Please turn with me, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40, as we read, beginning at verse 12 through the end of the chapter, verse 31 being the text this morning. A familiar chapter in which the prophet begins by talking about the comfort that God's people indeed have, that her sin has been paid for, Then talking about God as a shepherd for His flock in verse 11. And then he goes on in the rest of the chapter to talk about why God is qualified to be who He is. Verse 12, hear now the word of God. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand or with the breath 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? Who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed Him as His counselor? 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? 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. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before Him all the nations are as nothing. They are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. To whom then will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. 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? 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. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 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. To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal, says the Holy One? Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name because of his great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God. 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. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. 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. Dear people of God, once again we are called to remember the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord's table is prepared before us this morning. That table which reminds us of Christ's body broken and His blood shed unto a complete remission of all our sins. The table which also promises to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith that we share in His sacrifice. We are one with Him as He feeds and nourishes our souls with Himself just as certainly as we taste with our mouths the bread and the cup. The Lord's table is a symbol of strength and confirmation. Through this sacrament, the Spirit of God confirms our faith in the certainty of the great salvation which is indeed ours. And He strengthens the faith of those who believe on Him by His grace. And that means that His table, beloved, is for those who need strengthening. The Lord's table is not for those who are good enough already. It's not for those who deserve to come. If that were the case, it would be an empty table except for the Lord Himself. That would exclude each and every one of us sitting here this morning. but it is for those who know themselves to be sinners and are sorry for their sins, who believe the promise of God's forgiveness for Jesus' sake, and who desire to live and walk in thankfulness and sincerity before the face of God. This table is for those who have been given the gift of faith, that faith that continues to need strengthening and nourishing throughout this earthly pilgrimage. And it's for that reason that as we come to the Lord's table, we need to ask, do we live in the strength of the Lord? And do we walk by faith and not by sight? You know well, I trust, that Isaiah prophesied of many future events, including the captivity of God's people in Babylon. God's people would be exiled because of their sin, because they had not lived in the strength of the Lord. They had walked by sight and not by faith. And those in captivity would indeed become weary and they would faint, or as another translation puts it, they would lose heart. But then Isaiah comes with this chapter, chapter 40, with this prophecy of comfort and confidence and promise. And here God, through His prophet, promises strength and deliverance to His people. And just like the people in captivity back in Isaiah's day, God's people today who continue to live this life which is nothing but a constant death or a veil of tears, as the Catechism says, a life that is burdensome. We need strength for the journey. Yes, the sin that remains in us against our will and the effects of sin all around us make us weary. But we have this promise. We have the very Word of God that divine strength empowers the weary for life. And as we consider this, notice, first of all, the unfailing source of divine strength. Secondly, the faithful recipients of divine strength. And then finally, the enduring character of divine strength. Beloved, this again is that wonderful promise. 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. Comfort for God's people in captivity was that the Lord Himself is the unfailing source of divine strength. And He is the same source of strength today. Why? Because He is God. And we might say, well, we know that. We've been taught that from an early age. But you see, it's important for us to consider this in detail because of the beauty that we find here and all that Isaiah says. Throughout this chapter of Holy Scripture, Isaiah, you see, confesses the uniqueness and the sovereignty and the majesty of God in putting forth the proof, the evidence of why He is the unfailing source of divine strength. In verse 28, the Lord is described as the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God is eternal. Again, we know that. We say that. We speak of that. It's nothing new to us. But the truth is, we cannot fully comprehend this because we are finite creatures. Boys and girls, that means that we are bound and limited by time. We live our lives, it's measured according to years and months and days and hours and minutes and even seconds. But God is not limited by time. He is before time, He will continue into eternity, He had no beginning, He will have no end. But also God is not limited by space because He is the Creator. He created the very space that confines us, but He Himself is beyond the confines of space. Our God is a transcendent God over all things, beyond all things. Isaiah gives some detail about the creative work of God in ways that we might not always think of. In verse 12, he does this. He draws his readers and our attention to this by means of questions. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or with the breath of his hand marked off the heavens? Really, there's only one answer, and that's the prophet's point. Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket or weighed the mountains and the scales and the hills in a balance? In the second half of verse 22, He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He is the Creator of things that we cannot even imagine. There is nothing that is created that has not come from the hand of God. Verse 5 of chapter 42 says, this is what God the Lord says, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to His people and life to those who walk in it. And because God is the Creator, You see, He is not dependent upon anything. You and I are dependent for everything upon God. But He is independent. He needs nothing. He's independent from. And He's supreme over everything. We have that taste again in verses 13-17. Who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed Him as His counselor? 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? 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. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before Him all the nations are as nothing. They are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. Yet He is still the one who provides and cares for His creation. Verse 22 speaks of this when it says, He sits above the circle of the earth. Nothing exists apart from His providential hand. And His providential hand is not only over this earth, but it's over all that He has made. Notice verse 26. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starring host one by one and calls them each by name because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. And God is also the all-powerful God who determines even the power that rules on earth. According to verse 23, He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. Beloved, do you see what Isaiah is doing here? In this single chapter of Scripture, he lays before us a study of God, of who He is. And in essence, Isaiah reminds us of who God is in order to then say, why would you even think about seeking your strength from anywhere else? There is no other. And in his study of God, he includes the attributes of God, the incommunicable attributes of God, The attributes, again, describe who God is, and we speak of the incommunicable and the communicable. The communicable attributes of God are those which deal with His moral attributes, His intellectual attributes, but also attributes that find some reflection in man. Knowledge, wisdom, love, mercy, and grace. They find a slight reflection in man. Of course, not perfect. But the incommunicable attributes of God are those that are exclusive to Him. There is no reflection of these in man. They are true of Him and Him alone. And these are the attributes, as we really already touched on, of His independence. As well of His infinity. Again, that He is eternal, not bound by time. And His immensity, that He is not bound by space. But also the incommunicable attributes of God include His unity. He is one God. And He is the only God. Isaiah points that out in verses 18, 19, and 25. All other gods are pretend made up by man, either physically, like some fabricated idol, or in the imagination, or even in the things that surround us. but the true God is one God who says of Himself in verse 8 of chapter 42, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. And because He alone is God, He is constant. He is changeless. Verse 8 of chapter 40 says, The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever. The writer of Hebrews 13 verse 8 It says also of God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now why does Isaiah and why do we this morning go into such detail about the greatness and the supremacy of God? It's because His people in captivity had forgotten Him. For them, God had become small. Their situation, their troubles, their captors were all so big, but for them God had become small. That's why Isaiah says in verse 27, again in question form, Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is disregarded by my God? It's because for them God had become all so small. They needed to be reminded that God the Creator also created Babylon. Babylon was not out of His sight or out of His domain of power. And His people, even in captivity, were not out of His sight either. And we need to remember that as well. That there's never any moment that God is not aware of us and the situations we face. I mentioned in the earlier service that when I was diagnosed with cancer, I received many, many cards and beautiful, wonderful cards. One of them really stuck out because of what was included there. I don't recall if it was written, handwritten, or printed on there. But it said, God is not unaware of what you are going through. And how that struck me. What comfort. Even me, one who is even less than dust, as we read in chapter 40. God is not unaware of what I was going through. He alone is the source of divine strength, as verse 29 says. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. And as that source of strength, He is unfailing. That was Isaiah's reminder to the captives as he challenges them with something that they really already knew. Notice verse 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? As if to say, you do know. You have 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. And this reminder of who God is was to be comforting to them back then and for you and me today. Why is He the unfailing source of divine strength? Because He is God. All strength and power belongs to Him and He gives it to His people. Notice in the second place, the faithful recipients of divine strength. The text says, But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Or as another version says, you may have memorized it this way, Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who hope in or wait for the Lord. Congregation, sin and its effects sap our strength. It drains us completely. We become weak and tired from our fight with sin. We become distressed because of the difficulties and the hardships of life. We become overcome by temptation and persecution and because of our own sin as well and our failure to be and do what God created us to be and to do. The truth is we cannot face this life in our own strength. It's too hard to bear. And if we try, we can only become weary and stumble and fall. We cannot stand under the weight of sin. In our own strength, for example, the death or the terrible illness of a loved one drives us to despair. Financial difficulty leads to thoughts of coveting and stealing. Loneliness leads toward depression. Persecution leads to weakness and a denial of God. An unrepentant and unforgiven sin leads to eternal damnation. And the list goes on and on and on. Yet, there is hope for those who wait for or hope in the Lord. This means to hope strongly or to trust expectantly. We can expect with confidence and assurance that a thing will come to pass. That's what it means. In this case, what God has promised. To those who hope and trust, only in the Lord they shall be filled. Those who believe in God's power to deliver and demonstrate their confidence by waiting patiently for His promises, they will renew their strength. And the idea there is that it is talking about an exchange of strength where God's strength is exchanged for the believer's strength so that the believer's situation is made better. That's what Isaiah is saying. They shall renew their strength. In other words, their situation shall, without a doubt, become better. This means that one no longer faces this life in his own strength, but in the strength of the Lord. The child of God has the confidence, as Paul says, in order to say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Beloved, Jesus Christ is our only hope. He is our strength. God's people were sent into exile because they failed to wait on and hope in the Lord, but instead they looked for their help and their strength from the nations around them and from themselves. But in the same way, our salvation cannot and does not come from our own doing. For centuries, God's people waited patiently for, they hoped for their redemption from the one of whom Isaiah prophesied in so many places. It's one of the beautiful things about this book. The one to be born of the virgin, as he says in chapter 7. The wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, as he records in chapter 9. The one for whom the way is to be prepared, as he tells of in the early part of chapter 40, as well the man of sorrows, despised and rejected of men foretold in chapter 53. And beloved, God has fulfilled His promise in Jesus Christ. With regard to the accomplishment of redemption, the wait is over. Look at the table and you see that. You're reminded of that. He has won the victory over Satan, sin, and hell. And because He lives, those who wait on Him will renew their strength. They're given new life through regeneration. And that new life is increased, strengthened through sanctification. Oh, we still wait, don't we, for the complete application of salvation. but the work has already begun. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith can face this life in His strength as they look forward to eternity. We participate in the strength of the Lord through faith, that faith which He strengthens by His Word and sacraments. And those who truly hope in the Lord by His grace are those who know of their complete weakness apart from Him, but who can also confess by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in them, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Those who hope in the Lord renew their strength of heart, soul, and mind with new confidence in the Lord to face this life with all of its challenges, knowing that as Paul says in Romans 8, verse 18, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. And as the psalmist says in Psalm 138, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. You see, beloved, this is our hope in Jesus Christ. Because of the enduring character of divine strength. The text describes that enduring character this way. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. What is so wonderful about this divine strength? It never fails. It never fails. Isaiah includes flying, running, and walking, all of which requires strength and endurance. As well, together, these point to the whole of activity which moves one forward, which makes one progress. This morning, I had asked the boys and girls, have you ever seen a bird fly backwards? Well, there were a few people that reminded me of the hummingbird that flies backwards. But then someone came to my defense and says, yes, the hummingbird flies backwards in order to go forwards, to make progress. Of course, we don't literally grow eagles' wings and fly, do we? But what a beautiful example here of strength and endurance, of swiftness and agility. The eagle is a long-living bird which keeps its strength to the very end of its life. And those who trust in the Lord, although their physical strength may and will fail them, especially with age, their spiritual strength increases more and more through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. And the eagle also soars effortlessly as it mounts higher and higher up into the sky. And in the same way, God's people will soar in His strength from the depths of their griefs and difficulties. They will soar in the joy of the Lord. Because when the Lord is their strength, sin and despair cannot keep them down. Now this does not mean, however, as the saying goes, that Christians are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. But Christians face the difficulties of this life differently than the world. We face whatever rises up against us with the eye of faith, knowing that all things work together for good for God's people. Knowing that if God is for us, who can be against us? The answer is nothing, no one. Knowing that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. The enduring character of divine strength also includes running and not growing weary or getting tired. Now physically, we cannot imagine this. But the believer can only run the race of faith without interruption, without pain, without aching spiritual muscles in the strength of the Lord because without His strength, we're not even in the race. We don't even get off the starting line. But the word translated weary also includes the idea of disgust. Frustration. We'll run and not be frustrated. The strength of the Lord does not allow for these things. It does not allow God's people to give up. Instead, the Christian labors to perform His duty with cheerfulness. Challenges to the faith do not defeat us because we never face them alone. And that means that we can't wait to get out of bed in the morning to face the new day for the sake of Christ who strengthens us. Now, of course, it's true that because of the obstacles that we face, we do become distressed and weary in our own strength when we take our eyes off of our God. But God, in His grace, constantly restores and renews His people by His power. So that at all times, And in all situations, even when our physical strength is gone, we can confess the goodness of God. And again, the Apostle Paul must be our example. He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Now one more example that Isaiah gives is walking. Just as running makes one tired, walking makes one faint. But walking here completes the picture so that the believer's entire life is included here. We are called to run the race of faith and walk through this life on the narrow path without quitting. And those who hope in the Lord, those who wait in the Lord, shall soar with confidence in whom they have believed. They shall run with cheerfulness, with eagerness and enthusiasm, and they shall walk constantly with perseverance, with their eyes focused on the goal of heaven, always pushing forward in the strength of the Lord. What a blessed promise from God, the Creator of heaven and earth. As Isaiah says, just as God does not become weary or faint or tired, His strength given to His people for Jesus' sake is unfailing. Isaiah places before us that earthly picture of strength and endurance when he speaks of youths and young men in verse 30. Another translation says, vigorous young men. And that's how we are to understand it. We speak of youthful strength. When we get older, we wish we had it back. And that's the comparison that Isaiah makes. Vigorous youth are the choicest. The most fit for athletic contests or military service. But the point here is that even youths in the prime of life, when they overexert themselves, they give in to the effects of fatigue. And obstacles which stand in their way cause them to stumble and fall. Yet even the oldest saint, in contrast to that, by the grace of God and in the strength of God, soars on wings like eagles and runs and does not grow weary and walks and does not become faint. God's strength cannot and will not be overpowered. It is strength for eternity. It is the strength of salvation. And our God gives His people increased strength of heart, soul, and mind through faith in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the table of the Lord is a picture of that strength. As it symbolizes for us, Christ sacrificed for sin unto eternal fellowship with our God. Strength for eternity. Christ's table is for those who hope in, who wait for the Lord, who trust only in Him and lean not on their own understanding. It is for those who truly know and confess their sin and weakness, who understand the Savior and His saving strength, who desire that strength and who seek to live thankfully only in the strength of the Lord. Those who do not wait for the Lord or hope in the Lord, who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with true faith, they will become weary and faint and they will stumble badly. They will become overcome in this life and the next life. Apart from repentance and faith, one will not enjoy the strength of God's glory but will suffer instead the strength of His eternal wrath. Beloved, only in the strength of the Lord, only that strength empowers the weary for life, this life and the next. Only the strength of the Lord is our true joy. You see, nothing in this life truly satisfies. There are a lot of temporary fixes out there. But nothing truly satisfies except our God. Our confidence is to be only in the Lord who will complete what He has begun. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the strength of the Lord given to the children of God. God's strength is the truth of His Word. Nothing can contradict His Word and stand. It cannot be defeated. Beloved, by God's grace, stand firm on the Word of God. Live according to the Word of God with Jesus Christ as your Savior and their Lord and you cannot fail. You will not fail. And as we come together to feast at the Lord's table, may our confession be, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.