40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Isaiah 40:9-31 (Episode 480)

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

The preacher says not to be afraid but rather look to God. The nations and their idols are nothing to God. And when you are weary and faint, the Lord shows up. Have a listen. Show Notes: Support 1517 Podcast Network 1517 Podcasts 1517 on Youtube 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 Events Schedule 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education What's New from 1517: Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of Psalms by Chad Bird Remembering Your Baptism: A 40-Day Devotional by Kathryn Morales Sinner Saint by Luke Kjolhaug The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction by Donavan Riley More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. 40 Minutes in the Old Testament is a 1517 Podcast Network podcast. You can go to 1517.org slash podcast. Check out all of the podcasts that are living over there. And while you're over there, make sure you check out everything else that 1517 is doing. Books, articles, events, academies, all that stuff. Check it all out. And then while you're checking all that out, of course, go to the Donate link in the right-hand corner to help make all this stuff free.

That's how it continues to be free. So you can become a contributor that way. And if you've already done that, we thank you very much because, of course, that support is what makes it all possible. Chad, we are in Isaiah chapter 40. We got through the first eight verses. I mean, we got through more than that. We got through an entire other chapter that was only eight verses long. But we did get through it.

But we stopped at 40 verse 8. And, you know, we had a little excursion on John the Baptist because the first part of Isaiah 40 is about John the Baptist. I mean, it's telling you that he's coming at some point. And it tells you what kind of words he's going to be saying. And we ended with this great line where, you know, it says, Hey, you and me, we're a little bit like the grass. Here today, gone tomorrow.

We're not going to last forever. But you know what is going to last forever? The word of the Lord. Yeah, a great way to end. And we'll hear more about this word of the Lord in the passages that are coming up now, verse 9, because we're going to hear something about preaching. In fact, it's not just preaching in general, generic proclamation, but the preaching of some good news.

So we left behind, last episode, that historical section with chapter 39, and we launched into Isaiah 40, which, as you pointed out, has some great stuff in there about comfort, about John the Baptist, about the Word of the Lord. And now, picking up with that same thing, we're going to see what verse 9 has to say to us. I'll read 9 through 11. Come 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.

So quite the invitation. So Zion, Jerusalem is pictured here as a preacher, a gospel preacher, herald of good news. So the root behind good news is basar. It often is connected to a military, so a news of a military victory. So good news, we won, basically. So here Zion and Jerusalem are, they're evangelists, military evangelists, we might say, because they're coming up with a good news proclamation of a victory, which God has accomplished.

And they're going to make sure that everybody hears this because they're going to find the highest pulpit they can on a high mountain. And they're going to shout. They're going to lift up their voices. And here's what they're going to say to the cities of Judah. Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him and then we switch you know you think

we would kind of continue with this powerful mighty almost militaristic kind of feel but there's a switch to a more tender image verse 11 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. It is a switch of an image, but keep in mind too that in the ancient world, one of the images that were used for a king is a shepherd, not just in Israel, but in other cultures as well. That's why, for instance, if you look at pictures of the pharaohs, one of the emblems of their kingship is a shepherd's crook. You'll see this even on King Tut's golden coffin. You have that image of a shepherd's crook because even in egypt there really was understood to be a shepherd of

his people and that was true for israel as well so here the king comes the lord god is showing up and he's he's got his reward and his recompense and this this isn't like i'm here to to pay you off i'm going to reward you for being such good people this is like what he's earned his reward his recompense, what he's accomplished. And he's going to give that to you, and in doing so he's going to be basically a good shepherd and take care of his flock. I do like that you have this explicit good news thing. So hey, I need you to be a preacher, not just like a preacher of any old news. Not even a preacher of the law, in this case, but a preacher of the gospel. This is what I need you to do i need to preach the gospel uh and what does that gospel sound like well one of the first

things the gospel always sounds like is don't be afraid right i mean this jesus does this all the time i mean i mean constantly like he actually there's literally nothing he says more uh like you can go do the math if you want like doesn't he says nothing more than some version of fear not don't be afraid that this is he's always doing this so uh this does sound like jesus uh by the saying that like hey don't be afraid and then like why not be afraid look at your god here he comes right this is great that's that's good preaching yeah that's very good preaching and to to build on what we talked about in our previous episode with john the baptist preparing the way of yahweh and he's preparing the way for jesus so therefore jesus is yahweh same thing here so what is the

proclamation look there's your god the lord god he is coming with might and his arm is ruling and he's got it's rewarding his recompense and how how are you going to recognize your god he's gonna be a shepherd he's going to gather his lambs he's going to carry them in his bosom he's going to gently lead those who are with young well i mean if that doesn't remind you of jesus i don't i I don't know what will. This is him showing up. You know what this reminds me of? So at first it's like, don't be afraid.

Look at your God. And then you look and it's like, wow, that's a lot of might. And he's got some real powerful arms. And so you're like, that's, you know, maybe not the most comforting thing in the world. You're like, it seems pretty powerful. And then he does this, you know, hey, but he's a shepherd. this reminds me of uh you know when uh when mr and mrs beaver tell lucy about aslan and they're like yeah he's a lion and they're like oh well that's i i don't i don't know if i was prepared

for to meet a lion actually no i didn't know that's what you were talking about and uh and there's the classic c.s lewis line he's like okay well is he safe and they're like uh no Safe? No. He is definitely not safe, but he is good. He's the king, I tell you. So this is what this sounds like. It's like, oh, you look.

You're like, hey, don't be afraid. Look at your God. Then you look, and you're like, that doesn't look safe. There's a lion coming. You're like, yeah, it's not safe, but don't worry. It is good, which is better than safe. Better, much better than safe, yeah. Yeah, idols are safe.

At least we think they are. Yeah, they're actually toxic. But yeah, God doesn't seem safe when you first run into him, but he is. But he's good. He's not safe, but he's good. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great way to kind of sum up these verses. And we have a further description of this God who isn't safe, but good.

He's all-powerful in the verses that follow. So we're going to hear really beginning with verse 12 through, this is a long chapter, uh 31 31 verses so really 12 through 31 forms a unit where we're going to hear a lot about creation the creator part of that creation creation how he how he makes everything and then the the foil of that is going to be not just humanity we've already heard about all how all people are grass but also the things that humanity likes to make and those things that humanity likes to make are idols. So no gods. So that's kind of the general theme that we're going to see beginning here in, in verse 12. So it's good. It's kind of a one, the, the commentator I like,

Alec Mateer refers to these verses as quote, one of the central Old Testament passages on the doctrine of creation. So some, some good stuff that's coming up here. So let me read, and I'll start with 12 and I'll maybe do three or four verses. 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?

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? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are recounted as dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice.

And we know what's in Lebanon, right, Dan? A lot of cedars, right? A lot of timber. A lot of timber. So, I mean, just even apart from anything that we might say about that, just listening to those verses, it becomes abundantly clear that here we have a sharp contrast set up between God and everything that's not God. So there's a real Job quality to this.

That's what I was thinking when I was reading that, yeah. God does this a lot. Like, there's not, like, an answer to this question, by the way. Like, this is, like, a rhetorical question. Whenever God does this, he's like, hey, you know, it's over Job. It's, hey, where were you when I was creating everything that exists? And you're like, don't answer that. You don't need to answer that.

And, you know, so this is much the same. Like, hey, so who is it that measures off the waters and, like, you know, puts the mountains in scales? Who did that? You don't need to answer that. We all know it wasn't you. Yeah, even when I was reading it, I felt like, am I an Isaiah or a Job? This is very much of a Job quality to this rhetoric. yeah so he starts out here by uh asking the rhetorical questions to which the obvious

answer of course is is god he's the one who measured the waters and marked off the heavens and enclosed the dust and weighed the mountains and scales there's a very there's a preciseness to this isn't there it doesn't say you know who has thrown everything into the cosmic mixer and whipped it around a bit and out flopped the world no this is like this is the image of someone who is engaging in very precise particular measured kind of work in other words this is to this is the language we often use today uh the the fine tuning this is a a very intricately designed creation and one of the one of the beautiful things that we have today in which we learn more and more about the world through the work of of science is we discover more and more of how

just intimately intricately fine-tuned precisely made our bodies are and the entire universe is right so in that way you know people a lot of people like to pit uh science against against Christianity, which is, which is ludicrous because, you know, most of the early really scientists were themselves, if not Christians, certainly theist. But, uh, yeah, this is one way in which science and faith can say the same thing. Yeah. Look at, look at the amazing details that you have in, in creation. So that's the way this starts out. Now there's something, uh, I got, to pick on ESV here just a little bit. Well, actually, not just ESV. Most of the translations that I checked just this morning do this. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. Sometimes you'll

have, often actually, you'll have a Hebrew word that's repeated in a very close proximity. Like, you know, a couple of verses use the same Hebrew word. And obviously, you know, if you're reading in Hebrew, you would notice that same Hebrew verb that's used in both these context now what will happen a lot of times more so than it should is translators will choose two different english words to translate the exact same hebrew word and therefore they do that so it's like if you're writing an article or if i'm writing an article right chad we might and probably rightfully so so you might be writing and you might use a word and then the next sentence you go and use that word again but then you go back and be like oh

Wait, that's a little bit – I just used that word. Is there a different word I could use to say that because I don't want to be redundant or appear as though my vocabulary is so limited that I could – that I had to use the same word three times in three sentences? Yes, yes. However, of course, Chad and I are not God, and so we would be concerned about that. But probably God, when he does that, means to do that. If he wanted it to be a different word, then he would – he could use a different word. I think that's why it annoys me when that happens as well, because it's like, well, this is Scripture, and so God is doing that on purpose. It's meant to be that way.

You're not—I guess it's the—maybe this is too strong, but maybe the part that I don't like is it feels like there's some hubris in being like, let me help you out, God, and make—you didn't probably want to use the same word twice. Yeah, it's a little bit too plain and vanilla there, isn't it? Let's give it a little bit more rhetorical diversity. Yeah. So the word I'm looking at here is tecane, which is translated in verse 12 as marked off and in verse 13 as measured. Why? I don't have any idea why. It's the exact same Hebrew verb that's used in both these cases. and it's used in both cases clearly to set up a a contrast so who has marked off or measured

will translate it as measured who has measured the heavens with a span well of course that answer is god has he's the one who did this and then you get verse 13 okay well who has measured the spirit of the Lord. Nobody has. That's who it is. So that's the obvious contrast. So God is out here. He's like measuring things to make sure there's precision to the creation that he's making. So it's going to be good and very good and just the way he wants it to be. And then you turn that around and say, okay, well, who's measured God? Nobody has, of course. Or who did God consult, with what man showed him his counsel. Let me help you out, God.

Let me show you the way this is supposed to be made. Well, nobody's done that, of course. So anyway, that's just a little pet peeve of mine with translation, but that's what's going on there with a contrast that's set up. So you get verse 12, it's really about the precision in creation. And then beginning really with verse 13

and then continuing on, you have the kind of the wise aspect of creation, You know, that God, through understanding and justice and knowledge and wisdom, he made all of the world. He didn't have to sit in a classroom with someone instructing him as to how to do this. And then it ends with that famous image of the drop in the bucket, which I'm pretty sure that's where that—not I'm pretty sure, I'm confident—that's where that image entered our vocabulary. You know, there's a lot of King James expressions in our vocabulary, like the skin of the, escaped by the skin of his teeth. That's a King James-ism.

Like a drop in the bucket, that's a King James-ism. So compared to God, the nations are nothing. Drop in the bucket. Just a little bit of grains of dust on a scale. In fact, even the coastlands, which is, that's Isaiah's word for kind of the far-flung Gentile areas of the world. He calls them the coastlands. the coastlands where they're just like, like fine dust.

They're that dust that, uh, you know, like when the sun's coming through the window just right. And then you catch a glimpse of like some particles floating around. Like that's, that's the coastlands. That's the coastlands. Yeah. And I think, I think the impact of verse 16 where we have this Lebanon would suffice for fuel, nor it's beast enough for a burnt offering. Uh, maybe that's a,

Maybe the emphasis of that is more upon, it doesn't matter how big a sacrifice you try and make, gather all the cedars of Lebanon and rustle up all the beasts of Lebanon or Israel and turn them all into a burnt offering. You know, try your best, let's say. Try your best to impress God, and none of that's going to count for anything. Or a forest fire over in Lebanon and throw every bull you can find in there, and it's not going to matter. Yeah, because in the end, they're not just little, as it says in verse 17. All the nations are as nothing before him.

In fact, less than nothing and emptiness. Emptiness, by the way, is tohu. That's the tohu, vavohu, formlessness and void. That void is the word that Isaiah uses here. So, I mean, pretty obvious that he's using this to talk about the wisdom and the power and the knowledge of God as opposed to humanity. And then continues in verse 18 to now shift gears to talk about the non-gods, the idols. So I'll read 18 through 20. to whom then so on the basis of everything that i've just said to whom then will you liken god

or what likeness compare with him an idol a craftsman makes it and a goldsmith overlays with gold and cast for its silver chains he's too he who is too impoverished for an offering like you know you don't have enough money for gold or silver so you can't do that what do you do Well, that guy who's too poor for an offering, he chooses wood that will not rot, so get some hardwood. And he seeks out a skillful craftsman, again, to set up an idol that will not move. Here you have humanity. You know, you've got this obvious message about the grandeur of God, his all-wisdom, his all-power, all of this that he makes abundantly clear to every single person.

and then uh that you so you can't compare god to anything and yet what does humanity do like oh look there's some gold we should make an idol oh look there's a there's a some wood let's set up a statue let's set up a uh an idol with that too it's the it's the insanity of humanity that paul talks about in romans chapter one i like that uh one of god's uh digs against idols over and over again is their immobility uh so he's always just like yeah and the thing like you have to move your gods around because like they're so impotent that like they can't they can't they don't even move man like i mean you set up an idol that will not move like how it's not alive it's not a thing like it like if you if that god wanted to be uh moved from that place to that place he'd have to have

you do it like what kind of god is that and that it's a it's a pretty common thing for god to point out that like your gods are really dependent on you of which god at all be clothed by you they gotta be fed by you yeah by you yeah they gotta be made by you yeah more than one of the psalms will say something like they have talking about the idols they have eyes but they cannot see they have ears but they cannot hear they have mouths but they cannot cannot make a sound with their throat they have feet but they can't walk yeah so all of this is a god's dig against these these idols my favorite though by far is the the story of when rachel took the household gods of her of her father sits on them that's she's gods that can be stolen and then uh sat upon by a woman

who tells her dad that she's on her monthly period and so she she can't get up it's like the ultimate insult to these so-called gods okay so uh that took us through verse 20 god is uh he's on a roll here he's not going to stop he's got some more preaching to do do you not more questions do you not know do you not hear has it not been told to you from the beginning have you not understood from the foundation 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 that's our our uh tohu vavohu word again use their emptiness

so uh this is a i mentioned romans one this is more even more kind of a romans one kind of theme the idea that when he says, do you not hear? So you've heard this. There's like a, there's like a voice. Psalm 19 says their voice has gone up through all, through all the earth. So it was this idea that there's a kind of a preaching that that's going on from the very beginning about the one who sits above the circle of the earth that compared to him, we are, but grasshoppers. And he's made all the creation like this vast tent or tabernacle in which he dwells. And he's the only somebody, because he brings princes to nothing. So the people that we look up to as somebodies, God looks down upon as nobodies compared to him. Even the

rulers of the earth are as a void, as emptiness. I do like the contrast here, where he's talking about idols that can't move, that are made by human hands. And then he does it now. Unlike your idols you can know things so unlike your idols you can think and unlike your idols your ears supposedly work uh so uh what's going on here like you you have you actually function and so you have no excuse not to know and hear things and these are the things that you should have known yeah that's one of the uh the strange things about idolatry is that humanity is actually above the idols that they have made right yeah that's old you got silver you got wood you got stone that that's a something that people put together themselves and make into an idol and yet

the makers of the idols as far as when you think of the hierarchy of creation are far above the things that they are now elevating above above themselves yeah they have ears so listen to the preaching that's going on okay uh now verse 20 24 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 that's picking up the uh the same thing that we saw at the beginning right beginning of this section verse 12 where you have or even earlier we have all flesh is like grass here you have people are planted they're sown and barely have they started to take root in the earth and god takes a breath and blows and they wither and then

they're carried away like like stubble kind of the image of psalm one two uh they are like chaff which the wind drives drives away yeah and here i think he's uh specifically talking about i mean this is true of everybody but uh he's piggybacking on what he just said about about princes and rulers and so like the best you've got like your nobility your your uh your upper class like they they're there for a second man like they get planted like they are they are just barely there right uh like their stem is like just taking root and bam they're gone all your nobility your rulers your kings like whatever the best you got to offer they're still like they're still they're there for a moment and then i'm on them and they are gone as well yeah it's not really

hard to to think of all kinds of examples too that uh just underscore this i mean from our our own time and culture you know so we're you're you're 45 as of today actually we're recording on your your birthday and and i'm 55 well what happens after you get past your 20s maybe your 30s is on occasion somebody's name will pop into your head and be like oh whatever happened to that guy or how to ever happen to that girl there was a time when like they were it right and maybe we're talking about a pop star it could be a politician someone in leadership you know and they were a big deal it's like they were everywhere back then and then they disappear you're like yeah whatever happened to that person you know sometimes i'll do a google search oh you know well they're

still alive or maybe they're not still alive and whatever happened to them they have faded from the limelight because they're just like anybody else even if they have their you know 24 hours of fame or five years of fame or power, well, they're going to be exactly like Isaiah describes them here. They're just barely taking root, and then they're gone. So, verse 25, picking this up, says, well then, to whom then will you compare me? That I should be like him, says the Holy One.

So don't be comparing me to all of these temporary, ephemeral leaders who are nothing but emptiness and void lift up your eyes on high and see who created these so go outside one night and look up and what do you see who created these he who he who brings out their hosts by number calling them all by name by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power not one is missing so look at the night sky look at all the stars look at all the constellations. You know, some people are better than others at seeing all of those. I live kind of out in the country, and so we have dark nights. And sometimes I'll walk early in the morning and I can still see stars and constellations and the belt of Orion or the North Star or whatever it

might be. And you look up and the sky is just full of them. Well, God says, who created these? Who brings out their hosts by number and calls them each by name? Well, of course, the answer rhetorically question answer the troika question is he and not one of them is missing because he's not only made everything on earth but of course he's also made everything which is in the heavens i do like that uh he says okay i i'm gonna compare you to grasshoppers okay now to whom would you like to compare me and you're like i mean yeah nobody nobody uh he's gonna shuts down the argument right i feel like job at the end of this is like uh i have spoken once and i'm done i don't have anything else to say so yeah um that's that's how that works it's like

so i created everything so i i'm allowed to compare you to grasshoppers uh but you know anybody else has created everything that you can compare me to you had anything like that no you don't all right good uh and it is that i i like things like well i mean i know this is it is stylized and this is how god talks but just like this idea that you know like oh like god has names for the stars is cool right where you're like yeah i call the stars my name and you're like well i couldn't do that because i don't even know what those names are but never mind that there's like so many of them that i could never keep them straight but like like you've not given that to me Like, God could usually be, what's that star's name?

You know it? And you're like, uh, no. I know all their names. Okay, well. Yeah. Yeah, and then you follow that up with the promise God makes to Abraham, make your descendants like the stars of the sky. Yeah, it means it.

Yeah, guess what? He knows the names of the stars, and he knows all of our names as well. Yeah. So this is kind of where all this has been building to. You might think this sermon was just about demonstrating the almightiness of God, his omnipotence. And certainly that is a theme here. And you might think, too, that it was just about showing the vanity, not just the vanity, but the evil of making idols out of wood or gold or silver. And certainly that is also a major theme.

But in some ways, everything he's been building up to is now going to be preached to us at the end of the chapter, where it's going to make a switch from just kind of talking about the general omnipotence of God and the fact that he alone is God, to actually preaching grace and love and hope to the people. So this is how he starts that to kind of wrap everything up with verse 27. 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? So why, O people of Jacob and Israel, are you saying basically God is not aware of what's going on with us? That God is not aware of everything that we're suffering from? uh that's given everything that i preached that's that's ludicrous right he goes on kind of building on this 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 his he gives

power to the faint. And to him who has no might, he increases strength. Now even youths grow faint, shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. 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. Of course, a very famous section. It's probably one of the most well-known verses from all of Isaiah. Yeah, yeah. You see this one cross-stitched on a pillow a time or two. Yes, you have, yeah.

Yeah, but keep in mind the context here of where this comes from. Because we started out this chapter with God proclaiming comfort to his people, the proclamation manifestation of a coming voice, that voice being that of John the Baptist, who's going to level everything out and get ready for the coming of the Lord. When this Lord shows up, what's he going to do? Well, he's going to be powerful. He's going to be also the shepherd who takes care of his people. He's not the safe God, but he's the good God. And then that is going to shift in this. We heard about the goodness of God. Then he's going to kind to shift the focus a little bit to he's the creator of the ends of the earth he's he's made

everything uh don't be making idols because that's just stupid to to engage in that kind of vanity and evil actions but then he's going to pull everything back in this last section then to talking more about the goodness of god and what this goodness of god is going to accomplish in the work of the servant part of which is his sacrifice part of which is his work as as a shepherd and that's kind of where he's taken us in this this last little section where you can you can kind of hear the israelites especially if you're if we're looking ahead to their their coming suffering saying as as you have often in the psalms and in other places you know lamentations it's like oh you know where's god right my way's hidden he doesn't know what's going on with me

and god says oh what are you talking about you know were you not listening to everything which I just preached, that God is an everlasting God, that He's created the ends of the earth, and He doesn't grow faint or weary, and He knows everything. His understanding is unsearchable. He's going to come to you when you're faint, and He's going to come to you when you have no might, and He's going to give you that which you could never manufacture on your own. Yeah, this preaching is going to send somebody who's going to make the path straight and

all that um and yeah you're you're going to he's going to come to you in a time when um you certainly are going to be weary and faint when you hear this i'm saying hey um the lord's everlasting god now you like even if you're young like eventually like you're gonna you will be exhausted right like you can't you cannot do this on your own uh and and the sort of the fulfillment of this like you have to think that people are like yeah um we were feeling pretty weary and pretty faint and jesus shows up and said hey you feeling weary are you weary are you are you faint are you heavy laden yeah well the the promise has arrived right this is exactly what jesus comes and says oh you got nothing left can't do it can't do it

anymore like well the the one of whom isaiah spoke uh is standing before you bring all that over to me okay i'll carry it for you which is great that is that is great yeah and and that comes to those who as verse 31 says have been waiting for this right yeah they wait for the lord that that hebrew verb could also be translated as as hope of course waiting and hoping are are closely connected when you you think you're waiting for something uh you're you're you're hoping for it in the biblical sense when you wait for god you're hoping for god you know he's coming you know he's going to show up you know he's going to do what he promised to do and therefore you you hope in him even as you you wait for him and when that hope hopeful waiting happens

and then this god that's talked about all through chapter 40 shows up then he's going to be the strength renewer so that you mount up with wings like eagles and you can run and not be weary and you can walk and and not be faint which is you know given not just the situation of the israelites but every human situation is that good news that's proclaimed from zion that god has shown up and he's not just shown up to flex his muscles he's not just shown up to condemn idolatry he's shown up actually to be that that god that you just described the one who says are you weary are you heavy laden well then come to me yeah one is going to do for you uh everything that i talked about doing i'm now going to bring to fulfillment in my teaching and my ministry and my healing and

my sacrifice my resurrection for for all of you yeah i think that the the thing that god is always trying to get you to do because he's he's constantly have you not heard have you not heard have you not heard i mean i know you've heard because i've said it so many times see i mean you surely have heard it uh and it's in the in the time when you are uh hoping and waiting it seems that waiting is the time that we decide uh and this is this is true in the in the history of israel uh sort of the in between time is when you start saying maybe i'll make a god right so this is like this is uh the uh i'm waiting and i've grown impatient and now is when idolatry seems like uh the option that i'm going to go for and god is is i think clearly in this text

saying yeah don't do that like i'm the everlasting god like so you just keep hoping and waiting and most importantly like the thing that's going to cause you to or keep you from idolatry is if you would just hear like that was that's the main like open your ears like i'll get out my i've got this word that endures forever so if you could get that in your ear then you could make it to the fulfillment of the of everything i promised yeah yeah couldn't couldn't have said it better and That's a great way to wrap up. I think we're sneaking up on our 40-minute mark, even as we talk. There you go.

Perfect ending, too. That's the end of Chapter 40, so we'll be able to pick up with a new chapter next time. Sounds good. I will see you then. All right. See you then. I'll see you next time.