Good Things Come To Those Who Wait--Isaiah Series

People have often been fascinated by the thought of what they might tell themselves if they could travel back in time and give themselves some advice. That is an interesting thought, isn’t it? Imagine if God allowed you to go back and speak to a younger version of yourself after you arrived in heaven. What do you think you might say to yourself? Since you had already seen Heaven, would you tell yourself to worry less and trust God more? Would you have some words of comfort for yourself? I suspect you would. In Isaiah 40, we read about Isaiah speaking to his people from a similar kind of vantage point. He is delivering a message to his people about the coming of the Lord, and we can picture him looking back in time at his people and saying, “Wait ‘til you see this!” Isaiah 40 represents a rather dramatic shift in this book toward messages that focus more on comfort and hope. The book of Isaiah has sometimes been called, “The Bible in a nutshell,” and the comparison really is uncanny. Isaiah has 66 chapters, and the Bible as a whole has 66 books. By counting the chapters, chapter 40 would begin the so-called “New Testament” portion of this book, and this chapter begins with a passage that John the Baptist claimed for himself in the Gospels—which are the first books of the New Testament. In chapter 53, we have a detailed prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ, and then in the last chapter of Isaiah the prophet writes about a new heaven and a new earth—which is the same subject matter as the last two chapters of Revelation. In chapter 39—you may remember—Isaiah delivered a prophecy about some difficult days ahead for the people of Judah. If they were ever in need of some comforting words, now was the time, and that is precisely what we find in chapter 40. These words are a tremendous message of comfort for us as well. God offers us comfort for this life… 1. …in light of His coming (40:1-5) [READ 40:1-2] In these verses, God is speaking from a vantage point in the future and He is basically saying, “Enough! My people have suffered enough for their sins, and now I am putting an end to it.” And when will that time be? When the Lord comes to rule in the world! [READ 40:3-5] In these verses, the Lord is pictured as a traveling dignitary whose path of arrival is being prepared for Him. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see President Bush’s motorcade as it traveled through Kansas City. As he went, the local police went ahead of him and closed off the road to all other traffic so his trip would be smooth and steady. In ancient times, workers were actually sent ahead of traveling dignitaries to repair the road ahead of them so there would be no obstacles slowing them down. So the Lord is pictured here as having no obstacles in His way when he comes, so nothing will stop Him. We have already read several prophecies in this book about the Lord reigning from Jerusalem as king over the earth, and the reminder that He is coming is the first message of comfort that Isaiah gives. It is no coincidence that 1 Thess. 4:18 tells us to encourage one another with reminders about the Lord’s coming. The fact that Jesus is coming again tells us that God’s children can always look forward to better days ahead. No matter what a day may hold for us, it is always a true statement that there are better days ahead, and with each day that passes we are one day closer to those better days. So with each day you can say, “Was today a good day?” If it was—great! But remember—there are even better days still to come. Or was today a bad day, with some grief and pain? If so, there may be some legitimate sorrow, but don’t despair; don’t lose hope. There are better days ahead. We can cling to this truth on the sure testimony of the Word of God. 2. …in light of the enduring power of His Word (40:6-8) [READ 40:6-8] These verses offer a clear contrast between the frail and temporary nature of human life today versus the established and enduring power of the Word of God. These verses certainly remind us of our own mortality, but they also remind us of the mortality of anyone who may trouble us. Chapter 39 just predicted days of trouble that the people of Judah would suffer at the hands of the Babylonians, but as mighty as their enemies would appear, they would simply be like grass in a field that flowers one day and is all but dead the next. But standing like a mighty redwood is the enduring Word of God, which will never fail until all of its promises have been fulfilled. Many people have predicted the demise of the Bible, but the Bible continues to stand despite all of the attacks against it. In the 1700’s, the French philosopher Voltaire stated that there would not be a Bible on the earth within another century. Well, by Christmas’ Eve 1933, the Bible was still around, and it was so beloved and valuable that the British Government paid half a million dollars for an ancient copy of it called the Codex Sinaiticus. On that same day, a first-edition copy of Voltaire’s writings sold for 11 cents. The Lord’s promises will not fail; He will do everything that He has said He will do. If God seems to be delaying, don’t be fooled—Peter reminds us in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise but is patient, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 3. …in light of His compassionate care (40:9-11) I think we can all testify to God’s compassionate care in our lives today, but when the Lord comes to establish His kingdom, it seems that we will experience it in a whole new way [READ 40:9-11]. Shepherds were a common sight in Judah at that time, but they’re certainly not very common around here. However, I suspect that many of you who have cattle have probably bottle-fed a calf at some point in time. That’s the kind of compassionate care that we’re talking about here. God exercises tender love toward His people, and we will never see that more clearly than when Jesus rules in this world. 4. …in light of His power, wisdom, and sovereignty (40:12-26) One lesson that we must remember about God is that He not only has good intentions toward us, but He also has the power to act on those intentions. Good intentions are fine, but if a person cannot act on their intentions, then they don’t really benefit anyone. But here God again reminds us of His greatness that allows Him to act [READ 40:14-17]. Its important to remember that v. 17 is not describing the importance that God assigns to humanity—it is describing the wisdom and power of humanity when compared to God’s wisdom and power. God doesn’t treat us like nobodies, but if we compare ourselves to Him, that’s how we look! Not only is humanity like nothing compared to God, but the false gods that we make are like nothing as well [READ 40:18-20]. The idea of v. 20 is that the idol must be well-built so that it doesn’t accidentally topple over! The idol has to have a good foundation so it doesn’t fall down! But by contrast, God founded all of creation and controls it all—including the rulers in this world who seem to be so strong and powerful [READ 40:21-26]. Those last two verses emphasize the individual attention that God gives to everything in His creation. His power and knowledge are limitless, yet they are also very personal. God calls all of the stars by name, and He knows all about you and me as well—and the plans that He has for us. Elizabeth Elliot once recounted the story of Gladys Aylward, who was a missionary to China. In her early life, Ms. Aylward hated the fact that she had black hair and was relatively short—only about 4’10’’. But when she arrived in Shanghai, she looked around and saw that everyone there had black hair and was relatively short. She was then able to praise God and say, “Lord, you know exactly what you’re doing!” God has an intimate knowledge of everything about us, but that truth is so easy to forget, and we see next that the people of Israel were struggling with that kind of forgetfulness. 5. …if we will simply wait for Him to do all that He has promised (40:27-31) Here we find the response that is required from us if we want to enjoy the blessings of God’s comfort [READ 40:27-31]. What powerful words! God offers us a spiritual strength that is even greater than the physical strength of young people in their prime! But how can we tap into this spiritual strength? How does it become active in our lives? Isaiah says here that it comes from waiting for the Lord—but waiting for the Lord to do what? I think this waiting has a short-term and a longer-term focus. The short-term focus involves waiting each day for God to work out His plan for our lives. Waiting like this means that I will refuse to walk a sinful path in order to get what I want or to take what I think is my right. The longer-term focus involves waiting for Jesus to return to this world. Waiting like this means that I won’t love the things that the unbelieving world loves. I will keep my mind focused on the priorities that Jesus has laid out and remember that my ultimate happiness will come when He returns. Its also important to understand what kind of waiting we’re talking about here as we wait for God to do His will and as we wait for God to return. This is not a put-your-feet-up-and-drink-iced-tea kind of waiting. It is not a take-a-nap-while-you-wait-for-the-fish-to-bite kind of waiting. We’re talking about the way that a child waits for Christmas! This is a grandma-and-grandpa-are-coming-over-with-presents-kind-of-waiting! This is a run-to-the-window-every-fifteen-seconds kind of waiting! We’re talking about the way that a housewife waits for company to arrive by dusting everything three times right up until the doorbell rings! In other words, this is the kind of waiting that makes us say, “I can’t wait for this to happen!” Now how do we cultivate this kind of attitude in our hearts—the attitude which Isaiah says will allow us to tap into supernatural strength? Well, in order to have this attitude, we must be convinced of two things: 1) that Jesus definitely will come, and thus our hope will not be in vain, and; 2) that when Jesus comes, what we experience will have been worth the wait. So first, we must be convinced that Jesus definitely will come. It’s virtually impossible to maintain a strong expectation for something if you’re not sure that it’s going to happen, because eventually your heart will want to shield itself from disappointment, and thus it will give up hope. So if we want to wait for Christ’s return the way that a child waits for Christmas, we must be absolutely certain that it will happen. The best way that I know of to cultivate this certainty is to look back at the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in His first coming. Look—how do you come to know that you can take someone at their word? By seeing that in the past, they have done exactly what they said they would do! Now when we look at Jesus’ first coming into this world, we see that He has already fulfilled so many prophecies from the Old Testament. This teaches us that God is a man of his word, so when He says that Jesus is coming again, you and I can take it to the bank! Second, we must believe that when Jesus returns, what we experience will have been worth the wait. Again—why does a child have so much excitement while waiting for Christmas? Because he knows that his patience will be rewarded! He knows that what he will experience will have been worth the wait. So how do we cultivate this attitude? I believe it comes by understanding two biblical doctrines—the doctrine of heaven and the doctrine of rewards. I think many of us aren’t really that excited about living in heaven. We’re excited about leaving pain and suffering behind, but we’re not very excited about heaven because most of us don’t have the foggiest idea what it will be like. We think we’re going to float around on clouds and strum harps or something like that! We figure we’ll be at peace because we’ll be in something like a coma out of sheer boredom! My friends, we have got to learn what Scripture actually says about heaven if we want to really look forward to it. We also must understand the doctrine of rewards—that we will be rewarded for faithful service to Christ in this life. We will never endure in faithful service unless we understand that we will be rewarded for it! We may have spiritual passion for a little while, but we will soon become apathetic if we think that there is no point in making sacrifices for Christ—that there is no reward for it. Hebrews 11:6 gives us this lesson: “without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” My friend, are you spiritually weary today? There is strength available to you if you will wait for the Lord like a child waits for Christmas. There is comfort to be had if you will look toward His coming and remember the power He has which makes His promises a guarantee. Look to His Word and cultivate your certainty in His coming and your conviction that it will be worth the wait!