Merciful Creator (Isa. 40:12–31)
How does Isaiah 40 develop the themes of God’s mercy and power?
Throughout this chapter, God’s mercy and power are interwoven (see
below) and even blended together, because they are both necessary in
order for God to save His people. He wants to save them, because He is merciful; He is able to save them, because He is powerful.
Mercy (Isa. 40:1–5): comfort, coming of the Lord to deliver
Power (Isa. 40:3–8): glory, permanence versus human weakness
Mercy (Isa. 40:9–11): good news of deliverance, Shepherd of His people
Power (Isa. 40:12–26): incomparable Creator
Mercy (Isa. 40:27–31): as Creator, gives power to the faint
Having introduced God’s might in terms of His glory and permanence
(Isa. 40:3–8), Isaiah elaborates on His power and superior wisdom,
which make earth and earthlings appear puny (Isa. 40:12–17). Here
Isaiah’s style, with rhetorical questions and vivid analogies referring
to the earth and its parts, sounds like God’s answer to Job (Job 38–41).
What is the answer to Isaiah’s rhetorical question: “To whom then will you liken God?” (Isa. 40:18, NRSV.)
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For Isaiah, as for Job, the answer goes without saying: no one. God
is incomparable. But Isaiah picks up on his question and refers to the
answer that many ancient people implied by their actions, which is that
God is like an idol (Isa. 40:19, 20).
To this notion Isaiah responds. Already it looks foolish to use an idol
as a likeness of God, but just to be sure people get the point, he elaborates on God’s uniqueness and brings in the unanswerable argument that He is the holy Creator (Isa. 40:21–26).
How does verse 27 reveal the attitude of the people addressed by Isaiah’s message? In what ways are we guilty of having the same attitude?
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The purpose of God’s message is to comfort people who need it! Like
Job, their suffering had made them confused and discouraged concerning
His character.
Look through the verses for today. They talk not only of God’s
mercy and His power but also of the fact that He is the Creator.
Why is this truth so important to understand? How does the
Sabbath, each week, help reinforce this crucial point?