BE STILL AND THAT I AM GOD

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Remember that Isaiah, chapters 1-39, dealt with the governments of this world. In chapters 40-66 Isaiah deals with the grace of God.
The mood of the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah is found in Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.”
How do God’s people find comfort in these last days, knowing that all the nations of the world will fall under the judgment hand of God before Jesus Christ returns?
In Isaiah 40:28-31 Isaiah said to His people, “Slow down, you are moving to fast.” He was saying here is comfort: “Wait upon the Lord.” That means, Stop, living for self. Seek God’s face. Search the Scriptures. Sit at His feet and renew your Strength.
Why would God give such instruction? It is in seeking, sitting, searching that a person gets to know God. Most people know about God as they know about George Washington or Napoleon. But, knowing about God is not the same as knowing God.
When you know God, you know HE is HOLY and you are a sinner.
You will see His worth and your worthlessness.
You will see His compassion and love on Calvary.
Knowing God is knowing His Son, Jesus Christ.
Ye see, many folks have religion. They know about God, Jesus, Calvary and the resurrection.
But, when a person truly comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that person develops a new life, love and a new reason to live.
Because Israel, like Christians today, were living in difficult days and it seemed like things were getting worse, Isaiah says, “Keep Silent.”
1st – GOD REMINDS ISRAEL WHO HE IS (1-10)
Isaiah 41:1 reads, “Keep silence before me, O islands;” and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.”
God’s people are confused with the problems surrounding their nation. They were having economic woes, moral woes and the enemies of God seem to be winning and growing stronger.
The governments of the world, that worship idols, or no gods at all, were conquering their land. Fear made God’s people weak and weary.
a. Silence: So God says, “Keep silence before me…” Today, God would be saying, “Don’t talk, turn off the radio, the TV, the computer, and turn off your mind to the cares of this world and come into my presence. Why? That is where you will renew your strength!
b. Strength: It is here that “…the people renew their strength…” When people personally, come into God’s presences, not just collectively, God gives them spiritual sight and strength. He gives them the power, the might, the muscle, the vigor to stand, walk and run for Him.
c. Speak: Isaiah says, “…let them come near; then let them speak…” God invites all his people to come into His presence and to speak their heart. You may compliment God or you may complain to God.
God’s people were complaining, because they did not understand why they were in the situation they were in. The Temple was still in Jerusalem. The people still went through their ceremonial worship services. Sacrifices were still made. Jehovah God was still acknowledged as the true God.
SO, WHY WERE THE ENEMIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE WINNING?
Before we answer that question from this chapter, think, doesn’t it seem that the same scenario is happening in the world today and especially in America?
We were founded on Biblical principles and there are 40 million professing Christians in America and it seems those who stand against Bible principles are winning. Why?
Well, before we get to that, God reminds Israel of “WHO HE IS.”
V 2 - He tells them, I chose you. I raised of Abraham. I called him and ordained him to be the father of the Hebrew people. I gave him power over Pharaoh. Abraham defeated five kings and their kingdoms with 318 men. God reminds them of what He did with little old Abraham.
Do you know that all who are saved, were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
V 3 - I am your comfort. I kept you safe. V 4 – “I am.”
V 5 – I am your courage. The people of the earth heard about all God did through the Hebrew people and people came from all over the world to hear of the God of Israel. 5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
V 6 - Their testimony united families. 6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
V 7 – I constructed you. God told Israel, through Isaiah, “I built you. I made you what you are. I put you together… and notice the last six words when we read verse 7. 7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
V 10 I am your council. Verse 10 reads, 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.
What are you afraid of, Christian, God is everything you will ever need. Don’t fear, don’t worry, draw near to Him and He will uphold you with His hand.

God reminds Israel WHO HE IS. Then He reminds Judah who they are. Look at verse 8 and 9. 8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
God does not bow to us; we are to bow to God. We are to draw near to Him and obey Him. So, why don’t God’s people flock into His presence?
Most folks don’t know Him.
-Most folks don’t understand that God holds life and death in His hand.
-Our breath and our heartbeat are in His hold.
-Joy and peace, love and life belongs to God.
-It is He that gives power to get wealth.
-It is He that lifts burdens, answers, prayers and topples kingdoms.
-He raises up the prophets of God.
-Get to know Him and strength and security will fill your soul.
Do you realize who you are? If you have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, you are sons of God, saints of God, subjects of heaven and you are also servants of God?
As His sons, we have fellowship with the Father. As His saints we have influence in this world. As His subjects our destiny is heaven and as His servants, we have a great privilege and responsibility in this world.
So, God reminds Israel of who He is (1-10).
II – GOD REMINDS ISRAEL OF WHAT HE WILL DO (11-19)
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
God tells us that He will destroy all who fight against His people.
It is a fact that Satan has deceptively turned the nations of the world against Israel. The reason Satan hates Israel so much is for a number of reasons. Two of them are: 1) God choose Israel to be his people and for this reason alone, Satan hates Israel. 2) According to Revelation 12, Satan knew that God had chosen the Christ, the Savior of the world to come through the nation of Israel. Therefore, he hates them with a passion for Christ defeated Satan at Calvary. That was Satan’s waterloo.
Today, every nation in the world has turned against Israel except the United States. Many fear that soon, we will turn against them. But, God assures Israel that the nations of the world will be turned upside down one day.
In verse 10, 13, 14, God tells Israel, “I will help thee.” Look at verse 13: 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
God uses an object lesson in verse 15. 15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
When we think of a threshing instrument today, we think of a combine. The largest combine in the world has twin rotors that stretch 35 feet across the front that cuts the grain or corn.
The word for mountains, speaks of the nations of the world. One day, God will through Israel, thresh the nations of the world.
Daniel prophesies in the book of Daniel (2) that when the Lord comes back he will be a stone that will crush all the nations of the world.
Thus, as a sharp threshing instruments cuts wheat to the ground, and as the teeth of a mighty combine lays acres flat in minutes, the Lord will return one day to crush the nations of the world that have turned against His people.
The picture is this. When a nation rejects Israel, they reject God’s Word and when one rejects God’s Word, they reject God.
Analogy: After Christ came and the Church was birthed, the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Israel was put on hold. All of Israel and all of the Gentile world has been invited to become part of the blood-washed Church of Jesus Christ.
For 2,000 years the Lord has been building his Church as a bride for Christ to rule with Him 1,000 years. Satan greatly hates the Church of God as much as he hated Israel. And he has used the same tactics to destroy the Church that he used to destroy Israel. Therefore, if one is against the Church of God, they are against God.
But, ultimately the Lord will prevail over all the earth and the waste places and the deserts shall blossom with fruit trees and shade trees. That is what verse 19 is saying. 19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:

Now, let’s answer the question we asked earlier:
WHY WERE THE ENEMIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE WINNING?
Why does it seem today that evil nations are growing stronger and stronger? Why does it seem that in America, Christians freedoms and liberties are being taken away and those who are against the Bible and Christ are prevailing? Why?
Recall that first, God reminds Israel of “WHO HE IS.” Secondly, God reminded Israel of “WHAT HE WILL DO.” Now…
3 – GOD REMINDS ISRAEL WHY THEY WERE LOSING (20-29)
Look in verse 20. God wants His people to know why things happen.
20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
God says, 1) “Look at what I have done for you:” I made you everything you are. 2) “Look at what I am planning to do with you.” I am going to give you a 1,000 year reign of peace on this earth.
*God made Israel where they could have been the greatest nation in the world, but they got their eyes off of God.
*He made the Church whereby it could have been the greatest influence in the world, but it to lost its’ power.
So, God says, have you not considered your wayward ways? Do you not understand that I am Holy and righteous?
The reason Israel was losing ground in the political, financial, social avenues of the world was because they had lost ground spiritually. Read verse 29 reads, Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Israel had lost sight of the holiness of God. They did not understand what righteousness was. They talked about Jehovah God, but He was no longer the one they bowed to, honored, worshipped, admired, loved or served. Israel had developed a molten image of God.
The Hebrew word for “Molten images” means “to pour out.” Israel had poured out ideas that were narcissist. Narcissism is self-admiration. It refers to one who over estimates his own importance. When God takes second place to a man’s own selfish will and desires, that man worships a molten image of God. So ask yourself, “Do I think my time and will and desires are more important than God?”
The though was God made Israel what they were. He would again in the future make them great. Then, why wouldn’t they give God first place in their lives?
The Holy God of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave His all for you that are saved. He gave you all His love. He sacrificed His home in Heaven and His life for you. He wants first place in our lives as well.
To Israel God gave the first two Commandments in Exodus 20:3-4 read, 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
In the New Testament, Jesus gave the same truth in Matthew 22:37-39, 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Israel had made actual molten images which they bowed to. After Hezekiah died, his son, Manasseh, had images of Baal placed throughout the city of Jerusalem, which the people worshipped.
There were some true believers in Judah, but the majority of the religious people were not spiritual. They were superficial.

Therefore God says to Israel in verse 21 these words. 21 Produce your cause (“Cause” is the Hebrew word for strife or contention. God was saying, “Prove to me why you are justifiably troubled.”) , saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons (God says, give me your best excuses for not loving me and not serving me), saith the King of Jacob. They could not!
Verse 23 reveals that humanism is no new idea. 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
People who do not claim to worship God and will not live under God’s authority are humanist. People who live not by God’s laws, but by their own human ideas and human laws are humanist.
A humanist develops his beliefs and worships or lives for his ideas. He lives to please his self. He lives to please the desires of the human being. He does his will and not God’s will. He is his own authority, yea god!
Israel talked about God being there God, but they did not live for God. Many today, talk about being Christian, but they don’t live the Christian life.
Thus, the reason, Israel was losing ground socially, politically and financially was because they talked the talked, but they did not walk the walk.

*Do you know what a Church, a person or a nation is without God? Look at verse 24. 24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
In verse 25, Isaiah tells Israel that God sent judgment to turn them around but they did not heed.
In verse 26 Isaiah asks, “Who of the people of Israel recognizes God as a HOLY GOD who will always do right? Then he answers his own question. He says, “None.”
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion. The one great character trait of God is, “He is Holy.”
Application today:
I – Who is God to you?
Is He the one you bow before daily?
Is He your savior? Do you remember the day, you willingly and knowingly invited Jesus Christ to take over your life?
Is He your joy and peace?
Is He your love and delight?
Is He your friend that you go to with every problem?
Is He your wonderful counselor?
Is He your mighty God that you bow before and worship?
Is He your everlasting Father that you honor and obey?
Is He the one who save you from the clutches of Satan?
Is He the one who save you from the burning flames of an eternal hell?
Is He the one you truly worship, above yourself?
Do you realize it is God that has given you everything in your life?

II – What is God doing and what is He going to do for you?
He is protecting you. He keeps His children safe and secure. If you are His child, you could swing over hell on a rotten grapevine and you would have nothing to worry about. The Holy Spirit lives inside His children, comforting, teaching and guiding them.
He is praying for you. Jesus sits at the right hand of the father making intercession for you.
He is preparing a place for you. Christ built the New Jerusalem for His bride. One day He shall return and take His bride there where His bride will reign with Him for 1,000 years.
He provides for you. You eat today because of God. You exist because of God. I believe the main reason America is going through what it is going through, is God’s people as a whole have failed to say, “Thank You God for everything I have.

III – Why does it seem that many Christians are losing?
Why are many losing in their personal lives? They can’t seem to get victory over sin.
Many have moral failures and many marriages fail. Why?
Why is our nation going backwards spiritually?
I believe it is because most religions and many professing Christians have lost sight of who God truly is.
The Number one character trait of God is He is holy.
That is a message by itself, but one main though is this: In the Hebrew language, one word for holy, means “a cut above.”
You and I are a cut of human flesh. There are nearly 7 billion cuts of human flesh in this world, but God is a cut above.
That idea about God, man can not and will never fully gasp in this world. GOD IS HOLY. Nobody or nothing compares to Him.
--The reason Lucifer was cast out of heaven was because, a being with pride could not stand in God’s Holy presences. Are you proud?
--The reason Moses was not allowed into the Promise land was because when he struck the rock, he show irreverence to God. Is church a holy place of worship to you?
--The reason Ananias and Sapphira were killed in the Church, was not because of deception alone, but they lived a lie. Do you live a lie?
Most Christians have lost sight that God is Holy. His image is Holy.
Many have formed an image of God. They have made God a good old Joe that allows them to sin and worship with sin in their lives.

*Most in Israel made a molten image of God. Their lifestyle and wills were more important than God.
*Most in Israel had become humanist. They were their own authority.
America is losing morally and financially because; Christians have lost sight of God.
The reason we have no revival is because we fail to realize God is Holy. Sin must be dealt with. Hearts must be right. God must be first.
The answer to obtaining God’s favor is to give Him rightful place once again in our lives.
For me, only as I read and meditate on the Scriptures can I find strength to walk closer with Him. As I walk closer with Him, I desire to shun the evils of this world more.
His Word is my milk, my manna and my meat.
Song: “Just a close walk with thee.”