KINGDOM COMFORT - THE PATHWAY (PART 3) | Rev. Ampong | SUNDAY SERVICE | ICGC CHICAGO

Isaiah 40 calls God’s people in Babylon to hear more than one familiar line about waiting on the Lord. The chapter gives the reason weak, tired, and discouraged people can wait: the everlasting God has not become weak, and their captivity has not hidden them from His eyes. God first says, “Comfort, comfort,” and then prepares His own highway to His people. Jesus Christ is that highway of the Lord, the only straight way that takes people to God and makes crooked places straight and rough places smooth.

God then tells Isaiah to proclaim His glory. His glory brings His comfort, His peace, His confidence, His courage, and His rest. Israel’s questions in Babylon do not cancel God’s covenant or change God’s timing. God’s timing may look slow, but His timing brings His best, because some things received too early can distract a child of God from God Himself.

The report of God in Isaiah 40 becomes like God’s resume. God’s name tells His accomplishment, His character, His power, and His faithfulness. Yahweh is the covenant God. Jehovah Olam is the everlasting God. Jehovah Elohim is Creator and Judge of all the earth. Adonai is the sovereign Lord who neither faints nor grows weary. God’s resume has no comparison because God is great, gracious, and genuine. Human beings can change and lie, but God cannot lie.

The contrast between God’s glory and man’s glory humbles every achievement. Man is like grass, and man’s glory is like a flower that looks beautiful today but fades away. Jesus Christ is the glory of God resting on His people, so jobs, houses, money, and credentials must never take God’s place. God does not share His glory, and pride puts a person in dangerous territory.

God’s coming also calls His people into readiness. Christ will come on God’s calendar, not on man’s timetable. The armor of God belongs to spiritual soldiers, but armor must be used when battle comes. God’s relationship with His people remains real in hard times through fellowship, ownership, and His presence. God’s rest comes with His glory, and God delights in finished work. Christ’s words, “It is finished,” show that God is able to complete what He begins. God’s presence with His people brings rest, comfort, protection, and grace for every unfinished-looking situation.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s glory brings kingdom comfort God’s glory does not merely make a person feel better for a moment. God’s glory brings peace, courage, confidence, creativity, and the rest that comes from knowing God is present. God’s comfort reaches homes, jobs, families, businesses, and every place where His people have been carrying heaviness. [12:46]
• 2. God’s timing brings His best God’s delay does not mean God has forgotten His people. God knows when a blessing will strengthen faith and when the same blessing might become a distraction. God’s timing protects His people from receiving something that could pull their attention away from Him. [14:54]
• 3. God’s name is His resume Yahweh, Jehovah Olam, Jehovah Elohim, and Adonai declare that God is covenant-keeping, everlasting, Creator, Judge, and sovereign Lord. God’s names reveal what He has done and what He remains able to do. God’s people need the report of God’s Word so they do not forget who God is in the middle of Babylon-like seasons. [30:41]
• 4. Man’s glory fades like flowers Human accomplishment can look beautiful and attract attention, yet it cannot last forever. God’s glory in Christ gives a deeper security than money, titles, houses, or recognition can ever give. God’s people must let every other glory take second place so that Jesus remains the center. [43:36]
• 5. God finishes what He begins God delights in finished work because Christ’s finished work defeated the devil and brought sinners back to God. God’s grace sustains the salvation God begins, and God’s power becomes strong in weakness. God’s rest gives faith to keep trusting when a situation still looks unfinished.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:04] - Kingdom Comfort and God’s Word
• [03:42] - Isaiah 40:18-31
• [08:35] - Proclaim His Glory
• [08:59] - Jesus, the Highway of the Lord
• [12:19] - Glory, Comfort, and Peace
• [14:10] - Waiting for God’s Timing
• [17:41] - God’s Report to His People
• [28:41] - God’s Resume and His Names
• [41:54] - The Fading Glory of Man
• [50:27] - Readiness for Christ’s Coming
• [58:04] - Fellowship, Ownership, and Relationship
• [61:21] - God’s Rest and Finished Work
• [71:52] - God’s Presence Gives Rest
• [77:11] - Prayer for God’s Rest

Bible Reading

Isaiah 40:18-31
“To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” [03:42] [08:35]

Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” [08:59]

Isaiah 42:8
“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” [49:31]

Exodus 33:14
“And he said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” [01:12:04]

Observation questions

1. In Isaiah 40:18-26, what pictures does God use to show that idols, rulers, and human power cannot compare with Him?
2. What complaint does Israel make in Isaiah 40:27, and what truths about God are given immediately afterward in verses 28-31?
3. In Isaiah 40:1-5, what is God promising His people, and what changes are described as the way of the Lord is prepared? [08:59]
4. What are some of the things God’s glory brings into the life of His people—according to the message—including peace, comfort, confidence, courage, and rest? [12:19]

Interpretation questions

1. Israel was living in Babylon and felt unseen by God. How does God’s description of Himself as everlasting Creator answer the fear that a person’s way is hidden from the Lord? [28:08]
2. Isaiah 40 says that those who wait for the Lord receive renewed strength. How is waiting on God different from doing nothing or simply giving up?
3. God says that His glory belongs to no other. What can it look like in everyday life for a person to give too much glory to achievements, money, a house, a title, or personal ability? [46:30]
4. Exodus 33:14 connects God’s presence with rest. How can a believer experience God’s rest while a job, family matter, health concern, or other situation still appears unfinished? [01:12:04]

Application questions

1. Where have you been tempted to say, “My way is hidden from the Lord”? What part of your present situation do you need to place again before the everlasting God? [07:19]
2. Is there something you have been asking God to give you quickly—a job, relationship, financial breakthrough, promotion, or other opportunity? How might receiving it too early become a distraction from God rather than a blessing? [14:54]
3. God’s Word gives a true report of who God is. What truth about God do you most need to remember this week: that He is covenant-keeping, everlasting, Creator, sovereign, gracious, or faithful? How will you remind yourself of that truth? [30:41]
4. What “glory of man” has been competing for your attention lately—success, appearance, possessions, recognition, credentials, or something else? What would it mean to let Jesus have first place in that area? [46:14]
5. Spiritual armor is meant to be used, not only carried. When pressure, fear, temptation, or discouragement comes this week, what specific Scripture, prayer, or truth will you use to stand firm? [53:38]
6. God’s relationship with His people includes fellowship and communication. What simple change could help you make more room this week to speak with God through prayer and listen to Him through His Word? [59:30]
7. What situation in your life looks unfinished or has caused you to lose hope? How can Christ’s words, “It is finished,” help you trust that God is able to complete what He has begun in you? [01:05:38]