buddy holly

I've just spent an afternoon in starbucks looking at Isaiah 40 with Alec Motyer. His commentry on it is such that the more you read, the less you really feel like you understand of what he's saying. It's helpful though, and it was good blow away some cobwebs by sitting under the Bible and getting excited about Jesus.

I'm loving all of Isaiah at the moment, i'm reading it in my quiet times and in my 121s, i love how overtly Gospelish it is, and while i am by no means an expert on Isaiah 40 and haven't really yet gone beyond the general, here are some things i learnt this afternoon.

God will be faithful. He will provide atonement for His people. He already has provided atonement for those in exile, and they will return home. God is not a God has forgotten about His people. They are still His main concern, and in this His glory will be revealed.

God's Word lasts forever. Men will wilt and whither like grass, God's Word never will. This is a God worth telling people about.

In fact, He's a God worth shouting about from the top of a high mountain. Come and listen Judah, God is returning with might and with comfort. He will mightily save His people while at the same time gathering the weak and defenceless in His arms.

The message of Isaiah 40 finds in fullest end meaning in Jesus. He is the susbstance to this shadow. It is He who is incomparable (vv12-24). We can trust Him, we canrely on Him. There is no reason to say of Him that he has forgotten us because He is the everlasting God and does not grow weary...He will renew the strength of the weak.

This word obviously was and is for those who were in exile from Jerusalem and what encouraging words they would have been for them, to know that their God was the God of the universe and that he hadn't forgotten them. And those things are still true today. The God who has come, and will come again is still the God of the universe. He is faithful and His Word stands forever.

Much much more work needed here i feel, but it's been an encouraging afternoon...