Our Text today …

“8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. 9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. 10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:8-14

I have prayerfully chosen these verses because they so clearly illustrate God’s Idea of “comfort!”

Do remember the opening verse of Isiah’s last Section, of chapters 40-66. “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” Isaiah 40:1

Watch God (the Great Comforter) at work!

He begins by calling Israel some “special” names! Depicting what the little Nation means to Him, to Almighty God.

“My servant!” (Several times in this vast Prophecy Israel is declared to be God’s “servant.” Then at other times “Jesus the coming Messiah” is God’s Isaianic Servant!)

Then Israel is called God’s “Chosen!” His chosen people, his chosen nation, all those Jews were. Chosen as a group, anyone born of a Jewish womb. (This is not God choosing one man to go to Heaven and another to go to Hell. Just like the “Church” is chosen to be God’s Bride, with admittance to the Bride being based on “whosoever will” … so “Israel” is chosen “en masse,” a corporate calling.)

Next Israel is designated the “seed” of Abraham, placing the little nation under the “umbrella of blessing” promised in Genesis 12:1-3.

And just maybe God is too calling Israel his “friend!” (Though grammatically “friend” could be describing Abraham, rather than the whole nation. But just perhaps the “friend of God” named Abraham has taught his children right … they thereby becoming God’s “friends” as well.)

Wow, these “terms of endearment,” very comforting! (God calls us a lot of sweet names in the New Testament, too, my dear saved brothers and sisters.)

Then next, God uses three “Fear not” sayings in this short Passage. I am sure you noticed them as you read the Unit, the Text for today.

One … “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10, “I can’t even walk without holding His hand!”

Two … (when an enemy comes, or trouble of any kind) “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” Isaiah 41:13

Three … “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 41:14, lots of modern commentators have “trouble” with God calling Israel a “worm!” (But the word is “tola” … the little worm, when crushed, makes deep red “dye” to indelibly color the High Priest’s garments! A picture/symbol of the Blood of Jesus and the Cross of Calvary I suspect!)

Wow!

Jesus also … from the Cross, quoting Psalm 22 … calls Himself a “worm” as well. At least many of us believe Jesus meditated through Psalm 22 as He died that day. “But I am a worm (tola), and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Verse 6 of that 22nd Psalm.

God the Comforter … pretty good at it, isn’t He?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Hallelujah!

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Isaiah the Prophet has already forecast the coming Babylonian Captivity. Way back during the reign of King Hezekiah … Isaiah 39:5-7. (I hope you remember! We studied this last week.) “Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to BABYLON: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of BABYLON.” This was spoken over a hundred years before the events transpired!

Now in today’s Text (Isaiah 41:1-7) God foretells the coming of a King who will overthrow Babylon! So we are now pushing two hundred years … history being foretold that far in advance! This King’s name is Cyrus, who is not specifically mentioned until later in Isaiah.

In verse 1 God “challenges” the nations/islands of the earth. The words are framed in legal terms, like a “lawsuit!” GOD IS IN CONTROL OF HIS WHOLE WORLD, BOTH PHYSICALLY AND POLITICALLY! “Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.”

God Almighty next “calls” Cyrus (a heathen king, mind you) to his task. Places him in position to eventually topple Babylon! “Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely.” Isaiah 41:2-3, “righteous” in the sense of being used by God. A “war machine” indeed.

Then comes verse 4, one of several in Isaiah where God calls Himself by a specific Term/Title. “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.” Wow!

Did you “get” that?

God is “I AM!”

God is “the FIRST and the LAST!”

He is, indeed!

This coming King ((Cyrus) is so powerful the earth panics! “The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.” Verse 5 of our Text!

So what do they do, in self-defense?

They foolishly build more idols! To protect them from any Persian (King Cyrus’ Land) aggression!

“They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.” Isaiah 41:6-7

Literally, they are constructing their own gods and goddesses! Carpenters and goldsmiths! Hammering and sodering!

The “import” of today’s Lesson is (once again) the unparalleled, unexceeded Power of our great God!

This is Psalm 75:6-7 in action … “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But GOD is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

And why the Persians? Why Cyrus? Why this specific time?

They toppled Babylon so that the Jews could go “home” (from captivity there) 70 years after they were enslaved and deported!

God’s “Machine” always operates right on time.

Oh yes, He is sovereign! He is King! He is Lord!

And (by the way) He is STILL in control today!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Would you read once again our chapter, please?

Did you “hear” John the Baptist preaching in that Text, Isaiah chapter 40? He is there prophesied 700 years before he was born! “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Verse 3 (Remember Luke 3:2-4? “The word of God came unto JOHN the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, PREACHING the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”)

Wow, the miracle of Bible prophecy!

And what about verse 8? “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever.” How many times is that repeated in the New Testament, one way or another? (Jesus in Matthew 5:18 … “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Or Jesus again in Mark 13:31 … “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”) Was our Lord a student of Isaiah, or not? Make that Student, with a capital.

Now let’s look at a whole Paragraph, verse 12-18 … “Who (the Lord) hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?” Beautiful, I “hunger” to preach that Text right now! Sublime it is!

Did you notice? The nations combined are simply “a drop in the bucket” to our great God! (Take that, you UN rebels!) UN meaning the United Nations, so called.

Then after a brief Section mocking “idols” and false worship … Isaiah continues his Paean of Praise …

“Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” Verses 21-23, the great Creator, ruling everything from Heaven!

Wax on, Almighty Saviour … “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” Verse 25 … I am about to shout! He is Superior, Sovereign, Above all!

And He never tires! “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, FAINTETH NOT, NEITHER IS WEARY?” Verse 28, Omnipotent, Faithful, Immutable!

“Things I didn’t say,” what was I thinking!

One of the GREAT chapters of Scripture … Isaiah 40. Oh, surely now, you will want to read it again!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I need to hear from someone today. (Text me, it’s instant … 770-844-7627.) Was this series of thoughts enlightening, encouraging, a blessing? If so, adore HIM from the depths of your heart.

As you read this I will be driving to a Revival in Gastonia, North Carolina. Pray for me please as I travel.

Thanks.

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It seems like (in any leaning situation) the teacher gleans more knowledge than even the students! In the case of the Website here … the readers, you dear readers.

Well, last night as I prepared for today’s Lesson … I learned how dramatically marked the difference really is between Isaiah chapter 39 and Isaiah chapter 40.

Let me show you.

Isaiah 39:5-7 (the chapter only has 8 verses) relates: “Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. “

The Wrath of God!

Then, without any chapters divisions in the original Isaiah Scroll, immediately God says (Isaiah 40:1) … “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.”

The Grace of God!

Wow!

This too … the Judgment Verses are spoken by one person, the verbs being singular.

But the Comfort Verses are spoken by several persons! Those verb bring plural!

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20, triple Grace instead of singular judgment!

One voice of condemnation, though inspired and truthful.

Three voices (maybe Voices) of comfort, keeping consonant with the manifold Mercy of our great God!

Three voices, Brother Bagwell?

Isaiah 40:3 … “The VOICE of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Jesus is coming!

Isaiah 40:6-8 … “The VOICE said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” The eternal Word of God!

Then Isaiah 40:9 … O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy VOICE with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”

Triple Grace!

Triple Comfort!

Triple Love!

From our Triune God!

Wow again.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I am getting excited about our Isaiah “Class,” more than ever!

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There has been a lot said about the NATIONS of the world, going all the way back to Isaiah chapter 13. (I never realized what an International Prophet this great man of God really was.) Of course, a sizeable amount of that Material concerns Judah and Jerusalem, the “home front” for Isaiah.

And even the way Chapter 39 ends, with a “focus” on Babylon, is quite significant. (Babylon, the NEXT NATION that will try to dominate (persecute, if not annihilate) Judah.

Remember, he (Isaiah) ministered under the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. After which the leadership quality in that little Land deteriorated rapidly. With King Josiah being the only significant “bright spot.” All the others being dismal failures. Yes, Manasseh (who reigned 55 years) finally repented, but it was nearly a case of “too little, too late.”

In other words, Judah is heading toward National Calamity. The “Babylonian Captivity,” to be exact.

Yet in all those decades of chaos, Isaiah chapters 40-66 promise “better days” ahead, in the distant future anyway, for Judah. For Israel really, the whole Nation!

This is one reason Isaiah is often called the “Evangelist” among the Old Testament Prophets. He says a lot (at times in Type and Symbol and then at times by Direct Inference then actually by Name) about Jesus!

All I am saying today is that Isaiah chapters 40 onward should be the most exciting part of the book.

In fact, look at the opening words of chapter 40, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” Verses 1 and 2, thrilling!

What a change of pace!

The Lord willing, we shall begin this fairly long (but equally profitable) journey tomorrow morning. Twenty-seven more chapters!

Let’s all be willing learners!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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