Isaiah (2)

     "Comfort, O comfort My people," God says in Isaiah 40:1.
     Although God is often required to discipline His people in order to bring them to their senses and lead them to repentance, He is always seeking the welfare of His children.
     "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
     Unfortunately, we sometimes evaluate God using the standards of the world.  As a result, some try to leave the impression that God is out to make people suffer instead of trying to direct them in a pathway that is more beneficial for them.  Paul helps us understand the difference between what the world does and God's dealings with His people.
     "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation," Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "but the sorrow of the world produces death."
     Since God is seeking the welfare of His people even though He must discipline them, how can He cause them to be comforted?  He can explain why they are experiencing the things that are happening. He can reassure them of His greatness.  He can tell them what awaits them in the future.  And He can inform them how they can attain what He offers.
     In verse two of Isaiah forty God explains why these things are happening to them.
     "Speak kindly to Jerusalem;" the verse states, "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."
     "Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob," God expresses in Isaiah 43:22-24, "but you have become weary of Me, O Israel.
     "You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings; nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.  I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with incense.
     "You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; rather you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities."
     In chapter 44 God points out the foolishness of those who construct and worship idols.
     "The man shapes iron into a cutting tool," Isaiah 44:12-17 recounts, "and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers, and working it with his strong arm.  He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.
     "Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk.  He works it with planes, and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house.
     "Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak, and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest.  He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.
     "Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread.  He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down before it.
     "Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats meat as he roasts a roast, and is satisfied.  He also warms himself and says, 'Ah, I am warm, I have seen the fire.'
     "But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image.  He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, 'Deliver me, for thou art my god.'"
     Even if those who are involved cannot see the ridiculous nature of what they are doing, at least God can.
     "And no one recalls," verse 18 adds, "nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, 'I have burned half of it in the fire, and also have baked bread over its coals.  I roast meat and eat it.  Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood.'"
     What is the reason behind what is happening to the people?  It is their rejection of God in favor of idols.  It is, in a word, their sin.
     "Who swear by the name of the Lord," Isaiah 48:1 says of the people, "and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness."
     "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save;" Isaiah 59:1-2 explains, "neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid  His face from you, so that He does not hear."

     God explains in no uncertain terms why the people need to be disciplined.  Along with this He emphasizes His greatness.
     "Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him," Isaiah 40:10 states.
     God does not stress His greatness just because He likes to brag.  He wants the people to realize that He is able to do what He says.
     "Like a shepherd He will tend His flock," verse 11 notes, "in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes."
     The following passage, beginning in verse 12, reveals the awesome might of the Creator.
     "To whom then will you liken God?" verse 18 asks.  "Or what likeness will you compare with Him?"
     "It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, verse 22 adds.
     "Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars," verse 26 suggests, "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."
     "The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired," verse 28 instructs, "His understanding is inscrutable."
     There are many similar passages throughout the book of Isaiah.  But a third point that God wants to impress on the people is what awaits them if they turn to Him.  Listen carefully to the last words of this program to hear one of the things that awaits those who follow God.
     "Do not fear, for I am with you;" God promises in Isaiah 41:10, "do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
     "I will help you," God repeats in verse 14, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel."
     "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;" God says of the coming Christ in Isaiah 42:1, "My chosen one in whom My soul delights.  I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations."
     "I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake;" God notes in Isaiah 43:25, "and I will not remember your sins."
     "I will also make You a light of the nations," Isaiah 49:6 states of the Messiah, "so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
     "In a favorable time I have answered you," God says in verse eight, "and in a day of salvation I have helped you."
     God must discipline the people because of their disobedience.  He is powerful enough to bring about anything He wishes.  But something wonderful awaits His people.  How can they obtain what He offers?
     Isaiah is, above all else, a Messianic prophet.  He has a great deal to say about the coming Messiah.  Isaiah 50 tells of one who turns His back to those who strike Him, and who allows his face to be attacked with humiliation and spitting.  Chapter 53 is one of the great passages in the Bible dealing with the Messiah.  Many of the verses in this chapter are quoted as they are fulfilled in the New Testament.
     Good things are promised only for those who follow the Messiah.  Good things are promised only for those who seek God on His terms.
     "Ho!  Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;" Isaiah 55:1-3 offers, "and you who have no money come, buy and eat.  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
     "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.
     "Incline your ear and come to Me.  Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David."
     "Seek the Lord while He may be found," verse six urges.
     And how is it that we should seek the Lord?  Should we follow our own ideas or perhaps the thoughts of human leaders?
     "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," the Lord declares in verses 8-9.  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
     What should our reaction be the next time some religious leader or teacher tries to convince us that we do not need to follow the Bible because they don't think what it says it right?
     "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker," Isaiah 45:9 warns, "an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!  Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands?'"
     "Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you;" Isaiah 47:10 says of those who think they can fool God, "for you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one beside me.'"
     Oh, there are plenty of false teachers and false philosophies and false ideas and false promises.  But only the truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)