Isaiah 40:18-31 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 To whom, then, will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood[a]
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 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 live in,
23 who brings princes to naught
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
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.
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 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.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
There is a beautiful song titled, “Where Could I Go?” sung by Elvis Presley.
The first verse talks about the difficulty of facing temptations.
So then the question is asked, “Where could I go but to the Lord?”
The second verse speaks about having good neighbors.
But when my soul needs manna from above, where could I go but to the Lord?
The third verse talks about having good friends and receiving comfort from God’s Word.
But when I face death, where could I go but to the Lord?
The chorus repeats that when you are seeking a refuge for your soul, there is no where else you can go but to the Lord.
When you are needing a friend who can save you in the end, where can you go but to the Lord?
It is this kind of thinking that Isaiah wants his people to consider in Isaiah 40.
In Isaiah 40:27 the people are questioning God.
They are saying that God does not see what they are experiencing and that God does not care.
Isaiah has given two pictures about God through verse 17.
God is pictured as a saving shepherd, gathering his sheep into his arms.
God is also pictured as being so great in power and majesty that nothing is too hard or too big for him to handle.
The third picture of God that we are going to see begins in Isaiah 40:18.
The key question to this picture is asked twice. With whom will you compare God? (Isaiah 40:18,25). What Isaiah is going to tell us about God is so that we will draw the exact same conclusion as the song, “Where could I go but to the Lord?”
Trying To Compare God (Isaiah 40:18-20)
So Isaiah begins in verse 18 by asking us to try to figure out to whom you can compare your God.
What is an accurate comparison?
If we are trying to explain God to someone, what likeness will you use so that you can make this comparison?
As we think about God, who or what can we compare him to so that we can get a better understanding of him?
The expected answer to this rhetorical question is that you cannot compare God to anything or anyone.
There is no comparison.
Any attempt falls woefully short.
But, still, Isaiah tells us to try to make the comparison.
Look at verse 19.
Can we compare our God to an idol?
Can we have an idol before us to see if there are some kinds of comparisons we can make?
The first problem with an idol is that it is made.
Whatever we make cannot be compared to God.
Even if you overlay the idol with gold, put silver chains on it, you still made it.
You are the one trying to ascribe value to it.
Maybe you are able to make a contribution to this idol by choosing wood that stays durable and strong, will not rot or be consumed by insects. You know that we want to make absolutely sure that our idol(s) will not wear out over time.
Is this a good comparison for God?
Maybe we are so precise, so skillful, so Leonardo Da Vinci smart (IQ 180-200) that we set up the idol in such a way to make sure the idol does not fall over.
Is this a good comparison for God?
God wanted to even show the Philistines the silliness of such a comparison.
Turn to God’s word to 1 Samuel 5.
As a judgment on the people of Israel, the Philistines destroy the city of Shiloh and capture the ark of the covenant.
Look at 1 Samuel 5:2-5.
The Philistines took the ark of God, brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it beside Dagon.
Dagon was an important Canaanite god that was worship by the Philistines, Amorites, and other peoples in the area.
So notice how the Philistines are putting God and Dagon in comparison by placing the ark of the covenant next to the Dagon idol.
Look at 1 Samuel 5:3.
The people of Ashdod (a city of the Philistines) came in the next day, they saw the Dagon idol had fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord.
Here is God saying that there is no possible comparison to be made here. Now here is how you know you do not have a true God: you pick up your idol, move it and/or put it back into place. The people think that this happened by accident.
But in verse 4 we read that the very next day they came into the temple and they found the Dagon statue yet again fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord.
But this time the head and both hands were broken off. You do not dare try to compare this God to anything anywhere in creation. There is no one like God.
Exodus 20:1-6 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Ten Commandments
20 Then God spoke all these words,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
In the Ten Commandments, God helps us identify the main relational barriers–the sins–that can get between us and him.
Thankfully the 1st commandment isn’t truthfully a big deal since almost everyone believes in God–or is it?
I suppose that depends on what God is asking of us here.
The first commandment is much more than simply a call to believe in the existence of a higher being.
This is a practical command.
The “other gods” of which this command speaks include any persons or things in my life to which I give an excessive amount of loyalty, or for which I have an excessive amount of affection.
My “god” is the person or thing highest in rank or authority in my life.
This command, then, isn’t simply about my abstract beliefs.
This command is about how I live and what I value most.
God isn’t just saying we need to believe he exists.
The God of the Bible wants to be the only God in our lives. If we follow some other crafted god, that will be a barrier to our relationship with the true God.
We need to look closely at our agendas for today, the people we spend time with, how I spend my money. How “god-like” are these activities in my life?
Is there some brick-smashing we need to do so our God will be first in our lives?
The Supremacy of God (Isaiah 40:21-24)
In verse 21 Isaiah returns to questioning his people.
These are things that his people should clearly know.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has this not been told to you from the beginning?
Do you not know this since the earth was founded?
God sits above the circle of the earth, the people of the earth like grasshoppers.
Have you ever had the opportunity to stand on a very high place and look down?
Maybe you have gone to the Empire State Building in New York City or Willis Tower in Chicago or the Space Needle in Seattle.
Perhaps you have been on top of a large Ferris wheel or sky rider.
When you look down you see how small people look.
Maybe you have stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon and looked down.
Or climbed up to the top of the highest mountains in your native countries.
You are standing on such an elevated place and so high up that everything looks small beneath you.
Isaiah 2:1-4 Lexham English Bible
The Mountain of Yahweh
2 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 And it shall happen in the future of the days
the mountain of the house[a] of Yahweh shall be established;
it will be among the highest[b] of the mountains,
and it shall be raised from the hills.
All of the nations shall travel to him;
3 many peoples shall come.
And they shall say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
to the house[c] of the God of Jacob,
and may he teach us part of his ways,
and let us walk in his paths.”
For instruction shall go out from Zion,
and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and he shall arbitrate for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation,
and they shall not learn war again.
This is the point Isaiah is making. Do you not know how high and exalted God is? Do you not understand his elevated state? How can you compare anything in creation to God when God is so much greater than anything that he has made?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit …
Praying …
Psalm 65 The Message
65 1-2 Silence is praise to you,
Zion-dwelling God,
And also obedience.
You hear the prayer in it all.
2-8 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—
but you get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest
at home in your place!
We expect our fill of good things
in your house, your heavenly manse.
All your salvation wonders
are on display in your trophy room.
Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer,
Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash,
of mobs in noisy riot—
Far and wide they’ll come to a stop,
they’ll stare in awe, in wonder.
Dawn and dusk take turns
calling, “Come and worship.”
9-13 Oh, visit the earth,
ask her to join the dance!
Deck her out in spring showers,
fill the God-River with living water.
Paint the wheat fields golden.
Creation was made for this!
Drench the plowed fields,
soak the dirt clods
With rainfall as harrow and rake
bring her to blossom and fruit.
Snow-crown the peaks with splendor,
scatter rose petals down your paths,
All through the wild meadows, rose petals.
Set the hills to dancing,
Dress the canyon walls with live sheep,
a drape of flax across the valleys.
Let them shout, and shout, and shout!
Oh, oh, let them sing!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 