The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter 40:12-14
The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter 40:12-14.
WANTED: An imaginative scribe who can write exquisite poetry. A faithful, articulate believer in Yahweh who can switch from one extreme to another at the Lord’s command… from a sublime vision of God’s glory, to a ridiculous demonstration of shameful nakedness; from confronting the people over their sinfulness, to comforting people with hopefulness; from being an outspoken messenger one minute, to a living object lesson the next; from having one foot in the immediate surroundings one minute, to one foot in the future messianic realm the next. Must be adaptable, thick-skinned, and extraordinarily brave. Person who answers, “Here I am. Send me!” will be especially considered. (from The Jerusalem Post, 740 BC).
“Who has measured the water of the sea in the hollow of his hand and used his hand-width to mark off the heavens? Who knows the exact weight of all the dust of the earth and has weighed all the mountains on a scale and the hills on a balance? Who fully understands the Spirit of Yahweh or is wise enough to counsel Him? Who does He consult to be enlightened? Who teaches Him the ways of justice? Who imparts knowledge to Him or shows Him the true path of wisdom and understanding?… The Holy One asks, ‘Can you find anyone or anything to compare to Me? Where is the one equal to Me?” (40:12-14, 25).
Exploring God as the Final Frontier. It seems like Isaiah, through his countless rhetorical questions regarding the Lord’s greatness, is begging us to explore God as mankind’s final frontier. To explore a frontier means to investigate uncharted territory, to seek something where settled territory is at the edge of wilderness. To explore a frontier is to search the extreme outer limits of something for knowledge and understanding, and to detect something unknown or unexplored. Every adventurer knows that an exploration like this often leads to discovery of something new and unexpected. What could be a better subject of exploration than the unimaginably immense Person of Creator God?
A Job Description. Adventurers who want to explore creation’s Final Frontier, the greatest Wonder of the World; must be extremely curious about the nature of God’s Being; motivated to know more about God than you know presently; inspired by the thrill of discovery; need to be challenged and changed in the process of exploration; have the courage to step into a safe unknown; able to invest considerable mental energy to pursue life inside God with a mustard seed of trust in Him; be comfortable with the certainty of endless exploring; have the patience to pursue the quest one step at a time for as long as it takes; must explore with the vision of C. S. Lewis in his Narnia tales, “Further Up and Further In!” Jesus beckoned His first disciples by asking them to imply follow Him. When they asked where they were going, He said merely, “Come and see!” The follower of Jesus requires the adventuresome spirit of the hearty explorer.
The Scope of the Exploration: The Subject of the exploration is far beyond even the imagination of the explorer. Even eternal heaven will not provide enough time or space to explore God. Even if we impossibly reach the limits of eternal time, there will be more to explore about God. Even if we somehow have discovered the outer fringes of God’s presence, there will be more than enough Being in which to explore His essence. Even within an everlasting timespan and the most immense cosmos imaginable, we would find it literally impossible to discover the full dimension of every aspect of God’s Being. Once started, we would never be able to exhaust our Final Frontier, we will never reach the end of our adventure. No boundary or border exists in the expanse of God’s Personhood; There will always be more to explore, even if eternity somehow came to an end, always more of God to discover even if we found the furthest of the 100 million galaxies. The joys of the everlasting Kingdom will include the ongoing exploration of God to our heart’s content, and the excitement of discovering more of Him around every corner. There will always be more to discover, which is fine because we will have all the time we need.
Is God Worthy of Eternal Exploration? Is it worth our while to explore the Person of God in order to discover more about Him? Why bother exploring such a mystery? Yes! It’s worth a lifetime quest, because God is:
- Better than Perfect. He is utterly complete, doesn’t “need” anything, and never needs to change. His purity outshines the sun, His goodness is infallible. Since God is an intimate and eternal 3-Person community of love, God doesn’t require anyone. He has “each other” for all eternity. “His beauty is past change.” (Gerard Manley Hopkins). “I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong.” (Deut. 32:3-4). “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.” (Ps. 50:2).
- Bigger than the Universe. His immensity stretches outside of natural space. God is present everywhere in the cosmos, whether at the furthest galaxy or in the microscopic atom. “His center is everywhere, His circumference nowhere.” (H. Lockyer). “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.” (Solomon, 1 Kings 8:27). “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away? Do not I fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:23)
- Older than Time. God invented time and chronology, so is outside of time itself. No birthdays for God. He was the same age 15 trillion years ago as He is now, and will be 15 trillion years from now. He never began, He’ll never end. “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God… For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.” (Ps. 90:2,4). “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8).
Exploring Our Wondrous God. “And Samson’s father asks the Angel of Yahweh, ‘What is your name, that we may honor you when your words come true?’ The Angel replied, ‘Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding. It is a name of wonder (“pili”).’” (Judges 13:17-18). “Pili” (pil-ee) is the Hebrew word which means: wondrous; something so wonderful that it is beyond comprehension; remarkable, extraordinary, marvelous; so awesome it cannot be understood by humans; so amazing that it seems impossible or too difficult to accomplish; so uniquely set apart from human understanding that it is God’s secret.
St. Paul, the Great Explorer. Paul was so impressed by Isaiah’s vision of greatness of God that he quoted it at length in his letter to the Romans: “O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! What a deep wealth of wisdom and knowledge He has! How incomprehensible are His decisions, how unsearchable His judgments! How undiscoverable are His paths, how mysterious His ways, beyond finding out! Who has understood the mind of Yahweh? Who knows how the Lord thinks, or what His thoughts are? Can anyone discern the Lord’s intentions, His motivations? Who knows enough to give Him advice? Is there anyone qualified to be His counselor? Who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back? Who could ever have a claim against Him? For everything was created by Him, everything lives through Him, and everything exists for Him; So to Him must be given the glory forever! Amen! (Romans 11:33-36, referring to Isaiah 40:12-14).
Focused Vision and Relaxed Vision. Trained wilderness trackers call the wide-angled view the “relaxed vision.” During our exploration of wondrous God, this is the perspective that is able to scan the whole field of vision. Relaxed vision sacrifices sharpened clarity on the details in order to enjoy a breadth of awareness that is able to get the big picture. In God-centered quest, both focused vision on His revealed Personhood and the relaxed vision of His ultimate Being is vital. Sometimes words are adequate during relaxed vision, but often it seems that we can only echo Job’s words, “I am unworthy. My words have been frivolous, what can I say? I had better lay my hand over my mouth.” (Job 40:4). Whether with words or without, relaxed vision involves a child-like trust in the Big Picture of God’s existence.
Open in order to Close. An open mind is required, but not to remain endlessly open without discernment. As G. K. Chesterton once said… “An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth. Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut. Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening our mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” An adventuresome God-explorer is one who remains open only in order to shut it again on solid truth.
“Will God really live with human being on earth? Behold, the heavens and the Heaven of Heavens, the highest heavens to their uttermost reaches, cannot contain you, O Lord!” (1 Kings 8:27).