Saturday, September 30, 2006

If God was sovereign, why do anything? Wrong question.


Many Christians seem to be quite uncomfortable emphasizing and focusing too much on God’s Sovereignty. This may be because they are concerned that people will use this as an excuse to say, “If God is Sovereign (and is totally in control and is working all things according to the purpose of His will) anyway, then why should we do anything? Why don’t we just all sit back and enjoy the show?”

Yet instead of seizing the occasion to expose the foolishness of such a question, we often end up even validating it by saying, "Well yes, God is Sovereign but Man is STILL Responsible." As if God is some Supreme Commander alright, but without His loyal troops playing their part in making the mission a success, well um, then the Great Commander won't be too terribly happy and the troops will miss out and have to settle for second best, or something... All as if the final decision to just sit back and enjoy the show, is truly up to mortals like us to make!

If we're missing out on anything, I think we're missing out on a wonderful opportunity to further herald our Father's majesty, power and providence--working even in us.

By skirting the issue, we allow others to continue with a very unsound view of God and a very pathetic opinion of His dominion over ALL things—including His active dominion over us, and His personal involvement with every single one of His beloved children. Such slanted views of God do not glorify our LORD.

God doesn’t just cause or initiate things and then leave it to us to determine whether we’ll participate in them or not. His Sovereignty is no sovereignty at all, if it is in any way shape or form, waiting for man’s willingness, decision or initiative to participate in His plan or not.

Am I suggesting that Man is no longer RESPONSIBLE? No: Man is STILL Responsible. 

He is still responsible to be holy and blameless before God, even if all our righteousness are like filthy rags to the LORD. Man is RESPONSIBLE for failing every single one of his God-given responsibilities--there is no excuse!

Man MUST do his part. It is essential. It is commanded. It is Biblical. And this is all the more reason why we should all celebrate the fact that:

It is GOD who works in US to both WILL and DO of HIS Good Pleasure.
 (Philippians 2:13)

What can be more inspiring, more encouraging, more exciting and more motivating to a true child of God than that?

God’s Sovereignty means that it is GOD who is initiating AND working out ALL things for the purpose of HIS will—down to the smallest and minutest of details—even to the number of our hairs. Each strand serves our Heavenly Father’s purpose.

Man’s goings are of the LORD, how can a man then understand his own way?

Sometimes we suggest that God waits for man to play his part before God will play His. Perhaps this is when we need to remember that it is we who have been commanded to wait on the LORD, not the other way around.

Championing human initiative and man’s ability to "make the right choices for God" is what brought us The Tower of Babel, the wild child Ishmael, Jacob stealing the birthright that was promised to him anyway, Moses the murderer, King Saul’s downfall, Simon Peter's foray into ear surgery and a host of other embarrassing fiascos—all recorded for posterity in God’s eternal Word.

Yet in all of these, God was and is still in full control—giving us valuable lessons about our inability, our fragility, our limitations and our utter need to be totally dependent on Him alone always. The Glory is all HIS.

God's Sovereignty means that it is HE who is the Master and LORD, ever faithfully transforming His children—shaping us, dragging us, lifting us, moving us from predestination, through election, through regeneration, through justification, through sanctification, from glory to glory with Christ, throughout all eternity.

There are no gaps or blind spots with God nor in His plan. God does not say, “Doh!”

If a person is not being actively used of God, then the onus is not on that person to be of use to God. No, the onus is on that person to be afraid—very, very afraid. For this is no small matter. If God is not actively working in a person, then there may be eternal implications for that person, that are too horrible to imagine. It doesn’t matter how long that person has been attending church, for it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. And for us to suggest otherwise might be tantamount to offering that person a false hope, the cruelest of all hoaxes.

We are saved by GOD’s Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in CHRIST Alone, as declared in Scripture Alone: All for the Glory of GOD Alone.

God does not save anyone merely to give them a choice whether they want to participate in God’s plan or not. No, God saves us because He is already actively involving us in His plan: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do--even before the foundation of the world.

(And if any of us should end up in hell, then it is still for the glory of God who reminds us of what we truly deserve!)

God’s Sovereignty means that it is He who makes a people that is not His people, to be His people—and He will be their God. Just as sure as when God said, "Let there be light" and there was light, we can be sure of this!

God's word is true. It will accomplish that which He purposed and will succeed in all for which He sent it. 

God’s Sovereignty means that it is He who is the one removing our stony hearts and putting into us, hearts of flesh. It is He who is putting His Spirit in us, so that we can walk in His statutes and execute His judgments—not by our own choosing or His mere enabling, but by His actively carrying this out in us. Our God is not one who simply calls us to do something, then waits for us to decide to do it or not--otherwise we shall all be doomed! Praise God that He who is calling is also the one who causing everything to work out according to His will.

Like it or not, God’s Sovereignty means that poor old Moses went to Pharaoh, even if not once did Moses say to God, “Yes, sir.” 

In short, Moses went to Pharoah even if there is absolutely no indication in the Bible that Moses was himself willing to go. If it were up to Moses' choice, he would rather that God left him alone! 

And yet Moses led the Israelites for forty years, even as he complained to God, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you, that you put the burden of all these people on me?... I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now...”

God's Sovereignty prevailed regardless.

God’s Sovereignty means that little Gideon was told: “You have too many men…If I say this one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say this one shall not go with you, he shall not go.” If the choice was up to Gideon, he would have preferred that God assigned the mission to someone else, right from the very beginning!

God’s Sovereignty means that Jeremiah still heralded God’s Truths, even as he lamented, “O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.” God’s Sovereignty means that Jeremiah still proclaimed the Word of God, even as Jeremiah chose and determined not to “mention Him or speak anymore of His name…”

God’s Sovereignty means that Jonah went to Nineveh, even when he preferred instead to die. If the whole matter were up to Jonah, he would have chosen to send all of Nineveh straight to hell. (So much for all of that "People-don't-care-how-much-you-know-until-they-know-how-much-you-care" drivel.)

God’s Sovereignty means that Simon Peter became a fisher of men, even after telling Jesus to, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter's choice was to send God away!

God’s Sovereignty means that Saul of Tarsus who chose to persecute of the flock, became Paul—a bondservant of Christ, Apostle to the Gentiles.

God’s Sovereignty means that the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that human words cannot express. God’s Sovereignty means that at His appointed time, “You will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

God’s Sovereignty means that true Christians CANNOT be fatalists. For the fatalist declares Fate to be in full control through chance; whereas those in the Faith proclaim God is in full control through Jesus!

The fatalists’ only hope is chance. Our very hope is Jesus—therefore there is no chance for chance.

God’s Sovereignty means that He has made sinners into Saints, worshipping an intensely active and deeply personal God, who is involved in everything that we are, were and will be—having sent us from where we’ve been, keeping us where we are and sending us to where He wills. No chance for chance.

God’s Sovereignty means that the decision to do anything or nothing, mercifully does not lie with vain capricious men. The decision belongs to the Sovereign God and Master, The King of Kings and LORD of Lords: The Shepherd, not the sheep. The Potter, not the clay. And so there is no chance for chance.

And who are we to protest? Do we feel slighted by being referred to as clay?

Then may God be gracious to us and cause us instead to cry out, “LORD Almighty, The Holy Righteous and Everlasting God: because it is You who is the Potter—because it is YOU who is The Potter—then what higher honor, what greater glory and what grander ambition can anyone have than to be YOUR Clay!”

Oh, how the planets and stars in the galaxies must groan in envy, because it is WE whom the Sovereign LORD has chosen to be His clay.

Yet over and above this, by His Sovereign Grace, He justifies the ungodly, having mercy on whom He will have mercy and adopts them to be His very own children: co-heirs with CHRIST!

So are we still to ask, “If God is Sovereign, then why do anything?”

Perhaps what we should be asking instead is, “If God is NOT Sovereign, then WHY do anything?

If God is NOT Sovereign, then why come to church? Why read the Bible? Why proclaim the Gospel? Why praise His name? If God is NOT Sovereign, then I can do whatever my sinful heart desires.

Yet it is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that the former objects of His wrath now have peace with Him who proclaimed: "I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again."

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that is why mortal sinners who do not understand and do not seek after God, end up worshipping Him forever!

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that is why those who used to live for themselves no longer live—but it is Christ who lives in them. The dead have no say over the One who is living. This is not an appeal for the dead to surrender their will to Christ—no, it is a declaration that Christ has taken over. The redemption has begun—Mission: Unstoppable. No chance for chance!

Through every painful struggle and correction and heartache and frustration and disappointment that He has ordained to take us through: in all this, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. He is our chief and highest motive and there can be no greater exhortation to a true Christian than Christ Himself.

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that in Him we LIVE and MOVE and have our being.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN and that is why everything—EVERYTHING is going exactly according to His plan. Yes, people break His commandments all the time, and this breaks our hearts! But do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, so shall he reap. It’s all going according to God’s plan and nothing—absolutely not a single solitary thing is exempt.

Not even Satan, our enemy, our accuser and our tormentor—to whom we should not give a foothold—the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, not even he is exempt. Satan could not sift Peter as wheat without Christ’s permission. Satan himself could not touch Job without God’s consent. So let us not be surprised if Satan himself cannot even scratch his own nose, if it is not according to God’s plan!

Jesus Christ is LORD. That means Jesus Christ REIGNS. That means Jesus Christ is SOVEREIGN.

Christ's LORDship, His Reign, His Sovereignty are not subject to the choices of man. It is not up to man to decide whether Jesus is Lord or not; whether man accepts it or not, Jesus reigns over all. Christ is not LORD only where we allow Him or choose Him to be REIGN; that's not Sovereignty, that's lip service!

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain in the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am HE who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you: I will sustain you and I will rescue you. To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?"

All glory, honor and power are His, to the praise of His Mighty Name: JESUS CHRIST our LORD—the Alpha, the Omega; the Beginning and the End, the Ruler of all things in between.


Ignacio Lacsina jnr.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

"A Summary Of Our Studies On ROMANS"


Grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ to y'all!

We've been having such blessed times at our Bible Study group, taking up Paul's letter to the Romans. Here's a summary (or perhaps it would be better just to call it an "Outline" or "Overview") of what we've discussed. Please let me know of any insights, comments and suggestions that will help our group have a better understanding of this profoundly impactful epistle. Kindly pray that the Holy Spirit leads more people to and through this wonderful book.

Many thanks and God bless!
--Boms



The PBC Blacktown Care Group's Study on the Book of ROMANS


Author: Paul
  • Romans 1:1; Style and theological viewpoint very similar to other letters attributed to Paul (Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians)
  • Probably written while he was in Corinth, Greece; as guest of Gaius (Rom 16:23) who was a prominent church leader in Corinth (1Cor 1:14); around 57ad, before Great Roman Fire of 64ad, during reign of Nero.






Intended Audience: Christians in Rome

  • Ethnically, culturally diverse Gentile (non-Jewish) and Jewish converts
  • Most probably first received the Gospel during Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:10)
  • Most have never met Paul personally, but may have heard of him as former Saul of Tarsus; most may have heard of his conversion (Acts 9), apostleship (sending out), missionary journeys and church planting (from Acts 13 to 18?); most may have heard other people’s rumors about him and his teachings (Romans 3:8)






Reasons for writing:

  • Paul wanted to introduce himself in preparation for his intended visit to Rome
  • Paul wanted to make clear his position regarding the Gospel and help the Roman Christians have a clearer understanding of the subject of Salvation (or “Soteriology,” from Greek sōtērion, meaning deliverance; sōtēr, meaning savior; saos, sōs, meaning safe)
  • Paul wanted the diverse Christians in Rome to be united in their understanding and teaching of God’s Gospel, and together lead Gospel-Driven lives.
  • Paul wanted to help build up the Roman churches in understanding their faith, so that they may be better able to help him spread the true Gospel, towards Spain (Rom 15:28)






SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS (Additional notes in parentheses)

The Good News, The Bad News, The Best News Ever: Chapters 1-11

ROMANS 1: Paul introduces himself and the Gospel (Good News) regarding Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became son of man: seed of David (God incarnate=God in the flesh), declared as God the Son by his resurrection from the dead, “through Him and for His name’s sake, we have received grace …”

Paul writes of his longing to visit the Roman Christians and preach them this Gospel “for it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes.” (The Good News is not just for unbelievers, but also for those who already believe.) People need the Gospel because “God’s wrath is being revealed… against all the godlessness…”

We value the things that God created, more than we value God the creator. There is no excuse...








ROMANS 2: God’s wrath is justified. We are all sinners, unable to measure up to God’s standards. God’s judgment is “based on truth.” Outwardly trying to observe (Jewish) laws and traditions (such as circumcision) is commendable and may result in being praised by others, but it is not enough to appease God’s wrath.








ROMANS 3: There is nothing that we can do (there’s nothing that can come from us) that will make us right with God, but that is no excuse to go on sinning. So “now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known… this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” God presented Christ as a sacrifice for atonement. (This is the only sacrifice that truly appeases God’s wrath and results in reconciliation with Him).








ROMANS 4: (For those who still insist on obeying Jewish traditions to be right with God,) Paul cites Abraham as an example (since the tradition of circumcision started with Abraham in Genesis 17): “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness” even before he was circumcised (Gen. 15:6). Circumcision was a sign of his righteousness, not the cause of it: Righteousness comes by faith to those who believe in Him who justifies the ungodly. Even King David himself, the man after God’s own heart, believed that it is God who imputes righteousness apart from works (in Psalm 32:1-2). (The signs of righteousness then follow.)








ROMANS 5: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” and all of this, God did “while we were still sinners.” This is the reason for us to rejoice, even in suffering: suffering and death reigned as a result of Adam’s trespass, yet “how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through” Jesus Christ.








ROMANS 6: “Shall we go on sinning…? By no means!” We used to be slaves to sin, but now, we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness… slaves to God.” (Note the distinction: we have not been saved from death, so that we can continue to sin if we want, but rather) We have
been saved from sin, which leads to death: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (A gift is not earned or deserved, it is by grace!)







ROMANS 7: We are no longer controlled by the sinful or
carnal nature, so we now struggle or wage war against it. (Anyone not struggling with sin probably isn't taking sin seriously enough.) Who will rescue us “from this body of death” that we struggle against? (Ourselves? Our own will-power? What is Paul’s own answer?)

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”








ROMANS 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” because Christ himself assures victory. Those who are not in Christ will continue in their sinful nature (just as we used to). They are hostile to God (just as we were). Their minds do “not submit to God’s law, nor can” they do so, unless the Holy Spirit sets them free from sin (as He did with us).

Only those whom the Holy Spirit owns are truly God’s children. (Does that mean that God’s children no longer suffer? No,) God’s children are co-heirs with Christ, and so “share in his sufferings,” so that we may also share in his glory. In our sufferings, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us… nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”









ROMANS 9: But then what about God’s promises to the Jews? (Of everlasting salvation; to be God’s very own people; to be a royal priesthood; the promises of a Messiah, The Christ?) Have God’s word failed Israel? No. The promises still stand; God’s word never fails! But we must remember that the promises were never made merely to the biological/natural descendants of Abraham. The promises were made to those whom God chose to adopt into His family. The biological Israelites pursued righteousness with zeal by working, and so stumbled; whereas the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, obtained it by the gift of faith--a gift from God.









ROMANS 10: In spite of Paul’s desire for Israel to be saved, in spite of Israel’s zeal for God, Israel “did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own…” And so, did not submit to God’s righteousness. Israel cannot claim that they have not believed because they did not hear, or because no one was sent to preach to them: “Did they not hear? Of course they did…” But concerning Israel, God says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”









ROMANS 11: Has God totally rejected Israel? By no means! Even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. Now Paul warns the Gentiles against looking down on the Israelites, because it is into their family that they have been graciously grafted into.

The hardening of Israel is for the glory of God: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Israel, nor anyone else for that matter, will not be able to say that it was their zeal or faithfulness that caused God to save them.)

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.”









The Gospel-Driven Life: Chapters 12-16

ROMANS 12: As a result of God's gracious work in our lives then, we ought to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Him as an act of worship (“worth-ship”); being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to recognise Christ’s church as being one body with many different parts—many different gifts. We are to zealously exercise our individual gifts; sharing the life that God has given us in sincere love, joy and humility, in both good times and bad; overcoming evil with good, because “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (KJV).









ROMANS 13: Teaches us to recognize God’s sovereignty over earthly governments and the Christians’ obligation to authorities; how love fulfills the commandments; exhorts us not to waste time on carnal desires.









ROMANS 14: Tells us that those who are strong in the faith and those who are weak are to be united in Christ. Before we judge one another, remember that God is the judge of us all. We should build each other up in Christ, and avoid making each other stumble.









ROMANS 15: Those who are strong must selflessly help to build up the weak. Jesus did not make it a priority to please himself, so neither should we. God gives us endurance and encouragement through His word—may He grant us harmony, so that we can all together glorify Him.

Paul acknowledges Christ’s accomplishments in his ministry of preaching the Gospel “where Christ was not known.” This is why he plans to preach in Spain, visiting Rome on his way there. Paul urges the Roman Christians to pray for him and his plans to visit them and to know them personally.









ROMANS 16: Paul commends his fellow workers to the Roman churches: these are his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ (each from various backgrounds, serving God in Rome). Paul urges the churches to keep away from those who cause divisions by teaching erroneous doctrine: “Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil,” for “The God of peace will soon crush Satan” (the father of lies) “under your feet.”

Paul’s other companions send also their greetings to the Romans.

Paul closes in praise of the Eternal Almighty All-Knowing God:

“Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey Him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”









RECOMMENDED HOMEWORK (as the Spirit leads):


From what we have been learning in Romans, what do you think are the most essential things that Christians need to proclaim, about:

GOD?





MAN?





SIN?





JUDGMENT?





JESUS CHRIST?





The HOLY SPIRIT?






The Appropriate RESPONSE?









(Bonus points for citing passages in Romans to support your statements for all of the above!)

A Righteousness That Is By Faith...



"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

--Paul's Letter to the Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17





“…We must be very careful to understand faith as Paul uses the word, because he ties faith so closely to salvation. It is not something we must do in order to earn salvation – if that were true, then faith would be just one more deed, and Paul clearly states that human deeds can never save us (Galatians 2:16). Instead, faith is a gift God gives us because he is saving us (Ephesians 2:8). It is God’s grace, not our faith that saves us. In his mercy, however, when he saves us he gives us faith… Through the faith he gives, he carries us from death unto life (John 5:24).”

--Life Application Bible New International Version, excerpt, page 2027; Tyndale House 1991




Remember this; or you may fall into error by fixing your minds so much upon the faith which is the channel of salvation as to forget the grace which is the fountain and source even of faith itself. Faith is the work of God's grace in us.

No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost. "
No man cometh unto me," saith Jesus, "except the Father which hath sent me draws him." So that faith, which is coming to Christ, is the result of divine drawing. Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation; and faith, essential as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which grace employs. We are saved "through faith," but salvation is "by grace."

--Charles Haddon Spurgeon, All Of Grace
(Pls right-click on the links for the option to open each one in a new window. Thank you!)






“Faith is a gift from God, so that no one may boast. The last bastion of pride is the belief that we are the originators of our faith…”
“Faith is the evidence of new birth, not the cause of it.”

--John Piper




“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31). Is this your view of salvation? Are you giving the entire glory to God, or are you reserving a little for yourself? Are you saying that it is your belief that saves you? If so, you are detracting from the glory of God. The glory is entirely His –to the praise of the glory of His grace in which he has highly favored us in the beloved.”

--Martyn Lloyd Jones



"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
--Hebrews 12:2a



By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone, As Taught in Scripture Alone,

All For The Glory of God Alone!

"I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sear leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche. He that believes in a God must believe this truth. There is no standing-point between this and atheism. There is no half way between a mighty God that worketh all things by the sovereign counsel of his will and no God at all. A God that cannot do as he pleases—a God whose will is frustrated, is not a God, and cannot be a God. I could not believe in such a God as that."


"There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the kingship of God over all the works of his own hands—the throne of God, and his right to sit upon that throne."

"Did You Know...?"









"Did You Know...?"

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth 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 who 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?

Surley 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...

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?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the world 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...

"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...

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 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.



(Excerpts from the New International Version of the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 40, originally written around 680 B.C.
and can also be seen at http://webisto.com/space/.
Thanks to Liane V. for sharing with us.)