Standing on the Promises

 

Sermon May 8

Standing on the Promises

 

Many Bible commentators believe that Isaiah did not write the entire 66 chapters of the book by his name. They think that there were at least two people who wrote the book of Isaiah. Some go so far as to say they were three people who wrote the prophetic book. The reason for this confusion among the more liberal commentators is the stark contrast between the first 39 chapters of Isaiah and the last 27 chapters of Isaiah.

The first 39 chapters, for the most part, speak of Israel’s history just before the Babylonian/Assyrian exile and captivity in the 8^th century BC. Israel’s ongoing and flagrant disobedience to God’s laws was about to bring disaster upon them. But there is an abrupt change in the tone after chapter 39. Chapter 40 begins with this promise: “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. ² “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; 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.”

In other words, God wants His people to know that while He WILL judge and execute wrath against sin – in His wrath He WILL remember mercy. The prophet Habakkuk understood this when he wrote nearly two hundred years later, just before God sent Israel AGAIN into exile: “Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)

And the Psalmist David certainly understood God's mercy, especially after his damnable adultery and murder in the affair of Bathsheba. Here is what he wrote in Psalm 103: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” (Psalm 103:8-14)

This point about God's mercy is the cornerstone to all that we must know and believe about our God. And I am not all that surprised that some theologians would think a change in tone from the first 39 chapters of Isaiah to the last 27 chapters is sure evidence of different authors.

Nonsense! The book’s division simply demonstrates God's character – wrath against willful and unremorseful sin, and mercy toward the sinner whom God knows is ‘but dust.’

And that recognition of God's mercy is precisely why Isaiah wrote in the first section of his prophecy: “For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

Yes, God knows we are dust – which is why He is so very patient with us – as He was with Israel in Isaiah’s day. As the Holy Spirit tells us even in the New Testament: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4)

Let me pause a moment here for us to reflect on what I have just briefly shared with you. The take-home message ought to be this: God expects repentance from us. Otherwise, God WILL judge sin. Yes, God will show us mercy, even in His wrath. But our sins must be and will be dealt with – either by us, or by Him.

Moving forward now through this 40^th chapter of Isaiah, let’s look at another promise God makes to the exiles – a word of promise that extends from the 8^th century BC to our present moment: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

Yes, most of us have heard the God's guarantee before: His word will never fail. His word will never falter. His word will never fade so long as this earth remains. Jesus said what He meant, and He meant what He said:  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (Matthew 24:35).

God promised Israel, even on the brink of a traumatic and woeful exile: “You can trust Me to keep My word.” And don’t think for a moment that His promise to them in the 8^th century BC is not also applicable to us today.

The grass withers, but the word of our God stands forever.

So, what do we know about God from God's word that can help us overcome any troubles or testing or disasters we have faced and which we might yet face in our lifetimes?

Here are only a few – and in no particular order:

First: At times, Israel doubted God's love. They said as much even 150 years after Isaiah’s prophecy.  It seems they still had not learned the lesson that God demands obedience to His laws. Here is how the prophet Malachi recorded it: “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” (Malachi 1:2)

 

Listen! Do not ever let doubts about God's love take up residence in your mind. As He tells us through Paul’s pen: Take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).

 

And again, in Colossians 2:8 –  “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

 

So the first thing we know about God from His infallible and inerrant word is this: God loves you. Even while we are sinning, God loves us (see Romans 5:8). Even while we are running from Him, God still searches for us.

 

Second: Because He loves us, He floods over with mercy and compassion toward us. When Israel thought God had left them to rot in their captivity, God assured them – and He assures us who can be seduced to think God has left us to rot in our loneliness or despair or pain or loss: “But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:14-16)

Many readers of Scripture might not catch the allusion God makes here through the prophet to the High Priest’s garments under the Mosaic Law.

 

The High Priest performed all the duties of any of the Levitical priests, with a few exceptions. Only the High Priest wore the breastplate embedded with the twelve gems – each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. When the High Priest went about his ministrations, the gems served as a reminder that he stood before God as their mediator and intercessor. And during the once-a-year Day of Atonement, only the High Priest, dressed with the breastplate and twelve stones, carried the names of the twelve tribes before God's throne.

 

Fast forward to the New Testament. The Old Testament High Priest foreshadowed Jesus, our eternal High Priest who entered to the very throne of God as our intercessor and mediator. And He does so with YOUR NAME and mine engraved on His hands. (See Romans 8:34; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews chapters 2, 6, 7-9). That means you and I are ALWAYS, moment by moment, before the very throne of God and on the heart and lips and hands of Jesus our Savior.

 

And what else do we know about God from His word? Here again from Isaiah chapter 40, the chapter that immediately follows the promise of exile:

“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.” (Isaiah 40:11)

 

Oh, what a promise this is for a people about to go into terrible exile. What a promise for us today as we endure our own heartaches and sadness and loneliness. Like a shepherd, Jesus watches and guards His sheep. Isn’t that what He told His disciples in that 10^th chapter of John?

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10)

So, what are your hurts? Again, God tells us through Isaiah – prefiguring what His Christ would do – “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted . . . [and] to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 61)

 

And what else does God's word PROMISE us? It is this: He will not permit ANYTHING to come into our lives that we cannot, with Him and through Him, be victorious. Here is one of His promises:  “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NRSVA)

 

God is faithful. That’s what He Himself tells us through St. Paul’s pen. But listen, I have known Christians who have gone through such horrific tragedy that they no longer believe that promise in 1 Corinthians. They told me God did NOT provide them the means to escape. They told me God did NOT live up to His part of the promise. And they walked away from God. I do not know, to this day, if they ever returned.

 

What do we say to people who are hurting so much as that? I think I have learned to be silent and just listen. And pray. And tell them I will pray.

 

At times such as those it might be – it MIGHT be – counterproductive to start quoting scripture. At times such as those, only the Holy Spirit Himself can soothe their misery and anguish.

 

Nevertheless, as Paul again commends to us – he who suffered his own losses and endured his own pain and heartbreak – Paul wrote: ^“I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”

 

And what was that secret? He tells us in the next verse: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

 

When we, or anyone suffers such horror as some have suffered, and we – or they – think God has abandoned them, and so they are going to abandon God – the most productive thing anyone can do for such a grieving person is PRAY. Only, only, only the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit can overcome the supernatural attack of Satan against their mind and their body and their soul.

 

Which segues into my last point for today about God's word – what He tells us through His inerrant and infallible and inspired word: We cannot and we should not expect to understand what God does in our lives or the lives of others. We might THINK we know, but we really cannot fully know.

 

Here is what He tells us through Isaiah, several more chapters into the second part of his prophecy: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

 

And because we cannot and must not expect to know what God is doing or why He is doing it, then we should never be so arrogant as to tell another person, especially one who is grieving, that we know why God has permitted to happen what has happened. Solomon, a man much wiser than anyone in this room, wrote these words which we should hide in our hearts:  I saw everything God does, and I realized no one can really understand what happens. We may be very wise, but no matter how much we try or how much we claim to know, we cannot understand it all.” (Ecclesiastes 8:17, Contemporary English Version)

 The Christian music group called the Taylors put this Biblical truth into song. Here are some of the lyrics:

"You know this road I’m walking down; The pain and fear I’m feeling now.
I’m looking back to move ahead, I’ll follow you with every step.

"For what I don’t know, I’ll trust your will; If I shouldn’t go then I’ll be still.
Till I have peace down in my soul; ‘Cause you understand what I don’t know.

"Please go before and lead the way; You know it’s easy Lord to stray.
Gentle shepherd be my guide; I am protected by your side. For what I don’t know, I’ll trust your will; If I shouldn’t go then I’ll be still; Till I have peace down in my soul; ‘Cause you understand what I don’t know."

No, no, no. This is not easy to do, to trust Him when all seems dark and gray. But we are not in this supernatural battle on our own. God's angels surround those who fear the Lord, and the Holy Spirit Himself lives within each believer. So, when we do not understand, when confusion and fear and doubts ascend in our being – PRAY. Enter the supernatural battle with prayer. Ask others you trust to pray – to pray.  And we who are asked by those in need to pray for them – PRAY for them.  Right there on the spot. Pray. And when you go home, write a note to yourself to pray.

So, in the few moments remaining, let’s review:

1. God will judge and spend His wrath on ongoing and unrepentant sin. He is patient with humanity, but His patience has a limit.

2. But even in His wrath, He WILL remember mercy.

3. So, we are well cautioned to repent while we still can.

4. God loves us. He is quick to extend to the repentant His mercy and compassion.

5. He will carry His beloved in His arms, even through the valley of the shadow of death.

6. He will never permit trials to overcome us. He will ALWAYS provide us a means and the supernatural strength to overcome those trials.

7. We must not expect to understand the mind or the ways of God. He is God. We are not. And that is a good thing.

8. All we need to know is what He tells us from one end of the book to the other: I love you. Trust Me.