The New Normal, C R Oliver [most read book in the world .TXT] 📗

Verse twelve begins a series that could be titled, "Get to know the true Creator."

The God of Isaiah was not the one of the Scribes and Pharisees. He was not the traditional imagery served to multitudes, but the One who made this planet and set it in space. Who is like Him? No One!

Isaiah 40:12-14
2 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span 
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales 
And the hills in a balance? 
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him? 
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

Preachers, you need to grasp this and preach with power, "Behold your God."
Preachers, you need to preach from the right perspective, that empires and government threats are "nothing."

Isaiah 40:15
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,

Isaiah could say, "Assyria, you are a drop in the bucket. Babylon, you are nothing. Rome, your conquests amounted to zero."

"World powers of today, hear this-your plans are zip." Behold, Your God!

Isaiah 40:15-17
Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

Until preachers and people start telling their national leadership, as well as local government, the truth, they will continue to act as if they were God. They are "LESS than NOTHING in the sight of the True God."

Just how real is all of this to us? Literarily this is perfection in writing, but if its truth does not penetrate into our realities, it means nothing. Grasp it! It means something. It is the WORD of God.

Darwin's assault, along with scientific pursuits, has tried to minimize God as the creator. The world has sought to obliterate God from His position as Maker. They have sought to separate truth from State and School. Multitudes, today, fall before idols crafted by man or reasoned by dust. Let a voice be heard, "Behold, this is the true God (Isaiah 40:18-20)."

When the Explorers read Isaiah 40: 21-22 (because a reformation made the Word of God available to the public), they saw the earth as round and they set sail to prove it. (At the time, the official view was the earth was flat. Neither church nor government had read the Word. It was off limits to all but the Roman Catholic Clergy.)

Isaiah 40:21-22
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth

The power elite, and those who support them, are nothing before the Great God Jehovah! He "whishes" with his breath and they are gone! Their regal positions amount to zero before Him. World: "Behold your God."

The world, which denies a "first mover" and perpetuates its atheism, doesn't diminish Our God. The rhetorical question posed by the Creator still needs an answer from the Twenty- first Century.

Isaiah 40:25-26
5 'To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might 
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

The two part rhetorical question posed to Israel and his progeny is also valid today, as we preen ourselves with computerized wizardry. Isaiah offers a two part response.

Isaiah 40:27-41:1
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
'My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God'?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.

Self-estimating Israel determined their God did not know them or care about their just claims. He was a foreign entity, distant in time and space. God heard this and answers.

Just when one thinks there is no solution to his or her problems, in steps the God of the Universe with, "Is anything too hard for the Lord." He, who numbers hairs and knows the falling sparrow, knows our causes and our needs. The creator is close to His creation.

The second portion of Isaiah's answer is a passage oft quoted by the weary pilgrim. It is a comforting set of verses, but must be taken in context. He is the Creator, "Behold Your God-who cares."

29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength. 
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall, 
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

(Leonard Ravenhill had eagle pictures and sculptures throughout his residence. He knew how eagles nested in clefts above the circumstances of the lower atmosphere. How they lost their old feathers and got new ones. How they soared above the storms, allowing the high winds to carry them above the clouds. How they had pockets of air in their lungs that released oxygen at high altitudes. How they had eyes that could pin point creatures and terrain at great distances. How they, like the dove and man, looked over their beaks in single vision rather than like other birds which required angling from side to side. Mounting up with wings like eagles meant more to him than the average person. Living in his 80's found him relying on His strength.)

Chapter 41 The Court of Heaven

God assembled the earth to the bar of justice and challenged the earth to disprove His claims. He tells the nations to bring their best arguments and He will overcome their objections. He stakes His claims for all to behold.

He loves His people and He is their provider. He will not forsake them. He caused King Cyrus to be raised up to defeat their enemies.

He alone is the Creator.

Idols, and they who worship them, are nothing.

Throughout the next few chapters, the Lord weaves the threads of these three stands into a tapestry featuring elements of His power on display.

The first verses of chapter 41 raise the bar for prophetic words. The first time in history a prophet calls the name of a "King-to-be," who has not yet been born. Cyrus is his name. His biography is complete before Isaiah, and God tells His people that Cyrus is anointed to be a conqueror.

Isaiah 41:2-5
2 'Who has stirred up this one from the east, whom victory meets at every step? Who, indeed, but the Lord? God has given him victory over many nations and permitted him to trample kings underfoot and to put entire armies to the sword. 3 He chases them away and goes on safely, though the paths he treads are new. 4 Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of generations of mankind as they march by? It is I, the Lord, the First and Last; I alone am He.' 5 The lands beyond the sea watch in fear and wait for word of Cyrus' new campaigns. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.

(The underlined portion is significant enough to highlight it. "Directing the affairs of generations as they march by…" relates to today! His people may be captured in a visual time frame of whatever period of history they emerge, but He isn't. He sees the end from the beginning.)

Consider now this passage in 2 Chronicles:

2 Chronicles 36:22-23
22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: 23 This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

"'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to-- build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you-may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.'"

          TLB

Now turn to Jeremiah (remember Jeremiah lived to see Israel taken away by Babylon and died before their deliverance).

Jeremiah 29:10-14
10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

(God is referring to the prophet Isaiah's words, not only here, but in chapters 44 and 45.)

Israel, as I am writing this, is proposing to add to its legal domain a statement that it is the nation of the Jews. Up until now, it has acted only as a State among nations, but to identify it as the homeland of all Jews throughout history, is a religious assent heretofore not accepted.

Review the next verses which follow a foray against idols and their inability to do anything but just sit where they are placed. Listen to God's assurances and His reference to His right hand.

Isaiah 41:8-16
But as for you, O Israel, you are mine, my chosen ones; for you are Abraham's family, and he was my friend. 9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth and said that you must serve but me alone, for I have chosen you and will not throw you away. 10 Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

11 "See, all your angry enemies lie confused and shattered. Anyone opposing you will die. 12 You will look for them in vain - they will all be gone. 13 I am holding you by your right hand -- I, the Lord your God-and I say to you, don't be afraid; I am here to help you. 14 Despised though you are, fear not, O Israel; for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer; I am the Holy One of Israel. 15 You shall be a new and sharp-toothed threshing instrument to tear all enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. 16 You shall toss them in the air; the wind shall blow them all away; whirlwinds shall scatter them. And the joy of the Lord shall fill you full; you shall glory in the God of Israel."
          TLB

(Something inside me believes this passage eclipses Cyrus and speaks to the end-game for His people. No other time in history will fit the descriptor as does NOW!)

Tender love and compassion fill God's words in these passages. The job