What have we not known or heard (Isaiah 40:28), and why does it matter?

Lastly, Jehovah falls back on what He has been to His own from the beginning. "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and my judgement is passed over from my God? Dost thou not know, hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? [There is] no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall stumble and fall; but they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint" (vv. 27-31). He cannot deny Himself, nor fail to strengthen the weakest that wait on Him. But the great public demonstration of His ways will be when His people at the consummation of the age are delivered from that evil heart of unbelief, which has been fatal to them hitherto in all their varied history, and has postponed the era of righteous happiness which yet awaits not Israel only but all the nations. Then shall the blessings prevail above the blessings of Jacob's progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of Him that was separate from His brethren: Jehovah, how long! Then will Judah own in deepest penitence his sin of blood-guiltiness, "the great transgression," against Him Who deigned to be his brother, and against a greater Father than his father. Benjamin will be joined to Joseph in a mightier sense, and the true Joseph make Himself known to His brethren by grace made true, and Israel be at length the Israel of God. The fame thereof will be heard throughout all the earth, and the long alienated and unworthy nations that knew not God will seek and rest in Him Who alone makes Himself known in deed and truth, Whose resting-place shall be glory.

God is our present portion and resource; and hear what our chapter has to say of Him. "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" (v. 28). What a contrast is revealed to us here between the greatness of God and man who at his best is only as the flower of the grass. And the word of the gospel invites us who hear to cease from man, to withdraw our hopes and confidence from him, and to put our trust without fear or misgiving in this great and wonderful God who is from everlasting to everlasting, and who is not only unchanging in His years and almighty in His power but is also infinite in His pity. So we read of Him, "He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall." "But they that wait on the Lord shall renew [or change] their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles [rise triumphant over every difficulty and depression], they shall run and not be weary [be untiring in their errands of ministry and mercy for the Lord to others]; and they shall walk and not faint," tread steadily and with endurance the upward way to "the hope that is laid up for them in heaven, whereof ye have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel."

God is our present portion and resource; and hear what our chapter has to say of Him. “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” (v. 28). What a contrast is revealed to us here between the greatness of God and man who at his best is only as the flower of the grass. And the word of the gospel invites us who hear to cease from man, to withdraw our hopes and confidence from him, and to put our trust without fear or misgiving in this great and wonderful God who is from everlasting to everlasting, and who is not only unchanging in His years and almighty in His power but is also infinite in His pity. So we read of Him, "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” "But they that wait on the Lord shall renew [or change] their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles [rise triumphant over every difficulty and depression], they shall run and not be weary [be untiring in their errands of ministry and mercy for the Lord to others]; and they shall walk and not faint ,” tread steadily and with endurance the upward way to “the hope that is laid up for them in heaven, whereof ye have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.”

(Vv. 26–31). Thus in the presence of the witness of creation to the power and glory of God, Israel is rebuked for their unbelief in turning to idols as if their way, with all its difficulties, was hidden from God and He indifferent to the rights of His people. What folly! The God with whom His people have to do is everlasting, and ever present as Jehovah – the I AM; He also is the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no place hidden from Him. With Him, too, there is infinite power and unfailing wisdom. He will never faint or grow weary, and who can search to the end of His understanding?

Moreover not only is there infinite power and wisdom with God, but in grace He can give power to His needy people, for “He giveth power to the faint: and to them that have no might He increases strength.” If, however, He gives strength, we on our side have to learn our need of strength, and that mere natural strength cannot sustain the people of God in the trials they have to meet. Thus we read that the “youths” and the “young men” – those who set forth nature in its freshness and strength – will faint and grow weary and “stumble and fall”. It is often a hard lesson to learn that the strength of nature cannot keep us in the path of faith.

Further, we learn that if God is the giver of strength, and we need strength, it is those who “wait upon the LORD” that are the receivers of strength. Finally we learn the blessed result of being strengthened by the LORD. Such will “mount up with wings as eagles.” they will rise above the sorrows of earth to see the glory that is coming. Moreover, they will “run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

First, there passes before us our unfailing resources in the LORD. He is the everlasting God; He is Jehovah – the ever present I AM; He is the Creator of the ends of the earth, the One with whom there is infinite power and infinite wisdom. He never faints nor wearies, and we never can search to the end of His wisdom.

Secondly, we learn that God not only has power, but He gives power to revive the faint, and strength to those who, in themselves, have no might.

So in our passage we are introduced to the Everlasting God, the Lord Jehovah, the One who is, who ever was, and who is ever to come (Rev. 1:4), the Creator of the ends of the earth. We are told HE does not faint nor grow weary. He is the limitless source of power and life, the One that can know no change, no deterioration, no fading, no flux. What a comfort it is to fall back upon God, whose knowledge is so great, that even a sparrow does not fall to the ground without His notice.

Such thoughts as these show us, from the very necessity of the case, that the creature can never intrude into the domain of the Creator. True faith recognizes this with joy. That which the enemy of our souls intruded into the heart of man — a poison to which he had himself succumbed, "Ye shall be as God" — is, to one who knows God, torture unutterable. Who could stand where God stands — who is self-existent, independent absolutely of all persons and things, sufficient unto Himself in all the bliss of a perfectness which is divine? Words fail us here, but the thought is a simple one, and meets with a response from every heart of faith. Who, too, could bear the load of the divine consciousness; could have the weight, if we may use feeble human similes to express that which infinitely transcends our highest thoughts, of the divine purposes and counsels as to His intelligent universe; the plans which He has formed, the power which is for Him no effort, which has not only created all things, but upholds them? The very thought of such things well-nigh crushes the spirit, and we ask, in the language of Scripture, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" "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?" And so, with this consciousness right in our very being, we bow at His feet and own Him: "Thou art God alone."

Let not one of those whom God calls “My people” say “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God” (v. 27). The everlasting God does not change, He cares for all His own and faints not. Even the very hairs of their heads. Even the very hairs of their heads are all numbered by Him. No detail of their lives is too small for His notice. He bears with their waywardness and frailty and wearies not. If you feel your weakness and are brought to your wits’ end it is that you might prove what His power is. “He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength.” Every resource that man has apart from God will fail. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” “But they that wait on their 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”. They shall rise on the strong wings of faith above the gloom of this world with its false hopes and sure disappointments and glory in the love of God which has given them a hope of which they shall never be ashamed (Rom. 5:5), they shall run the errands of the Lord, carrying messages of comfort to tried and troubled hearts, and not be weary (1 Thess. 1:8), and they shall walk worthy of God who has called them unto His Kingdom and glory, and not faint (1 Thess. 2:12).

Judgment, and the way of its execution, formed the chief burdens of the first part; return from Babylon, and final rest in their land for the remnant, with God's dealings with them is brought out in the second. Divided into three sections as noticed above, the first (chaps. 40 — 48) is chiefly taken up with God's purposes toward Israel of blessing, and His judgment on Babylon carried out by Cyrus. In Isaiah 40 as is so common, we have a glance at the future, looking on from the day of John the Baptist to the full development of God's plans, when Jerusalem shall know peace, because her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned; for, in fulfilment of God's word by Jeremiah (chap. 16:18), she will have received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. (Isa. 40:2.) To execute judgment in the land of Israel is God's strange work (Isa. 28:21), to bless His people is indeed the joy of His heart. How clearly this is exemplified in the language and spirit of the predictions, which announce God's goodness to His people: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God." Surely to the people these words will come with peculiar sweetness, "comfort ye, comfort ye." Their trouble and distress then He had known, and would now comfort them. "My people" He here calls them. Then He has reinstated them into His favour, who had to disown them for their sins. (Hosea 1; 2.) Addressed thus by their God, who He is is set before them, the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not neither is weary, there is no searching of His understanding. (Isa. 40:28.) How different is He from all the idols of human device!

1916 27 It is well when Christians in conscious weakness (for indeed, we are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again) "wait upon the Lord," for "in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;" and we are told "he that waiteth upon his Master shall be honoured." At the time Isaiah spoke, all was weakness and confusion in Israel; but although their condition was so sad in the Lord's sight, yet in the riches of God's grace the prophet was given to utter by the Holy Spirit these memorable and reassuring words, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Thus He recalled them to the inexhaustible source of strength to be found alone in Himself. Their youths and young men, in whom strength and vitality would naturally be looked for, had utterly failed, and everything was in a state of complete prostration. Then came the blessed and definite promise (surely not less for us than for Israel) "they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew, or change their strength. They shall mount up as with the wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Faintness and weariness are thus overcome, and power given to run in His service, and strength imparted to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, to all those who wait upon the Lord.