WONDERFUL COUNSELOR

“WAIT, YOU ARE MOVING TO FAST”
Isaiah 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.
As we come to Isaiah forty, we come to the last section in Isaiah. The first thirty-nine chapters represent the Old Testament economy. The next twenty-seven chapters represent the New Testament economy.
In the first thirty-nine chapters, we saw the government of God. In the next twenty-seven chapters, we see the grace of God.
In the first thirty-nine chapters, we saw the Sovereign God, sitting on His throne (Isaiah 6), ruling by His law. In the next twenty-seven, we see the Savior of man, sacrificing his life on the cross (Isaiah 53), ruling by His love.
We have lived in the days of grace, but those days are quickly coming to an end, and a new age will soon begin. The last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah deals with the age of grace, which we live in today, as well, as the new day when our Lord will rule forever.
Think back over the first thirty-nine chapters and there were a lot of woes and burdens that the nation of Israel and Judah had to face. We come to a section now, that reveals again and again, God’s marvelous grace.
There are four main thoughts in Chapter forty. The best outline for this chapter is given in Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
I – THE WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR - 1-5
A – Voice of Comfort:
1 - He is my comfort in any situation.
Isaiah 40:1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Do you have a burden today? Do you have a problem that seems impossible to overcome, or do you feel like you are under a load to big to bear? I want you to know, Jesus will help you, if you will take your burden to Him.
Matthew 11:28-29, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Years ago, Dr. Donald Barnhouse (1895 -1960) was a great teacher and preacher of God’s Word. He was holding a meeting for a young preacher, back in the 9140’s, whose wife was expecting their first child. All week, Dr. Barnhouse poked a little fun at the preacher. On the last night of the meeting, the preacher did show up. Dr. Barnhouse got up and introduced himself and preached. At the end of the service the preacher came into the church and sat on the back pew. Afterwards, he told Dr. Barnhouse, he needed to talk to him in his office. The preacher told Dr. Barnhouse that they had a down-syndrome baby, but folks back then we didn’t have that politically correct term. Back then the term was mongoloid. “How do I tell my wife?” the pastor cried. Dr. Barnhouse said, “Pastor, have you read what God says in Exodus 4:11.”
11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
Then he said, “Pastor, in Romans 8:28, God said, “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord.” You may not understand what God is doing, but He is God. He maketh no mistake.”
Dr. Barnhouse went to the phone and called the hospital and asked to speak to the pastor’s wife. He gave her the same Scriptures and she cried long and hard. Then she said, tell me the passages again.
The operator at the hospital was listening in as Dr. Barnhouse comforter her and her burden was lifted. Now folks, Dr. Barnhouse was a great preacher so what I am about to tell you may sound unreal today, but it happened. The operator at the hospital told this story to nearly all the nurses. The next Sunday the pastor was in his pulpit and seventy nurses showed up for the church service. When the invitation was given thirty of them came forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. One burden, one mongoloid child was the means of thirty nurses coming to Christ. How many people have you led to Christ in your life time?
God offers comfort and rest and relaxation and peace and prosperity to the world. Today, you can have that rest in your soul, and one day that rest and peace will be extended world wide, for one thousand years.
How can you have that rest and comfort today? When you accept Christ as your personal Savior, He gives His very Spirit to comfort you. John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
2. He is my comfort in Salvation
V 2 -- Isaiah 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:
This is a prophetic picture of the Millennial Kingdom. There will come a day when there will be no warfare, sickness or pain. There will be no sins to pay for, for all sins will be pardoned.
Isaiah 40:2b …for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
There is a two-fold application in this verse. 1) Israel has truly suffered twice as much as every other nation for their sins. Why? They were given the truth first hand, by God, by the prophets, and by the pastors, and they shunned it. Learn a truth: To receive truth and to reject truth will bring double trouble, yea a greater judgment. For Christians to play with sin, thinking, I’m OK, like Israel, the judgment will be more severe that the judgment that would fall on a lost man who knows not God’s Word.
2) A second application is an old one. When a family owed an unpaid debt, a legal document was put on their doorpost so all their neighbors could see their failure to make payment. When the debt was paid, another copy was nailed over the previous debt papers saying, “Paid in full”. That is what is meant, “The Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” The Lord paid for the sins of mankind, when He suffered outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem, on Calvary.”
This idea separates Christianity from all other religions in the world, every pagan religion and even the Mosaic Law. The difference in wrapped up a word found in the New Testament called “propitiation.”
Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
The heathen religions made the people bring an offering to their gods to appease them. In Christianity, my God brought an offering for me. He gave His own Son, to satisfy the great debt that had been nailed to my heart. When I accepted Christ as my Savior, a blood soaked payment was placed over my great debt of sin that said, “Paid in Full.”
3. He is my comfort as I walk the road called strait.

3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Here is a sign that this Scripture is dealing with the age of grace. John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Christ. The phrase, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,” refers to John in all four gospels. When John came, he cried to Israel to repent and believe in Christ. Israel did not. They rejected Christ and nailed Him to the tree of Calvary. They could have had the comfort, the peace, the security of God but they said, “no.”
When we come to verse four, two-thousand years have elapsed, since Christ came. When Christ comes the next time, He will straighten out this world. Those mountains, which speak of men’s great burdens, will be made low. The valley’s which speak of men’s great sorrow will be made level. The crooked or wicked ways of man, with his silly philosophies and ideas, will be destroyed and we will walk in the straight and narrow way of the Lord.
Walk in God’s will, God’s way and you will enjoy a little bit of peace on earth.

1 – The Comfort of God 1-5
2 – The cry of God 6-8
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Isaiah reminds us of two very important thoughts in these verses:
A – The works of man will fade away as the grass.
He is saying remember the shortness of life. Remember, that it seems like just yesterday, you sat on your daddy’s knee. Remember, just yesterday, mom and dad were alive and your heart was filled with joy. But, stop, Isaiah says, and come back to reality. Life is short. Death is certain and eternity is forever.
In September of 2008, a hurricane hit Galvaston, Texas leaving 4.5 million people without power. Entire subdivisions destroyed and many dead. That same night to commuter trains in L.A. hit head on killing 25. Life is short.
B – The Word of God will forever endure.
Isaiah seems to say, quit living in a fantasy world. Quit playing games. Prepare for death, and live for eternity. Look for the Lord’s coming. Everything in this life will die, only living for the eternal truths of God’s word will last.
Let me share you with a little bit about the Bible you hold in your hand. It is the very mind of God for man. It is 100% accurate. It offers great blessings to all who will read it. It came to you and me by the sacrifice of many men, who gave their lives to preserve it and to print it and then to place it in the hand of the common man.
A man was born in 1400 named Johannas Gutenberg. God gave this man the wisdom to invent the printing press. He had to borrow money to finance the project and then borrow again. He printed nearly 200 Bibles. If you owned one of them today, you could sell it and retire. One of them would be worthy over a million dollars.
There are only 48 in existence today. He died bankrupt. The invention of the printing press was one of the greatest inventions in the world. Since 1450, it has been estimated that there have been 6.5 billion bibles printed. 85% of these Bibles are been printed in English. Only 9% of the world use English as their mother tongue. 91% of the world has 15% of Bibles printed in their language.
1 – The Comfort of God 1-5
2 – The Cry of God 6-8
3 – The Communion of God 9-11
A - Isaiah reveals that our God came to rest in a manger.
Read verse 9: O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
“Good tidings” refers to the good news of the coming of the Savior of the world. The angel came to the shepherds the night Christ was born and said, And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)
The good news was the baby in the manger was, “Behold your God!”
B – Isaiah reveals our God will come to reign over mankind.
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
1 - This verse (10) reveals His prophecy. Christ shall come again and give rewards to His Church. It also reveals that when the Millennium begins, he will rule with a rod of iron. Thus, the evolutionist, the humanist, the Marxist, the socialist, the communist, the God-haters will cease to exist. The world will be filled with His love and His wonder.
2 – This verse (11) reveals His position.
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.
Our Lord is like unto a shepherd. He provides and He protects. He cleanses and He cares and He comforts, as a shepherd. Though our Lord will rule with a rod of iron, He will rule in love. He will take care of His own.
****************************