I. Introduction
A. This is something of an election sermon in the midst of a torturous campaign season – Or it could apply to your finances, your health, your love life, a loved one torn away, etc.
II. Isaiah 25:1 “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”
A. The very next verse from last week: In that verse, we saw the LORD of hosts reigning on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory being displayed before his people. – Isaiah 24:23
1. And now in this verse we find the prophet Isaiah – in response – worshiping this reigning Lord.
B. So this verse is not praising God in the context of personal circumstances, but in the context of nations rising and falling, of civilizations prospering and being destroyed. (E.g. Isaiah 25:2.)
1. In fact, this whole section of Isaiah is about world politics; it’s about trusting God in the context of difficult and scary international circumstances.
III. Reflection
A. Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
1. This is a praise addressed to God. But the first part of it is the address.
2. LORD = Yahweh (or Jehovah), the personal name of God, the covenant name of God, the name God revealed to Moses, the name by which God introduced Himself to His people. This isn’t addressed to some nameless supreme being, but to God as He revealed Himself to Israel and in the Bible, and through Jesus.
3. This Yahweh is God. But He is more than that. He is my God. He is your God. “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you!”
4. So what is God being praised for here?
B. Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
1. It is as if the author stands at the end of history and sees how God has worked out His wonderful plans. — Clapping after a movie
2. All of human history is the unfolding of God’s great story, of God’s marvelous plans.
a. Eph.1:11 tells us that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (See Ps.33:10)
b. Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”
c. What God has planned can’t NOT happen.
d. Isaiah 14:27 “The LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”
3. The Lord rules over everything — even over nations and rulers of nations.
a. Daniel 5:21 The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.
b. Daniel 2:21 He removes kings and sets up kings. (See also Daniel 4:25)
c. Job 12:23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. (See also 1Samuel 2:6–7; Psalm 75:6–7)
d. Prov.21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.
4. The goal of this plan
a. Gathering the world’s His chosen people around His beloved Son, King Jesus, promised of old.
b. The success of this is inevitable. Nothing can stand in His way. Christ has already triumphed, though His triumph is hidden from the world.
C. Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
1. Sometimes it’s hard to trust God. Sometimes it seems like He’s not running the world well.
2. Faithful and sure OR perfect faithfulness
3. “Perfect faithfulness is expressed in the Hebrew by two related nouns (’ĕmûnâ and ’ōmen) both from √’āmēn, ‘to be reliable’. The idiom of the two nouns together means ‘every imaginable faithfulness, perfect, quintessential faithfulness’.” – Motyer — (like, faithfully faithful)
4. He is not only God of the final result, He is God of the process of getting there.
a. Think about Abraham. Think about Joseph. And think about Jesus.
b. The path is not easy. The journey is scary and difficult. But the God who provides the glorious destination also provides the pathway to get there.
5. God even uses the evil actions of wicked men. Even if they mean them for evil, God means them for good. (Gen.50:20)
D. Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
1. We have not seen the end of the movie with our eyes. We’re still in the middle of it, sometimes the tortured middle where we’re biting our nails or wiping our eyes or even hiding our faces.
2. And we don’t know exactly how the story will unfold. But we do know that it is an exquisite and excellent story with a glorious, triumphant ending. We do know that at the end we will stand in awe at the wisdom and perfection of His plan.
3. This is not just naive optimism, this is His signed and sealed promise to those who love Him and who eagerly long for His return.
4. And right now, our number one responsibility in responding to the unfolding circumstances of the world and of our lives is to worship.
5. God’s job is to work out His wonderful, perfectly faithful plan. Our job is to praise & exalt Him.
IV. Application
A. It may be that the election of Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton will spell the end of the United States as we know it. But I can guarantee you that it will not spell the end of God’s kingdom!
B. We can trust God to paint His masterpiece even if He sometimes uses very strange paint brushes!
C. As Christians we know that no matter what happens, God rules over it! We know tha He has sent His Son who has already triumphed over His enemies, a triumph which will be revealed to the whole world soon, when He returns.
D. And so we can look at catastrophe in the eye and worship through our tears: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21)
E. Beloved, God has not given us a spirit of fear but a Spirit of love, power and self-control -2Tm.1:7
F. His Kingdom cannot fail! In spite of appearances to the contrary, He is perfectly working His all-wise and all-embracing will.
G. Someday we’ll look at our whole lives, and all of human history and we’ll see the majesty of God’s plan and we will see that it was perfect and unimprovable. And we’ll say,
1. “You knew exactly what You were doing! Forgive me for not trusting You with every detail.”
2. “Even the things which the wicked intended against us for evil, You meant them for our good!”