International Sunday School Lesson — February 4, 2024, Lesson 10
Background
Chapter 40 is the beginning of the second section of the book of Isaiah. This section has the prophet seeing over a hundred years from his lifetime to the return of the Jews from Babylon. Isaiah even names Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1) 140 years before he was born. Some have claimed that there is a second Isaiah that wrote the last half of the book; however, there is no internal evidence of that beyond the fact of the miraculous prophecy.
Who Has Weighed the Mountains?
Isaiah 40:12-13 ESV Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? (13) Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?
- Isaiah 48:13-14 NLT It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.” (14) Have any of your idols ever told you this? Come, all of you, and listen: The LORD has chosen Cyrus as his ally. He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon and to destroy the Babylonian armies.
Who can Compare to God?
Isaiah 40:25-26 ESV To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (26) Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
- Colossians 1:15-17 NLT Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, (16) for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. (17) He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
He Gives Power To the Faint
Isaiah 40:27-29 ESV Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? (28) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (29) He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
- Colossians 1:9-11 ESV And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (11) being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
Wings Like Eagles
Isaiah 40:30-31 ESV Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; (31) but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
- Psalms 33:16-19 ESV The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. (17) The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. (18) Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, (19) that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
Concluding Thoughts
Depend on God.
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