1 / 29

SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE Isa 40:25-31

SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE Isa 40:25-31. Rev. Dr. Stephen Tee. Focus on verses 29-31. Introduction. Isaiah 40:31 is one of those famous, favorite. verse that is continuously preached. Why is this so? Most encouraging God promise to the Israelites. Unfortunately.

annissa
Download Presentation

SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE Isa 40:25-31

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. SOARING LIKE AN EAGLEIsa 40:25-31 Rev. Dr. Stephen Tee Focus on verses 29-31

  2. Introduction • Isaiah 40:31 is one of those • famous, • favorite verse that is continuously preached Why is this so? Most encouraging God promise to the Israelites Unfortunately Always preached out of CONTEXT Lost it’s the meaning what God intended

  3. The immediate context is Isaiah 40:27-30. Isaiah 40:25-30 gives the understanding of the context of this passage • V25 God Himself asks a rhetorical question. • Why? Israel questioned God’ power because • they were in captivity. • They think that the gentile God is greater. • If you are so great how come we are in captivity. • Verse 26 – God says, hay, lift your eyes • there is no one like Him! • God identifies Himself as the Holy One, • He is indescribably superior to all so called gods • None is His equal!

  4. God has just testified to His might and power in v25 and v26 to convince Israel that there is no God like Him V27 Now Isaiah is addressing Jacob and...Israel Why Jacob and Israel? This prophecy possibly uttered prior to the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom (722BC) and certainly before Babylonian conquest of the Southern Kingdom (586BC) Jacob and...Israel could be directed at both the Northern and Southern kingdoms who were in captivity in Babylon.

  5. Israel felt God has abandoned them. Isaiah comforted them that God is not ignorant of their condition. V28 Isaiah reminded the Israelites of who their God is by asking some questions. Why Is this necessary? Because of the exile, the Israelites was despondent and dis-spirited. Have you not known and heard of the Lord? 1. Through Moses 2. Through Joshua • Don’t you know that God does not:- • faint • grow weary • does not lack understanding

  6. V28 God declares that He is the: • Creator and • Sustainer of everything by virtue of His great might and power • The heavenly host exists and moves, not • simply by natural laws. • He knows the name of each star in the universe • The Son of God is Himself the sustaining: • Center, • Upholder • and Controller All things that exists

  7. Because of their long exile, the • Israelites were: • disillusioned • discouraged • downcast • dis-spirited • despondence • They doubted God’s ability and power. • They thought God has abandoned them. • Hence God moved Isaiah to prophesy words of • encouragement and comfort in v28-31 With their God God of Gentile Greater than their God.

  8. Believers too when pressured with: • great adversities • disappointments • discouragement • disillusion Response the same way V28 Isaiah asked two rhetorical questions. Purpose - stirred the Israelites to remembrance God's character. • Creator • Does not faint • Does not grow weary • Omniscience

  9. Wonderful Promises Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. • Faint also means: • weary • exhausted especially emotionally and spiritually When one is in this condition, we need power. The Israelites after a prolonged exile were in this condition.

  10. Wonderful Promises • Isaiah reminded the Israelites Not to: • Focus inward (themselves), • Focus outward (others) • Focus upward (Godward) God is the source of their power • Power - 381 (koah/koach) means: • strength • ability • capacity speaks of power to act and ability perform some function.

  11. Wonderful Promises Isa 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD 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. Contrast between v30 and v31 Waiter of God “youth and young men”

  12. Wonderful Promises “youth and young men” Live in their natural strength Contrast Waiter of God • Lives in God's: • untiring, • unwearying. Supernatural strength

  13. Wonderful Promises Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD 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. Promise Not for everyone Only to those who wait upon the Lord Wait – 6960 (qavah) means: Basic idea is to wait for or look for with eager expectation. • to hope for • to look eagerly for • linger for

  14. Wonderful Promises • Wait (qavah) includes:- • hope • patience • resting (trusting) • “wait” does not suggest that we: • sit around • and do nothing This involves meditation: 1. On His character 2. His promises, 3. Praying.

  15. Wonderful Promises Everything comes to the believer who can wait. Waiting is the key to possession of all God’s promises. Greatest challenger to believers is waiting. • Many believers failed to possess their promise. • because they lack patience. • Example life of Abraham: • Heb 6:12 • Heb 12:35-36

  16. Wonderful Promises • Wait upon (qavah) is: • imperative mood – not a suggestion • but a command. • present imperative – lifestyle or • continual habit/practice • One of the most difficult aspects of the • Christian life is waiting on God. • It is especially difficult in the midst of trials • because believers expect instant deliverance 4 Promises • Renew strength • Mount up as eagles 3. Run and not be weary 4. Walk and not faint

  17. Wonderful Promises Exchanging Natural Strength For Supernatural Strength • Wait upon who? Not men But the Lord • The result or effects – Renew their strength • Renew – (2498) chalap. Meaning: • to substitute • to exchange (taking off old clothes • putting on new clothes. • "taking off" our weakness and • exchanging them for God’s strength. • to change for the better

  18. Wonderful Promises Strength - koah • strength • capacity • ability SUPERNATURAL FLYING They will mount up with wings like eagles: • Mount up (5927) – ‘alah. Meaning: • to ascend • to rise • Describe life moving from a lower • to a higher plane.

  19. Wonderful Promises • Wings (803) - (eber) means: • 1. pinions (the terminal section of a • bird’s wing including the carpus, metacarpus, • and phalanges) • 2. put forth fresh feathers (Jamieson) • To mount up with wings as eagles to rise above: • difficulties, • challenges • trials • adversities, • infirmities • circumstances

  20. Wonderful Promises Presents a beautiful picture of an eagle spreading its magnificent wings that it might take advantage of the updraft and glide almost effortlessly through the sky • In the figurative sense, a believer is uplifted • physically, • emotionally • and/or spiritually. By God’s strength Or power Eph 3:20

  21. Wonderful Promises • Why did God choose an Eagles (5404) (nesher) • and not a chicken to represent a believers life. • Nature of eagles, it is noted for their: • size • grace • strength, • speed, • long feathers, • powers of flight • keenness of vision, • majestic

  22. Wonderful Promises • Eagle: • mountsto a lofty height, untired and undazzled • soaring even above the fogs and mists of the • lower regions of the air, • soaring above the very clouds, undeterred • by the lightning, wind turbulence and floating in • the pure azure above! That is what believers are. Do we believe?

  23. Wonderful Promises Metaphor of an Athlete in Scripture • They shall run (rus) means: • to hasten, • move very quickly • to make haste by running • Isaiah is referring to running in a figurative sense • using a metaphor taken from runners in a race, • who exert themselves, who strive hard • and who spend their strength performing • or attaining some goal Their goal was returning to Jerusalem through the valleys and up the mountain. Needed strength.

  24. Wonderful Promises • Note : not be weary • Not (3803) - lo’ describes factual negation. • Meaning those who walk in God's power, • they shall absolutely not get weary. • Get tired (3021) (yaga') means: • to labor or toil and then to be weary, • grow tired or be in need of rest because of either physical or emotional needs.

  25. Wonderful Promises • Note that this pair of Hebrew verbs • (faint..weary) are used three times • (Is 40:28,30,31) clearly indicating a relationship. • Isaiah describes the vigor(strength) of youths • and young mencannot compare with God's: • untiring strength • unwearying strength (Isa 40:28) God...does not become weary or tired. God strength will not fail in the storms and demands of life.

  26. Wonderful Promises Supernatural Walking They will walk and not become weary: • walk (1980) (halak) is the common Hebrew verb: • for walk • or travel from one place to another. • Clearly in context, Isaiah uses halak as a • metaphor because walking pictures our daily: • conduct • or behavior • or response In the affairs of life

  27. Wonderful Promises • walk (present imperative) meaning: • not a suggestion • but a command to make this our continual or habitual practice • Not faint (3289) - ya'aph. • Means to grow: • tired • or faint. as from physical exhaustion Again referring to Israel arduous and tiring return to Jerusalem from Babylon

  28. Wonderful Promises Conclusion • When one is • at the lowest, • burden by seemly impossible situation • bewildered by the darkness. • confounded by obstacles, God uses the dark experiences of our life to develop our spiritual dependency on Him. Paul understood this secret. God’s strength is manifested in our weakness.

  29. Wonderful Promises • The Lord will sometimes takes us • to Babylon, where we feel: • oppressed, • This is how He is forming us into the man • or woman he wants us to be. • In the darkness of circumstances, He • transforms believers from chicken to eagle. • constricted • and closed in God desires you and I to soar like the eagle with His strength above the storm and lightning of our adversities.

More Related