Isaiah 40: 1
Escaping Pagan Influences

What I want to talk about is not the problem of Isaiah and how this section beginning in chapter 40 is wrongly seen by the critics as a separate document. And it is not even primarily about what was happening to the kingdom of Judah at this time to which these chapters speak. But I want to talk about creeping paganism into the thinking and practice of true religion. And I want to use these chapters as an example of the Biblical doctrine of God. 

I. Here is an example of creeping paganism at the end of the 500's B.C.. 

1. People talk about history repeating itself. It certainly is so in this particular. At the time of the Babylonian Captivity, and shortly thereafter, there were many pagan practices creeping into the O.T. religion and they needed to be reminded of who God is. 

2. Isaiah mocks the idol worshippers in 40: 18-20 where he says the craftsman, if he is really skilled, is able to make an idol that won't fall down and if he uses a good quality log it will not rot. Again in 44: 16 he says rather humorously that a stupid man takes half of a log which he makes into an idol and worships it and asks it to deliver him. And with the other half he cooks his food and bakes his bread. 

3. Now these idolaters who are being castigated were probably not intentionally worshipping false Gods. The idol was a representation of the unseen Jehovah; Or so they said. They were just "re-imaging" Jehovah and making him more accessible. They may have been what people nowadays would call "good Christian church members." 

4. Now this is instructive. The same thing happened after the N.T. period in the 2nd, 3rd,4th 5th,6th centuries and throughout the middle ages when Greko/roman paganism began to corrupt the church. The Virgin Mary gradually became an object of worship in an extension of what was nothing more than the mother-godess worship that had for centuries pervaded the area. It eventually became so pervasive that at times she was more prominent in worship that the dear, incarnate Son of God. After the Constantinian revolution in Christianity the martyrs were actually worshipped, even though the official line was that they were merely being honored. Often local gods coalesced with a particular saint and even the pagan name was used. The saints became so numerous that eventually all Saints Day -Halloween- was instituted because they ran out of days to dedicate to the saints. The elements of the communion were worshipped. Altars -- an idea totally foreign to Christianity -- began to make their appearance in the church and gradually became the center of things with the worship service being taken up with pagan incantation having to do with sacrifice on the altar. Emperor worship came in and to this day good British Christians do not even blush at the Queen -- and soon her do-nothing son -- is said to be the head of the church, a title belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ who alone is sovereign over the Church which he purchased with his own blood. 

5. And this subtle paganization goes on even in our own times in our understanding of the nature of God himself. The popular idea of who God is bears little resemblance to the God of the Bible who is so aptly defined in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 4, "What is God?" -- "God is a spirit, infinite, eternal --" 

I do not need to refer to the extreme cases such as the Hollywood actress who gushed that "my God is a living doll" or some of the music heard on religious radio which sees God as a servile and congenial companion with whom the singer walks through the woods chatting and laughing merrily away. 

What we have done is what those ancient idol makers did back in the days of Isaiah 40, viz. to associate the name of God Jehovah with the characteristics which the prevailing culture wished to see in its deity. It is often thought to be a strategy for evangelism which, like modern advertising, advertises the product in terms of what the individual wants to buy.

II. A THOROUGH STUDY MIGHT BE MADE OF THESE CHAPTERS BUT THIS MORNING I JUST WANT TO CALL ATTENTION TO SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD THAT ARE EMPHASIZED TO SUCH A PEOPLE WHO ARE FACING PAGANISM ENCROACHING ON THEIR CHRISTIANITY. 

Look at the magnificence and beauty of this God whom we worship. I am just going to read some passages, largely without comment. 

1. See his transcendence: 40: 19; 21-23; 25-26. 

Never before have believers had the scientific resources to fully appreciate statements such as this. In 1996 scientists working with the Hubble Telescope changed the estimate of the number of galaxies in the universe from 10 billion to 50 billion. That is not 50 billion stars and planets but 50 billion galaxies of stars! This is the universe that our God uses to describe his transcendence: "vv21-23" "25-26" 

2. The fact that it is this God who is caring for your petty (petty in comparison to his eternal and cosmic concerns) -- for your petty difficulties. 40: 27-28; 41: 14; O, even in the worst troubles of life it is true: 43: 1-2. This is one of the marvels of the Biblical view of God, that his indescribable greatness does not dilute his involvement in the individual's life. 

3. The truth that he is a redeemer -- not just out of earthly difficulties and predicaments but in the sense of salvation from our lostness is hinted at here. And we dare to suggest that his involvement in deliverance from earthly predicaments is because of his involvement in our eternal salvation. 40: 1-2; 43: 25 

4. And there is an indication that his way of ministry to the Christian (and here you see a major confrontation with the popular Christianity of the present generation) is not just making life a bed of roses as if he were some kind of a extra-terrestrial good-luck charm but by giving grace to go through the heavy burdens they must carry. 43: 1-3 Let the present generation of popular Christianity learn that the Christian is not given an easy road to travel but grace to acceptably travel a hard one. 

5. And with the full light of N.T. theology about the afterlife-truth in the O.T., albeit its obscurity, we feel as if we can legitimately read into these passages the concept of a personal, godly life of divine fellowship in the life beyond this one and its accompanying eternal blessedness. This is a motif not majored on in the O.T. but we are assured by the inspired N.T. writers that it is here in the O.T. 

This is not the childish and unrealistic optimism of popular religion where dogs and cats and all people go to a heavenly kingdom where they sit around on clouds and play harps but the profound living in the presence of God the Father for eternity as he accepts their love and worship and obedience and as he pours out his blessing upon them into the ages of the ages. 40: 10-11; 40: 5