Unmatched Majesty
Download MP3One of my favorite things about our church is that on Sunday mornings, I can hear my sisters and my brothers sing. So thank you guys for singing along with this. I haven't met you before. My name is Cole. I get to labor alongside our college students here at Redeemer and in Birmingham.
Cole Ragsdale:And I have the privilege of opening up God's word with us, or together this morning. So it was about the third grade for me that navigating life became rather challenging. Things that were once clear became rather cloudy. Things that were once in focus became rather blurry. Whether or not it was me sitting in the my third grade class and trying to make sense of those math equations on the board.
Cole Ragsdale:Like I'm not a math guy anyways, but they were, I just couldn't see them. Or as someone who was growing up playing travel baseball, I mean that white ball and those red stitches slowly turned into a white blur that I could could barely see. I was I was having a tough time navigating life. The things that I cared the most about became a struggle because I couldn't see except for the things that were right in front of me. And so my parents took me to Lynn's Crafters in Kennesaw, Georgia off of Barrett Parkway.
Cole Ragsdale:And I put on my first pair of specs. And y'all I could see. I I remember getting in my mom's gray Honda Odyssey van making our way down to Barrett Parkway, and I was gazing out the window at these trees. And apparently these trees had leaves on them. Not just green blobs.
Cole Ragsdale:That all of a sudden there was this detail, there was this clarity, there was this focused, I could see finally. And so why do I start there this morning? Is that there is nothing that we need more as a church. There is nothing that you need more as a follower of Jesus than a clear view of God. That we all need in all surpassing vision of God's majesty and glory.
Cole Ragsdale:That we cannot navigate life without it. I mean, it's why so many years ago, A. W. Tozer said these words. That the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God.
Cole Ragsdale:And so I would invite you to consider this morning. What do you think about when you think about God? What what what picture comes to your mind's eye when you think about him? What is he like? What does he do?
Cole Ragsdale:Can you see him clearly? Is he coming into focus or is he just a clouded blurry combination of words? And here's why I think this matters is that we have a low view of God. If we have a puny God, we will certainly have puny worship. That if we have a small God, we will pray small prayers.
Cole Ragsdale:That if we have a half baked theology, half baked orthodoxy, we will have half baked orthopraxy, half baked living. That a small God will produce a small life. That God is the all glorious one, that He is majestic and matchless. That the Hebrew word is kavod for glory. Which has this idea of weight.
Cole Ragsdale:That God is meant, His word, His character, His presence is meant to bear much weight in our lives. And so I would just even begin to ask you this morning, does the word of God, does the presence of God bear weight in your life? We need an all surpassing vision of God's majesty because it is far better for us to have a small faith in a big God than for us to have a big faith in a small God. That it is the object of our faith that saves. It is the object of our faith that sustains.
Cole Ragsdale:And so may we get that object right. May we see him clearly this morning. And so thankfully God's word does not leave us, empty or void. But Isaiah chapter 40 verses 12 through 26, we're gonna get a picture of this glorious God for us to gaze upon him. So if I was to title this morning's message it would be unmatched majesty.
Cole Ragsdale:And the first audience to hear these words, the authorial the author's intent here was twofold. The first was to invite them to consider what do they actually think about God. Not just theoretically, but what is their functional theology about God? What do they actually believe? And then the second was Isaiah desired to prove to them with absolute certainty that God is the supreme one.
Cole Ragsdale:That he is unrivaled and unequaled in eternity and in history. And so this morning I wanna invite you to do the same. For us together to gaze upon God's unmatched majesty. And for us to consider what we truly believe about him. And in verses 12 through 26, I think there's four characteristics of God that we're gonna get to gaze upon together.
Cole Ragsdale:And they're this. We're gonna And it's an invitation for us to gaze upon his unmatched power. It's an invitation for us to gaze upon his unmatched wisdom. It's an invitation for us to gaze upon his unmatched nature. And lastly, it's an invitation for us to gaze upon his unmatched sovereignty.
Cole Ragsdale:So before we go any further, let's let's pray and ask for God to help us in this task. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for sacred moments like this, where your children, sisters and brothers are gathered to hear from you. And so we plead with you now, God. Would you speak to us through your word by your holy spirit?
Cole Ragsdale:And if you would, in your pew, would you pray and ask for God to speak to you this morning? And if you would be willing, would you pray for me, that I would be helpful to you in this task? And so Father, we pray these things for your glory's sake, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alright, Isaiah chapter 40 verses 12 through 26.
Cole Ragsdale:If you've got your worship guide or your bible, I invite you to join along with me as we read. Redeemer, this is God's word for you this morning. It says this, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, and closed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult and who made him understand?
Cole Ragsdale:Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are nothing before him.
Cole Ragsdale:They are accounted by him as less than nothing in emptiness. 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 it for its silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot.
Cole Ragsdale: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 to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Cole Ragsdale: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 as they are 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.
Cole Ragsdale:Who created these? 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let's look together at verses 12 through 17, where we're gonna be invited to gaze upon his power.
Cole Ragsdale:Verse 12 starts off with four rapid fire rhetorical questions. You could almost get the cadence or the rhythm of that of staccato. It says, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, marked off the heavens with a span, and closed the dust in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Now these rapid fire questions, the answer is so obvious that Isaiah doesn't even provide it for us. That the answer is who holds this earth?
Cole Ragsdale:Who's marked the heavens? No one but the Lord. That he is the majestic one. That he in fact is dwarfing over his creation. That the cosmos are but child's play to our God.
Cole Ragsdale:Do you pick up on the language here? He measures, He marks, He encloses, He weighs. That he scoops the oceans, and they fit yet into the hollow of his hand, that he is marked off the Milky Way with a span, which is this ancient way of measuring between your thumb and your pinky. That he weighs the mountains and scales and the hills that that god is so big. He's so grander.
Cole Ragsdale:He's so infinite that he stands outside of creation and it is dwarfed by his majesty and by his power. That his immensity is on display here. That God is not, equal with creation, but He is far greater than it. And it's not only with creation, but it's also the nations. Look at verse 15.
Cole Ragsdale:He says, behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales. That whether or it's creation or it's the power players of the day, they are nothing but a drop in the bucket before our God. That god measures them as dust on the scales and then it says in verse 15 that he takes up the coastlands or the islands like fine dust. Like like dust being a subcategory of dust. Like he's taking up all of the things and he sees them as meaningless.
Cole Ragsdale:Or even in verse 17, that the nations are accounted by him as less than nothing. Like that's negative number. Like like God sees the nations at play and they are dwarfed by his power. That God is in control. This this makes me think about, my dad put me into the whole cub scouts thing.
Cole Ragsdale:He was an Eagle Scout. I never made it past the knot section. But we did build this pine wood derby car. I mean, it's pretty impressive craftsmanship here. If you wanna come look at it afterwards, you come check it out.
Cole Ragsdale:And to use the language of Isaiah 40, we we measured this boxcar. We we marked it to make sure we would make the right cuts. We enclosed the sawdust in order to not make the house a mess. We weighed it in order that it would be regulation size to compete. Came in dead last by the way.
Cole Ragsdale:But it was child's play. I held it in the hollow of my hands. And friends, in the same way, God has measured the 139,000,000 square miles of our oceans in his hands. That he has marked the milky way between his thumb and his pinky. That he has enclosed the sands of 38 that you probably wish you were on right now or maybe feel like you're on right now.
Cole Ragsdale:That he has weighed the 357,000,000,000,000 tons of Mount Everest. That our God is all powerful. And I and I hope that you hear this today that with this God who is unmatched in his power, this means that there is nothing in your life that is too big for him. There is no obstacle too great for our God. There is no circumstance too dire.
Cole Ragsdale:There is no prayer too big. There is no heart too hard. There is no soul too far from him. There is no past too dark. No family too broken.
Cole Ragsdale:No sin too habitual. No sin too egregious. Not to fall under the redemptive plan of God. That he is the all powerful one. That it is our gospel story.
Cole Ragsdale:Not that we are strong. No, we are weak and he is strong. That we were created to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him forever in right relationship. But we've been ruined by our rebellion. That we've turned our own way, living a life of sin, brokenness, and death.
Cole Ragsdale:But God in his great power comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ who lived perfectly, died sacrificially, and rose again victoriously, defeating sin, death, and grave in order that we would be redeemed and reconciled to God. And now we have been set forth as his representatives to bring in his rule and reign here and now. It is our gospel story. And it is why I as a minister of the gospel and we as redeemer stand with the apostle Paul in Romans one sixteen where he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to save for everyone who believes. First the Jew, then the Greek.
Cole Ragsdale:And so maybe you are here this morning and you do not know Jesus. One, we are thrilled that you are here. You have a place to come here. And maybe you're asking yourself the question, I don't know if God could save someone like me. I would encourage you to to answer the question, well how big is your God?
Cole Ragsdale:Because I'm just letting you know that the God that we're talking about this morning, the God of the Bible that he and the way he's revealed himself. He's the one that holds the oceans in his hands, has weighed the mountains. Can God save you? Yes. If God can't save you, your God's not big enough.
Cole Ragsdale:And he's certainly not the God of the Bible. But maybe in a room like this, would assume maybe that's not the most prevalent question. But the most prevalent question would be this, could God use someone like me? And again, I would begin to ask you, how big is your God? Because the God that has revealed himself in the Bible, the God of Isaiah 40 can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, with whoever he wants.
Cole Ragsdale:That if God wants to use a pine cone for his glory, he will. He can certainly use you. There is nothing in your life that is too big for our God. And so like the first audience of Isaiah, I'd invite you to consider, what do you actually believe about God's power? Do you truly believe that he has no rival and no equal in regards to his power.
Cole Ragsdale:And then secondly, I would invite you to gaze upon the vision that Isaiah gives us. That this is the God who has marked the waters in the hollow of his hand. This is the God who has measured off the heavens with a span. This is the God who has enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure. This is the God who has weighed the mountains in the scales.
Cole Ragsdale:This is the God whom the nations are like a drop in a bucket. This is the God in whom all of the sands are measured. This is the God in whom all nations are but nothing before him. May we gaze upon his unmatched power. But not only does he have unmatched power, we also see that he has unmatched wisdom.
Cole Ragsdale:Let's look together in verse 13. Who has measured, it's kind of ironic, the spirit of the Lord? Or what man shows him his counsel, whom did he consult and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding. The verse 13 is telling us that God knows all, but not only does He know all, but God also knows best.
Cole Ragsdale:That yes, He is all knowing, but He is also all wise. That wisdom is skillful living and God always does what's best. I mean, even I could tell you that in my life, I have learned that God does a much better job of running my life than I do. That when I go his way, it seems to go well with me. When I choose to go my way, it seems to go pretty poorly.
Cole Ragsdale:That he is all wise. Or maybe, has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? That like like he's never been caught off guard. He's never learned anything. Like God didn't go to school.
Cole Ragsdale:Never had an SAT tutor. Like I know there's some fantastic institutions in our city, and there's some really smart people in this room. God's never had one. That he is the all wise God, and that he knows what is best for your life. He knows what is best for this church, and he knows what is best for this world.
Cole Ragsdale:And so would invite you again to consider. What do you really believe about God's wisdom? Do you truly believe in your heart of hearts that he knows best? And then I would invite you to gaze upon the God of Isaiah 40, the God of the Bible who's never been counseled, who's never been needed a consultant, who's always understood, who authored the path of justice, who's always had knowledge, who's always had understanding, who's always been and will always be. We gaze upon His power.
Cole Ragsdale:We gaze upon His wisdom. And then in verses eighteen and twenty, we're gonna get to gaze upon His nature. Let's look at the text together. It says to whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness compare with him?
Cole Ragsdale:An idol? A craftsman casts it. A goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts it with its 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.
Cole Ragsdale:Verses 18 through 20, we see the irony of idols. Then I wanna I wanna point out to you the six verbs that take place in these three verses. We see that a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith overlays it, the same goldsmith casts it with silver, The one who can't afford the nice stuff chooses wood, seeks out a craftsman, and sets up an idol that does not move. Do you catch it? Each verb talking about the idols, the human does all the work.
Cole Ragsdale:That it's the human that has to create its idol. It's the human that has to spend the money, put the investment, do all that they can to create this idol. And Isaiah is saying, do you catch the irony? This God who's all powerful, this God who's all wise, He is nothing like an idol. He is not a created one.
Cole Ragsdale:He is the uncreated one. That God is the unmoved mover. That he has always been and he will always be. The New City Catechism is a resource that's been super helpful to my family and I. Catechism if you're not familiar it's a theological question, partnered with a theological answer that has bible, theology, history.
Cole Ragsdale:The second catechism question in New City Catechism is the question, what is God? And the answer is that God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. And that he's eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, his goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. That nothing happens except through him and by his will. That this God, it says that he's eternal, meaning that he has no beginning and has no end.
Cole Ragsdale:That he's before time and after time at the same time. That this God is infinite, meaning that he's limitless in his love, grace, mercy, mercy, justice, wrath. That he has nothing that bounds him. And that he's unchangeable. That the father, son, and holy spirit are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Cole Ragsdale:That the nature of this God is unlike anything we can set our mind or our heart's attention on. That it's ironic that we would try to give our lives, try to receive something from God any or from anything other than God. It's the irony of idols. Now I've been encouraged not to go too far down the irony train, because we're gonna get there later in Isaiah. But a brief word.
Cole Ragsdale:What do we know to be true of idols? Is that they always over promise and under deliver. That whether or not it's the idol of power, it will always deliver death. Or it's the idol of control that promises life and it will deliver death. Or if it's the idol of comfort, it will deliver death.
Cole Ragsdale:If it's the or the idol of approval, it will also deliver the idol or deliver death. That idols always over promise and under deliver. But thanks be to God that we serve a God in his very nature that when he promises, he always delivers. That that Lamentations three twenty two and twenty three tell us that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. That His mercies are new every morning, that they know no end, that great is thy faithfulness.
Cole Ragsdale:That Numbers twenty three nineteen tells us is, is God a man that He should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind? Has he ever spoken and not done it? Has he ever promised and not fulfilled? That God is the ultimate promise maker and a promise keeper. It is his nature in which an idol will never deliver upon.
Cole Ragsdale:So we invite you to consider like our first, our first audience of this text. What do you think? What do you believe about the nature of God? Is he the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything? Or is he just another idol in our twenty first century south?
Cole Ragsdale:What is he like? And I would invite you to gaze upon the picture that Isaiah gives us here that he is certainly not one that has been casted, overlaid, or chooses, or seeks, or set up. But this is the God who is the uncreated one who needs nothing. He doesn't even need us. This is in his nature.
Cole Ragsdale:We see his power, His unmatched wisdom, His unmatched nature. And then in verses 21 through 26, let's look at our God's sovereignty. Verse 21 says, do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Cole Ragsdale: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. Isaiah begins with another rapid fire rhetorical question. There's actually five of them here.
Cole Ragsdale:And all of all of the verbs in here are assuming yes. So you could almost read it this way. Well, of course you know. Of course you've always heard. You've been told about this from the beginning.
Cole Ragsdale:From the foundations of the earth you should have understood. And then it tells us in verse 22 that it is he who sits above. Or another translation would be it is he who is enthroned. That we see that God is the sovereign king who sits enthroned over the earth, who spreads out our earth like a tent, and who brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as emptiness. That He is the sovereign King.
Cole Ragsdale:Meaning that everything we experience in this life is ordained for the eternal purpose of God. That there is nothing outside of his will or his plan. That he is in ultimate control. J. I.
Cole Ragsdale:Packer has been really helpful to me in this understanding. He kinda has these two titles for God that he holds intention that I think might be helpful. He he talks about him as the sovereign king, the one who is orchestrating the affairs of the world, the one who is sits enthroned and is in control. But he simultaneously gives God the title of righteous judge. That he is also the God in which everything that we think, say, and do, we will be held accountable for to him.
Cole Ragsdale:That he is the holy one. In the view of this passage, he's focusing primarily on his sovereignty. That the nations once again are under the control of our God. That all things are moving towards his eternal purpose. That God does not sit in heaven pacing.
Cole Ragsdale:That God does not sit in his celestial rocking chair and wring his hands. That this may be childish, but I find it really helpful that human history is his story. That there is nothing in your life or in this world that is outside the pen of God. That he is in control. At verse 25, the holy one actually speaks.
Cole Ragsdale:It says, to whom then will you compare me? That I should be like him, says the Holy One. What we're getting at here is that if there's an org chart of the universe, there's no one who's on God's level. That he's in his own class, he's in his own league. Or or like that song that we sing so often, that you have no rival.
Cole Ragsdale:You have no equal. Now and forever, God, you reign. That this is the God of matchless sovereignty, the one who is in control. Isaiah closes this little section by encouraging them to look at the stars. Let's look at verse 26.
Cole Ragsdale:It says, lift up your eyes on high and sea. Who created these? Who He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might. Because he is strong in power, not one is missing. God invites the Israelites to look up, to see the innumerable stars above them.
Cole Ragsdale:I want you to imagine, put yourself in their shoes for a second. You've been dislocated from your home, living in exile under a devastating rule. Imagine many family members and friends have been killed, murdered, died along the way. I can imagine that little doubt creeping into my brain. Man, has God forgotten about us?
Cole Ragsdale:Has God like have I have I have I exited off of the the highway of God and and he's not looking for me? We hear these words in verse 26 that he sees the host by number, and he calls them by name and not one is missing. It's a reminder to us that while there are millions of stars in which God has counted and knows by name, that he has not forgotten us. That he who knows the stars know you. That you are on heaven's radar this morning.
Cole Ragsdale:That God sees you. God knows you. God loves you. That he's for you today. That that you're in the mix with him.
Cole Ragsdale:It's the sovereign God who's in charge of the stars, and he also knows you. So tougher question, what what do you actually believe about God's sovereignty? What is your functional theology when it comes to the God who sits enthroned above the earth? And I'd invite you to gaze upon the God of the Bible who says that he sits above the throne of the earth. That it's his inhabitants like us are like grasshoppers or ants.
Cole Ragsdale:That he spreads the earth like a tent. That he brings princes to nothing, that these princes are like little weeds that popped up the moment that they're there, the next day that they're gone, that the storm carries them away, that there is no one to whom we can compare this God. He's matchless in his power and his wisdom. He's unmatched in his nature. He's unmatched in his sovereignty.
Cole Ragsdale:May we gaze upon him. I think an invitation to you this week. In the same way that when I first put on those pair of glasses and drove down and gazed at those trees and those leaves, it wasn't a glance. It was a gaze. Because what I saw had captured my attention.
Cole Ragsdale:And so this week, we gaze upon God's unmatched majesty. I'll close with a story. My senior year of college, I got to do a study abroad trip in Australia over Christmas break. We a a part of this trip was four days at Lady Elliot Island, which is a remote super small island off the Eastern Coast Of Australia, smack dab in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. More time, I would love to tell you stories about scuba diving and sunrise, great time.
Cole Ragsdale:But all I know is that this little island, the the entire size of the island was the size of an airstrip. An airstrip was unpaved and we're on our way kind of landing, bouncing on this like grass runway. And the pilot was like, hey, make sure you get outside to look at the stars tonight. And we kinda like, okay, sure, like stars will be great. Like you know, I had the little ceiling stick them stars in my in my room growing up.
Cole Ragsdale:Know, you turn the lights off and have the the stars on my ceiling right above. Great. Am I am a star, this guy? This will be fun. And, sun starts to make its way down, and we make our way onto this airstrip and look up.
Cole Ragsdale:Getting goosebumps thinking about right now. And like the colors of the band of the milky way and the size and the brightness of the stars. I mean, like we we stood there in awe and wonder and gazed upon the band of the Milky Way. I I had never seen anything like it. I mean, even like when I came home and was talking about that trip, like we talked about the stars.
Cole Ragsdale:And we did a lot of cool things, but like we we we talked about the stars. Like I wanna go back and look at the stars. Like to see the night sky undone without any light pollution. And it was a changing experience. And I and I think it's as simple as that.
Cole Ragsdale:You you you've either got Stickum Stars on the ceiling, or you've got the Milky Way. You've either got like a small view of God, or you're blown away by His majesty. And it's not like you you can talk to someone for about thirty minutes and you can find out what kind of person they are. Like do they have the Stickham Stars? Or have they like been blown away by God?
Cole Ragsdale:Like have they they've seen his unmatched majesty. They've caught a vision of his all an all surpassing vision of his glory. They've seen his power, his wisdom, his nature, his sovereignty. And they just gaze at him. And so I I would just ask you this morning, what do you think about when you think about God?
Cole Ragsdale:Is it the Milky Way? Or is it sealing Stickum Stars? The God of Isaiah 40, the God that has revealed Himself in the Bible, He is better than we can imagine. Like whatever blows you up at night, like it is, it pales in comparison to our God. And so may we as a church get our eyes up and gaze upon him.
Cole Ragsdale:And that way our big God would be worthy of some really big worship. And our big God would hear some really big prayers. And our really big God would see a really big holy life. May it be true of us. Let's pray together.
Cole Ragsdale:Father, we plead with you that you would give us an all surpassing vision of your majesty, that we would gaze upon you in worship. And so father, would you keep us far from being hearers of the word and not doers of it? We pray all this for your glory's sake, through the son and by the spirit. Amen.
