| Highlights of DAWN | November 1989 |
How Great Thou Art!
“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number [referring to the stars of heaven]: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one falleth.” —Isaiah 40:26
THE 40th chapter of Isaiah is one of the peculiarly beautiful instances in the Bible where the Heavenly Father attempts to establish faith in his great power and wisdom to accomplish all that he purposes. The prophet closes the chapter with the most tender words, indicating that this massive power and eternal wisdom is always at the disposal of his people, to guide and sustain them. “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. … They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”—vs. 31
But to start at the beginning, we read in the first two verses of this chapter these encouraging words: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah here indicates the point in history when favor has begun to return to Israel, which is the day in which we are living. We see God’s overruling providences on the behalf of his people of old in the return and establishment of Israel as a nation in their ancient land.
And the prophet also tells the last members of the church what message to proclaim at the close of the Gospel Age: verse 3 shows that our message must be that the kingdom of God is close at hand: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
John the Baptist, in his day, was to Israel a voice crying in the wilderness, proclaiming the year of the Lord, announcing to Israel the arrival of the one “full of grace and truth,” whose shoe latchet he was not worthy to unloose. (John 1:14,23,27) But the church is the voice crying in the wilderness condition at this end of the Gospel Age. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The ‘desert’ represents a time of sin, sickness, and death on the earth. By contrast, when the kingdom is established, the desert shall blossom as a rose!—Isa. 35:1
We are also told in Isaiah 35, that “an highway shall be there.” (vs. 8) “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.” (Isa. 40:4) Do you recognize this description? It is clearly portraying the manner in which a highway is built! If you should drive through a desert region where the terrain is mountainous, it would be tortuously slow and nearly impossible to negotiate without a road. But Isaiah assures us that there will be a highway there to facilitate progress, and it will be called the way of holiness, or perfection. When the travelers reach the end of it, they will have become perfect!
We read again of this highway in Isaiah 62:10: “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.” All the hindrances or ‘stones’ will be removed, making the way clear, wide and smooth, and easy to travel over. In one sense we could say that this highway is being constructed during the Gospel Age. Since the means of reaching perfection in the Millennial Age will be through the assistance and counsel of Christ and his church—the Christ, the Messiah—which is being developed during this age, we can think of the road as being built now.
When the world of mankind begins to walk up the highway of holiness, we are told that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (vs 5) All mankind will realize that these wonderful provisions were made for their blessing by God, and they will rejoice in them and glorify him. Their opportunity to return to perfection on this great highway will give them a vision of God which they had never before seen.
In Isaiah 40:6 we see the reaction of Christians when the voice says, ‘Cry’. “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?” These words suggest that when the church views the hopeless condition in the earth now, they inquire of God concerning what message he would have them give to the world. He answers: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.”—vss. 7,8
In other words, the church is pictured as saying, “Look at this helpless, hopeless condition in the earth. People are dying, they are sick. They are hungry and they are killing each other. It is a sad situation. But we have faith in God and in his promises. There will be a kingdom upon the earth for which our Master taught us to pray: ‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’.”—Matt. 6:9
To realize and to believe that God is indeed preparing a kingdom which will end all this misery—even to bring back the dead—requires superb faith in the Creator. When we tell the good news concerning the resurrection, very often we find that it requires more faith to accept than most people possess. Remember when Paul spoke about the resurrection of the dead’ to the Greeks on Mars Hill? It caused an uproar! Even some Jews did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees tried to tell Jesus that there could not be a resurrection of the dead because of all the problems it would pose. But he ended the discussion by saying to them, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.”—Matt. 22:24-29
Isaiah continues to give us pertinent details concerning this wonderful kingdom. He tells us, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (vs. 11) What a lovely picture this conjures up in our minds! We are reminded of the Shepherd Psalm, and of how tenderly and completely the shepherd cares for his little charges—especially the injured and ill, the wayward, and the little lambs. (Ps. 23) How gently and lovingly he will lead the world of mankind along the highway of holiness, tending to all their needs, healing and guiding them to the end of the way, until each reaches perfection.
Then the Lord began a wonderful soliloquy. He said, “I will ask you some questions. You try to relate yourself to the world. You measure things by so many handfuls. Here is a span, there is a cubit. You measure things by bushels.” Then the Lord said, (paraphrasing), “I will give you an idea of how powerful I am, and how easily I can make all these promises come to pass.”
The Lord’s first question was this: “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” Can you measure the ocean by handfuls? No, you certainly can’t! Again he asked, “Who hath meted out heaven with the span?” Have you ever measured the heavens? And, “Who hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” This is the way man measures things—a handful, a span, a measure. But God tells us, “I think differently. Your measurements are so tiny compared to mine, because of my great power.”
The Heavenly Father wishes us to comprehend his greatness—not to impress his poor, finite little beings. No—it is to give us confidence in him, and in his power to complete what he has begun. It is to give us a small idea of how simple a task it is for him, even though mankind has been trying for millennia to improve their lot, and has failed miserably. We begin to realize that he is attempting to change our small and limited viewpoint, so we may understand the greatness of his power. Then, when we do understand, we will have faith that the kingdom he told us to ‘cry’ out about, and to proclaim, shall indeed be a reality.
Here is an illustration of how to measure the heavens that may help us to realize how vast God’s creation is. If it costs a penny to travel 1,000 miles, what would it cost to go around the earth? The answer: twenty-five cents, at the Equator. At this rate, what would it cost to go to the moon? That would be $2.33. To go to the sun would cost $930.00. The nearest star is about four light years away. What would it cost to go to the nearest star at one cent a thousand miles? The answer is $266,000.00! The Lord said, “Have you ever measured the heavens with the span of your hand?” Can you measure the earth? God says, “There will be a kingdom. The dead shall come back. My power will perform it.”
Next, God inquires, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?” When we plan a project we research it beforehand to learn as much about the subject as we can; even then our methods are mostly by trial and error. But God said, “I have had no counselors. There was no place to research the results of previous plans; there was no one to guide me by their experience.”
The Apostle Paul, in the eleventh chapter of Romans, traces the intricacies of God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and with the church. He reaches the climax of his argument at the end of the chapter, where he vouches, ardently, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Paul appreciated all the unique, wonderful dealings of God and, in thinking about them, he was overwhelmed with the greatness of his Heavenly Father.
The 40th Chapter of Isaiah continues in the same vein: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” The dust in the balance can be blown off with ease, and even if it is left on the scale, it does not add anything to the total weight being computed! “And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him ate as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” Realizing the greatness of the creation of God, we are compelled to acknowledge his wonderful power and eternal wisdom.
The Creator inquires, “To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished, that he hath no oblation, chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Then he says, to us, “Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”—vss. 18-22
Although labeling the heavens ‘a tent’ in which mankind dwells might seem at first like an oversimplified explanation, as we consider it we recognize that it is actually a profound statement of wisdom. “He stretcheth out the heavens … as a tent to dwell in.” We have learned from our space shuttles that there is, so to speak, a bubble around the earth of oxygen and other gaseous matter. We used to believe that there was ether in space, but now we know that space is virtually a vacuum.
As astronauts leave earth to transverse this wonderful universe in which we live, it is necessary for them to take a portion of the earth with them as a life-support system. When man travels to a hostile area such as the moon, he has to have the means to get there and back, and this mode of transportation is made out of materials taken from the earth. He has to have heat and light, manufactured with elements of earth. He has to have radio communication with earth for guidance; and even to speak with each other while, on the moon, or walking in space, communication devices are needed because there is not enough atmosphere to transmit the vibration from the vocal cords to the ears. He must have a radiation shield to protect him as the rocketship streaks through space, and he must have water and food brought with him from our home planet.
God informs us that he has created the tent in which we dwell. It is an absolute necessity for the continuation of life, and without it we could never exist. Isaiah then reveals one of the mysteries of creation, informing us that this earth upon which we live is shaped like a ball. Perhaps if we had lived before Columbus discovered America, and someone had told us that the earth was round, we would have questioned their sanity. How could we believe anything so ludicrous? We couldn’t have believed it! But in our day we have actually seen pictures of Earth taken from the moon—and it is indeed a magnificently beautiful blue and white sphere!
It is said that Earth travels around the sun at the rate of 66,600 miles an hour, revolving at the speed of 1,100 miles an hour. Think of that! How can we grasp the idea of soaring through space at such velocities? As we live on the earth, which is spinning so fast in one direction, and speeding along so precipitously in another direction, we would simply fly off into space without the pull of gravity holding us here. This gravitational power is so strong and yet so gentle, operating in absolute silence, and in absolute darkness, without friction or strain, without shock or tremor. Our planet; Earth, is propelled through space at almost unbelievable speeds, and in the meantime, it twists and turns upon its axis like a spinning gyroscopic top!
The Lord says he stretched out the heavens as a curtain or a tent under which we can dwell. This is almost more than we can comprehend, but as we think about it we find that as the sun shines upon the earth, light is refracted through dust particles in the atmosphere to give us heat, and there is a layer outside the atmosphere to keep out the harmful radiation that could destroy us.
Then, to follow the sequential order, we find that as the sun shines upon the earth it causes the circulation of water. It brings up the clouds and the wind blows, causing the burden of the water to drop and to water the gardens of the earth. Seeds germinate and plants grow. They put out their leafy arms which, through chlorophyll, transfer the energy of the sun, thereby producing food that we can eat. Energy from the sun provides us with the water and food systems that give us all that is necessary to sustain life.
Impressing indeed is the fact that without the sun, life could not have been brought into existence. Man could not think a thought, nor wink an eye. He could not move a finger, nor take a step, nor could we see, hear, feel, taste, or smell. Not a seed could germinate, nor a cloud form. There would be no rainfall—no river could flow. No lightning would flash, nor would any flame be kindled without the sun. And God says, (paraphrasing), “Remember this, some say I’m like a gold or silver image, and some who cannot afford precious metals carve out a wooden image that will not last very long. But,” he says, In truth “I am he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. I stretch out the heavens as a curtain. Do not worry about my power to perform anything that is my will. I will surely bring about the kingdom—the kingdom of peace, which I told you to speak about, because it is my will, and my power validates its accomplishment. It shall surely come to pass.”
The Heavenly Father continues to allay our poor human fears, and to assure us of his divine greatness, saying, “To whom will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One?” He invites us to go outside for a few moments. It’s a dark night. “Lift up your eyes on high,” he bids us, “and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” These stunning worlds, so infinite in number, flung far across the heavens, are his creation too!
The author, Emerson, immensely impressed with how great is this heavenly display, wrote that if the stars only came out once in a thousand years, what an event this would be! Certainly all mankind would make it a point to go out to see the stars shining in the sky, and to have this memorable experience, realizing the tremendous power of God which seated these in their far away places! He reminds us that every night we receive of their admonishing smile, because they have become commonplace to us. Our great God tells us to go outside and look up in the blackness of the night and think of his great power!
It is said that the amount of energy which falls upon the earth from the sun in just three days, is equal to all the energy that you could extract from every other known source of energy—wood, coal, oil, uranium, plutonium, etc. Think of that! In three days! And it has been calculated that only one-two billionths of the sun’s energy strikes the earth. God counsels us to look up there if we want to know how great is his power! Suddenly we realize that our sun is only a medium-sized sun. There are millions of billions of suns in the heavens! There is one sun so immense that if it were placed in the sky where our sun is, earth would be inside it!
Then God adds a moving statement, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” He assures us very tenderly that nothing can go wrong in all his creation. “Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his’ understanding.”
This is amazing! He calls every one of the stars by name. How many are there? We are told there are 100 billion in our galaxy, and that there are millions of galaxies. An illustration of how great the number one billion is can be pictured by placing dollar bills on top of each other, until they reach up over 63 miles high! Imagine if somebody could remember what number ‘each bill holds! One has number C27173806C; and each and every bill has a different ten-digit number printed on it! How can anyone remember the numbers on each of these bills? No human being could do this! But our God could do it! He has named one hundred billion, times a million, heavenly bodies, and can identify each one easily!
In Isaiah 55:11 God assures us, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” God has a plan far beyond our present comprehension, for the ultimate blessing of all, his creation. Some day we will find out the names of every one of the stars placed in the sky for our appreciation, and for some further purpose in the future. Our Father gives us the assurance of Isaiah 55 because he wants us to realize his boundless power, his boundless wisdom. When we do realize his greatness, we will not be fearful to ‘cry out’ the message of hope and comfort, for we know that if he has purposed the wonderful time of blessing, it will most assuredly come to pass!
Isaiah 40:30 goes on to say, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” Although even youths in the prime of life become weary, God promises us that those who are his children shall not tire, but shall be given strength to, carry out all that the Lord will require of them. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.”—vs. 31
It is delightful for the Christian to discover, in studying Isaiah 40, that the primary function of this chapter is that the Heavenly Father, speaking to us very confidentially, desires that we will appreciate somewhat his majesty, his power, and his wisdom. And we also discover that his purpose is that no matter what happens around us, in our personal lives, or in the events of God’s church, we may have confidence in his ability to exercise absolute control to bring about good from every experience.
Even though the world is being shaken with innumerable problems—drug trafficking, which can corrupt and destroy the best of young manhood and womanhood, terrorism, economic instability, war, hunger, disease; mental illness, problems of the aging, poverty, inner city problems of racial origin, as well as the general day-to-day criminal activities—expressed by the terminology of the 7th and 8th verses: “The grass withereth.” All these problems, and all others, will be solved simply and completely by our great and gracious God. And he instructs us to publish this message of hope—the only message of true hope in the world! “Get up and be busy, cry out,” he says—“I shall accomplish these things which I have planned.”
So often we find that the Apostle Paul ties together the fact of God’s power, and our experiences in the world. He realized there would be a tendency for us to feel forgotten, insignificant, and unworthy of his attention, resulting in fears that God may pass us by unaware of what is taking place in our lives. Paul wanted us to know of God’s overruling in every experience, and so he wrote these words in the 8th chapter of Romans: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”—vs. 28
Then he goes on to say, in verse 31, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spareth not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
“As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—vss. 32-39
If God is for us, then how can we be defeated? Paul says you may have tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword—these terrible difficulties often do happen to us, or have in the past to God’s faithful people, but God is still for us, guiding and directing us, and giving us the strength to withstand the pressures of life. Even as our Lord Jesus was described as a lamb sent to the slaughter, so also the members of his body, his church, have similar vicissitudes. But as he was made more than conqueror, so also will we!
In summation, we quote:
“Jehovah our God is the director of the whole universe, and his wisdom, power, goodness, and benevolence are abundantly equal to all the responsibility of so exalted an office. The human mind staggers in its efforts to comprehend or measure the resources of a being able to assume and bear such responsibilities.
“Think for a moment of the memory that never fails, and a judgment that never errs, and think of the wisdom that plans for eternity without a possibility of failure, and that times that plan with unerring decision for the ages to come. Think of the power and skill which can harness every opposing element, animate and inanimate, and make them all work together for the accomplishment of his grand design.
“Think of the tireless vigilance that never ceases, nor seeks relief from the pressing cares of universal dominion, whose eye never sleeps, whose ear is ever open and who is ever cognizant of all the necessities and active in all the interests of his broad domain. That is the God that we adore. We are his children. He has touched our lives and our ears, and spoken deep and wonderful things to us!”—Z.–p. 1560