Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

Well, over the past several weeks we’ve been getting ready for revival.  We’ve been asking the Lord, as bold as it sounds, to revive our hearts.  We’ve been using this time as we’ve been obeying the stay-at-home orders from the federal government and our state government.  As we’re working our way as a nation through this virus crisis, we’ve been using this as an opportunity to get our hearts right with God and to prepare for a time of revival and even spiritual awakening. Isaiah 40 has been our guidebook.  We’ve been using this chapter to slowly kind of move our way through the process.  And we’ve been learning a lot of things, most importantly that we have a responsibility in preparing for the coming of our God in revival. We have a responsibility to lift up those low places and bring low the high places and straighten out the crooked places and smooth over the rough places.  We have a responsibility through confession and repentance and restitution and to make ourselves open to the ongoing work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit in our lives.  All of that preparing ourselves for revival.  Last week we talked about our important relationship not only to the God of the Word, but to the Word of God. And Isaiah talks about the Word of God that will stand forever.  “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

0:01:51.1

Now in verse 9 through the rest of the chapter…and we’ll go through verse 26 today…we’re getting ready for the coming of our God.  Keep in mind that this has both personal and prophetic implications.  The prophetic implication is that this chapter, and especially verses 9-26, picture the coming of Jesus.  Remember, it was John the Baptist who said, “I am that voice of one crying in wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord.”  And he called people to repentance and to confession and to get right with God even as Jesus was coming upon the scene.  So, there is great prophet picture here.  And we can go all the way into the time of Jesus and see Jesus as the king who is coming, the God who is coming.  But there are also just personal implications for us to.  That when we get ready for revival and our God comes, what kind of God is He?  The picture of our God in Isaiah 40:9-26 is breathtaking.

0:02:57.5

Here is the big idea that I want to leave with you and just kind of put in your minds as we get ready to tackle the rest of this chapter.  Revival opens our eyes to see Jesus more clearly and to proclaim Him more boldly.  Let me say that again.  Revival opens up our eyes to see Jesus more clearly.  We’re going to see Jesus more clearly through the coming of our God in Isaiah 40.  But it also prepares us to proclaim him more boldly.  And I think this is what Isaiah has in mind in verse 9 when he says, “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’”  Or as another translation says, “Your God is coming.”  Listen to what Isaiah is telling us to do here.  He is telling us to lift up our voice, to be the voice that says, “Good news is coming.  Our God is coming.”

0:04:03.7

I think of a time when our kids were younger when we used to say to them on occasion, “Use your inside voice.”  You know, we might be inside somewhere, and it was a time we’d go “shh.”  But they were using their outside voice, and we told them to use their inside voice.  No, here what Isaiah is telling us is this is no time for an inside voice.  “This is a time, given the good news that is coming that you, O Zion and O Jerusalem, you are to be the herald of good news.  This is not a time for your inside voice, but your outside voice.  Shout it from the mountaintops,” he says.  This is where we get that great Christmas hymn “Go Tell It On The Mountain.”  Isaiah says, “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength…your God is coming.”

0:04:52.4

And with that in mind, we get a picture of our God who is coming to revive us and to renew us.  And even a picture of Jesus who came 2000 years ago.  There are eight pictures, eight ways in which God is coming to revive us.  Again, a lot of ground to cover this morning, but let’s get after it.  And take some notes along the way.

0:05:17.6

Number one, your God is coming in strength.  Look at it in verse 10.  Isaiah says, “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.”  In just a very simple way, Isaiah is saying to us that our God is strong.  He is mighty.  We might even say He is muscular.  He “comes with might, and his arm rules for him.”  You ever seen that emoji, the strong-arm emoji? Have you ever used one of those?  Maybe you’ve used an emoji with a smiley face or a frowny face or a concerned face.  There is also that emoji that’s a strong arm.  If Jesus were physically with us today and He were using the technology of our day, it would be right for Him to use the strong-arm emoji because our God is strong.  He is mighty.  His arm rules for Him.

0:06:10.9

Think of it this way.  When God is at His weakest, His weakness is stronger than man’s greatness.  Our God is a strong God. He is a mighty God.  He rules with a strong arm.  But when He is at His weakest, He is still stronger than man’s greatest strength.  Think of two examples.  Bethlehem.  Think of that little baby Jesus, vulnerable, weak as an infant is, lying in the manger.  And yet the news of His birth spoke fear into the heart of a king named Herod.  God at His weakest was stronger than man at his strongest.  Or think of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Physically speaking and humanly speaking He looked weak and vulnerable on the cross as they drove the nails into His hands and into His side.  But God at His weakest there on the cross was stronger than man at his strongest.  And this is why the cross of Christ is known as the power of God unto salvation.

0:07:19.4

The apostle Paul had to become comfortable with his own strengths and weaknesses.  He talked in his second letter to the Corinthians about this thorn in the flesh that he had.  And he writes, “But God said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.  My power is made perfect in your weakness, Paul.’”  Paul goes on to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

0:07:47.1

When we think about God coming in strength, it reminds me of my own strengths and weaknesses.  That’s one of those questions I never liked very much in an interview situation where somebody asks me, “Hey, what are your strengths or your weaknesses?”  I always love to ask the question of somebody else, because what you’re looking for as an interviewer is does this person have some sense of self-awareness of his or her own strengths and weaknesses.  Do you know what your weakness is?  This is important as you relate to the strength of God in His coming, this mighty God, this God with a strong arm.  He is able to do more through your weaknesses than you can do on your own through your greatest strength.  So, what is your weakness?  For Superman, it was kryptonite.  What’s your kryptonite?  What is your weakness?  And understand that this God who is coming in strength can do more through your weakness than you or I can do through our own greatest strength.

0:08:49.3

Secondly, not only is your God coming in strength, but He is also coming with generosity.  Now, let’s go back to Isaiah 40 and the latter part of verse 10, where it says, “Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”  We go from the picture of a God who is coming in strength and might and power now to a God who is coming with a reward, with generosity.  The Bible tells us that God is a rewarder by nature.  He loves to reward people. In fact, He’s got a better reward program than any hotel or airline reward program that you or I may be a part of.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe,” listen to this, “must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  Even the writer of Hebrews and the great hall of faith there is talking about God who is a rewarder.  He is generous that way.  Hebrews 11 goes on to say in verse 24 about Moses.  That “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,”—now, here it is—"for he [that is, Moses] was looking to the reward.”  Why did Moses put up with such difficulty in his life?  Because he knew he was serving a God who was a rewarder.

0:10:35.2

Even Abraham in Genesis 15:1, during a time that we might describe as a dark night of the soul for Abraham…he had left the Ur of the Chaldees.  He was sort of wandering in faith.  And the Lord says to him, “Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield.  Your reward shall be great.”  And He took Abraham outside to look at the stars of the heavens and to imagine his seed and his family to come through all of that.  One more.  Revelation 22:12, Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompence [or my reward] with Me.”

0:11:19.4

Again, God is a rewarder by nature. This God who is coming is not only coming in strength and in might, but He’s coming with generosity.  He is the most generous being in the universe.  And you know what this means for you and for me?  It may change the way we view the God of the Bible as somebody who wants something from us…and I know a lot of people have that view of God- that He just wants something from me, and He’s always after my money or something like that.  No, the God of the Bible is a rewarder and a generous person by nature.  And He doesn’t want something from us.  He actually has something for us.  He has an eternal reward through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  And the reason He is so generous is because He is perfectly self-sufficient.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and that puts Him in the perfect position to act generously toward us.

0:12:17.8

So, I ask you this question as you get ready for revival and you wait for this God who is coming with generosity.  Are you a generous person?  Are you a giver or a taker?  Are you generous or stingy?  Do you see yourself as a steward of all that God has entrusted to you or as an owner that says, “Get your gets off my stuff”?  You see, friends, we are never more like God than when we give and do so in response to His generosity and grace toward us.

0:12:47.1

This God who is coming—mark it down—is coming in strength.  He’s coming with generosity.  But thirdly, He’s coming in tenderness.  Let’s go back to Isaiah 40, this time verse 11 where Isaiah goes on to say, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”  What a great description of our God.

0:13:17.0

One of the most enduring pictures of God in the Bible is that of a good shepherd.  And this kind of reinforces that imagery.  There is a reason that Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved texts of scripture found anywhere in the Bible, because it speaks of the Lord who is my shepherd.  David begins with those words, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  And I love how he personalizes that.  He says, “He is my shepherd.”  Friend, can you say that?  Can you say that the God of the Bible, this God who comes in strength, this God who comes with generosity, and this God who also comes in tenderness, that He is your shepherd, your personal shepherd?  You have a personal relationship with the God of the Bible who presents Himself as a gentle and tender shepherd.

0:14:15.6

Jesus even declared in John 10…he said, “I am the good shepherd.”  It was one of seven “I am” declarations that He made.  And actually, two of the seven have to do with this shepherding imagery.  He said not only, “I am the good shepherd,” but He also said, “I am the door of the sheep.”  The tenderness, the gentleness of a good and kind shepherd, this is the God who is coming to us.

0:14:44.4

It kind of reminds me a book that I have in my library written by a pastor and a former Army Ranger named Stu Weber.  He wrote a book to men called Tender Warrior.  And what a interesting oxymoron that is a tender warrior.  We don’t usually think of a warrior…and, again, Stu Weber was a former Army Ranger.  We don’t think of a tough guy like that also having a tender side.  But this strong arm of God, this mighty God, this God who comes in strength and generosity also has this tender side to Him.  He can be tough.  Oh, He can be tough if He need be. But He’s a tender God.  And that shouldn’t surprise us in the flow of things here, because we see the strong and mighty arm of God, but He comes with tenderness.  What a beautiful picture when you see a strong man, a guy with big muscles and strength beyond human imagination, tenderly cuddling a little baby.  That’s the picture here of our good shepherd.  I love that Jesus ransacks the temple full of moneychangers and doing so in righteous anger.  But I love even more the Jesus who leads us, we His sheep, like a good shepherd and a gentle shepherd.

0:16:12.6

This is the God who is coming, who is coming to revive us- a God who is coming in strength, a God who is coming with generosity, a God who is coming in tenderness.  Fourthly, your God is coming in bigness.  Yeah, bigness.  Let’s go to Isaiah 40 again, now in verse 12.  Let’s read on.  And here Isaiah presents us with a picture of God with some rhetorical questions.  “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?”  What great questions here.  Who among us has done this?  And what he is describing here is a God who is big, a God who is vast, who is great in size or proportion.  He is huge.  He’s immense.  He’s enormous. He’s boundless in His expanse. Who is this big God who can do these big things?

0:17:19.0

I think of the ocean.  One of the reasons I love living here in Virginia Beach and living near the ocean is because, for me, every time I go to the ocean, I just see this huge expanse of water. And it reminds me of the hugeness and the vastness and the bigness of God.  Years ago, Cathryn and I took the kids on a vacation, and we went to the Grand Canyon.  And I learned up close and personal as to why it’s called the Grand Canyon, because it’s huge.  There is nothing like it on planet earth.  It’s a massive expanse, this Grand Canyon is.  Add to that the universe with billions of stars and billions and billions of galaxies.  I mean, beyond our human imagination is the largeness and the expanse and the bigness of the universe.  One more image came to my mind, as crazy as it sounds.  God is so big.  Yeah, He’s big like a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  You remember those floats where all of the images and all of the personal characteristics—the hands, the feet, the face—it’s just enlarged.  God is big in that way.I think of children’s church where there’s a song we love to sing with the kids called “Big House.”  My Father’s house is a “big, big house with lots and lots of rooms.” Yeah, it has lots and lots of rooms because He’s a big, big God, and He needs lots and lots of room and lots and lots of room for His kids.

0:18:49.9

You say, “Okay, Pastor.  I get it.  God is big. So what?”  Well, let’s go back to Isaiah 40 a little bit before we answer that question and just (0:19:00.1) see how Isaiah describes how God is big.  He says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hands.”  In other words, God is so big that He can scoop up the oceans in the palm of His hand.  “And marked off the heavens with a span.”  What is a span?  Well, it’s the distance measured by the human hand.  Isaiah is saying God is so big that He can measure the universe just with His hand.  And then he goes on to say, “Who is this who enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure.”  Imagine God is so big that He can walk into His kitchen and grab a measuring cup and just scoop up the dust of the earth.  He’s that big.  “And weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.”  Think of God as just grabbing Mount Everest and putting it on top of His bathroom scale and seeing how much it weighs.

0:19:52.2

Isaiah is using powerful imagery here to describe this God who is big.  Again, the question is, so what?  (0:20:00.0) How does it change my life that God is so big?  Well, let me just answer it with this.  This is some good news.  God is bigger than any problem you’re facing, friend.  That’s the point of all this.  Your God is coming.  He’s coming to revive, and we might even say He’s coming to rescue.  Because I know you’ve got some problems, especially during this worldwide global pandemic that has been brought upon us.  You’ve got some problems you’re dealing with now that maybe you didn’t have before.  Or maybe the problems you had before are just that much bigger because of the global pandemic.  But here is the good news about the God who is coming.  Here is why we need to get ready for revival in all the ways that we’ve talked about.  Because this God who is coming is coming in bigness.  He’s bigger than any problem you or I have.  That means He’s bigger than cancer.  He’s bigger than unemployment.  He’s bigger than financial ruin.  He’s bigger than your marital problems.  And I know those seem so enormous right now.  Maybe even larger now because you’re all stuck together in a house.  But God is bigger than that.  I know somebody wants me to say this, so I’m just going to say it. God is bigger than the coronavirus.  Somebody shout, “Amen,” and somebody shout, “Hallelujah,” because He is bigger than all of that.

0:21:26.7

All right.  I’ve got to move on.  God is coming in strength and with generosity, in tenderness, in bigness.  Number five, your God is coming in wisdom.  Let’s read on now in verses 13 and 14 in Isaiah 40.  Again, Isaiah asks some rhetorical questions.  “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?  Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?  Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?”  What Isaiah is saying is that nobody taught God.  This God who is coming is coming in complete and perfect wisdom and knowledge.  Nobody taught God.  He seeks no outside counsel.  He is His own counsel.  He has perfect and complete knowledge about everything, plus the wisdom to skillfully put His knowledge to good use.  He is a God who comes in wisdom.

0:22:35.7

I think forward prophetically to the time that Jesus was here.  You know, when you read through the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—we don’t have but a little glimpse into the childhood of Jesus.  And Luke 2 gives us one of those little glimpses.  Remember, Mary and Joseph and now the boy Jesus were in Jerusalem celebrating some of the Jewish festivals.  And back then they traveled in caravans.  And as the caravan was leaving Jerusalem…well, about a day, maybe two days into the journey home, Mary and Joseph looked around, wondering where Jesus was. They forgot Jesus.  They left Him back in Jerusalem.  And so, I’m sure with a lot of panic in their heart, they hightailed it back to Jerusalem.  They searched for Him everywhere they could go.  They found Him in the temple.  Remember the story in Luke 2?  And they found Jesus sitting there with the teachers in the temple, and those religious teachers were astounded by His wisdom.  Luke 2:47 says, “And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  And Jesus was only twelve years old.”  Wisdom, divine wisdom had arrived.  And the wise teachers of the law got a little taste of that up close and personal.  A couple verses later it says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom.”

0:24:07.6

You read on in Matthew’s Gospel to that section of scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7.  And it tells us in Matthew 7:28-29 as Jesus was wrapping up that famous Sermon on the Mount, it says, “When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.”  In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he picks up on the wisdom of Jesus.  He says of Jesus, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, counsel, and knowledge.”

0:24:48.0

Again, Isaiah says, in effect, nobody taught God anything.  He seeks nobody’s counsel.  He is His own counsel.  He has perfect and complete knowledge about everything, plus the wisdom—that is, the skill—to put His knowledge into practice.  This is the God of the Bible.  No wonder Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians in chapter 1, “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.”  He goes on to say in verse 30, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let no one boast who boasts in the Lord.’”  That’s important for us to remember.  As we get ready for this God who is coming in wisdom, now is not the time to be boasting in our own education or experience, thinking that we are so wise.

0:25:54.5

I remember years ago when we moved to the Washington, D.C. area, and we served a church there and ministry there for almost 10 years. I remember when I first came, people told me that the largest concentration of Ph.D.’s anywhere in our country is right there in Washington, D.C.  The most educated people in our world and in our country go to the nation’s capital to get involved in the governing and the leading of our country.  I have three advanced degrees, but it was nothing compared to the people that I would run into in Washington, D.C.  It was like alphabet soup after their name with all of the degrees that they had.  Well, compared to the wisdom and knowledge of God, it’s kindergarten knowledge, man’s wisdom is.

0:26:42.1

And so, don’t boast in your own education.  Don’t boast in your own wisdom.  No, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.  If I could say it another way, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.  The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.  And that’s why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is to us who are being saved the power of God.”

0:27:14.2

Number six, your God is coming as sovereign.  Sovereign.  Let’s go back to Isaiah 40, now beginning in verse 15.  “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,” Isaiah says, “and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.”  This is a very eloquent way for Isaiah to simply say God is sovereign over the nations of the world.  This God who is coming, He is coming in strength and with generosity and in tenderness and in bigness and in wisdom.  But He is also coming as the sovereign of the universe.

0:28:11.7

Now, nothing stretches the human mind more than to think about the sovereignty of God.  What do we mean by the sovereignty of God?  Very simply, to say that God is sovereign is to say that God is in control of all that happens in the worlds that He created.  Closely related to sovereignty are the power and authority to exercise one’s sovereignty.  God is truly sovereign because He also possesses all power and all authority at the same time.  He rules over the nations of the earth, putting in this president or this prime minister or this leader for His own purposes.  We don’t always understand those purposes.  We see through a glass darkly.  But the sovereign God of the universe rules over the nations of the earth.

0:29:02.9

Let’s think about it.  Compare God’s absolute sovereignty, for instance, to the Queen of England who…did you know she is called the Sovereign because she is head of state in Britain’s constitutional monarchy?  Queen Elizabeth right now is known as the Sovereign.  She may be called the Sovereign, but she does not possess all power and all authority.  The ability to pass legislation, for example, resides with the elected parliament.  But only God is absolutely sovereign.  In fact, He reigns sovereign over the Queen of England, if I could say that and still be friends with the Brits.

0:29:42.5

You say again, “So what, Pastor?”  God is sovereign.  He is coming in sovereignty.  Well, let me just suggest a few things as it relates to your life and my life, because we’re getting ready for revival.  We’re asking God to revive us.  We’re asking Him to come.  And as He comes as the sovereign of the universe, let’s remember this.  Because He is sovereign, nothing will hinder His purposes.  Nothing will stop Him from keeping His promises.  Nothing will stop Him from fulfilling His prophecies.  And one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  No wonder we need to get ready for revival, because this God who is coming is the sovereign of the world.

0:30:28.5

Number seven, your God is coming as matchless.  Not only as sovereign, but as the matchless one.  Let’s pick it up in verse 18.  “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.”  It makes sense at this point in the flow of Isaiah 40, given the greatness of our God, this God who is coming, for Isaiah to ask the question, who compares to Him?  You want to compare an idol that man crafted out of things that were created, like gold and silver or even wood?  And you want that idol to be on the same plane as the one true God, the sovereign of the universe?  He scoffs at that.  He laughs at that.  There is no one or nothing like our God.  He cannot be compared to anyone or anything.  He is in a category all by himself.

0:31:44.0

Now, the world is full of copycats and imitators.  Very few inventors.  But even those who do invent things have to reach into matter that was already created.  When God created. He created out of nothing.  When even the most creative people in our world today invent something, they have to reach for that which is already created.  But there are very few inventors.  Most of us in this world are copycats and imitators.  But God is the original original.  And yet He is without origin because He is eternal.  He is the matchless maker of heaven and earth.  And even just saying that just stretches my brain a little bit to the point where it hurts.

0:32:24.5

Think of it this way.  For us to relate to God, He had to become a man like us, not we like Him.  He came from heaven to earth to relate to you and me.  And yet, instead of looking to Jesus, so often we craft idols made of things created by Him.  And we try to relate to God in that way.  How foolish of us to do that.  He is the matchless one.  He is the original original.  He is in a category all to Himself, and there is no one like Him.  Psalm 113:5 says, “Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth.”  The question that Isaiah begs here is if God is the matches one, then why would we worship anything or anyone else?

0:33:21.7

And finally…are you still with me?  I know this is a lot of ground to cover, but it’s good ground, isn't it?  Finally, your God is coming as creator.  Not only as a sovereign and as the matchless one, but as creator.  Let’s pick it up in verse 21.  “Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.  To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see:”—now, here it is—"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.”  What eloquent words from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah to describe a God who is so great, who is so powerful, this creator God who comes and who creates the universe and the worlds that we live in.  “Who created these?” he said.

0:34:58.1

That’s not the question that so many people are asking today.  Oftentimes the question is, how did this happen by chance and happenstance?  No, the question is, who created these?  You and I should look at the world around us in anticipation of this God who is coming and ask the question, the reasonable question, who created these?  Who created us?

0:35:25.2

Colossians 1:16, Paul says of Jesus, “For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.”  What an all-encompassing statement even as Genesis 1 echoes all the way through the Bible, even into the book of Colossians.  I think of Jesus who came, and the first miracle He performed was a creation miracle when He turned the water into wine. I like to think of it as sort of a wink and a nod to, “Hey, your creator has arrived.  Here’s one sign, a sign miracle that your God has come.  Your creator has arrived.”

0:36:16.7

Because our God is coming in strength and generosity and tenderness and bigness and wisdom, because He is coming as the matchless one, the sovereign creator, for all of these reasons, friends, it’s time for us to get ready for revival.  It’s time to prepare ourselves, to get our hearts right with Him.  Yes, to lift up those low places through confession, to bring low the high places through repentance, to straighten out the crooked places through restitution, and to smooth over those rough places with the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit as He sanctifies us.  Friend, we must get ready for His coming by recommitting ourselves even to the Word of God that stands forever as much as we commit ourselves to the God of the Word.  And when we do, when revival comes… and the rest of chapter 40 says this, when our God comes and revives us, restores us…when He comes, then we’re ready to fly like an eagle.

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