Our scripture lesson tonight comes from Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, hear now the word of our God. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries, In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. He will tend His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in His arms. He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness compare with him? an idol. A craftsman crafts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble. to whom then will you compare me that I should be like him says the Holy One lift up your eyes on high and see who created these he who brings out their host by number calling them all by name by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power not one is missing 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. 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord. If you heard echoes of the book of Job, you were hearing correctly. There's all sorts of connections between Isaiah and Job, and particularly Isaiah 40 through 55 and Job, because, of course, Job is the suffering servant. If you think about how God says of Job, have you considered my servant Job, who then, in that sense, Job is a picture of the suffering servant. It's clear that Isaiah and Job have an awful lot in common in the way they're thinking of what God will do in the salvation of his people. Now, in Isaiah 39, we heard of the coming judgment against Jerusalem, how the house of David will be taken into captivity into Babylon, the treasures of Jerusalem will be carried off. You might wonder, because Isaiah is the prophet who said over and over again, I will deliver you and this city, chapter 38. I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David, chapter 37. Behold Zion, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, chapter 33. And yet, Isaiah has been speaking of the coming judgment against Jerusalem. In fact, he had told Hezekiah at the end of chapter 39 that the judgment would come in the days of his descendants. Isaiah chooses not to go into a thorough explanation of how it all fits together. Instead, he turns to the future because he wants us to see that Zion's plucking up will be a short-term thing. And he wants to point us forward to remember that God will be faithful to his promises. He will restore his city. Unlike Babylon, unlike Edom, which will be uninhabited and desolate forever, unlike the city of man, which has no future, Zion will endure forever. That does not mean that exile will never happen. It means that Jerusalem will come through exile into glory. And there's a way in which this is the message of the servant of the Lord. We saw that really chapters 1 through 37 were the book of the king focusing on the son of David. Now the servant of the Lord will become the focus of chapters 38 to 55 because the servant must travel the same path as Israel from exile into glory. In that sense, Isaiah turns immediately from Hezekiah's personal comfort, where Hezekiah had said, ah, the word that you have spoken is good, because he thought there will be peace and security in my days. And now, Isaiah turns to, there is comfort for the city of God. There is comfort for Jerusalem. Comfort. Comfort my people, says your God. Bring comfort to Jerusalem. Chapter 40 consists of three voices responding to this call in verses 1 and 2. There's the voice of verses 3 through 5, the voice of verses 6 through 8, and then the herald that speaks starting in verse 9. And these voices prepare the way for when the Holy One Himself speaks. The three heralds announce the coming of God and tell us why we should listen to Him. Verses 1 and 2 set up the whole second section of Isaiah's prophecy. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly, speak to the heart of Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. That doesn't mean twice as much as their sin deserves. It means the double portion, the portion of the firstborn. She has received the full inheritance of her sin. Her exile is over. Her iniquity is pardoned. Her warfare is ended. Jerusalem now sits as a forgiven city. But what is the comfort that will come to the city of God? And a voice cries. The voice of the first herald. In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. This is a verse that is applied to John the Baptist in all four of the Gospels, and for obvious reasons. The first herald announcing the comfort that is coming, John the Baptist. It fits very nicely. But if you think about what Isaiah is doing here, back in chapter 33, the highways to Egypt were made waste. And God promised a new highway would be built in chapter 35, the way of holiness on which only the redeemed would walk. And now Isaiah returns to that theme. After the exile, when the ransomed of the Lord return to Zion, there will be a highway in the wilderness, a straight path through the desert to Zion. But it's not just the highway for the exiles. This is the highway for God himself, when God himself comes to dwell with his people. That's why John the Baptist is the herald of this highway. Because he's announcing the coming of God in the flesh. When Yahweh himself comes to Jerusalem, all of creation will hasten to get out of his way. Every valley shall be lifted up. Every mountain and hill be made low. Creation itself, the very geology will be shifting to get out of the way as the Lord comes. When the glory of the Lord is revealed, the mountains shrink, the valleys are raised. You've seen those commercials where the car drives through the desert and roads and bridges magically appear as it's driving through. That's the picture that Isaiah is using, or more precisely, they borrow that picture from Isaiah. Because when God comes in glory to Zion, all creation will serve its king. All creation will hear the voice of the Lord and respond. That's why Jesus will say, if these are quiet, even the stones will cry out. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And then comes the second herald in verse six. A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath, the Ruach, the spirit of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. All flesh is grass and the grass withers, the flower fades. The fleetingness of man is contrasted with the permanence of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. When His Spirit, when His breath blows on the grass, it fades, it withers, it dies. Indeed, in verse 24, scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when He blows on them and they wither. The rulers of the earth are as grass and the breath of the Lord blows on them and they wither in the heat. But that same breath that withers both grass and man also brings life because it is the breath that God breathes out in his word. God's word enlivened and empowered by his eternal breath, by his eternal spirit. God's word endures forever. This passage will be quoted both in 1 Peter 2 and in James 1, when they speak of how we need to hear the word of the Lord, because the word of the Lord endures. When you think of all of the transient and temporary words that people speak, think of the encouraging things that people say, or try to, they think it's encouraging. Don't worry, things will get better. Oh, that's a great one, isn't it? Oh yeah, things will get better. Things can always get worse. But what words can be spoken that will actually bring comfort and encouragement? The word of the Lord endures forever. The word of the Lord stands forever. All of our temporary fleeting words fall short of. God has something to say. The mouth of the Lord has spoken, but Isaiah doesn't tell us yet what God has said. Because there is still a third voice, a third messenger that we must hear before we can hear God's voice. Verse 9. Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem. Herald of good news. The ESV translates this correctly. Zion is the herald. At first we heard, okay, comfort Jerusalem, comfort. But now Jerusalem, having heard the message of comfort, now Jerusalem takes up the cry. Some translations try to make this into the herald of good news to Zion, but the participle here is a feminine singular, and Zion is the only feminine noun that matches it. Anonymous prophetic voice in verses 3 and 6 are both using masculine, so the fact that Isaiah is using a feminine, you should look for the feminine noun. Where is the feminine noun? It's Zion. Zion, the mother of the people of Judah, the city of God. One of the themes that you see regularly is when you hear daughter Zion, that's referring to Zion as the daughter, but there's also the daughters, plural, of Zion. The daughters of Zion are the other cities of Judah. And so there's a way in which, this is why, and we'll see Isaiah do this constantly from here on out, mother Zion becomes a major theme in Isaiah's prophecy. Jerusalem as the mother of the people of God and the mother of the cities of Judah. And so Jerusalem, Zion, the city of God, now says to her daughter cities, behold your God. Behold the Lord Yahweh as he comes in might, as he comes down the highway in the wilderness, the one who comes to reward his people and recompense his enemies. And as he comes, The Lord comes with might and his arm rules for him. When you think about the arm of God, his arm refers to his power and might. Some people use the language of anthropomorphic, that God is using images of the human body in order to explain himself to us, but I'd actually say it's more that we are theomorphs rather than that he is anthropomorphic. God created us the way he did in order to reflect something about himself. We are created in the image of God. Fish are not. Fish have nothing that really corresponds to God's right arm. God's dorsal fin just somehow doesn't quite communicate the same thing. There's something about the human arm that expresses in a physical form what is true of God's eternal power. But not only is God the powerful king, he is also the good king, the shepherd king to whom David pointed. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. So behold your king. Pilate used those words. Jesus appreciated the irony. Isaiah would have. He will, after all, use the image of sheep again and again to describe the work of the servant of the Lord. But now, having set forth the coming of Yahweh as king with his threefold behold, he now asks three who questions. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hill in a balance? Zion is asking these three who questions. Who has done these things? This sounds rather like God speaking to Job or wisdom speaking in Proverbs 8. Isaiah is reminding us of why we need to listen to God's voice. He speaks at the end of the 8th century in Jerusalem, reminding his hearers that although they must endure exile, they must also remember that God is faithful to his promises. You may patiently endure suffering because you can see the glory of God coming down that highway. throughout this section of Isaiah, we will often hear the doctrine of creation used as a lens into the doctrine of redemption. The creation of the heavens and the earth is paralleled by the creation of Israel as the elect people of God. And then comes the second who, who has directed the spirit of the Lord, verse 13, or what man shows him his counsel. Are you wiser than God? Can you govern the breath of the Lord, which smites the grass and destroys it? How are you doing at controlling the universe? It's the question God asked Job, and Job was like, yeah, good point. Basically, God was saying to Job, if you press your complaint further, and if you win, and force me to step down from being God, are you ready to take over controlling the universe? No, thank you. You're God, I'm not. I humble myself before you. And Paul cites this verse in Romans 11 as a reminder that God's wisdom and knowledge are unsearchable. Who tells God what to do? And verse 14 brings the third who. Whom did he consult and made him understand and taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Where can you find wisdom that is greater than Yahweh's? Who can claim to have schooled God? The gods of the nations all had to seek counsel from each other before creating the world. But who had counseled Yahweh? And in answer to these questions, Zion declares in verses 15 to 17, Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. Why are you afraid of the nations? Why are you more concerned with what people think of you than with what God thinks of you? The nations are like a drop from the bucket. All the animals in Lebanon are insufficient for a burnt offering to satisfy God. A forest fire in Lebanon couldn't produce a sufficient fire for the sacrifice. All the nations together are as nothing before him. So why are we afraid of them? Now, Zion's voice concludes with two final who's. Or what likeness compare with Him? An idol, the work of men's craft, made out of gold, silver, wood. You would compare the living God to that? And yet, how often do we act as though God is a creation of our own imagination? We think that we can decide who God is and what He is like. And Isaiah reminds us, Our mother reminds us, we don't define God. He defines us. Francis Schaeffer borrows from Isaiah 40 in his book titles, the God who is there and he is there and he is not silent. And Zion goes on to say, in verse 21, do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth. Its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in. Who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble. All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. The gods of the nations are enclosed within the heavens. There is no transcendence in the gods of the nations. If you think that you can manipulate your god to get him to give you what you want, then you're worshipping the wrong god. But the Lord is sovereign. He rules over all things. He sits there above the circle of the earth. Isaiah's picture here is of God's throne at the pinnacle of that great blue dome above us. And he looks down and from its great height we look like grasshoppers. Now, that image was used before in scripture. In Numbers 13, when the spies returned from the promised land, they said they looked like grasshoppers compared to the nations around them. And now Isaiah says that the nations look like grasshoppers to God. God has spread out the heavens above as a tent to dwell in. We don't really think of the heavens as a solid object, but scripture regularly speaks of it that way. It's like a tent that's been spread out, and that God made this as a place where he could dwell with his people. Do you really think that the nations or their gods can stand up to him? When he blows on them, they wither. The tempest of his breath, the tempest of his spirit, destroys the wicked. Finally, in verse 25, God himself speaks, to whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him, says the Holy One. Who can claim to be like God? And who do we think fits that? Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these? Who created the stars? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power. Not one is missing. The stars were all put in place by God and he knows them all by name. C.S. Lewis will even talk about stars as having personalities behind them. Is that so? Maybe so. But the reason why God says this to his people comes about in the answer, the questions given in verses 27 and following. 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. Now, let's remember to be fair to the people of Israel, because they were a lot like us. Have you ever felt like God just doesn't really seem to notice what's going on with me? I'm suffering here, I'm going through these afflictions, I'm going through all these troubles, God doesn't really seem to take notice. Ever felt that way? They did too. 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? And Isaiah says, listen, 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. When it says that his understanding is unsearchable, that means you're never going to figure out all that God is thinking and why he's doing what he's doing. His understanding is unsearchable. You're not going to be able to figure it all out. That's not your job. It's not your calling. He is God, and we are not. Therefore, it's not our job to figure out what he's doing and explain to him how he should do it right. What is our job then? Well, God himself does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 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." Here, at the end of Zion's message, we hear the promise given to those who would return from exile, those who long to see Jerusalem once more. The Lord is the everlasting God. He has promised to bring you back and he will do what he has promised. And those who wait for him shall renew their strength. What do they need strength for? They need strength for the journey. The long road back from Babylon. How did Isaiah know about that? Remember what Isaiah had already said to Hezekiah. He had told Hezekiah, your descendants are going to go into exile in Babylon. And now he's saying, and your descendants will need strength from the Lord to make the long journey back to Zion. This is a journey for which no human strength can avail because even youths shall faint on this path. Young strong men shall fall exhausted along the way. This is a path that crosses numerous valleys and mountains and deserts. And those who refuse to wait for God will perish in some nameless pass. But those 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. This is Exodus language. In Exodus 19, God says that he brought Israel to himself on eagle's wings. He lifted his people up out of bondage in Egypt and delivered them. And now Isaiah says once more, God will bring his people home on eagle's wings. The one who trusts in the Lord will have a strength beyond that of mortal men. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Perhaps you can see why All four Gospels tell us that John the Baptist is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Because Isaiah is speaking of the return from exile. And okay, sure, there was a return from exile. There was a time when they came back from Babylon and started rebuilding the city. But the Jews understood that until the son of David sat on his father's throne, The exile wasn't really over. And so John came as the first voice proclaiming the coming of the kingdom of God. Who's the second voice? Verses six through eight. Peter quotes verses six through eight in 1 Peter 1, 24 and 25, and then declares, this word is the good news that was preached to you. And who's Peter talking to? First Peter is addressed to the elect exiles of the dispersion. Peter tells the church, you need patient endurance through this exile as we share in the sufferings of Christ. Sufferings that are yet tinged with glory as we look forward to the full revelation of Jesus Christ. So who's the second voice? If the first voice is John the Baptist, the second voice is the apostolic witness. The second voice is the apostles as they preach to us the word of the Lord. And of course, we've already heard who the third voice is. Mother Zion, as our mother calls to us, calling us to remember that, you know, think about how Revelation uses this picture when it speaks of the woman and the dragon and how the woman is safe. God prepares a place for her in the wilderness where she is safe from the dragon as the dragon goes off to make war on the rest of her children. But our mother calls to us and calls us to hear and to believe and to hold fast in our walking patiently, diligently. Wait for the Lord. Are you tired? Weary? Heavy laden? Wait patiently for the Lord. Jeremiah speaks in Lamentations 3.22 in the midst of exile. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. as Jeremiah sat in dust and ashes bewailing the destruction of the temple and the city, he says, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. He has not forgotten you. He knows well what trials you endure for He endured them as the servant of the Lord. He suffered exile and passed through death and hell for you. And now He has been exalted to the right hand of the Father and in that glory He now has prepared for you so that you who share in His sufferings might also share in His glory because these light momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. There's a way in which as we walk in this age, we are walking in the midst of that exile, as we are returning to Zion. It's the same point we saw this morning in Hebrews, that all of the saints throughout the Old Testament had their eyes fixed on the heavenly city. and that's what we are called to have our eyes fixed on because that's our mother, Zion, the heavenly city that we long to see once more. So let's pray. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us because we are weary and we faint, but you have promised to give power to the faint and to us who have no might you increase strength. So we wait for you. We wait upon you because you have promised that you will renew our strength, that we will mount up with wings like eagles. We will run and not be weary. We will walk and not faint because your mighty power will sustain us and guide us and guard us through this exile as we walk the path of our savior Jesus Christ. as we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. And we thank you that in the midst of this, that you bring comfort, that you have spoken tenderly to us in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, because you have brought salvation. You have brought redemption in the midst of our afflictions and our miseries for you have forgiven our sins and cast them into the depths of the sea. Father, we thank you, and we marvel at your great mercy and kindness to us. And we ask that you would have mercy upon us for Jesus' sake, that you would strengthen us by your word and spirit, that you would help us as your people to hear your voice, to believe your promises, and to walk humbly before you. Father, we pray for all those who are afflicted, for those who are grievously burdened by by bodily ailments, ailments of mind and of heart, ailments of the soul, ailments of the spirit. Lord, have mercy upon each one and grant to them grace to walk humbly, to trust your promises, to hold fast to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Lord, have mercy upon all those who preach your gospel. Have mercy on all those who proclaim the word of the Lord that even as you have said that your word endures forever, even so may your word continue to go forth with great power, that your gospel would flourish and grow and increase in every land and in every tongue. Lord, have mercy. And as we go to our rest now this night, we pray that you would sustain us and grant to us your peace. For we pray in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.