Isaiah 40:1-31
Comfort for God’s People
1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6
A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9
You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17
Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18
With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
19
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20
A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.
21
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23
He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24
No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25
“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Matthew 6:19-24
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 24:35
Jesus Words Will Last Forever
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
The Three Greatest Things in Life
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Hebrews 6:19-20
Hope is the Anchor for Our Soul
19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
We live in a world that seems to build something new each day...With modernization and all the technology going on, there is something new and different each day...Technology and the very words "modern and up to date" seem quite important to us...We do not want to be left behind...But with all the new things that are out and to come out, we must question if they will last...Things that last are the things that give us hope...And hope is one of the greatest things on earth for believers...And maybe hope is not quite looked at is as our faith, and our love...Maybe the greatness of hope is overshadowed somewhat by faith and love...
The Prophet Isaiah writes about this great hope that is given to man, when man learns to hope in the LORD, we can do almost anything...Isaiah writes that a voice says, “Cry out.”...And I said, “What shall I cry?”...“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field...Isaiah writes about our life and how temporary life really is...One day we will leave all this modern and up to date living...Being modern and up to date has very little, if anything to do with our hopes...What today is modern will soon be left behind and it will soon be gone...A new version, a new model, or new upgrade is coming for your TV, your car, your refrigerator, all the things that we call modern and what we think gives us comfort...The Great Saint Paul seems to have figured this out as he aged, when he says he left many of childhood ways behind him, when he became a man...He then realized the great importance of faith, hope, and love in his life and people's lives...
And later in Matthew, we get words of hope from Jesus and how we should store up those treasures that last and that are eternal...The things that last...Temporary pleasures and desires that Jesus had, meant little to Him, when He was on earth...Jesus did not seem to concern Himself with being modern...Being modern is really not mentioned in the four gospels, but hope is...Hope literally surrounds Jesus...It is His Words and His teachings that will last forever and never pass -and in His Word, we have hope...The hope in Jesus that He will be our permanent High Priest and Teacher is what gives us this hope and anchor that resides in our soul...The Hebrew's author writes that Jesus has become the High Priest forever...And it is this forever that we have our hope..Jesus is never our of date, and He is over two thousand years old now...
And in our hopes, lies patience...Since hope is something in the future and something that will be, we must have some patience...It takes patience for what is to come with God...God does His Will at Godspeed and not on our time and our schedules...For believer's we know that His Will -will get done...It always has...
Jesus teaches us the eternities...He teaches us hope in these eternities...These are things that are eternal and will last forever...And in those eternal things, are the things that really last are where we find our hopes...Hope is not in the today, hope is something in the future...Hope is also not temporary, hope lies in those things that last...Our hope lies in permanent things, and most of the time we never realize this...Oh, I may hope for a new car or the latest computer, but after I have had it a few months or years, the new always wears off...And I do mean always...My mind then does think in terms of old, rust, moths, and mold after that newness has worn off...After a period of time I want something else, maybe a newer car and a newer computer...These are and were just temporary things that were in my life as I look back on them...So Jesus is right, those things are not treasures...
Three of the most sacred things in life are love, faith, and hope...Let us hope in the Holy Spirit...Let us hope in Jesus, and let us hope in the LORD...He brings us comfort and hope...There is this great hope in God's Holiness and sacredness and this permanence of eternity...Let us be comforted by hoping in the LORD...