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Behold Your God! by Bill Moseley
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On the tableland of God’s inspired volume,
the Bible, there is one book that has always to this writer risen as
a towering monument to the greatness of God – the great prophecy
of Isaiah. It is there – lofty, majestic, issuing great promises
to the remnant under the Messiah, and at the same time threatening
judgments to the enemies of Jehovah. It was this great prophet who
called upon Judah to "behold your God!" (Isa. 40:9). Yet
an ungrateful nation had rejected God, even as the world by and
large has today. It is high time that people, especially those that
are His, again begin to "behold our God."
The prophet begins to show God’s greatness by setting beside Him the universe which He created. This is the God that "measured the waters in the hollow of his hand" (v. 12). He is the one who "meted out the heaven with the span" (ibid.). Here is a picture of God, holding forth the "span," which was about nine inches, reaching from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger of out outspread hand. When God made this world, it was almost as if was saying, "here is my span; my world shall be as this to me." And so it was. He is pictured holding a vessel, and in it is the dust of the earth, and he knew every grain. The prophet shows us Judah’s God with a scale in his hand, weighing the very mountains! Truly, we serve no puny God! Isaiah then shows man’s insignificance compared to this God. What man is there that is in a position to tell God anything (v. 13)? There is not a one! When God set about His great creative work, to whom did He have to go for advice? Who had knowledge about this process that God did not have? Not a one. Here is a God possessed of omnipotence and need not ask advice of any man. Every nation is subject to the decrees of God (v. 15). All through Old Testament history the nations were moved at the decree of God. If he decided to use them to achieve his purpose, they achieved it. If, because of their wickedness, God destroyed them, they sat there – immobile and impotent while the stroke of his fury reduced them to nothing. Truly, the nations are "as a drop of a bucket" compared to him. All the earth and all that it contains is not sufficient to give Him what He truly deserves. "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering" (v. 16). If every cedar was hewn down from Lebanon; if every beast was brought as a sacrifice, they would still far short of a truly sufficient sacrifice. And so in His mercy, God allows man to make the sacrifices that he can make – and God will accept them if they are what he has asked for. God is far superior to the idol-gods of man (v. 18f). Their gods of sticks and stones, yea even of gold and silver, are nothing compared to Him. The workman may make them, but when they are finished, there they sit – they "shall not be moved" (v. 20). Whatever idol; whatever "god" a man may have will not benefit him. They are merely the work of men’s hands and will be destroyed. And so, "have ye not known? have ye not heard …?" (vv. 21, 28). Here is a God that never wearies; never grows faint, and will bear those up who will worship and serve Him as the God of the universe. He "hath given power to the faint" (v. 29), to the extent that they "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" (v. 31). This is probably an allusion to the joyous times when the captive nation would return from bondage of Babylon. But can we not enjoy this promise today? As we seek to leave one day what Ronald Reagan once called "the surly bond of earth" and "touch the face of God," do we not realize what a God we have at our disposal? Yes, "Judah, behold your God!" But also to God’s people today, "behold your God!" Serve him; worship him and enjoy his blessings. Fail to recognize his greatness at your own risk and eternal peril. - Bill Moseley, 124 Cornelson Dr., Greer, SC 29651 |
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