Comfort and Pardon, Isaiah 40, OT S1:E473

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This is episode 473, season one of the Family Bible Journey Old Testament podcast.

Today we are looking at Isaiah, chapter 40.

The Tired of the Days podcast is comfort and pardon in our key verses for today.

The entirety of Isaiah, chapter 40.

But before we read our key verses, just a couple of introductory notes.

As we mentioned in the last Old Testament episode, this is the beginning of the second part

of Isaiah, which I often referred to as the New Testament of the Old Testament.

And because it is filled with all sorts of promise and all sorts of overt, New Testament,

overtones and undertones and all sorts of promises that we are going to see fulfilled

in very specific ways, we are going to read the entirety of this chapter.

And in this chapter, we are going to learn the basis of our innocence before God in Christ

Jesus.

We are going to hear about the special work of both Jesus and John the Baptist as we uncover

at least one passage that was referred to not by one, two, or even three of the gospel

writers, but all four gospel writers.

Reference this chapter of the Old Testament and talking about the special work that God

had given John the Baptist to do in order to prepare the way for our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

I read it, beginning in verse one, comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Make tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity

is pardoned.

That she has received from Lord's hand double for all her sin.

A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert

a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low.

The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain.

In the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and the flesh shall see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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.

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it, surely the

people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you 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.

Behold the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him.

Behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs and his arms.

He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with

a span and closed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and scales

in the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel?

Who did he consult and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge?

And showed him the way of understanding.

Behold the nations are like a drop from the bucket and are accounted as the dust on the

scales.

Behold he takes up the coastlands like fine dust leavened would not suffice for fuel, nor

are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing

and emptiness.

To whom then will you like in God or what likeness compare with him?

An idol, a craftsman crafts it and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver

chains.

He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will rot.

He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

Who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness?

Scarsely are they planted scarcely so.

Scarsely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither and

the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him says the Holy One?

Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these.

He who brings out their host by number calling them all by name by the greatness of his might

and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

Why do you say O Jacob and speak O Israel?

My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall fall exhausted.

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint.

This is the word of the Lord.

Certainly an extended reading for us is our key verses but so important as this is the

first chapter of the New Testament of the Old Testament and I want to share with you

some of the notes that I have on this passage one is that I have verse two marked with one

of those red chryros, looks like the X and the P and the English language and I have

underlined that her iniquity is pardoned.

I have an underlined in red because of the blood that Christ has shown for us.

We are pardoned as God's people and as we read this verse we appreciate the specificity

of that legal term pardon.

We are not declared not guilty because we are all guilty of sin but rather we are pardoned

which means that even though we have sinned we are still set free from the consequences

of our guilt and that is why that word pardon there is so perfect because we are not

acquitted, we are not declared not guilty in this passage but rather we are pardoned

and receive our freedom because Christ has paid the punishment for our guilt.

I have one of those words of wisdom sections on verse two it says one infinite being has

a tone for an infinite number of finite things because Jesus Christ is the God man, the

very Son of God, he has a tone in his life death and resurrection for an infinite number

of limited human beings and I have highlighted verse three and I have got two, three, four

and five all marked with those red chryros and I have a note there on verse three that

this passage is cited in Matthew chapter three, Mark chapter one, Luke chapter three

and in John chapter one to show the all four of the gospel writers reference the work

of John the Baptist to this particular prophecy which is pretty amazing.

I have red chryros on verses 10 and 11 and then also on verses 22, 25, 26 and 28.

I have a couple of notes also as we are looking at these red chryros I have a note on verse

11 that just simply says the good shepherd because Jesus is our good shepherd and then

on verse 22 something that I like to point out whenever it turns up in the Old Testament

and then is that God told his people the earth is round and we have all these fancy super

intelligent scientific folks that say the Bible never predicted anything but science didn't

figure this out until about 2000 years after the lifetime of the prophet Isaiah so I think

that anyone that would say that the Bible hasn't predicted anything would be you know wrong

and then in verse 28 I have circled that God does not faint or grow weary that his understanding

is unsurchable and I have highlighted in red green and blue the last three verses of this

chapter which are the inspiration of a favorite him of many people that are special to me

on eagles wings and verse 31 and so we are going to read these three verses together as

a conclusion of our episode it says he gives power to the faint and to him who has no

might he increases strength even use shall faint and grow weary and young men shall fall

exhausted but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up

with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint this

is the effect of God's word in our lives as we receive our comfort and our hope and

our confidence and our strength from him in his promises so that nothing is able to separate

us from him or his love or diminish his love for us.

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Thank you for your blessing for today may you forever be comforted by God because of

the part you have received from all of your sin I'm it.