Christ in 04 in Isaiah — Jim Flanigan

Tonight, please, we want to turn to the prophets, and to one prophet in particular, and that is the prophet Isaiah. And I'd like to read from three consecutive chapters, from chapter 40, 41, and 42, just a very brief reading from each of these chapters, the prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah as a Gospel in Miniature

Chapter 40, and reading that lovely verse 11, verse 11,. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

The ministry of the shepherd, a fourfold ministry. Now, chapter 41, please, and verse 10,. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

And from chapter 42, and beginning at verse 1, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighted. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.

Now, the Lord will bless that reading from his work. Now, I think it might have been Luther who said of the prophecy of Isaiah, this is not a prophecy. Methinks he said this is a gospel, and I think, of course, that many of us would agree with Luther.

Not only is this a gospel, it seems almost to have been written looking back upon the life and ministry of the Lord, but in fact, as Brethren often point out, this prophecy of Isaiah is really a whole Bible.

I think it has often been made very clear that there is a very close similarity between the prophecy of Isaiah and the whole of our Bible, so much so that it has been called the Bible in miniature. And if for the sake of those that are younger, I might just point out again one or two of these similarities between Isaiah and the whole of our Bible.

The first obvious thing, of course, is that there are sixty-six chapters, and that against the sixty-six books that we have in our Bible. The second thing is that the Bible, like Isaiah, or should I say, Isaiah like our Bible, begins with a terrible story of ruin, and there is a most awful description there of the ruin of the nation, the terrible state of the nation, in chapter one, and it is very like the story of man's fall, a way back in the early chapters of Genesis.

So Isaiah begins, as does our Bible, with the story of ruin. But immediately after the ruin of the book of Genesis is introduced, right at the very same time, in the very same garden, there is then the promise of a remedy, the redeemer's promise.

And along with the ruin, there comes the offer of redemption, and it seems that in Isaiah it is exactly the same. No sooner is that portion finished, which tells us of the terrible state of the nation, but immediately then we have that lovely invitation, come now and let us reason together, and the promise of pardon and forgiveness of sins.

So Isaiah, like our Bible, begins not only with ruin, but it begins with the promise of remedy as well. When you come to the end of Isaiah, the story is exactly the same, because our Bible ends, as you know, with a new heaven and a new earth, and it ends with, you might say, a man and his bride in the paradise.

Indeed, it ends almost as it begins, and the book of Isaiah is the very same. When you come to the end chapters of Isaiah, you are occupied again with the new heavens and the new earth, and with glory that is yet to come, and when we line that up, of course, with the book of Revelation, it is the man and his redeemed bride, and they're enjoying the paradise.

So Isaiah not only has the same chapters as our Bible has books, but it begins and ends in exactly the same way as our Bible. Now there's another interesting thing. You know, of course, that our Bible is divided into two sets of writings, and in the first batch of writings, we have thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant writings we call them, and in the New Testament, then, we have twenty-seven books, thirty-nine and twenty-seven making up the sixty-six.

Now, I think that it is not at all artificial that even a casual reader of the book of Isaiah will see that there is a very definite break at the end of chapter thirty-nine, and when you come to chapter forty, you begin that last section of twenty-seven chapters, there is a very natural break between thirty-nine and forty, and so, really, Isaiah is divided exactly the same as is our Bible.

Now, when you come to our New Testament, you know, of course, that the Old Testament is looking forward to the New, and when you come into the New Testament, it seems that for the early part of it, everything is leading on to Calvary, and then, after Calvary, in the New Testament, you begin to look back, and you find that everything now is based upon Calvary.

Everything afterwards is the fruits of the cross, and the early parts of each gospel is leading up to the cross. Now, when you come to the second part of Isaiah, to the last twenty-seven chapters, you find that the first twenty-seven of those are looking forward, actually, to something, to someone who is coming.

And when you go to the latter part of that twenty-seven chapter section, you find that those are occupied with blessings, and they seem somehow to be looking back, like as is the rest of the New Testament.

Now, if you take twenty-seven chapters, and if you take the first half of them looking forward, and the last part looking back, you arrive at the central chapter, and the central chapter of the last twenty-seven of Isaiah is the lovely chapter fifty-three.

It is right in the very heart of that second section, and it seems as if that is just like the Calvary that is right in the very heart of the New Testament. Now, I am sure that my brethren could go on and on, showing that there is indeed a very close similarity between the book of Isaiah and the whole of our Bible.

So, that makes it a very, very important, a very central and interesting book, and it is, of course, as we say, one of the major prophets. Now, when we say the major prophets and the minor prophets, we have no thought at all of inferiority, or of one prophet being more important than another.

That is not in our mind at all. But we think, of course, of the big books. We think of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and these big books, and these are called the major prophets because they are the biggest prophecies.

But when you go to the others, then, we refer to the book of the twelve prophets, the minor prophets we talk about, and not that they are inferior in any way, but they are just lesser as far as quantity is concerned.

They are all little books, some of them you could hardly find them when you go to look for a chapter. Well, in all of these prophecies, I think we can find the Lord Jesus, and out of all of them, perhaps Isaiah is the best known.

I trust that when we look for him this evening, in these chapters of Isaiah, that there might be an encouragement to go back to it again, and to look for him in other chapters too, and then having found him in this prophecy, to see that he is in other prophets too, and Zachariah is full of Christ.

And so, of course, is the book of Daniel. And if you come across difficult things that you don't understand, well, enjoy the things that you do understand. And it was the quaint John Bunyan who said once that nobody throws away the apple just because there is a core.

You eat what you can, what you can't, well, just set it to the one side anyway, and I think you'll find that you'll go along enjoying the Bible, and don't get stuck and get terribly depressed because there are parts of it that you don't understand.

Enjoy what you can, and keep looking for the Lord Jesus, and this is the interesting way, of course, to read and to study our Bible. Now, I found some time ago a very interesting exercise to go through the book of Isaiah, and I'm not going to do this tonight, but to go through the book of Isaiah and to find Christ in every chapter, and that's lovely.

You'll find Him sometimes very directly and explicitly referred to, sometimes in a concealed way you can find His ministry or the greatness of His person, but I think that somehow, someway, you will find Christ in every chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah.

You'll find, of course, that way back at the beginning, in all His greatness, He is presented as the Sovereign. He's brought out so many times as the Sovereign, as the King, if you like, and very, very often right through the prophecy, that is how He is seen, but especially at the beginning and at the end, you'll find the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus is brought out.

And then, of course, what a wonderful thing to find, that He who is the Sovereign of the skies, in the early chapters, before very long, He becomes the Son of the Virgin, and that's lovely to see, that One who is so great in all His sovereignty has now come right down, and still retaining His sovereignty, He becomes the Son of the Virgin in a very early chapter in the prophecy of Isaiah.

But then we read on a little bit and we discover that He's not only the Son of the Virgin, but His character and His person is guarded, and before very many verses follow, many, many chapters follow, we see Him now in chapter 9 as the Son of the Father.

And if unto us a child is born as the Son of the Virgin, well, unto us the Son is given who is the Son of the Father, and we find His greatness and His deity and His glory are constantly being guarded.

When you come over a little bit more, you'll find Him in an interesting title. He's called the Stem of Jesse. He's springing out, as it were, a stem out of the root of Jesse. And then in another chapter, you'll find that He is the strength and the song and the salvation of His people.

In yet another chapter, He is our shadow from the heat, He's called that. And in another chapter, He becomes the scholar and He's learning in the school of God as a perfect man. In yet another very well-known passage, He is the stone or the rock, if you like, and so you can go on and on and you find the Lord Jesus in every chapter some way presented in this lovely prophecy of Isaiah.

Christ as Servant, Solace, and Shepherd

Now, what we have done, or what we want to do this evening, is to look at Him in these three consecutive portions that we have read, chapters 40, 41, and 42. But I want to look at them in reverse order and to see the Lord Jesus as the servant of Jehovah, as the solace of His people, and as the shepherd of the sheep, or the shepherd of His flock.

And this shepherd ministry and servant character and this solace ministry for His people, I think these are three delightful aspects of the person of the Lord Jesus and I hope that we are drawn nearer into a deeper appreciation of Him this evening as we look at Him in the prophets.

The Quiet Ministry of Jehovah's Servant

Now, this lovely portion in Isaiah 42 is very, very often quoted. Our brethren quote these verses so very often when they are leading us in worship. And twice in the prophecy of Isaiah we are exhorted, Behold My Servant.

We get those words twice in the book of Isaiah. Now, when I read these words, just a very blunt and unheralded, no preliminaries, just a very quick exhortation to Behold My Servant, there is one little thing that never ceases to appeal to me and amaze me.

You think of the multitude of servants that Jehovah has had. Even without leaving our Bible, you think of the host of servants that there are here. You go way back to the early days and you think of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and you think of Joseph and you come on to Moses and he was distinctly called Moses, My Servant.

And you think of Daniel and you think of some of these other great men, David and Solomon, and men that really served Jehovah and some of them that served him well to a remarkable degree. But what never ceases to appeal to my heart is this, that when we read suddenly Behold My Servant, there is no believer ever stops and asks the question and says, Lord, which of your servants do you mean?

Nobody ever asks that question. Because it seems that eventually there is only but one servant really who was worthy of contemplation. And we gladly tonight turn away from all the others, choice as they may be, and for a little while we are occupied with the perfect servant.

We are occupied this evening with a servant of whom it is said that he never failed. Now, this servant ministry of the Lord Jesus is introduced here, and there are three verses, verses 2 and 3 and 4, which are all very beautiful verses, but I find another rather interesting thing, that very often I say to my brethren, what does that verse mean?

And it is amazing really how many there are who agree that this vocabulary is lovely, that the words are very beautiful, but when it comes to interpreting what they mean, well, it is amazing how many brethren are not just quite sure.

I want to suggest this evening what I think they mean, but then after all that you might not agree with it, but at any rate I hope that you will have a little look at these lovely verses and see these glories of the servant as we have them in these early parts of chapter 42.

Now, the first problem is this. It says, He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. Well, what does that mean? Is there anything wrong with that? Because when you go further down the chapter to verse 11, it says, Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice.

So there cannot be anything wrong in some sense with that when the cities are encouraged to lift up their voice. Indeed, the verse goes on to say, Let them shout, let the inhabitants of the rock sing, and let them shout.

So we are encouraged not only to lift up the voice, but encouraged actually to shout. But of the Messiah it is said, He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. And then the problem becomes more complicated because I come down to verse 13 and I read there, He shall cry, yea, he shall roar, prevailing against his enemies, so the day is coming when he is going to cry.

And therefore what does this mean? He shall not cry if in verse 13 I read, He shall cry. And so the problem increases, and of course there is an answer and a reason for it. But just to complicate it a little bit more, we read that verse again, He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

And then I go to read in the Gospels, and when I follow the ministry of the Lord in the Gospels, I find that constantly he is preaching to the multitudes, and again and again I read, He cried and said, and he certainly did lift up his voice, and I am sure that he spoke distinctly and plainly, and the people heard.

And what then does this mean? He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. When in fact in some senses he did cry, and he did lift up his voice, and he did cause his voice to be heard in the street.

And yet this verse distinctly says that he shall not. Therefore we will have to inquire what is the meaning of it, and a rather beautiful verse. And what I take it to mean, of course, is that it is a ministry of quietness that is connected with the Lord Jesus.

And if you want to find what this verse means, this crying and lifting up the voice, and causing it to be heard in the street, I suggest that you have got to go to some places where this is seen to be the very cheapest form of publicity, and of advertising that is shouting to make yourself heard.

Now some of you visit London, and if you visit London, and you are familiar with Burdick Street, you will know that every morning there is a very, very busy and a very noisy market goes on at Burdick Street.

It is a very intriguing place, and a very interesting place to spend an hour. But what happens is this, you see. You go to this barrow, or this stall here, and you find this fellow has got something for sale.

And the way he advertises is, of course, he is not interested in the Times or the newspapers. He is not interested in that form of advertising. What he does is this. He stands at his barrow, and he accosts everybody that is passing, and he shouts out loudly what he has, and very, very loudly he tells you the value that he has to offer.

Now, you begin, perhaps you stop to listen to him, and then you find you are having difficulty, because here is a barrow right next to his, pushed up tight, and he has got the same kind of goods, but he is promising something better.

So what does he do? He tries to out-shout this fellow here, you see. And then you go along a little bit further, and you find someone else trying to shout even louder than they are. And it is, I put it to you, the very cheapest form of publicity that you shout to attract attention, to make people hear you, and come across to see what you have got.

It is the very cheapest and crudest and most primitive form of publicity. Now, Messiah was never guilty of that. Oh, what a lovely thing to turn to the Gospels, and especially to the Gospel of the Servant, which is the Gospel by Mark.

And before you leave that first chapter, I think you find that he tells the demons, he tells men, he tells a leper, he tells them, look, he says, don't tell, don't tell, go your way. When the demons start to shout as to who he was, he forbade them to shout.

When that leper was healed, he says, go your way, go your way, go quietly, and he sent them quietly on his way. And he told the disciples, tell no man, and our Lord Jesus had nothing to do with cheap publicity.

The perfect servant of God was not interested in crying or shouting or lifting up his voice to attract people to him. People will be attracted by his moral features. They will be attracted by what he is.

They will be attracted by the lovely life that he lives eventually, and that will please God. But with cheap publicity, the servant of Jehovah will have nothing to do. It is a ministry of quietness. And of course, the very practical side of it is this, that in days of cheap publicity, when the work of the Lord is being associated with cheap publicity, the Lord helps us to follow the example of the perfect servant, and to refuse to have anything to do with publicity of a cheap and of a crude kind.

And the Lord help us that we shall maintain the dignity of gospel preaching, and the dignity of the ministry. And if we maintain that, we are following closely the pattern of the Messiah. Jehovah's perfect servant had a ministry of quietness, and would not, not be associated with cheap publicity.

Now that is as I see the meaning of that verse, and it is the quiet ministry, the unassuming ministry, the unpretentious ministry of the Lord Jesus that is in view. Now you come to the next verse, and again it is a problem verse.

The Gentle Ministry of Restoration

A bruised reed shall he not break? Lovely language, and beautiful vocabulary. The smoking flax shall he not quench? But what exactly does this mean? What is this bruised reed that he is not going to break, and what does this mean, the smoking flax, that he is not going to quench?

Now again I put to you as I see it, and I know that many others see it like this, but there are some who don't, and I can only make the suggestion as to what the bruised reed really is. I think that you have got the picture, perhaps an eastern scene, and you imagine one of these little fellows that is sitting in the midst of a flock, and he is very quietly watching the flock.

Well, some of these lads, you know, they have many hours on their hands, and to while away the time as they sat while the flock was very quietly grazing all about, they had a very favourite pastime, and I think indeed you will find them doing it yet in parts of the east.

They take a reed, they cut it down, if it is hollow that is good, if it is not they hollow it out, just a little reed, and then very skillfully with a sharp blade, scalpel-like blade, they begin to cut little holes along this reed, and in a very, very short time they have one of the most primitive forms of musical instrument, and you have probably seen pictures of them, and they are sitting there among the flock, and as the flock are quietly grazing, this little fellow is sitting playing his little instrument that he has made himself.

But now something calls his attention, and he rises to go to it, and in the process he perhaps drops his reed, or he bruises it on the way. Perhaps he lets it fall, and it gets crushed as he comes back again, or he puts his foot on it, or somewhere or other, but this reed gets bruised.

Now, tell me, what would you do? Well, it would seem to me that the simplest thing and the logical, natural thing would be to say, well, it is of no value, it is only a reed, you know, and it is bruised now, and it is not playing the tune like it used to, and it is just no use any more, so what you do, you cast it to the one side, there is plenty more, and in a little while you have another one as good as that one was, just cast it to the one side, break it and leave it, and throw it away.

You see, but of our Lord Jesus it is said, a bruised reed shall he not break. In other words, I think what it is saying is that he will not discard what men would discard, but rather he will try to mend and repair and to restore and to bring back again to its original use and ministry what now is bruised and what is now not playing the tune like it used to play, or for which it was intended.

The Lord Jesus will not dispose of what men would dispose of, he will not discard what we would discard, he will not break the bruised reed, and he will not quench the smoking flax. Now, the smoking flax is, of course, just a wick in a lamp, and here it is, and for a while it burns brightly, but then something goes wrong and it begins to smoke and smoulder and it is not burning like it was intended to burn, the flame is not clear, and it is not doing its ministry as it was intended, so what do you do?

Well, it is only a piece of flax. Quench it and throw it away, and get another. It is as simple as that, and I suppose that is what we would do. Now, of the Savior it is said that the bruised reed he will not break like we would, and the smoking flax, the smouldering wick, he will not quench it like we would quench it, but rather it is a ministry of restoration, a ministry of mending, and in all of that I think you might say that it is a ministry of gentleness when he tries to repair and restore and to bring back to a previous ministry those that by some means or other have become bruised and smouldering and not what they used to be.

Now, what a lovely example, then, is this for us, how quickly we would dispose of brethren. I know, of course, that never at any time, and the young believer will know this, never, never at any time is the security of the believer ever in question.

That is not in question. That is not for negotiation and not for discussion at all. Our security is never, ever in question. But it is possible sometimes, in spite of all the ministry of the Lord, it is possible that one might fall and resist attempts, perhaps, to restoration, and I know that as far as service is concerned, that sometimes we may become castaways.

And the Apostle Paul, he dreaded that and he feared that, that having preached to others, himself in service might become a castaway. Now, that in no sense entertains any doubt about the security, but rather as far as service and ministry is concerned, the man might become a castaway.

Nevertheless, a man might well be restored again to assembly fellowship, and he might be restored to a happy state among the Lord's people, but still never be fit again for the public eye. I think that perhaps there may be things that would disqualify a man for life from public service, that it would not be for the good of the testimony of the assembly for that man again to be involved in a public ministry.

That might well be, but the Lord Jesus, wherever it is at all feasible and possible, he will not discard, he will not break the bruised reed, and he'll not quench the smoking flax, but he'll do what can be done to restore.

And if it's possible to restore to the original ministry, then that of course is very good, but that is not always possible. When I think of it, I sometimes use the illustration. I have one of these little drawers at home, you know, where you keep all sorts of little bits and pieces.

Nearly everybody has a little drawer like that, and every now and again, of course, it needs a bit of tidying. And I go through these items, and I think of one particular item that's there. It's an old pen, and I don't know how many times I have made up my mind that I must throw it out, you see.

And it's no good. It hasn't worked properly for years. It won't write at all. Not at all. Hardly sign your name with it now, but it blots or else it won't write at all. It just won't work, and it's been like that for years.

And so I take it. I've tried my best. I've done all sorts of things with it, but no, it won't write. It won't function properly at all. And I take this pen in my hand, and somehow intelligence says, throw it out, throw it out, you see.

And I'm about to throw it out, and then I have a look at it, and I think of where I got it. I remember the circumstances by which it became mine. And then I think of letters that I wrote with it, and I think of things that I signed with it.

And I have another look at it, and I say, it's mine. And I put it back in the drawer, and it's there yet. But you see, it's a castaway. It will never again be any use in ministry, in service. But still, it's mine, and I can't part with it.

And the Lord Jesus remembers that. And if the failure, the sin on our part, has not been of such a nature that it precludes public ministry, then the Lord Jesus will not quench the smoking flax, and he'll not break the bruised reed.

He'll not just quickly, lightly discard and find another. But he will restore, repair. He will refresh, revive, and he'll bring us back. He will not as men discard. It's a ministry of gentleness, and I trust that we follow his example, and that we be gentle with those that have fallen by the way.

The Steadfast Ministry of the Perfect Servant

Now, this other lovely verse, of course, is very clear. If there is a ministry of quietness, in that he refuses this cheap publicity, and if there is a ministry of gentleness, where he'll not quickly discard, but gently try to restore, then there is a ministry of steadfastness.

And in the ministry of steadfastness, it is said of the Lord Jesus, he shall not fail. How lovely is that? He shall not fail. And it doesn't matter where you find him. It doesn't matter what he's doing.

It doesn't matter how he is, or where he is. You can write across the Gospels, wherever you find him, he shall not fail. And it is a ministry of steadfastness, unfailing steadfastness, that applies only to the perfect servant.

But isn't it an instance, even of that same gentleness that we've been talking about, that the man who was chosen to write the Gospel of the perfect servant, was himself a failing servant. Because John Mark, the servant who went back, is the one who was chosen to write the story of the perfect servant.

That is a little evidence of that same gentleness that we've been speaking about. And as you go to the Gospel by Mark, you look for the Lord Jesus in all of those circumstances, and what a variety of circumstances there are.

And every time you find him, you just shake your head and say, he shall not fail. It doesn't matter what he's doing, to whom he's ministering, what kind of ministry it is, it doesn't matter. He shall not fail, and it's a ministry of steadfastness all the way through.

We sometimes have a way of reasoning, at least I have, I find others have too. Sometimes we think it would have been nice to have lived in another age, and we think how easy things must have been then.

We think sometimes it would have been nice, perhaps, to have been called to serve in another part. How easy things are in such and such a country, compared to another country. And very often we think, if only we had lived at a different time, in a different place, things would have been so much easier.

I ask you sometime in quietness to read down the first chapter of Mark's Gospel, and to see the variety of places where the Lord Jesus ministered. The first place you'll find him standing is in the river, in the river bed of Jordan.

He leaves the river, and he goes to the desert. He comes from the desert, right into the semigod. From there, he goes to the seashore. From there, he goes into a home. From the home, he comes to the city.

From the city, he goes out again to the wilderness. And you'll find that, in such a variety of places, the perfect servant is found, even before you leave the opening chapter. And it seems to me that it didn't matter to him where he was, or what his time.

Wherever he is, whatever is to be done, and whatever the circumstances, he shall not fail. And the perfect servant delights the heart of God, a ministry of steadfastness. Now, in that connection, there's another very important principle, and very interesting, too.

So far as I know, the Lord Jesus never, ever took orders from men. Now, nobody ever served men like he did. Nobody ever served men like the Savior did. Nobody ever was as busy as he was in the service of men.

And how constantly is he teaching, and preaching, and healing, and comforting, and moving in and out amongst men. So much so, that maybe that's what that little verse means, the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head, that he seemed to be the unresting servant of Jehovah.

I repeat, no one ever served men like he did, but he never, ever took orders from men. Why was that? Because he was the servant of Jehovah. What an important principle is that, that the Lord Jesus has the glory of Jehovah, and of his father in view, and he doesn't ever take orders from men.

Nevertheless, he serves men very busily, but he is always the servant of Jehovah. The Lord help us, that while we must consider our brethren, and while we must work in fellowship, and try our best to be in harmony with them, nevertheless to remember that ultimately our responsibility is to the Lord.

And if you remembered that about me, and if I remembered that about you, and if you and I remembered that about ourselves, what problems would never arise, if only we remembered that every man was the Lord's servant.

And as the Apostle says, ye serve the Lord, Christ, and our responsibility ultimately is to him. So, the ministry of the servant, and it's a ministry of quietness, of gentleness, and of steadfastness.

And if you want three more delightful words to put around the ministry of that servant, you can say that it was a ministry of faithfulness, it was a ministry marked by fruitfulness, and it was a ministry marked by fragrance.

And those three things characterize all of the days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. So, he is the perfect servant of Jehovah. Now, how interesting then to turn back, and to hear him say, fear thou not, for I am with thee.

The Solace and Strength of Christ's People

Perhaps now we turn to an aspect of his ministry that might be more like priesthood, and we hear the Savior say, be not dismayed, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, I will uphold thee. You see, what we read of him was, behold my servant, says God, whom I uphold.

And now we hear the Savior say to us, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And our time runs out, but there I think we might see, and write down this chapter, we can see a ministry of solace, of comfort for his people.

And what a great, very necessary ministry is that, the ministry of the comfort of the Savior. Tremendous things he does. When you go further down this chapter, you hear Israel being referred to in verse 14 as, thou worm Jacob.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob. What weakness is this, that old Jacob is seen to be like a worm? And yet, when you come to the very next verse, he says, thou shalt thrash the mountains. Imagine, a worm thrashing mountains, and beating them small.

But you see, everything is possible when he says, I will strengthen, I will help thee, I will uphold thee. And it is a ministry of solace for his people. Now because of time, we leave that chapter, and we come back again then to chapter 40.