I. Introduction
A. We’re spending five weeks in Isaiah 40, a 31 verse chapter about the coming of Christ.
B. Isaiah was a prophet in the land of Judah 700 years before Christ. He spoke to a devastated people about a future event which would outshine every other event in human history.
C. You remember that the first part of Isaiah 40, the part we talked about last week. Most of it was things said by what Isaiah refers to as a voice crying in the wilderness.
1. The world-transforming coming of the Lord
2. The revelation of His glory to all peoples
3. The certainty of this divine promise
D. Well, the gospel-writer Luke makes it clear that he believed that Isaiah 40 was about the coming of Christ, because when he introduces the ministry of John the Baptist, he quotes Isaiah 40 as pertaining to John, whose ministry was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
1. Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar...the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
2. This is Isaiah 40:3-5. Except notice that Luke, inspired by the HS, takes some liberties with v.5.
a. Instead of: “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,”
b. he paraphrases it to, “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
c. Again, this confirms the messianic interpretation of Isaiah 40.
E. And now, in this next section of Is.40, Isaiah tells us more about this promised coming of the Lord.
F. Isaiah 40:6-11 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
G. V.6-11 has three main sections this morning, and correspondingly, there are three main takeaways.
II. So, let’s take a quick stroll through Isaiah 40:6-11.
A. 6-8 You can see that this second section of Isaiah 40 continues the theme of the coming of the Lord in v.10 “Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might.”
1. And, more specifically, the first half of our passage (6-8) continues the last theme from the last week, the theme of the certainty of God’s promise that the Lord will come.
a. You remember how v.1-5 ended by saying how firmly fixed was this promise: “The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
b. Now continuing on this theme of the certainty of this divine promise in 6-8, Isaiah suddenly hears a voice, says, “Cry!” And Isaiah asks, “What shall I cry?” And then the answer comes: “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.”
c. So, in order to emphasize the enduing nature of God’s gospel promise, the voice first talks about the transitory nature of human beings.
d. And then in v.8 the voice contrasts the temporary nature of the human with the permanent nature of the divine: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
B. V.9 talks about the call of Zion to spread the good news.
1. 9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
2. So, Isaiah 40 doesn’t stop at announcing the good news that the Lord will come, it goes farther.
3. It says that when the Lord comes, it will be incumbent on God’s people to spread the news of His coming, to boldly announce to the world, “Behold your God!”
C. Then v.10-11 tell us more about the Lord’s coming.
1. First, v.10 tells us that He comes with authority and power, in order to reward and punish.
a. Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
b. One of the things God’s people found out when Christ came was that He was going to come again, and that most of the promises like Isaiah 40:10, about the Lord coming to judge, were to be fulfilled at His second coming.
c. This is one of the great facts of history: one day the Lord Jesus is coming back in great power, to reward and to punish. On that day, the Lord will be the only one impressive Thing! Everything else which has appeared impressive will suddenly be put in its place and will look trivial and insignificant.
d. 2Thes.1:7-10 “The Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”
2. But the second thing this tells us about the coming of the Lord is in v.11, which tells us that the Lord will come as a shepherd to gently gather His little lambs in his arms.
a. This was fulfilled when Jesus came referring to Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-15).
b. It was also fulfilled by the way He acted, especially His tenderness toward those who were weak or burdened, and by the way He shepherded His followers.
3. Both of these – the Lord coming as judge AND the Lord coming as shepherd – are found not only in Isaiah 40:10-11, but also in many other places in Scripture. But many enemies of Christ don’t seem to be able to reconcile them. They think Christ must be either a tender shepherd or a severe judge. The tender shepherd part appeals to them, but they can’t stand the fire and brimstone.
III. So, there you have it – a quick tour of Isaiah 40:6-11. Now let’s talk some of the things here which can change our lives.
A. First, let’s talk about what it says about the word of God.
1. There are many prophecies of the coming messiah in the OT. Most of them are rather short.
a. Isaiah 40 is one of the large/long prophecies of the coming Christ in the OT.
2. For the first years of the Christian church, there was no NT. All they had was the OT, the preaching of the apostles, and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles spread through word of mouth.
a. But the only written Bible they had was the OT. And the book of Isaiah was very prominent for Christians, because there was no book in the OT which talked more about the coming of Christ.
b. For them, passages like Isaiah 40 were their gospel Scriptures.
(1) Let me illustrate this by reading something Peter said about the gospel.
(2) “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” – 1Peter 1:23-25
(3) They knew that Isaiah 40 was about Christ! They knew Isaiah 40 was the gospel promise that the Lord would come. And they knew they lived in those joyful days when the Lord had come.
3. Isaiah’s main point in 40:6-8 is the abiding dependability of the word of God. But to make his point, he first talks about the temporariness of humanity in 6b-7: “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.”
a. We are only here for a short time. Like a flower or a blade of grass, we grow up and thrive, but then God blows on us and our time is up.
b. The Bible says many things about who man is.
(1) made from dirt and yet made in God’s image
(2) extremely small and insignificant, and yet elevated by God over the angels
4. In stark contrast to this is God’s word, which, Isaiah tells us in v.8b, “will stand forever.”
5. It’s so important that we get this into our heads!
6. In some ways we are like God, but in this way, WE ARE NOT LIKE HIM.
a. God has always been. You and I are newbies. A hundred years from now, when no one on earth even remembers our name, He will still have the name which is above every name.
b. We are so impressed by what people think; we are so influenced by the people around us.
c. But they will be gone soon. God’s word abides forever.
7. The world is always in flux. One generation sees it this way and another see it that way. It won’t be long till the things people are thinking and doing right now will be considered old-fashioned and ridiculous, and the people who everyone is paying attention to now will be considered old and ridiculous.
8. But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8). He doesn’t change His opinion. He knew the end from the beginning. He isn’t affected by what is popular in the world.
9. Even if it was the unanimous opinion of every person on earth that what the Bible says is ridiculous, it wouldn’t make it true. The word of God stands forever!!
B. The second point is from v.9, about God calling Zion to declare to the world, “Behold your God!”
1. The first thing some people think of in light of this is the failure of the Jews to fulfill this call.
a. And it is true that many Jews (most of them, actually) failed to acknowledge Jesus as their messiah, and therefore failed to present Him to the world.
b. But John the Baptist was Jewish, Jesus was a Jew, the apostles were all Jewish, along with most of the earliest proclaimers of the gospel.
c. The fact is, in spite of the failures of many, Jewish people were the first heralds of the good news. From the beginning it was Jews who listed up their voice and said, “Behold your God.”
2. But they didn’t proclaim this merely to their fellow Jews. God showed them that the good news of the coming of the Lord Jesus needed to be proclaimed to all flesh, so that even Gentiles might become part of Zion by putting their faith in Christ.
3. So now we are Zion, and our job is not to discern the extent of the Jewish failure in promoting the Messiah, but to make sure we don’t fail in the same calling.
a. We are the ones who are supposed to be heralds of the good news,
b. we are the ones who are supposed to lift up our voices with strength,
c. we are the ones who are supposed to go up on a high mountain and say to the whole world, “Behold your God,”
d. AND WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO “FEAR NOT” IN DOING SO.
4. The Lord doesn’t come just for us! He calls us to become part of His mission to introduce Him to the world.
5. He left the comfort zone of heaven and came into this harsh world proclaiming the truth of His kingdom, and now He asks us to leave our comfort zones and do the same. It’s our job now.
6. And what a joy and a privilege it is! – whether it is being involved in the proclamation of the gospel in foreign lands or whether it is sharing Christ with our neighbor.
C. The third point is about the Lord coming as a shepherd.
1. He comes as judge but also as shepherd. One arm is raised in just judgment, the other arm is lowered in tender compassion.
2. But there is some detail in v.11 we should pay attention to:
a. “He will tend his flock like a shepherd.” That’s the general part.
b. But then he adds: “He will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
3. Now in a flock of sheep, there are those with special needs, just like in a group of people.
4. The two special situations mentioned here are:
a. Little lambs who cannot yet walk long distances on their own. These are gathered into the arms of the shepherd and carried in his bosom, like little treasures.
b. Those who are with young. These are led gently by the shepherd, knowing that they can take only so much traveling. (Cf. Genesis 33:13)
(1) There is disagreement among scholars over whether this refers to a pregnant sheep or a nursing sheep (the same Hebrew word is used in 1Sam.6:7&10), but the point’s the same: the shepherd has a special eye for those who are burdened, and is sure to give them the help they need.
5. This is the heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
a. In Matt.24:15-22, when Jesus is telling His disciples about the great tribulation which will come to their land soon, in v.19 He alerts His disciples to the special needs that some will have on that day: “Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!”
b. Are you pregnant? Are you nursing? Do you know that the Good Shepherd knows the burden you are carrying and cares about you? Do you know that He is always there to give you the help you need?
c. “He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” – Heb.5:2
6. And of course, there are other special needs and special burdens which this applies to as well.
7. God has ordained that we carry burdens at times. He wants us to know that and be ready for it.
a. But He always very carefully measures the suffering and distress. He measures its intensity and its duration — for the sake of His elect (Matt.24:22).
b. In the midst of the burdens, He is mindful of His people. He doesn’t want them to be overcome. He is concerned about their welfare. Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 21:17-18, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish.”
c. And He is always eager to help us when we are thus burdened.
d. As He says in 1Peter 5:7, you can cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
8. Let me ask you: Are you confident of the compassion of Jesus toward you? You need to be.
a. Do you know that Jesus is your good shepherd? Do you know that He will carry His little lambs in His arms, and embrace them in His bosom, including you?
b. We have a merciful and faithful high priest! He suffered, so He is able to help those who are experiencing trials. – Hebrews 2:17-18
9. Most weeks we end the service with the benediction of Jesus from Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
a. Here Jesus addresses us as His little flock. But here also Jesus acknowledges that we are afraid: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
b. We do not have a high priest who’s unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy & find grace to help in time of need. Heb.4:15-16
D. May I add one final point having to do with the Hebrew word CHESED?
1. There’s something strange in v.6: “All flesh is grass &all its beauty is like the flower of the field.”
2. We’ve talked about this marvelous word CHESED, the great love word of the OT, which means covenant love.
3. Well, that word is mysteriously used in v. 6, and most translators don’t know what to do with it.
4. They often translate it ‘beauty,’ not because CHESED means beauty, but because they think that’s what the context points to.
5. But I think it’s best left with its original meaning. Just as man is temporary like grass while God’s word stands forever, so human love is temporary like a flower while God’s love stands forever.
6. “All flesh is grass, and all its covenant love is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades.”
7. Human love can be beautiful and sweet, but the fact is, it fades. But the love of the Lord never ceases. Nothing in life – or even in death – will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
8. People will let you down. Even your spouse will let you down. But Jesus will never let you down. He will never falter in His love. Even when others turn away from you, in Him there is not even a shadow of turning (James 1:17).
9. He says He is going to take care of you; He says He’s going to save you; He says He’s going to lead you; He says He’s going to provide for you. AND HE’S GOING TO DO IT!