Its Gross Inequality
(look at the comparison – vv. 18, 25)
The second quality of idolatry that Isaiah notes here is its gross inequality. When someone is worshipping an idol they are exchanging trust in the living God (the great, the awesome God) for a trust in that which is weak and fragile. Isaiah says it is something that cannot even stand up by itself. It needs chains to hold it up or it easily totters. It cannot defend itself and yet we place our trust in it. This is a gross inequality. Verse 18 states this. “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” There is nothing that even comes close to God and yet we seek to find our satisfaction in something else. Jeremiah makes a similar statement in His prophecy. In it God says that His people had committed two evils. First, they had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters. And secondly they made for themselves broken containers that could not hold water. When we seek our satisfaction anywhere else but in God we are merely seeking something by its very nature that can never satisfy. We will end up going from broken container to broken container until we finally see all our satisfaction can only come from God.
III. The Imagery of Trust’s Benefit (vv. 28-31)
Finally, we see the imagery of trust’s benefit. This is found in verses 28-31. In verse 28, Isaiah begins to proclaim the good news of placing your trust in the Lord. Verses 28-31 read, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” In looking at the imagery of trust’s benefit we must understand three key ideas concerning the term that Isaiah uses called waiting.
A. The Meaning of Waiting
The first key idea concerning waiting that we must understand is the meaning of waiting. Just what does Isaiah mean when He says, “They who wait on the Lord will gain new strength?” Does waiting connote the idea of sitting idly by while we wait for some flash of lightening from God to tell us what to do? Does it suggest that take some R & R until our batteries are recharged? No, Isaiah doesn’t mean any of this. What Isaiah is conveying by the word wait, is trust and confidence in expectation and patience. Knowing that God will equip us to do what He has already called us to do. Flying, running and walking all speak of making progress in a relationship with God. Specifically it is an encouragement to the Jews during one of their darkest times in history but is applicable to each one of us. When we are discouraged and disheartened and about to seek the company of idols, look up in trust because God is going to break through to you. Keep going in the trust of the Lord because He will not forsake you. It is God’s answer to despondency and discouragement. Trust (waiting on the Lord to come through with His answer that we know He will bring) is the key to facing the harsh realities of life. Waiting means trusting.
B. The Necessity of Waiting
The second key idea that we see concerning waiting is the necessity of waiting. It is necessary for all of us to wait (or trust in the Lord) because we all stumble badly. If the youths grow weary and tired and the vigorous young men stumble badly, what about us who don’t have it so good? If their strength gives out, we all need to wait on the Lord.
Each one of us stumbles and falls spiritually. We need the humility of heart to recognize our need to constantly wait upon the Lord. Our strength to live in a way pleasing to God is to wait on Him, to trust in Him. This is the necessity of waiting.
C. The Power of Waiting
The third key idea concerning waiting is the power of waiting. Isaiah uses a picture that describes the impossibility to accomplish what God wants us to do without His help. Oh we might be able to run a little while with the big guys before becoming winded, but could we ever mount up with wings and fly? Could we ever run and not become get tired? Could we continue to walk (in the hot dry Middle Eastern climate) and not become weary? But when we continue to go back to the Lord, when we continue to trust in Him, He strengthens us, He restores us. He allows us to do what we could not do on our own.
Do remember the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000? Here the disciples had a measly amount of fish and bread but Jesus tells them, you give them something to eat. It was impossible to feed that many people with that little. Yet instead of the disciples saying, “Forget it Lord it will never work,” they offered Him what little they had. They had trust, not in their own power, not in their vast food reserves, but in the power of the Lord. And when they were able to feed the 5000 men plus women and children they were able to give the praise to the Lord. This is the power of waiting on the Lord.
God wants us to do the amazing and incredible for His glory so that when His work gets accomplished, He gets the credit for it. When our lives are turned around because we have been trusting in Him, because we have been waiting on Him, He receives the glory.
This is the power of waiting on the Lord.
Every admonition to trust that is found in the Scripture is an admonition to trust in the Lord. And there is good reason to trust in the Lord. First, we can trust in the Lord alone because of His greatness. And we have seen a glimpse of His greatness from this passage. Second, we can trust in the Lord alone because to trust in anyone else or to pray to anyone else is idolatry and that is folly. Third, we can trust in the Lord alone because there is great benefit in trusting the Lord. It is necessary for us to trust the Lord and there is power in trusting the Lord. Why trust anyone else when He alone is completely trustworthy.