Isaiah 40:22-31
Isa 40:22
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth
out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
This is the verse that Christopher Columbus believed
concerning the earth being round.
In his day the standard belief was that the earth was flat and was not a planet.
If any ships would have sailed into the unknown oceans they would
eventually reach the edge and fall off into space.
Columbus looked at this verse and realized the flat earth theory was
false and so he acted upon it and discovered America and much of the islands in
the Caribbean Sea. The inhabitants
of the earth are like small grasshoppers or locusts in comparison to God.
Locusts were also responsible for eating everything on the land and
leaving everything bare. This is
exactly what man does as he abuses the planet that God gave us through things
like nuclear experiments which destroy some of the beauty which God gave us to
live in. God stretched out the
heavens as one stretches a curtain over a window and made them in such a way
that man is able to live under the heavens as one lives under a tent or now a
house. Both the heavens and the
earth are under God’s watchful eye since his redeemed children live here until
the last day when there will be a great separation.
Isa 40:23
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the
judges of the earth as vanity.
The princes believed because of their positions and also
the judges who should be dispensing justice believe that they are in charge but
the reality is that God is the one who is in charge and can override any
decision they make. They could be
brought down in a second if the Lord decrees it.
Isa 40:24
Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be
sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow
upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as
stubble.
Just as a plant that is in the ground and is secure in
the earth and would take much to destroy that plant, the rulers shall not be
like a plant but shall be like a chaff.
They shall not be sown as a plant that grows and brings forth fruit.
Their stock which would be like a trunk of a tree will not take root,
that is, they will not be established in the way they want thinking they have
great authority. All the LORD has
to do is blow gently upon them and that will cause them to whither, that is,
they will be removed from their offices and will be gone as the wind drives away
the stubble which would be like dry straw and even a breeze would remove it.
Isa 40:25
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith
the Holy One.
Then the LORD who refers to himself as the Holy One asks
a major question of these people who had placed their hope and faith in false
gods. The question is repeated from
Isaiah 40:18.
To whom then will ye liken God? or what
likeness will ye compare unto him? (Isaiah 40:18)
Can anyone equate the LORD God to a mighty man who can be taken with a
point of a sword? Is there any
equal of his on earth? God is the
one who created the earth and all it contains.
Therefore, there is nothing on earth or in the universe who can compare
to God.
Isa 40:26
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created
these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all
by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power;
not one faileth.
Then God tells the people that they should look to the
heavens and see the vastness of the starry heavens.
He emphasizes the fact that
he was the one who created all the stars and he also created the angels which
are called the host. He knows the
name of every single angel he created along with knowing the name of every star
which he created. We can only see
about 2,000 stars with the naked eye and many of them we know the names of such
as Orion or Arcturus but the Lord knows the names of the stars within galaxies
that are billions of light years away and we can only see their outlines through
the Hubble telescope. His power
keeps the stars lit and our own sun continues to shine by the power of God.
When God decrees a star to go dark, it will but up until that point, it
will continue to shine. One of my
favorites is the Horsehead Nebula.
Isa 40:27
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way
is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Now Isaiah speaks to those captives who are reading this
that have been taken to Babylon.
The same God who has named all the stars and has named all the angels he has
created, would he forget his covenant people?
Or would he be unable to see them in their present situation?
They honestly thought that God would not plead their cause and that he
has forgotten them in captivity.
This is the major problem with becoming involved with false religion that a
person loses their true perspective of God and his abilities to work on behalf
of his children.
Isa 40:28
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the
everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Then Isaiah is challenging them with a series of
questions which should elicit a proper response.
Have they not known how God had worked on their behalf especially in
saving them from Egypt and Assyria.
Then they are asked if they have not heard that the everlasting God who is the
Creator will never faint.
Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus
Christ: (Philippians 1:6) The
work which God had begun in his people will be completed to the end that God
decrees. God is never weary which
carries with to the meaning of tired or exhausted.
Man may think he has all the answers but one thing he cannot do and that
is search out the deep things of the LORD and his understanding of anything.
We are finite and he is infinite and therein lies the fence which does
not allow us to cross. We know what
God has revealed to us but he has kept many things from us.
The secret
things belong unto the LORD our
God: but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and to
our children for ever, that we
may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
Isa 40:29
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have
no might he increaseth strength.
God’s power is so immense that he is able to continually
dispense his power and never deplete his own.
Then he gives his power to those who are tired and exhausted and those
who have no might whatsoever are increased in strength.
This would apply to those Elect before they are saved, they are weary and
have no strength but when the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s life they are
spiritually invigorated and will have the strength to accomplish things they
otherwise could not.
Isa 40:30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall:
Even those who are youths who have all the vigor of youth
shall become faint and weary because the world even beats down those who are
young. The young men who may think
they can conquer the world because of the strength of youth will utterly fail
because they only have as much strength as their flesh can give them.
Youth can be a great time but it can also be a time of great deception.
Isa 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.