Isaiah 40:12-17

0:01 Isaiah chapter forty Isaiah chapter forty. In the last hour we covered verses nine through eleven. Finally we finally got that done. Let me kind of get everyone just briefly cut up, all right, So, as many of you know, we've been working on Isaiah forty through fifty five since October of twenty twenty four. We're now in February of twenty twenty five. We've done over thirty three thirty four hours of teaching on Isaiah forty through fifty five. The reason we've spent all of this time in Isaiah forty through fifty five is because sermon after sermon after sermon that I have listened to constantly mishandles Isaiah forty through fifty five. As of right now, I have probably listened to over one hundred sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five and have yet to hear any that even comes close to handling the text correctly. Time after time, the pastors go in, move us, move out the original recipients, move us in, spiritualize it, and make it all about us, us us us us us us, And it's becoming very frustrating.

1:07 So I did mention this in the first hour, and I just want you guys to hear some of this. I did ask Ai what's going on, Like why is this happening? Why are all these sermons doing this? And Ai said that these sermons are revealing several important insights. The first insight Ai says this is revealing is that philological and hermoneutical trends in preaching have changed and are changing the way preaching is happening way hermoneutics are happening in the church. They go on to say, many sermons our Ai goes on to say, many sermons are shaped by philological traditions. They impose these theological traditions upon the text rather than allowing the text to speak on its own terms. And this is what we have happens. Right, If you go to a church that's lordship, they're going to interpret the sermon on them mount this way. If you go to a church that's not lordship, they're going to interpret the text this way. That should not be possible if both churches were doing what studying the text.

2:12 They're not studying the text. They're coming to church to hear someone interpret the text from a specific philological perspective. And the minute the pastor violates that theological perspective. He's done, or they are going to leave the church because they only want to go to a church that will give them the thiological perspective they've already imposed upon the text, meaning no one is actually doing what studying the text that And Ai even knows that that's what's happening. All right, Preachers over spiritualize Isaiah and they read the New Testament into Isaiah instead of letting Isaiah speak within its historical context and how it is speaking about Israel. Number three, they will That goes on to offer some other things, but those were the two main things. Ai goes on to talk about a lot of the problems going on within preaching, what we have to do how to fight this.

3:10 But Ai acknowledging there's a problem in preaching, and the problem in preaching is nobody really wants the text. They want something other. They want a devotional, they want to be inspired, they want to be they want to feel comfort. They don't want to just go to the text and learn the text. They want it to be about them. And that's a problem. So we've been trying to fix that. We've gone through Isaiah forty just simply put let's remind Isaiah forty is a message. It goes from Isaiah forty through fifty five. It is referred to as the Book of Comfort because it is to provide comfort to whom, to those in Babylonian captivity and those and that captivity is mentioned in Isaiah thirty nine to five through eight.

3:57 Everything you interpret must be interpreted as being at those in Babylonian captivity. And it doesn't even require AI to figure this out. Look at Isaiah forty. Verse one, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. If there is any confusion at who my people is, first, you could go back to Isaiah thirty nine five to eight for the context. But if that does not help you, what is it doing? Verse two speak ye comfortably too. Jerusalem, which is the capital of Judah, and Judah is the ones in Babylonian captivity according to history. You don't need Ai, you don't need Bible college, you don't need seminary. But pastors make this about us. And just to ensure that, just maybe you forget, go to verse nine, which is the text we covered in the last hour. Oh Zion that bring us good tidings. Get the up in the high mountains Oh Jerusalem. And then it says, say into the cities of Judah. It stresses it again. How many times can a text tell you who it's about? Yet preacher after preacher makes it about us. But this is a message of comfort to the people in Babylonian captivity. Now the last hour we broke down verses nine through eleven. I'm just going to go through it quickly so that you can see all right. So, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get thee up into the highest mountain, O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid, say into the cities

5:28 of Judah. So this deals with the proclamation the people who in the sense Zion Jerusalem used interchangeably. Here they are to go up and be like the messenger, and they are to prove because Jerusalem is what the capital of Judah. Hey, go raise up your voice and speak to all the people. And what are they to proclaim? This is the key phrase at the end of verse nine, three words behold your God. That is what they are to proclaim. The message to the people is, behold your God. The reason I cannot I'm gonna stress this. We talked about this in the first hour. I're gonna stress this, Behold your God. The reason it's significant is because of two reasons. The people are in Babylon. They have been there at this point. I mean, I know the message was delivered before they even go there, but they're gonna be in captivity for seventy years. They are in Babylon, which is a place filled with idolatry. There's an idol here, there's an idol here. They have a God for this.

6:34 They have a God for that. They have a God for this, just as they came out of Egyptian captivity and ended up making idols a golden cap. The concern here is behold God, see God, and don't see all of these Babylonian idols, which is what he's gonna spend a good portion of the rest of this chapter contrasting God with these Babylonian idols. They need to learn to see God, don't look to these And why is this going to be important? They have to behold a God in whom they cannot see while they live and are surrounded by gods as they can see, So behold God. A second reason he is stressing Behold God is because God is going to move in an ordinary way, not in a supernatural way. God's deliverance here is it gonna happen through the parting of the Red Sea. None of that.

7:28 It's just gonna be done by one nation being defeated or being overcome by another nation. Cyrus is gonna come to power and he's gonna let them go. It's gonna look what. It's gonna look as ordinary as possible. It's not gonna look as miraculous. It's gonna look like just ordinary human events. They need to see God in the ordinary wall. I did a whole bunch of talk on the ordinary means. Here ordinary means. They may be looking for something what dramatic and it's like No, Behold God. And then verses ten through eleven tells them about the God that they need to behold. Verse ten is about his power, his strength, his intervention. Verse eleven is about his tenderness and his care as a shepherd. That's nine through eleven. The message is behold God. Two reasons they need to behold God because don't be blinded by the bibe Babylonian idols. See God. The second reason you need to see God is God is going to move here in an ordinary way, not in an extraordinary way. It's gonna look, They're not gonna see any miraculous event take place.

8:37 It's just gonna see a king saying you can go back. That may be shocking and may be miraculous in a sense, but it's miraculous in a human way, not in a supernatural power way. If that makes sense. Okay, everybody got that, And the two things they need to know about their God are three things. He is powerful, he is intervening, and he cares like a shepherd. Got all of that. Now that brings us to verses twelve through seventeen. That brings us to verses twelve through seventeen. Now we're gonna do something different than we have not done yet in going through all of this. We are gonna spend maybe the rest of this hour looking at how nine through eleven transitions to twelve through seventeen, because you'll notice it's kind of a somewhat of a big change. Right nine through eleven is this message to be delivered telling us about God, and all of a sudden, Verse twelve begins with what Well starts with a question, Yeah, but it starts in a questioning way, right, it's kind of a shift in the way it's done. So here's where we're I think we I want you to try to see this, all right, and we're gonna overview each section. We're gonna break this down, right, Isaiah, forty nine through seventeen, right, So nine, if you want to take this whole section nine through seventeen, we break it down into two parts,

10:10 because this is why it moves from proclamation nine through eleven is the proclamation to almost a demonstration. It goes from calling the people to behold their God to showing why God is supreme and worthy of trust. The transition is structured to shift the focus from God's personal care to his incomparable greatness. And we're going to break this down so that we can see this. It's it's kind of a move from proclamation to demonstration. It's a shift here from God's personal care to his incomparable greatness, which we're going to see twelve through seventeen. All right, there's a shift here. There's a movement here. So let's look at nine through eleven. First, right, the nearness and tender care of God. God is announced as a mighty ruler.

11:10 In verse ten, does everybody see that? Beholder your God will come with a stronghold, his armshall what rule for him? Right? He is seen as a mighty ruler, but he's also seen as what in verse eleven, he's a tender as a shepherd, gentle as a shepherd. The emphasis is on God's personal involvement in delivering his people from exile. The language is pastoral, it is intimate. It shows God's power and his tenderness. Right, you see that in that first section, Hey, God is behold your God, see his power, see his intervention, see his concern. But then we're going to shift to twelve through seventeen. Right, so you could talk. I think you could say nine to eleven. You could say the nearness of God, or you could say the power and tenderness of God and verses nine to eleven. Does that sound okay to everyone? I think we can see that.

12:05 Now what do we have in verse twelve through seventeen. Well, let's read it. Let's just read twelve to seventeen. I know when I get in a hurry sometimes I just want to move forward. But let's take our time and see this. Who hath measured the waters and the hollow of his hand, and meet it out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure, and weighed the mountains and scales, and the hills and a balance. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him with whom took he counsel, and who and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding. Behold the nations or as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as a small dust of the balance. Behold he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. Lebanon is not so efficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him or as nothing, And they're counted to him less than nothing and vanity all right. So nine to eleven is hey, behold God, see his power, and see his tenderness. Now verses twelve to seventeen is really trying to emphasize what how would you summarize it? I think we can say twelve through seventeen is trying to demonstrate nothing compares to God, right,

13:37 or to quote the Sinead O'Connor song, nothing compares to you, right, nothing compares to God. He's incomparable. Does that make sense? Yeah? Do you agree with that? All right? The focus shifts from the nearness to his infinite greatness see ten and eleven. It's much more per right. God's going to come, He's going to use his power, He's going to gather you. It's very personable. Twelve through seventeen kind of steps back and tries to say, this God that's coming to you, this God that's going to care for you, he's incomparable to everything else. He is far above. It's trying to show almost the transcendence of God. I think that's almost a fair way of saying it, all right. The shift the focus shifts from God's nearness to his infinite greatness and overall creation and the nations. God is shown as immeasurable, all wise, sovereign, above all human strength and wisdom. Do you think that that's fair? The language is cosmic and overwhelming, contrasting God with human insignificance. So I think that's the overview of both sections. Right nine to eleven, Hey, God, power, tenderness, twelve through seventeen. God is this God's that's going to bring his power to you and going to do care

15:10 for you. He is transcendent to all things. He's greater than all things. Trying to maintain a proper balance of God. Does that make some sense? All right? Now, what are some of the key elements of this transition. Well, if you look at the transition from nine to eleven to twelve through seventeen occurs through there's really three movements that we kind of see this transition. Right, look at verse nine, and then look at verse twelve. Oh, Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get thee up to the highest mountain o Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say into the cities of Judah. Again, what's the phrase? Behold your God? Now? Look at verse twelve. Measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, meeted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure, and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance. All right, this is going from seeing God to understanding his greatness. Behold your God, say God.

16:20 Verse twelve gives us what understand how great this God is? So the first movement in this transition goes from seeing to understanding. Does that make sense? Yes? No? Verse nine, Behold your God? The people are called to look at who God is? Verse twelve, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? The text now proves why God is incomparable through a series of rhetorical questions. Are there not rhetorical questions? There? And the rhetorical question what is it? It always demands. It's like the answer is what obvious? So verse twelve? What are the rhetorical questions that offered? In verse twelve? Who's measured the water in the hollow of his hand? Is there any other rhetorical question? At twelve? Who meeted it out with a spanky?

17:18 All right? So there's a number and all those rhetorical questions is why the rhetorical The answer to those rhetorical questions is basically, no one but God, No one but God. Hey, behold your God. This is your God, who is far greater than all these things. Do you see how it transitions? Do you see that transition all right. The text proves why God is incomparable through a series of rhetorical questions. The proclamation of behold your God in verse nine is now answered with an unfolding revelation of God's majesty in verse twelve. It's as if Isaiah's saying, you've been told to look at God. Let me show you how great he is. There's the transition nine and twelve. There's a transition there. Hey, see God, Now understand God? Now? Why do they need to see and understand God again? Because of all the Babylonian idols. They see an idol here.

18:22 They're going to have to behold God, who can do all of this. But he's going to be working in an ordinary way. But that doesn't change God being extraordinary. Does that make sense? Right? So we go from seeing God to understanding. How about look at verse eleven. Yeah, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. We see all of that right now. If we go twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, we get a lot again of all of these rhetorical questions. Do we not? Yes, so we go. So think of it this way. The first movement is from seeing God to understanding God. The second movement is from shepherding his people to ruling the universe. From shepherding his people to ruling the universe. Do you not see a little bit of ruling the universe in twelve through fourteen? Okay, point out some things that would kind of point to the universe or all of creation in twelve through fourteen.

19:26 What's the first thing in twelve? Okay, that's like all the waters, that's ruler of everything. Next the heavens in the span, right, that's all the heavens right. Next, okay, comprehended all the dust thirteen? Oh maybe yeah, wade the mountains in a scale. Okay, the hills in a balance thirteen. Who has direct the spirit of the Lord of Being his counselor hath taught him? No one has taught him, No one's instructed him Verse fourteen, with whom took key counsel, and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him know. In other words, no one is taught. He is greater in knowledge, he's greater in power, he is in control of all things. So he goes from the shepherding and twelve or eleven to well, all of these things the Shepherd. Think of it this way.

20:20 The Shepherd is also the lord of all creation. He measured measuring oceans, weighing mountains and needing no counsel. So the gentleness of God's care for Israel and eleven is balanced by his absolute power over all things. This prevents Israel from thinking God's tenderness means weakness and his compassion doesn't mean that he's all powerful. So it's trying to give a balanced view of God. Basically, this is what's happening. All right, Hey, Israel, you've been in Babylonian captivity. Why are they in Babylonian captivity in many cases because of their idolatry and their disobedience to God. So it's almost like, while I'm getting ready to bring you out of captivity, you need to go back to theology one oh one and so behold your God. You need to see two things about God in your present circumstance, which is God's power is coming to intervene and he's going to gather you. Okay, but you need to also now understand who this God is.

21:24 And he's trying to demonstrate supreme sovereign power because in their immediate context they're not going to see those attributes in a supernatural way. God is going to be working, but it's going to be in an ordinary way, and they can be drawn to want what an idle, just like when Moses disappeared, what did they need? They always and what it wants them to see? It is, you need to see God, and you need to see this truth of God. Even though you're not going to see this truth of God work. Sometimes we need that, right, It's hard sometimes believe when you look at the world, going, well, where is God? That's always that's why we believe by faith, because if we could see, it would be by sight.

22:15 All right, does that make sense? Do you see that connection? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. A good point. That's a very good point, right, very good point. All right. So we go from seeing God to understanding his greatness. I think we can see that. We go from shepherding to him ruling the universe. Now, how about the third movement here? The third thing from look at verse ten. Behold the Lord God will come with strong arm, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. This seems to go from God's rule the rule here in verse ten is specifically for Israel, right, specifically for them.

23:03 But look at verses fifteen and seventeen. Look at verses fifteen and seventeen. It kind of goes beyond Israel, does it not? In verses fifteen through seventeen, what language would show you it goes beyond Israel in fifteen all nations. Bobby caught it quickly, right, So this is the third kind of transition. It goes from God's rule over Israel to rule over the nations. Hey, his rule is coming to Israel, but he ultimately rules over all the nations. The nations are nothing before him, mere dust on the scales of verses fifteen through seventeen. Right, So the might of God in verse ten is now demonstrated, and how he reduces nations to insignificance. Israel was afraid of Babylon's power, but God declared that Babylon and every other nation is what basically a drop in the bucket. Is that fair?

24:09 All right? So this transition from nine through twelve to seventeen. We haven't done this in any other section, but I want you just to see. Just studying the transition can be an entire hour of your time, right, So let's go through this again. The first transition connects nine and twelve. Everybody see that. And that first transition is what seeing God to understanding is greatness. Behold God, but now you need to see the greatness of the God whom you are beholding. Everybody got that. The second transition is from shepherding his people in verse eleven. Everybody got that to verses twelve through fourteen. This is from shepherding his people to ruling the universe. The one that shepherds you rules the universe. And third, from God's rule over Israel to the rule over all the nations. Right, everybody got that.

25:19 See that transition, that's pretty powerful. Now you see the connection between nine to eleven and the next part, do you not? Do you see then how it all fits together and what sets up everything in twelve through seventeen. Let me make it very clear what is the key phrase once we get passed and if you really want to think about it, verses one through eight. Really one of the key phrases is comfort, right, or the key word comfort or comfort ye? Right? When you get to verse nine through seventeen, maybe nine through thirty one, but especially nine through seventeen. The key phrase is behold your God.

25:59 Now it's trying to give them this theological lesson. Okay, Now, since I do a podcast called Theology Central, then I want us to see the philological significance within that transition. I want you to see the philological significance. And what this transition that we just looked at? All right? The transition reinforces two key theiological points. The transition reinforces two key theological points. What are the two key theological points the transition emphasizes or it reinforces? Are you ready? Number one? God is both near and transcendent. God is near and transcendent Verses nine through eleven. Is that not near, tender and personal? Yes? Why well speak to Judah? And then what does it say? Behold the Lord God? Will behold the Lord God will Verse ten? Come everybody see that with strong hand in his arms shall rule for him.

27:09 His reward is with him and his work before him. That is what Israel, Judah, God is coming. He's going to intervene. He is near. He's going to intervene in a meaningful way for them. Right, and then do we not see them? Verse eleven? What does it say this is. He's tend. He is feet his flock like a shepherd. He's going to gather his lambs. This is near, tender, and personal. There's that's the near part. Now what happens in verses twelve through seventeen. He's far above creation, He's far above human affairs. He's nothing can challenge his power, nothing can teach him. He is transcendent. God is both near and transcendent. Both are there? This tension between God's nearness and transcendent is essential for Israel's faith. Israel needs to see both. They need to understand both. Now why do they need to understand both? If God is only near, he may seem powerless to change the situation. If all you see is God is near, God is personal, you may not see well, okay, well what can he do about this? Or what can he do about this? And what can he do about this? In Israel's mind, they're facing whom the Babylonians, the ones that conquers the world. Okay,

28:44 if God is so near to us, well, he may be able to help me. Hear, he may make me feel better, But I need a God who can do more. Right. But if God is only transcendent, then what could be the issue? See, if God is only near, you may not feel like he has the ability, the power, or even the understanding of everything going on. But if he's only transcendent, what could be the problem? He might not even care, may not even be involved. He may be so far removed that I can't even expect him to get involved. So they and their historical situation need to know that he's near, but they need to know that he is transcendent. Isaiah forty holds both truths together. He is the mighty ruler and he's the gentle shepherd? Does everybody see that? So? God? So? The first illogical truth is God is both near and transcendent. This transition screams this.

29:46 And the reason I wanted to spend the time on the transition is first, I just want you to see that when you're studying the text, you need to learn to see the transitions. So many times in expository preaching will just break down. We're going to cover these four versus and then next week we're gonna cover this five, and we may bring some little transition there, but sometimes you miss the complexity of the transition. Here, the transition is worth a million dollars. Okay, well, I mean, you know you don't have to pay a million dollars to get it, but it's it's worth it, all right. So the first philological point is God is both near and transcendent. Number two, trusting in God over nations and idols. Over nations and idols. For Israel, their temptation is going to be twofold, right, They're gonna trust. They're gonna possibly be focused on nation, they may even be focused on national identity.

30:49 They're gonna be it's gonna be nation driven, or it's gonna be idle driven. That's what they're because what we see a nation, you can have pride in a nation, you can be to a nation you see an idol. God is trying to fix them of this national idea or this idle idea. The idea is. The shift goes from God's care to his supremacy, highlighting why Israel should trust him and not fear Babylon. Get your eyes off Babylon. I am greater and I'm the one who's going to care for you. Get your eyes on me. Right. Human empires rise and fall, but God remains supreme. Israel's deliverance will not depend on human power, but on the immeasurable greatness of their God. So they should not look to a nation. They should not look to an idol. And this is not Israel's problem. Throughout the Old Testament, over and over, what do they do if there's a problem, They tend to look to another nation. They'll go to Egypt, They'll go here, They'll go here, they'll make an alliance with the Syrians or whomever correct or and almost inevitably sometimes going all run along with that. They they turn the idols over and over and over and over. This is trying to help guys. You're finally coming out of Babylonian captivity. You're finally doing this. You need to understand God is near and transcendent, and you need to understand

32:23 stop looking the nations, stop looking the idols. Look to me. How well does these lessons work? They keep failing over and over because that tells us that what what? By nature? We are creatures of what, what we can see, what we can feel, what we can be a part of, what solutions we can come up with. We get caught up in a materialistic, nationalistic, idle kind of mindset because of our sinful nature. Okay, Now, I could do more here about this transition. I could do more here. I could ask you some questions. I've got theological but I'm gonna skip all of this because I got pages of stuff here, right, all right? But does everyone see how that works? Right? So let's at least do Oh man, there's so much here I want to get into, but I'm gonna just back up a little bit and try to get this transition right. So, how does Isaiah forty nine to eleven transition from twelve to seventeen? This transition happens, and basically, how could we put this? It occurs in three movements? All right? The first movement is it goes from seeing God to understanding his greatness. Everybody got that.

33:53 The second movement was from shepherding as people to ruling the universe. And the third one was from God's rule over Israel to his rule over the nations. Everybody got those three transitions, right? What are the two philological significant points from this transition? God is both near and transcendent and we must trust in God over nation and idols? Sounds good? All right? All right? I almost want to stop right there, but that's okay. I want us to at least start trying to take a part verses twelve through seventeen, or at least introduce it right now. We kind of and it says, by doing that transition, you pretty much have twelve through seventeen down now, don't you right by? If you really think about it, the transition.

34:43 We don't really need to do a lot of work on twelve through seventeen, do we. I think we can probably go through it relatively quickly. What should we call twelve to seventeen? If we wanted to give this section a title? What do you think now? We did an observational outline where we gave it a title, but we we'll call this We'll just go with the idea of the incomparable greatness of God. We'll just kind of go with that, not necessarily pulling from that, but I think that fits with some of the things we've discussed right Isaiah forty twelve through seventeen is part of a larger passage where God reassures his people of his greatness, sovereignty, and power over all creation. The section emphasizes God's transcendence, his wisdom, his supremacy over the nations, challenging any notion that he can be measured, instructed, arrivaled. I think that's fair to say. Yes, we've looked at the text, all right, let's look at the Let's look at the context and structure. Right, Let's look at the immediate context. The passage follows the opening section of Isaiah forty one through eleven, where God declares comfort and restoration for Israel. Any problem there? I think we can all agree there. It is a part of a broader argument twelve through thirty one, demonstrating God's incomparable power to contrast it to the weakness of idols and human rulers. I think we can agree with that.

36:16 That's the immediate context. Any any issues there? How about Now, let's look at a structural breakdown. What do we see in verse twelve? Would you I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of move quickly through this. Do you agree that we see God's sovereignty over creation in verse twelve? Does everybody agree with that God's sovereignty over creation or does someone have a different idea? We in agreement? I think I think we can see God's sovereignty over creation there. It uses what device to try to emphasize this? This his control over the physical universe uses rhetorical questions. Everybody understand that literary device, right, rhetorical questions? And I think we see that we've broken them down. Well, we may look at them more specifically, but you get the idea. The question is God is the only one who can do these things. God is the one who can do this right?

37:19 Nobody else can? All right? Verses thirteen through fourteen. What does it focus on in thirteen through fourteen? Twelve kind of shows his sovereignty over creation. Thirteen through fourteen seems to emphasize what maybe God's infinite wisdom. Will y'all be okay with that? How does we see that who hath directed the spirit of the Lord who is being his counselor who has taught him with whom took counsel? Meaning God's wisdom is infinite? Agreed? It challenges the idea that God needs instruction from anyone. He doesn't need it from you, doesn't need it. We can instruct God. I want to sometimes, don't you? But we can't? All right? How about verse fifteen? Okay, behold the nations or as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing.

38:18 I think what we have is we have God's sovereigntary over creation in twelve, God's infinite wisdom thirteen over fourteen fifteen. The insignificance of nations compared to God. I don't know. Maybe you may have a better way of putting it, but the nations are in significant compared to God, or God's greatness over the nations. You could do it that way. I think we can agree with that. Yes, the nations are a drop from a bucket. They're dust on the scales, even though it doesn't appear that way. I want to make sure you understand that it doesn't appear that way from a human perspective. From a human perspective, the nation is powerful, mighty, sovereign. Everything else seems insignificant. But we have to behold God. But the only problem is they can't see their God. They can see the nation. This is trying to see things from a thiological framework, seeing God where you don't see God, and that would be very difficult for them to do. That. Does that make sense?

39:22 All right? How about verse sixteen and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. Now that's a well, this is it's a kind of written weird, and we're gonna have to really break it down. Let's put this idea. It seems to show the inadequacy of human worship. Human worship is really inadequate to match God's greatness. Our worship is not adequate to match God's greatness because it's talking about burnt offering here, it's talking about the nation about Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. In other words, whatever you offer up to God, even if it's all of Lebanon, it's inadequate. Does that make sense? So it's the inadequate inadequacy of human worship.

40:15 Even the forest of Lebanon and all its animals are not a worthy offering. If you take all of the forests of Lebanon and every single animal, it's still not worthy. Our worship will never truly be worthy, It'll be inadequate. How about verses seventeen or verse seventeen, not versus verse All nations before Him are are nothing, there nothing. This is the nothingness of nations before God. So if we want a structural breakdown, Verse twelve is God's sovereignty over creation. Verses thirteen through fourteen is God's infinite wisdom. Verse fifteen is the insignifict against the nations compared to God or God's great and there God, the God is greater than the nations. However you'd like to word that. Sixteen the inadequacy of human worship. Seventeen the nothingness of the nations before God. All right, everybody got that? All right, there's the structural breakdown. So we've looked at the context. We looked at the structural breakdown. Now let's kind of just analyze.

41:28 We'll just go through with the verses and try to do a little bit of analysis here as quickly as we can, all right, because I mean, there's what you do. See all that work we did, if you what I want you to start recognizing, we did all of that work on an observational exercise, right, We did all of this work with the historical context. Once we have all of that, you see the rest of the verses kind of just fall into place. What pretty simple and straightforward. Unless you want to preach a sermon, then you just use this to talk about well, your life and your problems and your issues and your and then well then you just got to create a sermon like that. But if you want to just stay to the text this, this is pretty simple and pretty straightforward. Right, So let's go through this and see. We'll just let's start with verse twelve. Right, we'll just start with verse twelve. Right. Well, we call this God's sovereignty, right, God's sovereignty over creation.

42:25 All right, let's look at the what's the first imagery that's being used here? It's the idea of measurement. Can we agree? The hollow of his hand refers to God's ability to hold all the oceans as if they were just a drop, the hollow of his hand the God. How sovereign is God? All the waters of earth dropping his hand, demonstrating God's what sovereignty, power, greatness, transcendence. However, all the different things we want to put here about, what's what's the imagery of the span of his hand? What is that referring to? Well, the imagery is take it tipped. According to some the span of the hand is the distance between the thumb and the pinky. That's the span, all right? How big the hand is? Right?

43:17 It symbolizes his ability to measure the universe basically with the span the entire universe fits into the span of his hand. Now it's not a literal thing, all right, because God is spirit. But it's just demonstrating, right, got it. Yeah, it's taking it's describing it in a way which we can understand. Right. So it's demonstrating that all the waters, even all the universe, but whether it's the waters or the universe, they ultimately fit where and his hand. That's the main thing to take from it, right, that's the main thing to take from it. Okay, what's the next measurement or the next thing. He comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure. Everybody see that God has weighed the mountains as if with a scale. Uh he It emphasizes his control over the physical world. I think that's the main idea when it comes to the dust of the earth, when it comes to the mountains and it comes to the hills, that is referring to what the physical earth that are what God is in control of the physical world. God is in control of the physical world. Now that could that adds a million philosophical questions, all right, I don't have answers for that, but at least for them in captivity. They're like, we're in captivity.

44:39 We want to get out of this physical place to go to another physical place. And we have nations who control this physical place, and what it wants to be shown them is what God controls this physical place, not Babylon. Right that I think that's the point that ultimately trying to be made. Right. So, what is the philological implication that creation is finite? It is measurable, but God is infinite and immeasurable. Creation is finite. We try to do we not try to measure it, and we try to chay distances and age. We're always trying to understand the physical creation, do we not? It may be finite, it may be measurable. Well, what's the one thing that we cannot figure out? God? Because he is infinite and he is immeasurable. Now, all of this language here, especially in verse twelve, there's a very I'm always giving you the philological implication. The first implication is creation is finite and measurable, but God is infinite and immeasurable. Right, But remember, over and over and over all of the phil logical implications here focus on which concept that this is all being contrasted with the Babylonian idols. Right now, this is very

46:09 very important. Okay. I think what we'll do next week is I just need to spend an hour going through all the Babylonian deities, right and fact. If you have a Bible dictionary, just grab one really quick. If you have one, here there's one if you need one, Okay, look up Babylon. I don't know if there's an entry. I'm just going to see if we have it right there in front of us. Yeah, she always knows the page. Now, kind of skim that entry for Babylon. It doesn't have anything about deities, religion, spirituality, idols, anything about Babylon's religious makeup, it's religious structure. It may not be there. We may we may have to look it up different ways, but something there would be at least a small paragraph that described it. I know it's probably a long entry. Marduk. Yeah, okay, it does say that. I think you may be using a different dictionary. What uh huh A bunch Mardu. Yeah,

47:40 there's the one okay, mentions a number of their gods. Okay, So the key is the more you understand Babylonians polytheistic idolatry. Right, the more you understand that, then all of this stuff that's happening here fits in perfectly. Does everyone understand that? All right? So the philological implications is that creation is finite and measurable, but God is infinite and immeasurable. And this is the second thing I want you to understand from the thiological implication of verse twelve. It is emphasizing God's complete sovereignty over nature, which is a contrast to pagan gods who were often linked to specific aspects of nature but never ruled over all of it. And many cases on idolatry and false religions, there's a god of this river, or there's a god of rain, and then there's a different god for sun. But for this God, his god of everything. That's the contrast. So why do you focus on this idol that only controls this when God controls everything. You may have a god of the Babylonians who supposedly does something for Babylon. We worship the God that is over not only Babylon but every other nation.

49:00 What the theological implication here? Right? Does that make sense? All right? Okay? Good? Now let's look at thirteen through fourteen. We refer to the first part as God's ommortary over creation. Thirteen through fourteen is God's infinite wisdom? Right, who has measured the spirit man? Okay, remember we read about a lot. Who did the Who did he consult? Who made him understand? Who taught him all of that? Now these are rhetorical questions. These questions emphasize God's self sufficiency in wisdom. I think we can see that, right. You don't need my help to even figure that out? Right, thirteen through fourteen. It's all these questions are emphasizing God's self sufficiency and wisdom.

49:46 The implied answer is no one. God needs no teacher, he needs no counselor he needs no guide. God does not need a teacher, He does not need a counselor he does not need a guide. We got that. Now, what are the key theological concepts here? All? Right? Well? What attribute of God is kind of being highlighted here? In verses thirteen and fourteen. If we talk about God's sovereignty or power, we talk about his omnipotence, right, his power, what's omniscience? There we go, God's omniscience. God possesses all knowledge and does not learn or acquire wisdom from any source.

50:32 I think we got that all right. Now, look carefully at thirteen and for a look at verse fourteen, with whom took key counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment. Some translations say who taught him, who made him? Who taught him? The path of justice? Is how some translations translate that right now. So the key theological concepts is omniscience and this idea of justice. God alone defines what is just and righteous humans do not instruct him. Now, that's a hard concept to wrap our minds around. Sometimes it works in our advantage.

51:17 Sometimes we don't. Christians love this. On one hand, we'll say, well, don't tell me what justice is. God says what justice is. And sometimes the thing we actually defend actually goes against even God's definition of justice. The key is God defines it, we don't. And when God tells us we should care about justice, we should care about justice, all right. And then it's a contrast with human leaders. Kings, rulers require advisors the king, but God has none because he is all wise. So God is omniscient. God is the definition of justice. He defines it, and he doesn't need what a human kings need. They need counselors, they need advisors.

51:57 He does not. Right, we got that. We broke that down pretty good? Do you agree? Do we have verse twelve broken down pretty good? All that the imagery of the measurements. We explained what all of that meant. Thirteen through fourteen God's infinite wisdom. We talked about the theological implications that brings us to verse fifteen. What do we want to refer to verse fifteen as the insignificance of nations? Right? Does that make sense? This one's pretty simple. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. They're accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coast lands like fine dust drop from a bucket, nations which seem powerful and significant or insignificant when compared to God dust on the scales. It does not change.

52:48 Dust is weight, is weightless in a sense, it does not change the measurement of a scale. This conveys the utter nothingness of earthly powers compared to God's sovereignty. He says, behold the nations, or as a drum of a bucket, and are counted as small dust of the balance. Behold, he take it up the aisles, a very little thing. In other words, if you had a scale, if you had a balance, there was a little dust on it. The idea is the dust is what so insignificant, it's not gonna move it. We think the nations determine everything, right, We think we get so preoccupied about nations and political powers and political parties and political politicians and themselves, and we think that they're gonna fix they're gonna change everything.

53:35 And this is like, they're all insignificant. You're supposed to be beholding whom God. It wasn't some nation who put Israel in captivity. God put them in captivity. Isn't some nation who's going to ultimately get them out of captivity. It is God. God. The people are nothing. God is the one at work. That's hard for us to see that because we become preoccupied with the here, the now. That's what we become preoccupied with. Right, does that make sense for verse fifteen, the insignificance of nations? Verse sixteen? What did we refer to this as the inadequacy of worship?

54:17 The inadequacy of worship? All right? Now it says Lebanon would not suffice for fuel in some translations. How does the King James put verse sixteen, it's not sufficient to burn all? Right? Okay, So Lebanon was famous for its massive cedar forests and abundant wildlife. That's what Lebanon was known for. It's trees and it's animals. Yet even if all of its trees were burned and every single animal was sacrificed, it would be inadequate to offer proper worship to God. We can ever think that our worship is adequate, that our worship is worthy, because we're worshiping someone who's far above. All we're doing in worship is declaring God is worthy of far more than I have to offer.

55:17 It's not like I'm offering you something that's adequate. It's inadequate. Does that make sense? So what does this imply that no human effort, no matter how grand, can match God's worthiness. Worship must be rooted and understanding God's greatness and our what lack of greatness? Worship is all about acknowledging God is great and we are not God is worthy. We are not God is able, we are not God is holy. We are not. It's all about work. When we worship God, we are declaring all that God is. We aren't, and we can't be. If you do not bring a correct understanding of yourself to worship, then you almost believe you're bringing something of great value to God. You're coming to God with literally nothing to offer, because whatever you offer, even if it's all of Lebanon, okay, there's less than nothing. Okay, it's vanity, all right. Now, why do you think? Why do you think now this is this is a good question.

56:36 I didn't. I didn't. I didn't even think about asking this question or struggling with this. Why do you think in verse sixteen? What do you think the point of verse sixteen is in its historical context? It seems a little odd to me. Sixteen seems a little off to me now that I'm thinking about. I didn't catch this first because he's doing everything he can to try to demonstrate to Israel I'm greater than all of this. You can see why it would fit. Don't focus on the name, don't focus on the idols. But all of a sudden, it's like, hey, right, okay, yeah, that seems odd. But I think because Lebanon is famous for all of these things. Maybe that's why, but it just seems odd, Like I think the main reason here is it's not even really so much a lesson about worship. I think what he's trying to demonstrate to them is the superiority and greatness of God, that God is far greater Israel even as a nation. Even if you were to worship perfectly, it's still insufficient. It just wants to understand these other idols that you may think are worthy of worship, Well, guess what when it comes to me, your worship is not worthy of me, because I'm far greater than any it's trying to show, God is so far greater than anything else they could worship. I think that's the point. I think that's the point. Interesting that it shows up, and as uh, it does seem interesting. I mean, obviously Lebanon had to be very very very very very very very

58:07 very famous for these things, because you're right, in its context, you would be like, why is you saying Lebanon. Why wouldn't they mention something in Babylon? But obviously Lebanon must have been, like must have been super famous for this. Like look, it's almost like when they said that everybody be like, Oh, Lebanon is not even sufficient. Lebanon with all of those trees, Lebanon with all of those animals, like it must have been like they knew it. That's the only reason I can understand why it would have been mentioned here. It makes no sense, all right. But worship is rooted in recognizing God's greatness and our lack of greatness. I think that's important. When you say we're gonna worship God, when you're declaring his worthiness and our unworthiness, maybe we should state that worship is the declaration of God's worth and the acknowledgment of our unworthiness. I think that's a good way of stating it. I think it's a very good way of stating it. All right, Oh, we've we got one verse to go, right, everybody ready, Verse seventeen. We do we need to do a lot of work on this. All the nations are as nothing before him. They're accounted by him as less than nothing in emptiness. All right. What I want you to see is the escalation of the language. It's escalated, has it not?

59:34 Because now what does it say? All nations before him or as nothing? They're accounted to him less than nothing? It's escalating, right, it's demonstrating that less and nothing in emptiness amplify the insignificance of human power. Just wants them to see human power is it's nothing. God is what they need to be beholding. That goes back again. The key phrase here is verse nine, Behold you God? Now, what are the key theological ideas? The nations may seem powerful, they're utterly powerless before God. This was especially relevant to Israel, who feared Babylon but needed to be reminded that God is greater than any empire. Right, So what are the key theological themes? You don't even need me to help you here with the key theological themes, I almost want to make you give them to me. But number one, God's sovereignty over creation. Right, he is above all things and controls all things everybody sees. Do you not agree that that's what we've seen in verse twelve through seventeen.

1:00:37 God's sovereignty over all creation, his infinite wisdom. No one instructs God. He is self sufficient. Do you agree that that's there? God's sovereignty, God's infinite wisdom. What would be the third? The insignificance of nations? Political and military power are meaningless compared to God. Political ander is meaningless compared to God. We got to stop looking to all of those things. We're supposed to be looking to God. That's the one thing the Church should always be different than everything else. The Church Behold God. The world is like no, no, no, no, no, no no, behold this. We need this. We got to do this. We need to do this. We needed We're supposed to be just saying behold God, focus on God.

1:01:24 But we leave God for the politics, for the world, for this thing. This, It's so easy to get caught up in it. And well, that's the Church has abandoned well God in many cases, just like Israel did over and over and over. All, Right, and then what's the last I mean, you know the keythological themes here, the sovereignty of God, God's infinite wisdom, insignificant of nations. You know the last one, the inadequacy of human worship. No amount of human effort can match God's greatness. What is worship? Worship is where we declare God is worthy while acknowledging we are not. That's a key element missing out in worship.

1:02:08 We come to God saying you're worthy, but I am nothing less than nothing, vanity. All of my worship. I can lift my hands, I can praise, I can sing, I can give ten percent. It's all meaningless and worthless before compared to God, or I should say, compared to God. Right, I've got discussion questions here, but we don't have to get there all right, any questions? Man, we went from now, we did it in a different way today, but we went from nine to seventeen in two hours. We went from nine to seventeen. Now. The only reason we're able to go through nine to seventeen is because we spent all of that time establishing what the historical context. We kept it perfectly in its historical context. We see some applications to us, but it's primarily for them. And what you need to see is behold your God is the key phrase. And Israel needs to behold God. What are the two main reasons they need to behold God. They're in captivity when idols are all around them, and they could be drawn to those idols, and they need to behold God. They need to see the God and who they need to behold to God in whom they cannot see, versus being tempted by the idols which they can see, and what was the second reason they need to behold God?

1:03:34 I really have emphasized this like countless times, because God is moving in this entire situation. And ordinary means ordinary means Babylon is a nation. They're going to be basically, you want to say, defeated. The way it happened is so bizarre historically, like it's just crazy, But basically they are defeated in kind of a they're kind of in the most ordinary way. Hey, Cyrus, just come on in. Our king went a wall. Just come on in, right. I mean, it's crazy to even think about the way, but it's the most ordinary of ordinary. It's not like, oh, they all fell asleep or it's just the most ordinary way.

1:04:17 Cyrus takes over, and then Cyrus is like, I'm gonna make a decree. God wants me to build you basically a temple, So gather up all of this. It's all done in the most ordinary way. If they're not careful, they can become followers of whom all very good. Yes, if it's not the Babylonian idols, it's the Persian king demonstrating what are the two temptations political worship or political allegiance. National We could say three A politician, a nation, or an idola. Those are the three temptations facing them. A politician, we'll just call them a key, which is a politician. Right, we'll call it a politician, a nation. We're Persians, yay, Persia, give me the person. Yay. I'm identa fight as a Persian, because the Persians are the ones setting us free. Yay.

1:05:22 Or an idol. It was, Hey, we can't see God. That idol that I have next to my house, that's the one doing it. And we are drawn to national identity. I'm an American, I'm an American. I'm an American to a politician, yay, yay, yay, whichever politician, or many cases, to some idol. Now we may not have the idol. We have our different kinds of idols. Those are three temptations. And this entire section is about Israel doing what See God, see power, see his tenderness, see his transcend see his greatness. God, see God is over all of this. We need the same philological lesson. Now you see how we can apply the philological lesson to us still be true to the original context. And we didn't insert ourselves into it. That's all I'm asking preachers to do. For some weird reason, I guess that's a crazy concept in twenty twenty five.

1:06:25 I don't know why, because after a hundred sermons, I can't find anyone who can do it this way. And it's not because I'm smarter, because I'm not. It's just because I may maybe sometimes I think the key to being a good Bible said, you just got to love to read, because this is just reading comprehension one oh one. Nothing I'm doing there required anything. I mean nothing. I didn't do anything fancy, did I even the transition? Was that fancy? That really wasn't fancy. I was just like, here's verse nine compared to verse twelve. This is verse ten connected to here here's verse eleven. That wasn't fancy?

1:07:08 Was it? No? But it puts it all together. So where do we begin now next week? Verse eighteen? And what does immediately? It turned to to whom then will you like in God? Or what likeness will you compare unto him? The workman melteth A turns to idolatry, which is and you can't address and guess what it does you establish theological truth before you address a specific issue, because this specific issue must be addressed in light of theological truth. That's that's like basic theology right there, right all right, there we go. I wish I found I wish I could have found something profound that you were like, oh, oh, there's nothing, ooh there is just pretty straightforward. Like sometimes you're like I wish I could say you'd be like, wow, there's nothing. Wow there, it's just straightforward. But it's important that what I want you to see. Don't I'll do this as ordinary as that information is. Don't allow the miss the profound importance of what we just discuss because it appears ordinary. They were in danger of missing God because God was going to work in an ordinary way.

1:08:33 Sometimes we miss profound philological truth unless it's described in a sunsensational way. Sometimes it's just very that's pretty ordinary, but it's still profound. All right, let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this afternoon. Lord, these same temptations they face we face. Forgive us for all the times we failed them, and we are grateful that you're a merciful God who has sent salvation in your son Jesus Christ, will we find that mercy and that grace and said his name we pray, and God's people said Amen, mhm