Let me introduce you to a person called Michael Rae. In his own words, he is on a path to immortality which involves a near-abstinence level of food, the dedication of an accountant to approve every calorie, and an obsession with death.
The youthful, 38-year-old research assistant studying longevity and human ageing weighs in at a sparse 115 pounds stretched over his six-foot frame. He is convinced his calorie-slashing lifestyle will lead directly to a life extended by as many as 10 to 15 extra years.
He explained recently in a published profile on himself that "The ageing effect is from the calories. It is raw, simple mathematics. Fewer calories, lower ageing. Period."
The Calgary native, a self-titled "human test case," is part of a growing movement that believes severely limiting the number of calories will vastly extend life expectancy.
The idea of youth restoration and life extension has long captivated the human imagination, from Dorian Gray’s cursed portrait and Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth to cryogenic freezing and Botox. (http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=648868)
As obsessed as these people are in obtaining immortality, how about considering an eternal God. Basic logic tells you that if there ever was a time where there was nothing, there would be nothing today. “Out of nothing, nothing comes”. It is is a philosophical expression of a thesis first argued by Parmenides, often stated in its Latin form: ex nihilo nihil fit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_comes_from_nothing). This is a concept that is difficult for our finite minds to conceive, a being before time itself. We get so focused on the elements that we experience in time, confusion, questions, suffering, choices, that to consider a being outside of time who interacts with us in time, it is hard to fathom. Even when we may come to know this factually, is it not always integrated with the understanding of our lives.
There are times when what we known has not yet come to what we believe. We may know like those in Isaiah 40, that God may be the Creator of heaven and earth, know all of his creation by name, and hold the judges and rulers of this earth accountable for their actions, but does he still have concern for his people? Even more specific, does He have concern for me?
In Isaiah 40, the prophet reproves the people of God, who are now supposed to be captives in Babylon for their unbelief and distrust of God, and the dejections and despondencies of their spirit under their affliction (Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Is 40:27). Peabody: Hendrickson.)
The remnant of the Jews held in Captivity in Babylon looked back, they saw failure and sin; and they needed encouragement. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1992). Be comforted. An Old Testament study. (Is 40:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.) Israel in exile had supposed that Yahweh had forgotten her. The temple was lying in ruins, and the temple was that spot alone where God and man could meet in sacramental worship. Jerusalem was now destroyed, and Jerusalem alone was God’s chosen city, and as such was as much the medium of unfolding revelation as had been the line of David. The Holy Land, which God had given his people forever (Gen. 17:8; 28:13) was now overrun by hordes of heedless pagans.( Knight, G. A. F. (1984). Servant theology : A commentary on the book of Isaiah 40-55 (Rev. and updated new ed.). International theological commentary (23). Edinburgh; Grand Rapids: Handsel Press; W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.) The book of Isaiah deals with the topic of bondage. Isaiah uses this bondage as a symbol of the greater, spiritual bondage in which they are engulfed.( Young, E. (1972). The Book of Isaiah: Volume 3, Chapters 40-66 (65). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
In Isaiah 40:27–31, the prophet Isaiah, affirms Yahweh’s concern for their situation by focusing their attention on God’s nature. He is the everlasting God, Yahweh, the covenant God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He tirelessly works out his plan of salvation for his people. Their restoration is based on his nature. He will renew the strength of his people, but this is contingent upon their willingness to submit themselves to him.
In this we see:
1) The Wonder of the Eternal God Declared (Isaiah 40:27)
Isaiah 40:27 [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"?
It is important to note that the address in Isaiah 40:27, is to Jacob and Israel. These are God’s professing people, a people in covenant with him. They come into covenant with God and were His people. This should have been the realization to trust God.
• God had promised to make them a blessing to the nations in His due time (Gen. 12:3; 28:13–15).
• In light of who God is, the question is how could His people in exile have thought He had forgotten them or was ignorant of their condition? That is what Isaiah is referring to in the common complaint that the people say “My way is hidden from God”.
The Jewish exiles living under a kind of mass house arrest in Babylon felt abandoned by God: “The direction my life has taken—I might as well have fallen off the edge of the earth. The justice due to me completely escapes God’s notice.” Haven’t we all asked, “Where is God when I need him? He demands so much but doesn’t lift a finger to help. And this happens time after time”?( Ortlund, R. C., Jr, & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Isaiah : God saves sinners. Preaching the Word (250). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.)
This way of thinking is not new. John Knox, the Scottish reformer, wrote:
Quote: “By what means Satan first drew mankind from the obedience of God, the Scripture doth witness: To wit, by pouring into their hearts that poison, that God did not love them”.
( David Laing, ed., The Works of John Knox (New York: AMS Press, 1966 reprint), )
• When you face pain or challenges, be honest, do you find yourself questioning if God really knows how hard it is? Do you find yourself questioning if God really cares?
• This section of Isaiah is frank with these feelings. God wants you to understand who He is and realize that He knows your situation and really does care.
• There is a danger than can be inferred by the way God is addressed. By the denunciation by Isaiah, there seems to be some resentment by the people. Perhaps in the way they address God as my God? This is an important distinction: we are God’s possession, He is not ours. We are to have faith in Him, trust Him, love Him and obey Him. That by no means obligates God to be at our beck and call, to do just exactly when and how we prefer. We only tend to see things from our own perspective with limited knowledge. The nature of genuine faith is to trust that God indeed loves and cares for us. We must trust that He will act in exactly the best way and exactly the best time.
We have seen 1) The Wonder of the Eternal God Declared (Isaiah 40:27)
And now:
2) The Renown of the Eternal God Delineated (Isaiah 40:28)
Isaiah 40:28 [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.
The prophet seems to be trying to get people to look beyond the immediate and remember who they are addressing and what He has done in verse 28.
The people should have: known—by their own observation and reading of Scripture. They would have heard—from the teaching of those who came before.
This section introduces a key element that I want to focus on today. God here is El-Olam, meaning “The everlasting God”
Definition: EVERLASTING basically means lasting forever; or eternal. In Greek, aionios (ahee-oh-nee-oss); Strong’s #166: Compare “eon.” Means perpetual, unchanging (immutable), of unlimited duration, age-long, or unending. The word may denote that which is without either beginning or end (Rom. 16:26; Heb. 9:14); without beginning (Rom. 16:25; 2 Tim. 1:9); without end (Luke 16:9; 2 Cor. 5:1; Rev. 14:6). It is contrasted with that which is brief and fleeting.
To put this into perspective one person described it like this:
Illustration: “Time is often represented by a straight line drawn on a page. We call this a time line. To get a grasp of what the eternality of God means, when you have drawn your time line you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn”. (Green, M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching : Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
Here, God is called ˒El ˒Olam, “the Everlasting God” (Gen. 21:33; Is. 40:28). Relating this to the previous attributes we have looked at in our series, He is Spirit and exists outside physical time and space. He is Father, the real Father time, the creator of time. God is Triune, and each person of the Godhead is eternal. He is Omniscient and fully conscious of each element of time without lack of clarity. He is omnipotent operating outside of time, and in the clearest sense He is omnipresent and fully interacting with all elements of time and space.
That God is eternal relates to attributes that we have not considered, that of His aseity, he never began to exist, he cannot stop existing, and he depends on nothing but himself to exist.( John S. Feinberg. No One Like Him. Crossway Books. 2001. P. 258.) His eternity also relates to His immutability, in that He does not change in His being.
In terms of His character qualities, as God is eternal, so is His mercy le-˒olam, is, “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps. 90:2). Some biblical writers look back and say that God was “before the ages” (1 Cor. 2:7). Others look forward and say that God is immortal.
Scripture shows this character of God in terms of everlasting kindness (Is. 54:8), love (Jer. 31:3), and mercy (Ps. 100:5; 103:17) who has established an everlasting covenant with His people (Heb. 13:20). His kingdom is everlasting (2 Pet. 1:11), as is His salvation (Ps. 45:17). ( Hayford, J. W., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Hayford’s Bible handbook. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.). To Him there is no beginning or ending, for He is in no sense circumscribed by time. And, as He is eternal in all His attributes, so He eternally watches over His people. (Young, E. (1972). The Book of Isaiah: Volume 3, Chapters 40-66 (66). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
By way of proving or exhibiting the fact that He is eternal, the prophet states that He is the Creator of the ends of the earth, i.e. the limits or bounds of the creation. The thought might also be expressed by saying that God is the Creator of the entirety of the earth. Thus, He is eternal and not limited by time, and He is the Creator of all things and not limited by space.
In Isaiah 40:28 it mentions that God does not fain or grow/become weary or tired. God was not too weak to act on their behalf, nor was fatigue an obstacle for the Creator in caring for His people (cf. vv. 29, 30). Though even the young and strong become tired and fall, the Ancient of Days never does.
The questions of v. 28 are designed to call Israel’s attention to the folly of her attitude. God is entirely free from all that is defective and imperfect in man (Believer’s Study Bible. 1997, c1995. C1991 Criswell Center for Biblical Studies. (electronic ed.) (Is 40:28). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
Psalm 121:3-4 [3]He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. [4]Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
If Israel’s way is hid from her God it is not because He is weary. In doing good and in blessing man He does not become weary like a man who grows faint through lack of nourishment or weary through lack of rest. God’s ways are right; but men may not understand them, for they are incomprehensible.
To the human mind, God’s wisdom is not fully comprehensible in how He chooses to fulfill His promises to deliver Israel. Isaiah 40:28 continues in describing God and it mentions that His understanding is described here as inscrutable. This would reflect in what we have seen in God’s omniscience. As we have previously seen the praise by Paul:
Romans 11:33 [33]Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (ESV)
This is not to deny that God may be known. If God were unknowable, then Isaiah’s appeal would be meaningless. The whole condemnation and criticism of the people in which the prophet is engaging is based upon the assumption that God and His ways may be known. Indeed, if the people knew God and His ways, they would not doubt Him. (Young, E. (1972). The Book of Isaiah: Volume 3, Chapters 40-66 (66). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
We have seen 1) The Wonder of the Eternal God Declared (Isaiah 40:27)
2) The Renown of the Eternal God Delineated (Isaiah 40:28) And now:
3) The Blessings of the Eternal God Displayed (Isaiah 40:29-31)
Isaiah 40:29-31 [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.
Although God does “not faint” (Is 40:28) He gives power to them who do faint.
Please turn to 2 Corinthians 12
Here there is a seeming paradox. They “have no might” in themselves; but in God they have strength, and He “increases” that strength (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. (Is 40:29). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc).
There is a general principle here that patient, praying believers are blessed by God with strength in their trials
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 [8]Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9]But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10]For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (ESV)
The prophet now sets forth the counterpart of what he had stated in verse 28. In verse 30:
Isaiah 40:30 [30]Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
God does not become weary, but men do. Furthermore, not merely do men become tired out but even the strongest and most choice become weary. The youths are the choicest, those most fit for athletic contests or for military service. Despite their strength and training, they nevertheless become weary. Their strength is not available at all times, and hence, due to exhaustion, they stumble. Youths of robust strength are often cut off even in early life. It may be that, as Calvin suggests, this is due to overexertion. Whatever be the cause, however, it is a fact of experience, which brings before the eyes the transitoriness of human life.( Young, E. (1972). The Book of Isaiah: Volume 3, Chapters 40-66 (68). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
In Isaiah 40:31 it says:
Isaiah 40:31 [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.
On the other hand, what may happen to strong young men does not happen to those who wait on the Lord. The word “wait” does not suggest that we sit around and do nothing. It means “to hope,” to look to God for all that we need (Isa. 26:3; 30:15). This involves meditating on His character and His promises, praying, and seeking to glorify Him. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1992). Be comforted. An Old Testament study. (Is 40:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.) To wait entails confident expectation and active hope in the Lord—never passive resignation (Ps. 40:1) (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (Is 40:31). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
I believe one author said it best like this:
Quote: “waiting is an important part of our faith. Waiting is what faith does before God’s answer shows up. God gives us great and precious promises, and then he calls us to wait…The “how” question is answered in this word “wait.” Are you willing to wait? Are you willing to let God set the pace? Or are you such a controller you can’t live on God’s terms? (Ortlund, R. C., Jr, & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Isaiah : God saves sinners. Preaching the Word (254). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.)
The contrast is between the youths and the waiters upon the Lord, those who fully believe in God’s power to deliver, and manifest their confidence in Him by patiently waiting for Him to bring His promise to fulfillment.
The first verse of this chapter expressed this idea:
Psalm 40:1 [40:1]I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
It is expressed elsewhere in Isaiah:
Isaiah 8:17 [17]I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. (ESV)
In Isaiah 40, the word “renew” means “to exchange,” as taking off old clothes and putting on new. We exchange our weakness for His power (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1992). Be comforted. An Old Testament study. (Is 40:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.).
Notice the progression in Isaiah 40:31:
Mount up … run … walk depicts the spiritual transformation that faith brings to a person. The Lord gives power to those who trust in Him.
Psalm 37:5 [5]Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. (ESV)
Finally, please turn to Psalm 103
In Isaiah 40:31, The eagle depicted here represents the strength that comes from the Lord.
In Ps. 103:5 the strength of people who are nourished by God is compared to the strength of the eagle.
Psalm 103:1-5 [103:1]Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name![2]Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, [3]who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, [4]who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, [5]who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Don’t think this is just reserved for crises. As we wait before Him, God enables us to soar when there is a crisis, to run when the challenges are many, and to walk faithfully in the day-by-day demands of life. Yet, it is much harder to walk in the ordinary pressures of life than to fly like the eagle in a time of crisis.
Quote: “I can plod,” said William Carey, the father of modern missions. “That is my only genius. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”
The greatest heroes of faith are not always those who seem to be soaring; often it is they who are patiently plodding. As we wait on the Lord, He enables us not only to fly higher and run faster, but also to walk longer. Blessed are the plodders, for they eventually arrive at their destination! (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1992). Be comforted. An Old Testament study. (Is 40:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.)
