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Home , Isaiah 40

5 Attributes of God Displayed in Salvation:

An Exposition of 40:1-11

Introduction:

Good Morning! (Extemporaneous speaking)

Whenever I’m given occasion to fill this pulpit, it’s my goal to complement whatever passages Jim is currently leading us through with those from another area of scripture in order to show the consistency of God’s message across the entire text of the , while also pointing out, as much as possible in such a short time, what God is telling us about who He is. Despite what some in more liberal circles would have us believe, God’s Word is always consistent; it never contradicts itself. This, in and of itself, is an attribute of God worth studying and knowing deeply, His Immutability or rather, unchangeableness. In :6 the Lord says “For I, Yahweh, do not change…” If He is unchangeable, then it only makes sense that His message to us would be unchanging and consistent as well. If it were otherwise then he would not be God we would have no reason to worship Him. Thankfully, He is God and He is Consistent. But that isn’t the only Focus of today’s message. Now, Did you notice last week in the text we studied through that verse 24 & 25 of 1st Peter chapter 1 was in all capital letters up on the screen? Look at it again for a second, it says:

For,

“ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”

This is how the New American Standard indicates to us within the books when the author is quoting an text. Peter is, among other things, making an argument from the Old Testament to show the readers why they can trust the Word that has been preached to them. Those 2 verses come straight from the chapter 40. And so I thought, what better way to compliment that text in 1st Peter than by going back to its source. So please, turn with me to Isaiah Chapter 40. Today we’re going to be looking at the first 11 verses and we’re going to see the prophet Isaiah making the exact same argument, in addition to others.

Ultimately I want to point out to you 5 Attributes of God Displayed in Salvation. An attribute is a quality or feature, an inherent characteristic of someone or something. For example I have Blue Eyes, that’s a physical attribute. My wife has a gorgeous smile, that’s an attribute. Now, the Lord doesn’t give us these kinds of physical attributes to describe Himself. Instead, He gives us attributes of His Character to help us know who He is. And today I want to show you at least 5 of these kinds of attributes; We’ll see His Mercy, His Glory, His Eternality, His Might, and His Gentleness. Now let’s go ahead and read the text:

Isaiah 40:1-11

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. 2 “Speak kindly to ; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.”

3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. 9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O , bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of , “Here is your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

Provinence:

Now, as always, context, context, context. Without context we cannot hope to properly understand any text of Scripture. I’ve quoted it before and I’ll do it again, as Dr. Steve Lawson wrote in his book Foundations of Grace “No one ever spoke straighter or pronounced stronger words than the fearless prophets of Ancient .” And the most prolific of these prophets was undoubtedly Isaiah ben , the author of the text we’re examining today. Isaiah was a prophet of God in the Southern kingdom of Judah between 740BC and 680BC, after the split from the other tribes in the Northern Kingdom but before the exile. He lived in Jerusalem specifically and he was most likely a cousin of the royal family given his easy access to the King. Isaiah was married and had at least 2 sons. His name means “YahWeh Saves” or “YahWeh is Salvation”.

Isaiah is most often referred to as “The Evangelical Prophet”. Throughout his life he spent time aiding in the shaping of social policy in Judah, especially regarding the treatment of Orphans and Widows, as well as giving guidance on foreign affairs (some of which I’m sure was unsolicited). He often counseled them not to make pacts and treaties with those nations around them, but to instead trust in the Lord. And when they didn’t heed the Lord’s call to trust Him, Isaiah also told them what the consequences would be. That’s how you might think of Chapters 1-39 of the book of Isaiah, as a list of consequences. Of Course that’s not all that’s in there. But aside from a few brief verses, moments of relief and encouragement to endurance, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are primarily bad news. Within Judah itself, they have been unfaithful to their covenant with the Lord in a number of ways. Socially they have allowed greed to run rampant causing significant poverty and homelessness. Men have created and used unbiblical laws to take the lands and homes of others for themselves, pushing those maligned and their children into the streets to beg for food and shelter. These people were promised these lands by the Lord Himself, and they have now been taken away by mere men. The law has been corrupted and can no longer be trusted to provide justice.

Politically, Judah has made a number of alliances with surrounding nations in the hopes of dissuading wars. And while this may seem like a good idea from a human perspective, God see’s this for what it is, a cowardly lack of trust in the protection he has promised to provide and instead a trust in earthly protections. Not to mention bad king ’s reign, where he led Judah into idolatry by swearing allegiance to false god’s and building temples to them in Jerusalem in an effort to assuage the Assyrians from attacking. For all this, and more, the first chapters of Isaiah condemn Judah and declare they will be disciplined severely by being driven from their lands and made into slaves by their enemies.

Then he turns the message toward the nations surrounding Judah and one by one, chapter after chapter, declares what their sins are and how they will be punished or destroyed for them, in some cases so severely that they will cease to exist entirely as a nation, forever. , Phylistia, , , , , and on and on. Not one is safe from God’s just wrath. Their pride, their cruelty, their mistreatment of God’s people, their idolatry… the level of detail Isaiah provides is explicit and I’d imagine to all those hearing these Oracles of judgment in his day, it sounded nothing short of frightening and apocalyptic. Listen to :1-6:

Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste 4 and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

We can barely imagine being the recipients of such a message. Yet, this is what the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are mostly like. They are scary, somewhat dark, and very angry proclamations from the Lord. He has displayed for everyone to see the deep chasm that sin creates between creator and created.

5 attributes of God in Salvation:

And then there was Chapter 40. This chapter acts as the first steps on a bridge over the chasm for the people of God. For them, there is hope to be found. For them, there is a God who despite their many flaws and sins, still loves them and is utterly and completely faithful to His promises. For them, there is salvation found in the Lord. It’s in the first 2 verses of Chapter 40 that we see the first attribute of God I want to show you, His Mercy. Take a look with me (Read Isaiah 40:1-2)

1. God’s Mercy

It starts with a command, one that is repeated for emphasis, most probably to the prophets of God in general but here it’s safe to say specifically to Isaiah. He’s telling the prophet, preach comfort now Isaiah. Speak kindly to them now. And I imagine that command gave great relief to Isaiah. He had been fulfilling a rather discouraging assignment for some time and now he gets to relay a message of Joy. But that begs the question, why now? After all that judgment, after all their sins laid bare, after all that punishment doled out, why now? The answer is simple. Because only when the bad news is received and understood can the good news THEN be appreciated. Through Isaiah, the Lord has been preparing them for this very message, to receive these words of hope. They are now ready to hear and understand fully the good news. As one commentator put it “Indeed, apart from the preceding declaration of judgment, the words of comfort are without much point.”

And this is who God is, He is merciful. He says to tell His people “her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed”. No more will they struggle when their punishment is through. No more will the Lord be angry at their sin, indeed He has wiped their sin away! Moreover, they will be blessed even more despite their sin, because they are His people. He has chosen them, they belong to Him. He has made promises to them, and He will keep those promises. And Unlike those nations surrounding them that have been irrevocably condemned, without any hope for redemption, God’s people will instead be redeemed and made whole again. It is His will that His people live in His Comfort for he is their God and for them, His mercy knows no bounds, for that is who He is, The Lord is Mercy. And notice that He does not just instruct Isaiah to speak these words of comfort, no, He tells Isaiah to Call Out to her. Yell it from every rooftop Isaiah; make sure they all hear it loudly. This isn’t a whisper of Hope; it’s a shout for joy! The prophet will emphasize this further in Chapter 49 verse 13 saying:

Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.

The mercy of the Lord is declared all throughout Scripture. Psalm 86:5 says:

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

Jesus taught in Luke 6:36 that His people should “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Puritan preacher Thomas Watson called mercy ‘God’s darling attribute’ saying God is more inclined to mercy than to wrath. But I really love the prayer of A.W. Tozer when he wrote:

Holy Father, Thy wisdom excites our admiration, Thy power fills us with fear, Thy omnipresence turns every spot of earth into holy ground; but how shall we thank Thee enough for Thy mercy which comes down to the lowest part of our need to give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and for the spirit of heaviness a garment of praise?

I imagine that is some of what Isaiah felt also, as he began his new calling of preaching comfort to God’s people. And this logically leads to the next attribute of God we are shown in the following verses, His Glory. Verses 3-5 should seem familiar to us as believers in Christ.

(Read Isaiah 40:3-5) 2. His Glory

Verse 3 starts off with a mystery and ends with more mystery. Who is this voice calling out in the wilderness? Isaiah doesn’t say, which speaks volumes in and of its self. The message is more important by far than the messenger. But the message is enigmatic too. Why would the Lord need a way cleared for Him anywhere? Of what use are Highways to the Omnipresent Creator of the universe? He’s already everywhere, is He not? It’s definitely a mystery, one that stood for over 700 years. But, Turn with me to Matthew Chapter 3 (read 3:1-12).

There we go, Mystery Solved. The Voice is that of . And the message is explained as well, it’s a calling to repentance. The imagery of lifting up valleys and leveling over hills and mountains is one of removing obstacles. The rough ground and rugged terrain that is to become smooth is the hearts of God’s people. What makes them rough and rugged is sin. It’s the obstacle that separates God from His people. And so here the voice is calling out a command to God’s people to repent, to make their hearts right before their God. And interestingly, notice that while it starts as a command in verse 3, it turns into something God will do in verse 4. The ESV captures this change in the Hebrew text a little better than the NASB here, making verse 4 “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low”. SO what we see here is the same message as throughout the rest of scripture, the dual understanding that we are to repent and believe and yet at the same time it is God bringing about our repentance and belief. The Apostle Paul says it this way in Philippians 2:12:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

And once the rough places are smooth, once His people have repented, THEN verse 5 tells us that the Glory of YahWeh will be revealed and all Flesh will see it. This won’t be a hidden revealing, it will be very public and seen by all peoples. This is the coming of Jesus Christ. It is by God coming to us as a man. In that act He reveals just how amazing and worthy of praise He is. He reveals the lengths to which He is willing to go in order to redeem His chosen people. It’s a promise of salvation, a pledge made sure because as the verse ends “For the mouth of the Lord has Spoken.” He alone is worthy of Praise and for that, all Glory is due Him! But this begs the next question, why should we trust what He says? What makes His promises any more sure than anyone else? And it’s in the answer that we see the next attribute of God, His Eternality.

3. His Eternality

Isaiah seems to anticipate this question and answers us in verses 6-9 saying (read 40:6-9). The imagery used in these verses is that of a flower. And like the prophet, we know that flowers are beautiful, they smell sweet and like all of creation they display the Glory of God in their creation. But they do not last. They are finite created things, just like all flesh. And so as with all created things, they too pass away in the Lord’s time or “when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.” But that is not like God. Yahweh does not wither nor fade away. He is everlasting, He is eternal. He is the uncaused first cause who has always existed and will always exist and His existence is outside of what we know as Time. Dr. Wayne Grudem puts it this way “God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in His own being, and He sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time.” In other words, He is the Alpha and the Omega.

I know this is murky territory and it’s almost impossible for us to conceive of what that really means or looks like. But we CAN understand that it means He is very different from us. He is the creator and we are the created. The fact that He doesn’t exist in or experience time like we do speaks to the fact that His words, once spoken, exist in all time. It is as though He said them before creation was and after it has faded at the same time. Like Him, His words are everlasting. For this reason they are unchangeable and utterly trustworthy. There is no reason to doubt them, because they “Stand forever” just as He does. This analogy hardly works and breaks down easily, as all analogies about God do because there is nothing else like Him to really compare to, but it’s kind of like when you send an email or text message. You know how once you hit that send button, that’s it, you can’t take it back and you can’t change what you’ve written? That’s kind of what it’s like when God speaks, except not just across space but across all time as well. And unlike us, He is perfect, so He doesn’t make the same mistakes we make. He gets it right the first time, every time. YahWeh has no use for autocorrect. In this way His words are intricately and inherently tied to who He is. If He has spoken them, Then they are beyond contestation. That is why we can trust them, that is why Peter uses this same argument for the as well. And it’s for this reason that in Verse 9 the command is issued to God’s people to get up on a High mountain and say to all the cities of Judah “Here is your God!” This infinite, eternal, Glorious, merciful God is yours! He has Chosen you and will always be faithful to His promises! This message isn’t meant to be kept to themselves only, but it is to be declared with the widest reach possible, not timidly or quietly, but loudly and boldly for all to hear. This is the message of salvation! It is the message that God is coming to save! From a Christian perspective, we see this as past tense, for God has already come to save by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But for the Hebrews, this was a message of the future. The message is for them “He is coming, Tell everyone!” and Verse 10 tells us more, not just about the message or the coming of God, but more about Who He Is. He is Mighty!

4. His Might

Verse 10 says (read verse 10). The Hebrew is indicative of the language of a great war hero returning from battle victorious. The Lord God comes in might, in power. And His might is such that He will rule “with His arm”, a symbol of strength. This is why the Hebrews called him El-Shaddai, or God Almighty. There is no equal to His power or Limit to what He can accomplish in His nature. We have power, right? We can do things, fix a car, build a rocket, write a great poem or song. But our power is limited and always requires effort on our part. We must use means to accomplish our ends. This is not what God’s might is like. The Theologian Charles Hodge described it this way:

With God means are unnecessary. He wills, and it is done. He said, Let there be light; and there was light. He, by a volition created the heavens and the earth. At the volition of Christ, the winds ceased, and there was a great calm. By an act of the will He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised the dead. This simple idea of the omnipotence of God, that He can do without effort, and by a volition, whatever He wills, is the highest conceivable idea of power, and is that which is clearly presented in the Scriptures.

The Lord could just will it, and it will be. But He still chooses to use means to accomplish his ends, which speaks to just how mighty He is. He is so powerful, that He can accomplish His ends through means we can’t hope to ever conceive of using. He uses one nation to punish another. He uses the voice’s of men to deliver His words to the world. And in the case of verse 10, we learn that He is going to come to us and rule, describing the future coming of Jesus Christ and His conquering of death through His sacrifice on the Cross and resurrection from the tomb. Which is why the second half of verse 10 says “Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.” His reward is His people. He has chosen them, and He has died on the cross for them and by doing this, He has bought them, He has earned them in His victory on the cross and they now belong to Him alone. And this verse is just the beginning of how Isaiah describes the coming of the Lord, culminating later in His description in Chapter 53 of the suffering servant that we’ve studied in year past and finally in Verse 21 of Chapter 60 He says:

Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.

5. His Gentleness

But the Lord isn’t coming to rule like some tyrannical dictator who’s conquered another nation. On the contrary, Verse 11 tells us the very opposite. It tells us about His great gentleness. (read 40:11)

Whatever a shepherd must do for his sheep, that is what can be expected of God in relation to his people. He will tend them, He will gather them, He will carry them, and to those young or weak, He will gently lead them. It’s the same picture of tender care and sacrifice that Jesus uses in John 10 when He tells those listening that He is the Good Shepherd. The flock He is leading is His flock, and He loves them so affectionately, He will “Carry them in His bosom.” This is the level of intimacy the Lord will have with His people and the arms are again a symbol of strength. In His arms, nothing can harm them. In His arms, they cannot ever be separated from Him.

But this verse also tells us as much of what is expected of His people as I does about God. If He is the Shepherd, then they are the sheep. Sheep are not vicious, powerful, evil creatures. Sheep are innocent and meek. They are harmless and inoffensive. Paul exhorts the Philippians in Chapter 2 verses 14-15: Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

Their meekness is shown by their patience and distaste for violence. If you shear a sheep, it doesn’t resist you. If a sheep is slapped, it does not lash out in return with snarling or anger. This is the personification of Jesus call to Turn the other cheek in His sermon on the mount. Sheep have no need for this kind of reaction, because they have a shepherd. As vengeance belongs to the Lord, so meekness characterizes His Sheep.

Finally, Sheep are contented. They are happy to always be going about the business of just being sheep. They’ve no ambition to become something else; they’ve no desire to follow anyone or anything other than their Shepherd. He feeds them, protects them from harm, loves them and keeps them close to his bosom. They’ve no use for anything that would deter from that relationship. They are content. And those are the things the Lord, as Shepherd of His flock, expects of His people, the Sheep. They are to be His and He will be theirs.

And so verse 11 ends the passage where is began in verse 1, with a message of comfort. The people are His flock and He will take care of them forever. And in telling His people about the Salvation to come, He has also taught them about who He is. Yahweh is a God of great mercy. He is glorious and eternal. And Though He is almighty, He is also Gentle and loving. So like verse 9 tells Judah, I tell you, Here is your God! He has sent His Son to die for your sins, and as such is worthy of all praise.

Let’s Pray.