Many devout Jews wait for the Anointed One, the Messiah, to grant peace and restore the kingdom to Israel. Those that do cherish prophetic God inspired passages like this one from Isaiah 40:27-31 AKJV*:
“Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from YHVH (The Existing One), and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, YHVH (The Existing One), the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait on YHVH (The Existing One) 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.”
Though this is primarily for the Jews, the non-Jew can receive great benefit from it, especially if they surrender to God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah Who was rejected by the Jews but will be lovingly fully accepted by them after Armageddon. It would be great to bring out things throughout Isaiah for any true disciple of Christ, but in the ministry God has entrusted to me I have been directed by Him to concentrate at this time only on verse 31 of Isaiah 40 from which we may see the following.
I. Be Hoping / Expectingly Waiting 31a
“But they that wait on YHVH (The Existing One) . . .”
A few years back I was strongly impressed upon by God to emphasize when I present His Word that whenever we read “LORD” (but not “Lord”) in a good translation it is actually the ancient divine Name of God. To the best of my knowledge, it is just four Hebrew consonants and no one can definitely say what vowels go with them. So I started using the English representation of those letters, YHVH or possibly YHWH. More recently I have been further impressed upon by God to bring out the meaning: “The Existing One”, similar to I AM WHO I AM. In short, God reminds us He always existed, is omnipotent according to His holiness, needs nothing, and much more.
So with the Jews we are encouraged to wait on God, no one else and nothing else, but God. The Hebrew word for “wait on” here does not mean for us to sit around and twiddle our thumbs, but it means {1} “to hope strongly, to trust, implying firmness and constancy of mind, to hope for, to wait for, to expect anything; to hope that a thing will be effected, and to wait steadily and patiently till it is effected “.
In order to follow through with verse 31 we have to personally know God, not just know about Him. Next, it is good for us to know what we should be waiting about. Grant it, the main thrust of the passage is prophetic. True Christians await the first resurrection, the rapture of the Church, and the millennial reign of Christ on earth. However, but most importantly things that affect one spiritually we need to cooperate with. It is written in 2 Timothy 1:12, “for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
Before I get to the more important realm, we are to wait upon The Existing One at times to know His specific will for us. For example, we need to wait upon Him to know what type of ministry (service) we should be doing in the Body of Christ. Another is that the person who is truly single (never married before to someone who is still physically living) should wait from God to hear if they ARE to marry or not and, if they are, whom to marry. In looking for a job we need to wait upon Him to know what job we are to get.
More important is the general will of God because if we do not endeavor to do it by His strength we might be unusable and unfit for many of the aspects of His specific will for us. Simply put, we are to spiritually grow in Christ. We need to know points of His general will, like the fact that if we are saved sin will not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14). The more we know such Holy Scriptures that give us instruction unto holiness and godliness and apply them, the more we will grow in Him.
But many disciples, if not all, at times bemoan the slowness of their speed in godly growth. While it is good we are to have at times a level of dissatisfaction of our growth the devotional intent of Isaiah 40:31 and other passages is that we have patience with God’s working in us. We are not puppets or computers. God desires us to willfully obey and serve Him and remain in Him. One of the problems is that we are slow learners. Another is that the spiritual condition of the world tends to erode our spiritual grow. Still another is understanding certain directives of His Word.
Romans 2:4 tells us the long-suffering of God towards us leads us to repentance. Though one repents when they are saved, regenerated, we are to continue to repent as we walk in Him. I came to Christ in 1970. There were things in my life I foolishly allowed for decades but over the course of time God helped me to learn from His Word by Holy Spirit experiences there were ways and attitudes I needed to repent of. If God grants me another half-century of physical life, by His grace and in the strength of His Spirit I will continue to repent. Doing so glorifies Him and strengthens me spiritually. This takes us to the other part of this message, the wonderful results of waiting upon God.
II. Be Tremendously Blessed with . . .
Renewal - 31b
“shall renew their strength;”
Young’s Literal Translation puts it this way: “But those expecting Jehovah pass to power”. Given the whole counsel of Holy Scripture this would be power, strength to live holy and at peace in this world full of trouble along with continuance in serving God. “But they that wait on YHVH (The Existing One) shall renew their strength” reminds me of Psalm 84:5-7 AV*: “ Blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the ways of them. 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca (baw-kaw, “weeping”) make it a well; the rain also fills the pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before God.”
Christ never said we would not have troubles or sorrows. He did instruct us to rely upon Him for comfort, strength, and instruction. 2 Corinthians 1 shows us that if we are truly saved that what we permit ourselves to receive from God during times of trouble will enable us to be a blessing for others.
Passages like James 1:2 show us that, if we permit it, by God’s grace applied by us in our life troubles can help us produce godly character. We grow in grace. Grace includes the ability to do what God wants us to do as well as possessing the godly character of Christ. Just like godly strength, a true disciple is to grow in grace, for it is written in John 1:16 AV, “And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
Arising In Christ - 31c
“they shall mount up with wings as eagles;”
The Word of God tells us in a number of places if we died with Christ we are risen with Him, so this mention of eagles in Isaiah 40:31 makes me think of being raised with Christ to newness of life in Him. We are to seek those things that are above where
Christ is seated (Colossians 3:1).I have heard eagles can spot a meal from a great distance. This verse, then, could speak to me that as we grow in Christ we develop the ability through the Holy Spirit to understand and apply to one’s life the deeper things in God’s Word. If eagles fly before dawn they would be able to see the edge of dawn sooner. May we delight in God and in the dawn that He will bring {2}
A very important thing about eagles is that when they reach great heights they are very far away from any danger on the ground. Our neighbor cares for numerous stray cats. As cute as they may seem they are absolute painful death for any bird lingering on the ground for any reason, including being unaware of lurking danger. So it is for us to remain risen with Christ far above sinful earthly living and influence. On this, I must think of the words “far above” in regard to the risen Christ in Ephesians 1:21, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” If you are a true Christian, please read the entirety of Ephesians 1, continually think about it, lay to heart and apply it to your life.
Running The Race Well - 31d
“they shall run, and not be weary;”
Along with a multitude of other groups of proof texts that Christ is YHVH in the flesh, as one carefully and prayerfully reads the Holy Bible under the anointing of the Holy Spirit they will see a definite link between YHVH of the Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament. Isaiah 40:31a & d has “But they that wait on YHVH (The Existing One) . . . shall run, and not be weary;”. Now, keeping in mind that “wait on” means “to hope strongly, to trust, implying firmness and constancy of mind, to hope for, to wait for, to expect anything; to hope that a thing will be effected, and to wait steadily and patiently till it is effected”, consider well Hebrews 12:1-4:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;”
D. Walk Well In Christ - 31e
“and they shall walk, and not faint.”
If we would continue in Hebrews 12 we would come to verse 5 which has, “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;’”. “Faint in this verse means {3} to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted. And, yes, Christ will reprove, chasten, and rebuke us when we need it. The balance of Hebrews 12 shows that every true child of God will be disciplined from time to time.
“Reproved” in verse 5 can mean “convict”. I have heard there is a very popular preacher that teaches the Holy Spirit will not convict a Christian. This verse, and a few others, show that preacher is not bringing forth the true Word of God. If someone is a true Christian they will feel a level of conviction when they sin or continue to entertain sin.
Those who are saved and are physically “getting up there” in years often find that their body is not what it used to be. The written Word of God gives us encouragement even in that situation with this verse from 2 Corinthians 4:16 which is rooted in the truths of Isaiah 40:31, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Psalm 27:13-14 also mirrors Isaiah 40:31 and exhorts us to wait on the Living God: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of YHVH (The Existing One) in the land of the living. 14 Wait on YHVH (The Existing One): be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on YHVH (The Existing One).” If we believe and obey the directives of Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 27:13-14, Hebrews 12:1-5 and numerous other similar passages we will certainly be blessed with the spiritual endurance we need to continue in Him now, and after we leave this world.
Notes:
{1} Wilson, William: Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies (MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VA) pp 470-1
{2} Please listen to “Delight In The Dawning” at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M292 and read its article at http://holybibletreasures.expertscolumn.com/article/delight-in-the-dawning. At the time of publishing this article (August 19, 2017) the link appearing on Sapphirestreams.com to “What To Do When The Night Comes When No Man Can Work" was invalid because the former publisher, Triond, has apparently abandoned their network. The Relijournal URL is currently owned by someone else who apparently thinks nothing of Copyright infringement. God willing, when I can and if I can, I will revamp and repost that article to this blog.
{3} From an electronic version of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong incorporated in the Online Bible program, and so throughout the article whenever the ancient language is referred to and no other authority is cited.
This article was written in the form of a sermon (message) outline with comments. God willing by September 25, 2017 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M465 .
Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates and adding “(The Existing One)” to readily express the meaning of His Name without making repeated explanations in articles. * = For other versions the spelling of some words is updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.
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