The Incomparable God (Isaiah 40:12-26)

Isaiah 40 (Oswalt):

1. God's promised deliverance (1-11).
2. God's ability to deliver his people (12-26).
3. Waiting in hope (27-31).

(Ray Ortland, Jr):

1. God's glory, our comfort (1-11).
2. God's uniqueness, our assurance (12-26).
3. God's greatness, our renewal (27-31).

After expressing the tenderness of Yahweh's shepherding care (1-11) Isaiah sets the magnificence of his sovereign power and executive rule as Creator (12-26). The former expresses the attractiveness and delightfulness of his promises; the latter his irresistible power to keep what he has promised.

God's Power on God's Terms (Isaiah 29; Ray Ortland)

Isaiah 29

"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught'" (Isa 29:13, NIV).

[Oswalt, John N. Isaiah: The New Application Commentary. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2003. Isaiah: God Saves Sinners by Raymond C Ortlund Jr.]

Do you think you have God figured out? Did you know that your greatest breakthrough might be when you hit a brick wall? Did you know that the most constructive thing that might happen to you is when your world falls apart? Sometimes we Christians need that, because we think we have God figured out.

Do you think that you should be able to explain everything as a believer? We do know something about God, because he has revealed himself to us. But imperceptibly, unintentionally, we can slide into the feeling that if we know God at all, we should be able to explain everything. But the fact is, we can't explain everything. Sometimes God doesn't make sense, to us.

Does God confound you and you're OK with not being in control? When God surprises you so that you can't see through what God is doing in your life into the reason behind it, when he becomes opaque and mysterious, you are seeing something. You are seeing that God is God and you are not God. You are encountering him at a new level of profundity. You are discovering what it means to trust God and surrender to God rather than control him. If God never shocked you, you wouldn't really know him, because you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between your notions of God and the reality of God.

God's Plans for Babylon and Assyria (Isaiah 13-14)

Read Isaiah 13-14

1. God summons his troops (13:1-5): God musters an army for war (Isa 13:4b).
2. God destroys the proud (13:6-16): God puts an end to all who are arrogant (Isa 13:11).
3. God desolates Babylon (17-22): God overthrows Babylon (Isa 13:19).
4. God restores his people (14:1-2): God has compassion on Jacob (Isa 14:1).
5. God humiliates/humbles the proud king of Babylon (14:3-23): "How you have fallen" (Isa 14:12).
6. God's sovereign plan and purpose WILL prevail (14:24-27): Who can thwart God's purpose out turn back his out-stretched hand? (Isa 14:27)
7. God warns those who gloat (14:28-32): Do not rejoice that your enemy is struck and broken (Isa 14:29a).

Human Schemes and God's Plans (Isaiah 28-35)

Isaiah 28-35; 28:16; 30:18; 31:1; 33:17

"So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic'" (Isa 28:16, NIV). "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you..." (Isa 30:18a). "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord" (Isa 31:1, NIV; Ps 20:7). "Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar" (Isa 33:17, NIV).

Whom will you trust and rely on? Isa 26:4 says, "Trust in Lord Forever." The key issue in Isaiah 28-35 (and one of the key themes of the entire book of Isaiah) is whether Judah--in particular its leaders--will rely on Egypt or on the Lord in the face of the growing threat posed by the ever-increasing power of Assyria. This is immediately before the account of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in Isaiah 36-37. This invasion was a punitive action taken by Sennacherib in response to a revolt led by Hezekiah (Isa 37:9ff). He had refused to pay any further tribute to Assyria and had annexed the Philistine cities as far south as Gaza which, like Judah, had been part of the Assyrian empire (2 Ki 18:7-8). Chs. 28-35 show how strongly and consistently Isaiah had opposed the foolish counsel of those at court who counseled Hezekiah to rely on Egypt, as the crisis deepened leading up to the events recorded in ch. 36-37. Isaiah 30-31, which stand more or less centrally within the unit (chs. 28-35), are wholly taken up with this issue, as pointedly and succinctly pointed out in Isa 31:1.

The Whole World in His Hands (Isaiah 13-27)

Isaiah 13-27; 13:11; 26:3

"I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty" (Isa 13:11, NLT). "You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You" (Isa 26:3, HCSB).

2 part outline of Isaiah (4+3=7 parts):

1. Judgment (1-39): Assyrian period. God is the Holy One of Israel.
1. The Lord is King (1-12). Prophesies concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2. Lord of the nations (13-27). The whole world in his hand. Prophesies concerning the nations.
3. Human schemes and God's plans (28-35). The source of true deliverance. God pronounces woe on human alliances. The Lord of history.
4. In whom shall we trust? (36-39) Good and bad Hezekiah. Historical interlude.