Isaiah 40: Omnipotent

Theological Proposition/Focus:

Homiletical Proposition/Application:

Introduction:

Setting the Stage:

We should seek comfort in God's omnipotence Isaiah 40:1-11

In Isaiah 40-48 Isaiah reminds the people that a time of deliverance is coming because of God's greatness and His care for His people. Chapter 40 focuses in on the majesty of the great God. Isaiah warned the people that a time of exile was coming. a time when the people of Israel would be held captive. However, the people could take comfort in God. The word comfort in verse 1 is repeated twice for emphasis. In verse two Jerusalem is addressed tenderly and we note that her time in captivity is described as hard service.

Body

God's power is unmeasurable (40:12-17)

Isaiah moves into a series of rhetorical questions arguing that God's power allowed him to create the universe without the aid of anyone else.

God's power is displayed in His personal creation (12).

Figurative anthropomorphisms demonstrate the vastness of God's power. That which is unfathomable to each of us is a minor task for God.

Image: Parallax, the way we measure astronomical distances.

Hold your finger out in front of you at arms length. Look at the tip of your finger with one eye closed, then shut the other eye without moving your finger. Did you see your finger bounce between two locations? Your eyes are about three inches from each other and so we can use the apparent movement of your finger to estimate the distance to various objects. Similarly using the sun as the earth revolves in its orbit astronomers can estimate the distance between earth and various stars. The biggest problem, our estimates are just estimates and have huge errors. We cannot measure distances in space. But verse 12 tells us that God simply uses the size of his hand to mark off the distances of the universe.

God's power is displayed in His unfathomable intellect (13-14).

Creation is one aspect of God's power. But there is more, have you ever heard the phrase knowledge is power? Well, God has that under control as well. We cannot fathom what it would be like to truly know everything. God does know everything. No one can fathom God's knowledge. No one can teach God anything.

Image: Working on my dissertation and discussing it with God.

When I was working on my dissertation my thesis advisor went on Sabbatical and moved away for a year. In number theory, there are not a whole lot of people who know any given specialized topic. In reality in the entire country there were probably less than a half dozen people who understood the problem I was working to solve. There were times when it was a little lonely because I had no-one to talk to about my ideas. Then one day it hit me. God understood my problem and even understood the solution. I distinctly remember one night laying in bed and talking with God about the technique I was planning to use. My regular discussions with God about my Number Theory became very useful to me. We often separate spiritual and everything else. We need to understand that God knows everything there is to know.

God's power is displayed in His dominance over the nations (15-17).

What is the most powerful non-spiritual entity you know? The answer is probably a nation. We really cannot comprehend how vast the power of our country is. We cannot comprehend the budget, national debt, military, etc. To God, these are just a drop in the bucket.

Lebanon, north of Israel, was known for its forests, large cedars.

However, even the vast woods of Lebanon could not provide enough woof for a sacrifice worthy of the Lord. Man is nothing before God, but the nations themselves are also nothing before God. God's power is unmeasurable.

God's power is beyond comparison (18-24).

God's power is unmeasurable, yet people still fall into idolatry. To this Isaiah reminds the reader's that God's power is beyond comparison.

No creation could possibly compare to God's power (21-22).

The picture here is one of God sitting above creation supervising the operation of his creation.The circle of the earth may be a reference to the horizon and poetically convey the idea that God rules over everything that they eye can see. In other words, God rules over everything.

No human ruler could possibly withstand God's power (22-24).

Isaiah compares the ruler of this world to sprouts of seeds. The rulers of our world are not just plants that may be uprooted from the ground, but tiny fragile sprouts that can be withered by a mere breeze.

God's power is displayed in creation (25-26).

Romans 1:20 reminds us that creation declares God.

In fact, historically, people have had a tendency to worship creation. To this God challenges people by asking who they can compare to God.

The heavens declare God's power (26).

In fact, people have had a tendency to worship the heavens. God calls on us to look at the heavens and realize that He is master of the heavens.

Image: The vastness of the universe.

this means that there are likely more than 10^22 stars in the universe (10 sextillion).

Isaiah tells us that God brings these out one by one knowing their names. If you were to start naming stars one-by-one

God's power should be your source of strength (27-31)

Mankind has a tendency to complain against God (27).

The people of Israel were under threat of conquest from the mighty Assyrian empire.

The threat was very real. the Assyrian empire was known for brutality.

Assyrian art contains some of the most appalling images ever created. In one scene, tongues are being ripped from the mouths of prisoners. That will mute their screams when, in the next stage of their torture, they are flayed alive. In another relief a surrendering general is about to be beheaded and in a third prisoners have to grind their fathers’ bones before being executed in the streets of Nineveh.

In fact, the Israelites to the North had already been exiled to Assyria and the Israelites living South in Judah were likely terrified that they were next.