Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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40th chapter of Isaiah comforts my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double s for all her sins 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. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be.
Made straight, and the rough place is 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 it. 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. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
O Zion, that bring us good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God, behold the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for.
Him he hold, his reward is with him and his work before him. 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 as those that are with young.
Now on the last part of the chapter in the 28th verse.
Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the end of the earth, fainteth not, Neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He give us power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall.
Up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
The first verse that our brother read to us was in the end of the 16th chapter of Matthew where it tells us that the Lord Jesus said there be some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God coming in power. And that is the Lord had just told his disciples how he was going to be rejected.
And now what would prepare them and enable them to go on in this time?
Time of following him in his rejection. Well, it was just what our brother brought before us. It was a vision of the glory that was coming. And Brad and I was thinking of this in connection with ourselves. Our brother has been bringing before us that glorious time, and our hearts have been stirred and refreshed as we have thought of the time when the Lord Jesus has his rightful place.
When everyone acknowledges him as the center of the whole coming scene of glory.
And our hearts rejoice, I say, But we're in the period now of his rejection. And what is going to sustain us as we go through this period?
What we notice here in the 40th of Isaiah, it says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that our warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand.
Double for all her sin.
Well, you know, if we didn't understand the ways of God, this would be a difficult passage for us to understand. What was very comforting and knowing that they had received of the Lord's hand double. Was this a very comforting thought? Well, I believe it brings before us something very important for each of our souls. And what is that?
That the most important lesson for us to learn is that all flashes of grass, that the flesh profiteth nothing. Someone asked dear Mr. Darby how he could study the Word of God. He'd like to have a knowledge of it like Mr. Darby did. So he asked Mr. Darby for a little advice.
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And He said study well. 4 words. The flesh profiteth nothing, the flesh profiteth nothing. Well, is it a comfort to find this out? Brethren, it takes us a lifetime to learn it. And God has to pass us through so many things because we're so slow to learn that lesson over and over again. He has to pass us through things.
We're so willful. We're so sure.
That there's something good in the flesh, that there's going to be something accomplished by man's efforts or by our own in the flesh. And so we get all taken up with what's going to be done by man's efforts. And what does it end in? It ends in disappointment. And the Lord has to pass it through so many things. I speak of it for myself. We can be confident about how we can even do the things of God. We can think, Oh well, I can.
Handle this little service for the Lord. I can handle the bringing up of my family. I can handle such and such things. And what does the Lord have to pass us through? He has to show us that we can't do anything of ourselves. He has to reward us for that self will by passing us through things where we learn that we can't do anything of ourselves.
And so when we've learned it, our hearts are comforted.
Because we rely only upon him. Oh, it's a blessed thing when he brings us. Is he going to bring his people, Israel to that .0 Yeah.
You remember when the law was given, how confident they were, and they said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and be obedient. Were they able to keep the law? They miserably failed as we know.
They were unable to keep the law. Now we see them gathered back in their land. Are they confident that they're going to establish themselves in prosperity in their land? All full of confidence. The press is full of what they're going to do. They're just overjoyed and gloated with their victory. Then in six days, they got back the Old Town of Jerusalem and much other territory.
But they're going to have to acknowledge someday, they're going to have to say.
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth. Who is going to do it? The Lord is going to do it. He's going to come in. But oh, what they're going to have to pass through before they come to the point where they bow in the presence of that blessed Savior and say.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed. They will have come to the end of themselves. They will have learned that Christ was all for them, and they will rejoice in the deliverance that He has accomplished.
Now passing on to the third verse, 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. We remember that this was quoted by John the Baptist when he began his ministry. He spoke of this because the nation had failed. They had utterly broken down. They'd been unable to keep the law. They'd failed under the prophets. They'd failed under the priesthood. They'd failed under the kings.
Because there's someone who could set things right for them. Yes. And he had just come. He was about to present himself to them. And the cry went out and prepare a way for him. Were they ready to receive him? Oh, no, they said, if we let this man go, the Romans will come and take away our place and nations. They thought that something depended upon man instead of everything.
Depending upon Christ. Well, let us apply this.
Our own heart are we looking to some plan that we have, some scheme, something that man is doing that is going to finally accomplish something great in the earth?
Well, it says here, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God, you and I, giving the Lord Jesus his rightful place. Nothing will be right until we do, because our own efforts are doomed to failure. But everything is sure to be accomplished in him because he's the man of God's counsel. He's the one whom God has purposed that everything will be brought about.
In and through him. So it says every valley shall be exalted. Well, I believe the valley is bringing before us the low spots, the and the times when it seems that we go down. And it says here every valley shall be exalted. I like to think of it in this way, that when we look back from the glory on our pathway here.
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We'll see that all those experiences that humbled us, that brought us.
Down that brought us to the point that we saw the emptiness of the all our own resources and we saw the helplessness of the flesh that these were good things for us and the valley will be exalted. Yes, we'll thank him for those experiences and then it says.
And every mountain and hill shall be made low. Well, often difficulties stand in our way like mountains. The Lord said that if we prayed to Him that we could remove mountains. But many times when we pray we have a scheme, and we hire with something like the one that we read of in Acts. Here was Peter in prison.
And they were praying for Peter's deliverance. I think they had a plan.
In their own mind about how this was going to be worked out. And they thought probably that when Peter appeared before the council that God would come in and grant him liberty. But when he came in and worked a different way from that they expected, they were so surprised that they didn't even open the gate when he came before the door. Haven't we done the same thing? We prayed about something, but we already had a plan in our own mind and we were sort of telling the Lord now this is the way.
Could work out. And if it works this way, my prayer is answered. Well, the Lord has a plan, a better plan than ours. And oh, how lovely when we can commit it to Him. And so the mountains, the difficulties are made low. When are they made low? When we have learned in some little measure at least. We never fully learn it here, but when we learn in some little measure at least.
That the flesh profiteth nothing.
That the Lord Jesus is the one who must be everything to us, and then our hearts are comforted. How often they're full of care and trouble because of disappointment and frustration.
And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. The wisest man in the world said, That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is that which is rough cannot be made plain. And he had wisdom, great wisdom.
If you could go to someone as wise as Solomon and all your problems, you'd probably cross the continent to talk to them. I think I would. But the wisest man said that the crooked couldn't be made straight and the rough couldn't be made plain. But there's one who can. There's one who can make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight.
Oh, how wonderful it is to look to him. What a blessing in our lives.
When we have come to the point where we realize this wonderful, this so important lesson about everything must depend upon Christ and upon His plan, His counsel. And what are those counsels? Is He working against us all? Brethren, He loves us, He died for us, He lives for us.
And his own heart will not be satisfied until we're supremely blessed.
And it's only necessary for us to learn this, so that we would realize that He is not only the one who can accomplish everything, but the one who desires our richest and fullest blessing. So it says. 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.
Yes, when his glory do we have his glory before us?
All is the time when His glory is going to fill the whole universe. We love to look forward to that day. Our brother has been bringing it before us in such a touching way about how good it is to have it as the thing that sustains our souls. A highway in the desert. Where is it leading to? Where is this highway leading to? All over the place. Where are the precious Savior has His rightful place?
And the voice said, cry. And he said, What shall I cry?
What a strange thing was the answer, it says.
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof of the flower of the field. The grass withereth. The flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth.
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Let the word of our God shall stand forever. Here was the message, he said. What shall I cry?
He said and tell that all man's glory is just like grass. And let me pause to speak a little bit to you, and I speak also to my own heart. We're living in times when man's glory is blooming forth in a way it never did before. It's it's almost astounding what God has allowed man to accomplish in these last days.
It's the wonder of the world and you young people are growing up in this age.
You're more acquainted with the progress that is being made in science and in many other fields than I am. And it's very easy, as we see these wonders taking place before our eyes, to be taken up with them and to be taken up with them to the point that they dim the glory of Christ in our soul. Now, I know there's a certain measure in which you have to prepare.
And living in this world that you have to be prepared and have an.
Understanding of these things. But what I want to impress upon you and upon my own soul is that it's twice repeated here. It's given to us twice. All flashes of grass.
And all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field, all is glory. All this advancement is going to end in disappointment and failure and the judgment of God. But there's going to be a scene of glory brought in under Christ that will be so blessed that the other will hardly be remembered or brought into mind. It will have passed away.
By the voice, said Cross.
And so he cried and I cried to you this afternoon not to set your heart on anything here. You say that's not a very comforting message. Now that's a that's a disappointing message to speak that way. Oh, but if you and I have our eyes and our thoughts turned away from these things to the Lord Jesus, why we have a portion that will never disappoint us in him.
Let me say.
To you that if you have the finest prospects in this whole company, if things are working out as they might say just to the tea and everything's coming along perfectly.
There's disappointment ahead. If you're relying on anything that is of the flesh, there's disappointment ahead. But if you and I have our eyes upon that man of God's counsels, the Lord Jesus Christ, everything is going to be accomplished in him. And my desire is that your vision and mine should be lifted above this present thing.
All I want you to realize, and I want my own soul to realize.
That all flashes of grass, that all this thing that is so attractive to the eye, this present prosperity in which we live is all going to come under the judgment of God. Not all. There's a brighter, there's a happier day ahead. And if you really want to walk in this world with peace and joy and comfort and quietness in your soul.
Don't get your eye on what's sure to disappoint you. Absolutely.
Sure to disappoint you sooner or later.
And so it goes on here. The word of our God shall stand forever. The word of our God shall stand forever. Now the world says this book is getting outdated, but for the Christian, as our brother said, it was never more up to date. It was never more up to date. It's suited to the very age and the day in which we live. The more I read it, the more I am impressed that we have the.
Up to date book in our hands, because it not only tells us about things that are transpiring, but it tells us about the future and tells us where to set our hopes on that which will never fail. The word of our God shall stand forever. So he says, O Zion, that bringeth good tidings, Get thee up into the high mountains. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up.
Be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Oh, he says, get up above all this grass, get above all this glory of man, and see what God has in store for his people. And you and I need to get up and dwell upon our high place. Enjoy that which is ours in Christ. And then.
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How happy we would be. Of course I know that this is an earthly scene, but I speak of it in its application to ourselves. We belong to a heavenly scene. We belong, as our brother brought before us, to the heavenly heart of the coming glory and all. What a rich portion is ours. And if this could cheer the heart of an Israelite, how much more it can cheer our hearts who are going to be with the Lord Jesus.
As part of his bride.
Now this 11TH verse.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Oh, isn't this most touching? The Lord knows this scene that we're going through. He's pointed us to that glory that is ahead of us, and now, as it were, He Stoops to take notice of us.
As we go through this world, he shall lead his flock like a shepherd, and then it says He shall carry the lamb with his arm. How do you feel so helpless that you can't take one step? Well, he says, I'll lift you up and carry you. Then I'll lift you up and carry you, and he shall gently lead. As those that are with young. Are you in the pressure of some circumstances and you say you don't know?
Difficult it is for me. You don't enter into my problem. Oh, He even takes notice of those that are with Young. Perhaps unnoticed by others, the Lord takes notice. Perhaps you carry a problem in your breath. Perhaps you carry a sorrow inside of you. You say nobody knows but the Lord. It's something that's inside. Isn't this lovely? He shall gently lead those that are with Young. That is, He knows what.
Passing through and he is able to come in and help you and lead us and he does lead us.
Then in the verses that follow, he speaks of God's greatness and His power in creation, the One who not only made everything, but who upholds everything. And then just to pass over to those verses, at the end of the chapter it says, Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding.
Now he asked us the question. He says, Hast thou not known? Well, I'm afraid we ask them. We act sometimes as if we didn't know this.
You say, oh, I know that God is the one who made everything. I don't question that. But isn't it true with us that we act sometimes, all too often, as if we didn't know it? And so he addresses himself to the nation, He addresses himself to the Israelite, and he says, have you not known? Have you not entered into these things?
And then he goes on to encourage us to give us power to the faint.
Or perhaps there's some here that are faint. Well, he gives power to the faint.
To them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. It isn't a question of natural strength. A youth has natural strength, but the young man controlled. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And so we have 3.
Beautiful things brought before us here They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
That flies above the earth. They shall run, and not be weary. That's hurrying along.
They shall walk and not faint. Well, I like to think of those three different things.
It says they shall mount up with wings of eagles, that is to rise above the circumstances. And then there are those that run, that is, we run through this world in a hurry to get through. But then there might be some of us and say, well, I'm afraid I don't get above circumstances, I don't fly.
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And I don't run while you're just walking. You'll just feel as if you were slowed down, that you couldn't get above things, and you feel that you don't have the energy to run. It says they shall walk and not think. They shall walk and not faint. Why? Oh, because their eyes are upon him. No, brethren, may the Lord give us to see the full import of what our brother has brought before us. That glory that.
Coming upon this world for Israel and that glory that is ours up there with him, what effect does it have on us? What is Satan doing? Well, he's just filling the world with all kinds of things to make us think that there's glory for us down here. But the Spirit of God this afternoon is lifting our sights above this world. And isn't it sad that He has to pass us through so much?
Before we learn.
In this great lesson, Israel had to go through all kinds of things before they were comforted and they let rested. Now everything was past. The Lord had His rightful place. All He made passes through things, but He has His grand and blessed purpose in view now that the Lord Jesus should be the center and the object before our souls and ourselves entering, entering into and sharing without hindrance.
The blessing that then his purposes for us. Oh, May God grant that here and now our sights will be lifted above this poor world. You will be comforted, I will be comforted. If we're not expecting anything down here, but we're expecting everything from Him. As a little hymn says, in thee and with thee ever is found by grace.
Our lot.