Isaiah 40:1,28

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God…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? there is no searching of his understanding”

The question “Who is God?” – is most tantalising. It is a vital question because we must know the one whom we serve and worship. Yet it is a profound and mysterious question because God is beyond all of our logic and reason. At the same time, we cannot only know about Him, we cannot only worship and obey Him – we can know Him intimately.

There is a difference. Knowing about God is different from having a personal relationship with Him. Yet one is linked to the other in that we cannot know God in fellowship unless we know something about Him. Yet that knowledge must be joined to faith. By faith we enjoy communion. While true worship is always communion and fellowship with God, there is a lot of ritual and formalism in our church gatherings. There can be, sadly, sound words and great hymns, but at times little fellowship with God..

The question “Who is God?” – therefore includes all of this. The answer must lead us to deeper fellowship, greater surrender and more intimate communion. This is not merely academic. It concerns our devotional and spiritual being.

Therefore this is not only a tantalising question but one that is most vital. It is the question that occupies a lifetime of Christian experience. If the Apostle practically asked this question as he wrote – “That I may know him”(Philippians 3:10) – how much more do we need to ask and keep asking “Who is God”?

The Westminster Divines gave one of the finest human answers ever framed to that question in their Shorter Catechism – “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness justice, goodness and truth.” This definition, however, is drawn from Scripture. There are few passages better at turning our minds to the being of God and what this means to us than Isaiah 40.

The chapter begins with a proposition – “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people”. It concludes with the promise of renewed strength to those who wait upon the Lord — those who look to Him in faith, dependence and prayer:

“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? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

Between these two positions – comfort and renewed strength through prayer – we have one of the greatest responses to the question “Who is God?” that we discover anywhere in Scripture.

The lesson is clear. We are comforted when our spiritual strength and vigour is renewed through prayer. Comfort for the Christian is being renewed in soul and spirit for the work and for the battle that lies ahead. We can become so lethargic, lacklustre, discouraged, disillusioned and disinterested. Our vision needs to be expanded, our enthusiasm must be rekindled and our desire must be sharpened. We need to be strengthened because we live in days when the very best can fail and the strongest can become weak – “Even the youths shall faint and be weary”.

So how do we reach the place where we are strengthened through prayer? By spiritually understanding who our God is. Only God can strengthen us, only He can restore and only He can revive.

We need a vision for God and if we get that vision our faith will grow, our prayers will become more fervent and then we will mount up on wings as eagles.

So “Who is this comforting and soul strengthening God?

THE INVINCIBLE GOD

“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! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him” (Isaiah 40:9-10).

Isaiah, while he lived during the reign of godly King Hezekiah, foresaw the decline of Judah because of apostasy, when only a remnant would be left. As a consequence he also prophesied of the eventual Babylonian captivity and the subsequent return to re-establish the nation when Cyrus was the Persian emperor. Dark and distressing generations lay ahead. In these times the faithful remnant would need the comforting words of Chapter Forty. In days of uncertainty the cry would go up “Behold your God”. Babylon eventually would fall but the flock of Israel would be preserved. They would return to the land to rebuild and re-establish their population and despite the adversity they would succeed.

Their history demonstrates the invincibility of our God. This is the God who has triumphed over sin, death and hell through Christ, and who makes His people ‘more than conquerors’ through Him (Romans 8).

THE INTERESTED GOD

God employs His powers to exercise Himself with gentleness towards His people. The arm that conquers empires carries lambs:

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40:11).

David grasped this picture at an earlier time as he penned the Twenty-Third Psalm. The picture is perfected in Christ, the good and the great Shepherd. HIs compassion, towards towards the weakest and most vulnerable knows no boundaries. If we are to be strong as Christians we must be compassionate, caring, considerate and forgiving. Christian strength is often displayed in qualities which the earthbound mind mistakes for weakness.

THE IMMENSE GOD

“Who 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?…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.” (Isaiah 40:12,15)

The immensity of God teaches us that He is not bounded by space. The whole creation lies open before Him and beneath His sovereign presence. There is nowhere that God is not present. His presence fills all space and dominates the entire world. Therefore the greatest of nations with their power and resources are a very little thing and the great oceans can be held in the palm of His hand.

Man in his foolishness imagines himself master of the world, yet the nations themselves are but a drop of a bucket before God. Secular humanism traces everything back to man but true philosophy stands in awe of God, the First Cause of the Universe and the supreme Governor who is in absolute control.

Truly, when the days are dark and uncertain we can lift up our eyes in response to the call “Behold your God!”.

THE INTELLIGENT GOD

The God who is immense is also intelligent. He is omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (existing everywhere) and omniscient (knowing all things).

“Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?  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? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth” (Isaiah 40:13-14,26)

No-one taught God. There has never been a moment when knowledge came to Him which He did not possess before. He was never sent to school. He never learns what He never before knew. He is the font of all knowledge. Every true discovery uncovers something already known perfectly to God, and every legitimate human capacity for science, medicine and invention ultimately derives from the wisdom He has given. Each branch of learning and science began in His mind. The ability to launch men into space or develop life saving operations is the result of what God already knew and put within the heart of man.

Man is a flawed creature; therefore he misapplies the ability that God has given him. Therefore he fashions that which is destructive with the knowledge which God has given Him. Nevertheless in all of the knowledge and wisdom which humanity demonstrates we observe the unsurpassed genius of God.

Through all of our wilderness wanderings, in our perplexing days and troubled moments when we hardly know where to turn we hear the voice “Behold your God!” – and in that moment we lift up our eyes to one from whom nothing is hid.

Israel in their foolishness questioned God in the tough times – accusing him of not knowing or understanding – “My way is hid from the Lord” (Isaiah 40:27). We are guilty of the same. We become so consumed with our own little world. Let us remember that “there is no searching of his understanding”. He knoweth everything about our lives. What an inspiration to look up and Behold our God!

THE INCOMPARABLE GOD

Isaiah the question, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?”. In posing the question he compares God with the gods of the heathen, portrayed in an idol. Isaiah essentially sets God and pits Him against every false system.

God is not one of the many Hindu gods. He is not the Christless Allah of Islam who coldly calls his followers to submit. He is not the god of Deism who turns His back on the world. He is not the philosophy of western atheism or eastern buddhism. He is not a philosophy at all nor is He an invention. Rather, He is the One who presides over the world as one unique deity. The incomparable God:

“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” (Isaiah 40:21-22)

When we are fearful— behold the Invincible God.

When we are vulnerable — behold the Interested God.

When the mountains of difficulty tower — behold the Immense God.

When we need direction — behold the Intelligent God.

In a world full of idols and substitutes — behold the Incomparable God.

Let us Behold our God and seek Him for strength, strength for each day. Let us be a praying people mounting up on eagles wings, seeking those things that are above – living in fellowship with this God.

"Who has held the oceans in his hands?
Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at his voice
All creation rises to rejoice

Behold our God, seated on his throne
Come, let us adore him
Behold our king, nothing can compare
Come, let us adore him"

https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/behold-our-god-who-has-held-the-oceans/