Last week we started a series on ‘Great Messages of Encouragement’ in Scripture.
Today we’re going to look at a great message of encouragement in Isaiah. It’s at the end of Isaiah 40. Isaiah writes:
“He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
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 40:29-31]
It’s a wonderful promise, isn’t it?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed advertisements for Vitabiotics products. They seem to be all over the place, offering to give energy release, health and vitality. As I was preparing for this lesson, I learned a new word. Foods which give health benefits – such as vitamin and mineral supplements – are called ‘nutraceuticals.’ The nutraceutical industry has grown fivefold since 2000 and is now worth about £180 billion per year. Wow! Gyms and the fitness industry generally have also grown enormously. People want to renew their strength! But how? Are Vitabiotics and gyms the way to go?
Let’s go back to last week. I took the first message of encouragement from the end of Deuteronomy.
The people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, and Moses, their leader for the past 40 years, wouldn’t go with them. Joshua would take over from him. But Moses assured the people that God would be with them and give them victory and they would take possession of the land.
But there was a condition. Moses told the people, ‘For the Lord will … take delight in prospering you… WHEN YOU OBEY THE VOICE OF THE LORD YOUR GOD … WHEN YOU TURN TO THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL’ [Deuteronomy 30:9b,10]. According to Moses, there’s a direct connection between a people turning to God and God giving them success.
The next book in the Bible after Deuteronomy is Joshua. It tells the story of the people of Israel entering Canaan and taking possession of it. What happened? First of all, the waters of the Jordan opened up for the Israelites to cross. An amazing miracle! The people then came to Jericho. They marched around the city seven times and the walls fell down. Another amazing miracle! God was clearly with the people of Israel. But then, Israel was defeated by the small city of Ai. What had gone wrong? The leaders started to investigate. Before long they found the answer. One man had taken some plunder for himself. If you’re going to go to war, your motives must be pure. You can’t go to war for personal gain. God wasn’t pleased.
So, the Book of Joshua endorses what Moses had told the people. Obey God, turn to God, and God will prosper you. Do the opposite and you can expect defeat.
Maybe this seems a bit simplistic to you. Surely the wicked often prosper? Well, yes, they do. And the Bible knows that. Psalm 73 is a great example. The psalmist observes that the wicked do prosper – but then he realises that it’s only for a time. And surely the righteous sometimes suffer? Well, yes, that’s true and the Bible knows that too. That’s the point of Job. These things don’t negate the point. God will be with us and God will give us success. But the promise is for people who obey God and turn to him.
We’re now going to move forward many hundred years to the time of Isaiah.
Let’s catch up with what had happened. The people of Israel occupied Canaan. Under David and Solomon Israel became a strong nation. But it then split into two parts: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Both Israel and Judah progressively turned away from God.
Assyria expanded, invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and deported its people. The northern kingdom of Israel disappears from the picture.
Assyria now turns its attention to the southern kingdom of Judah. This is approximately the point when Isaiah enters the scene. What happens next is told in Isaiah 36 to 39.
Assyria invades Judah and captures most of it. It advances on Jerusalem. But Hezekiah, king of Judah, prays to God. God hears Hezekiah’s prayer and tells him that he will defend this city to save it. God sends an angel; the angel strikes down a huge number of Assyrians and the Assyrians leave.
Hezekiah then falls ill. Envoys come from Babylon to pay him a visit. After their visit, Isaiah asks Hezekiah, ‘What have they seen in your house?’ Hezekiah says, ‘I showed them everything.’ What were you thinking, Hezekiah!? Isaiah then tells Hezekiah ‘The time will … come when everything in your palace … will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left.’
So Judah isn’t in a good situation. The nation has suffered as a result of Assyria’s invasion. And Babylon will invade and – in contrast to Assyria – it will take Jerusalem.
But I haven’t told you the worst thing about Judah’s situation. Last week, we learned that the condition for God to bless was that God’s people should turn to him and obey him.
But in Isaiah’s time, the people of Judah were doing the opposite. Isaiah accuses the people of rebelling against God and despising him. That wasn’t simply Isaiah’s view. Jeremiah and Joel pleaded with the people to repent and turn back to God before judgment fell upon them. God told Hosea to ‘take to yourself a wife of whoredom … for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’
So, Israel has suffered at the hands of the Assyrians. The Babylonians are going to invade. And – most seriously of all – Judah ISN’T obeying God and turning to him.
How can Isaiah offer a message of encouragement in such a situation? He can’t, surely? And yet, he does.
The situation we in the west are facing has lots of similarities to the situation Isaiah was facing.
Like Judah in Isaiah’s time, we’ve been in battles that have impoverished us. Covid has been a battle. Last summer, the cost estimate for Covid in the UK was nearly £400 billion. But there are many other battles that the nations of the world are fighting.
Like Judah in Isaiah’s time, we face a huge threat. Scientists project a very bleak future if urgent steps are not taken to tackle climate change – and few people are optimistic that those steps will be taken.
But most serious of all, like Judah in Isaiah’s time, the west has largely turned away from God.
What message of encouragement could Isaiah offer to the people of his day? And can that message apply to us?
The situation Isaiah faced may have seemed hopeless. But it wasn’t hopeless. There was one reason for that: God.
In Isaiah 40, Isaiah reminds God’s people of three things about God.
Look at the way the chapter is structured. Verse 3, ‘A VOICE cries.’ Verse 6, ‘A VOICE says, “Cry.”’ Verse 9, ‘Lift up your VOICE.’ There are three voices and they tell us three things about God.
The first voice tells God’s people, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way FOR THE LORD’. Someone is coming! It’s THE LORD! Isaiah is prophesying about John the Baptist, preparing the way for Jesus. Now go on to verse 5: ‘AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE REVEALED.’ It certainly will be revealed! John starts his gospel by saying ‘…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory…’
The glory of the Lord will be revealed. When Jesus enters the situation, there’s every reason to hope!
The second voice speaks. Look at verse 8. ‘The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand for ever.’ If God says something, that’s it. He isn’t going to change his mind.
Now the third voice. This voice tells God’s people (9b,10) ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD! Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.’ It’s a wonderful appeal. ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD! Look at him! Consider how great and mighty and awesome he is!
God is going to enter our situation. His word endures for ever – his purpose is immutable. He wants to make a people for himself and that’s what he will do. And he has the power to do so. He has power in spades.
THAT is why Isaiah could offer a message of hope to the people of his day. Yes, Judah was desperately ill. Yes, there were black storm clouds. Yes, there was deep-rooted sin. But God is too great to fail.
Isaiah looked forward to the day when Jesus would enter the situation. Jesus ascended into heaven, but he will come again. He will accomplish his purpose.
‘His understanding is unsearchable’, Isaiah notes. It’s a good reminder. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ God tells Isaiah a little later. We may not understand what God is doing. We have to trust that God knows what he’s doing.
So, what do we have to do? Let me read Isaiah’s promise again, in the last three verses of chapter 40:
“He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
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.”
There is only one thing we have to do. Can you see it? It says, ‘they who wait for the Lord shall…’
Youth won’t do it. Youths will faint and grow weary.
Vitabiotics won’t do it.
But waiting on God WILL do it.
Of course, there will be tough times. There would be tough times for the people of Judah in Isaiah’s day. God’s judgment had fallen on Judah. They would be conquered and go into exile. But God would strengthen them if they waited on him.
There will be tough times for us. WE have to wait for the Lord. What does that mean? Commentator John Oswalt wrote, ‘to “wait” on God is not simply to mark time; rather, it is to live in confident expectation of his action on our behalf. It is to refuse to run ahead of him in trying to solve our problems for ourselves.’
So, we wait in confident expectation. We live in a messy world. There are problems galore. And God, by and large, won’t take us out of them. But what he will do is strengthen us, if we wait on him.
Before we finish let’s just give a moment to the last verse. Isaiah says that those who wait on the Lord soar, then run, then walk! We’re getting progressively slower. It seems like the next stage is to collapse in a heap! Hasn’t Isaiah got it back to front? Surely, we should walk, then run, then soar? But perhaps Isaiah is making a point. Often, the seemingly ordinary times, the times of walking, can be most challenging of all. But God gives us strength for those times too.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 16th January 2022
