"Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength."

1. “Those who wait upon the LORD
will renew their strength.”

5. “They who wait for the LORD shall
renew their strength.”
(Isaiah 40:31 ESV, NRSV; KJV, NKJV)
negative regarding actions?

6. “Those who hope in the LORD will
renew their strength.”
(Isaiah 40:31 NIV, TNIV; GW, CEB)
positive regarding attitude

7. “Those who trust in the LORD will
renew their strength.”
(Isaiah 40:31 CSB; GNT, NCV)
relational

8. “And now, O LORD, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.” (Ps. 39:7)
“I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame . . .
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame.” (Ps. 25:2-3)

9. (qavah)
Expresses a
“hopeful and expectant disposition.”
Psalmists use the word to
“confess that they are leaving everything in
Yahweh’s hands, expect everything from him,
and trust in him alone.”
(Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament XII:571)

10. The word is used the same way
in the book of Isaiah:
“I will wait for the LORD . . .
I will put my trust in him.” (Is. 8:17)
“LORD, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
Our salvation in time of distress.” (Is. 33:2)

11. Isaiah 1-39
Isaiah
40-55
Isaiah
56-66
Before the Babylonian exile
Near the end
of the exile After the exile
“Shape up or ship out!” “God wants to
ship you back in!”
“You’ve shipped back,
now shape up!”
Summary of the Book of Isaiah

13. Map of Babylonian empire © Mark Berry

14. Isaiah 40:1-11 Isaiah 40:12-26 Isaiah 40:27-31
The prophet’s call renewed
The uniqueness and
supremacy of Yahweh
Response to the
exiles’ objections
Opening Oracles of the Second Part of Isaiah

15. to bring God's word of forgiveness and restoration
to the Judean exiles.
(Interpreters have noted some interesting parallels
between this passage and Isaiah's original call to
prophesy.)
First Oracle
The prophet’s call renewed

16. Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.

17. A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the LORD;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

18. A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like
the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”

19. You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

20. See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

21. Map of Babylonian empire © Mark Berry

22. This oracle is reminiscent of Isaiah’s original calling:
• In both cases God is described as the one whose
glory is universal:
The seraphs cry, "The whole earth is full of his
glory."
Here a voice calls, "The glory of the LORD will be
revealed, and all people will see it together."

23. • In both cases there's a search for someone to
bring a message from God.
In Isaiah's vision in the temple, God asks, "Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?"
In this passage, God calls all who can hear to
“comfort my people” in the hopes that someone
will respond.

24. • In each case the message concerns the "cities" or
"towns" of Judah.
Isaiah was told he would prophesy "until the cities
lie ruined."
But the prophet here is told to "speak tenderly to
Jerusalem" and tell the towns of Judah that God
will rescue them.

25. • Both prophets must accept the difficult
assignment of speaking to people who will not be
receptive to their message.
Last week Shane got us to consider what it was like
for Isaiah to accept such an assignment.
This week we see how the prophet is being given a
similarly difficult assignment.

26. • In each case the prophet wonders how he can
speak for God and questions whether the people
will respond.
Isaiah says, “Woe to me! . . . I am a man of unclean
lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips."
The prophet says here, “What shall I cry? All
people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is
like the flowers of the field."

27. • Both prophets are encouraged and strengthened
so they can fulfill the call.
A seraph touches Isaiah's lips with a coal from the
altar.
Here the voice that first echoes God's call for a
representative encourages the prophet to
"Cry out."

28. The Bottom Line:
This first oracle re-introduces
the idea of a calling.
The prophet has a calling to the community;
the community has a calling to the rest of the world.
We “renew our strength”
specifically in the context of our calling from God.

29. And now the LORD says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD
and my God has been my strength—
he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach
to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:5-6)

30. But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel . . .
“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.”
(Isaiah 43:1, 10-11)

31. • This oracle begins by describing God's great power and
wisdom.
• It contrasts these with the insignificance of the nations.
• The idols of the nations are exposed as mere human
fabrications.
• The oracle then celebrates God's power and supremacy
once again.
Second Oracle
The uniqueness and supremacy of Yahweh

32. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?

33. Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.

34. With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.

35. Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

36. He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

37. “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

38. The Bottom Line:
This second oracle shows the exiles
who is calling them to return home:
Someone who has
the authority to command it
and the power to make it happen.
This is what we should recognize about God
as we assume a hopeful and trusting
disposition towards him.
But the exiles still have objections . . .

39. • The exiles are saying, “God has given up on us, and he no
longer cares what happens to us!”
• The prophet answers that God hasn’t given up or grown
tired of trying to help them.
• If they will hope in the Lord, waiting in confidence for him
to act, their strength will be renewed and they’ll dare to go
on the great adventure God is calling them to.
Third Oracle
Response to the exiles’ objections

40. Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

41. Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

42. He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

43. The Bottom Line:
This third oracle assures the exiles
that God has not given up
on them or their calling.
God isn’t tired.
God isn’t tired of them.
God isn’t tired of what he’s called them to do.

44. Anyone who waits upon/hopes in/trusts in
this same God
will take on these same qualities:
You won’t get tired out.
You’ll know that God isn’t tired of you.
You won’t get tired of doing
what God is calling you to do.

51. Waiting upon the LORD =
assuming a certain disposition towards God:
Recognizing how the enterprise he has called you to
is intended to advance his kingdom
and bring him glory; and,
Believing that God hasn’t abandoned it
or you;
Confidently trusting God for everything you need
to fulfill that enterprise.

52. From the hymn For All the Saints:
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare
long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

53. God is glorified when someone is healed.
God is also glorified when someone shows great
courage because of their faith, even though they
continue to be sick.
God is also glorified when a person dies of their
illness if that person's faith enables them to face
death with strength and the hope of being with God
and God’s people forever.

54. For what enterprise do you most need
a renewal of your strength right now?
Do you see how God has called you to
this enterprise to advance his purposes in the world
and bring him glory?

55. What difference would it make to understand,
as the prophet assures the exiles,
that God hasn’t given up on you
or on the enterprise he’s called you to?

56. If you believed that God hadn’t abandoned you,
but was actively interested
in equipping and empowering you,
would this give you renewed strength, energy
and enthusiasm for your task?

57. Believe it!
“Those who wait upon the LORD
will renew their strength.”