This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back to the
New Mercies Podcast. Today's reading is in Isaiah
chapter 40. It's February the 26th. 2026, which
means something very special to me and my family.
My baby brother is 40 years old today. So happy
birthday, Joseph, if you are watching or listening.
And if you are not, I hope that everyone that
is watching sends it to you as a birthday gift.
So that is to be said. I want to make sure that
you know I know it is your birthday, you old
man. Now on to the good stuff today. Isaiah chapter
40. A little bit of a different episode today.
I think, as I've been kind of praying about it
and looking through it and seeing what was sticking
out to me and what I want to share with you today,
I'm going to look a little bit. Isaiah chapter
40 is great. There's a verse in chapter 40 that
you probably are familiar with. It's verse 31.
Those who wait on the Lord. will renew their
strength. They'll mount on wings of eagles. They'll
run and not go weary. They'll walk and not grow
faint. That is a very popular connected scripture
to a lot of people. You may have seen that on
a t -shirt or on a mug or whatever. That is a
great verse of scripture, but I don't want to
just zone in on that one today. I want to give
you a little bit of background and not just on
chapter 40. I want to go all the way through
the whole book of Isaiah. I'm not going to teach
on the whole book of Isaiah, but I do want to
share with you a little bit of facts about it
that may help us to understand the context in
which we... read. Isaiah is known to be kind
of a little mini Bible. What I mean by that,
there's 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah. There's
also, in case you didn't know, 66 books in the
Bible. There's 66 books in the Bible, and there
are 66 chapters in Isaiah. Here's what's kind
of cool. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah mirror
the 39 books of the Old Testament. He focuses
on the attacks of Assyria. of his day. It was
the present day to Isaiah talking about the Assyrians
and how they were coming to attack and it was
going to be really bad. Then beginning at chapter
40, the last 27 chapters of Isaiah have a different
tone. He no longer focuses on the Assyrians.
He focuses in on Babylon. That really wasn't
even a big threat when Isaiah was writing. And
so there's a future feel to the last 27. chapters
of this text. And I think it's very interesting
and noteworthy for us to see that there's an
old past and then there's a new future. There's
something beautiful about the old that we can
learn from and that we can deal with. And then
there's something beautiful about the new that
we can look into. The tone shifts from chapter
39 to chapter 40. So it may... I may encourage
you today, read chapter 39 and chapter 40. You
may be able to pick up on it. You may have to
go a couple chapters back and a couple chapters
forward, but really cool how Isaiah is laid out
that way. And by the way, the New Testament hadn't
been written yet, right? God knew what he was
doing when he was telling Isaiah what to write
down and how to frame it. I think whenever we
look at the text, we look at these last 27 chapters,
and there's a lot of visions of Christ in it.
So the first 39 chapters were a lot of what was
going on, a lot of the doom, a lot of the gloom,
a lot of the hardship, a lot of the brokenness,
a lot of the miseries. Well, now it begins to
shift, and we see visions of Christ. One of the
things the Old Testament prophets did is they
could see the coming of Christ to redeem. So
the first time he came, his first advent, what
we celebrate at Christmas and his 33 years of
life, whenever he died and rose again. And then
we see his coming to reign in the end, his second
coming. You'll see a lot of that through the
book of Isaiah. Just a cool thing, especially
in the last 27 chapters as the tone shifts and
it points more to Christ. Today in chapter 40,
I know that's a lot of background and kind of
understanding, but I want to make sure that we
understand where we're going. Because for the
last 27 chapters of Isaiah, it's really kind
of broken up into nine chapters each in these
sections. So there's chapters 40 through 48.
That's nine chapters, right? They deal with Judah,
the nation of Judah. And really what they're
struggling with, what they're dealing with. But
then in chapters... 49 through 57, that's the
second set of nine chapters. It deals with Judah's
Messiah, the one who would come. what he was
going to look like, how he was going to be, the
things about him that were important that they
needed to know. And then in chapters 58 through
66, that's the last nine chapters in the book
of Isaiah, it talks about the kingdom that would
come. So I know that's a lot of facts, and maybe
if you're in Bible trivia, that could help you.
I don't know. But one of the things to note is
we are shifting in chapter 40 into the pictures
of Christ. it's really awesome for us to see.
I want to read just a couple of verses. There's
a lot in chapter 40, so I want you to read it
all today, but I want to focus in on just a couple
of verses. Specifically, I'm going to read verses
6, 7, 8, and 9. That's where I'm going to land.
I also am going to reference one that happens
a couple of chapters later, but I want to read
these verses first. Verse number 6 says this,
a voice says, cry, and I said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like
the flower of the field. The grass withers, the
flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows
on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass
withers, the flower fades, but the word of our
God will stand forever. Before I read verse 9,
I want to share with you what stood out to me
today in this text. You know, these verses, 6
and 7 specifically, give this kind of feel that,
okay, this has come and gone. Assyria was here,
now they're not. Babylon will come, they'll be
gone. Enemies will come and go. The things around
our problems will come and go. Situations, circumstances
will come and go. But there's something that
lasts forever. And that something is the Word
of God. And I love the term he says in this text.
It says that in verse number 8, the Word of our
God will stand forever. That word stand is a
remarkable word. It is a literal word, a figurative
word, a causative word. and an intensive word.
It has a lot kind of wrapped up in it. And here's
the best way I can explain it, which may point
you back to Haggai 2. It may point you back to
Hebrews 12. It may point you forward in just
a minute. But one of the things that I know is
that stuff's going to be shaken. There is a day
coming where he will shake the heavens and the
earth, and what remains is what cannot be shaken.
This word stand has multiple understandings to
it, but it basically means that this word will
not be shaken. His word will last forever. His
word is one of those eternal things. So here's
what I'm going to encourage you with today. Put
his word in your heart. Put his word in your
mind. Put his word around your day and within
your day and everywhere that you are. Put his
word there. And I don't mean just to buy a t
-shirt that has the text on it. I don't mean
just to have your coffee mug say the scripture.
That's great. That's all well and good. If that
helps it put into your life, do it. I want to
encourage you, though, to read his word. Spend
the time in his word. Read it. Because here's
the deal. The word that he gives will last forever.
When you're reading the word, you're doing something
eternal. Most of the time, here's the problem
in the Christian life. We think we read the word
and it's only for this day or it's only for this
time or only for this season. Here's what I've
learned. Whenever you study scripture, it is
eternal. It is a ongoing, everlasting thing.
It will last forever. His word will not fail.
So anytime you share his word, you are sharing
his word and it is going to last longer than
your life. I have thought about in Hebrews 11,
right, that great hall of faith. I've thought
about the heroes of the faith that have gone
before us, those who have written books and preached
sermons and gone around the world and been on
mission and all these people that we've looked
up to, grandparents and parents and great -grandparents
maybe, those that have shared the word and it
has trickled down through us. You know, I'm a
Christian. I'm a believer because someone led
me to Christ. They showed me the way, the way
through the word. That person that led me to
Christ. Christ was my father. Someone led him
to Christ and someone led them to Christ and
someone led them and someone led and so on and
so forth. And you can keep going back all the
way to the book of Acts, all the way to Jesus.
Here's what is amazing. That shows us the word
is eternal. It keeps going past your life. Anybody
you share the word with will outlive your life.
When you share the word of God, it will stand.
No matter how bad circumstances get, no matter
how bad persecution gets, if you share the word,
it will outlive you. It is amazing. Why we don't
share the word more, I don't know. People come
and go. Enemies come and go. Situations come
and go. But the word of God lasts forever. So
let's dive into the word. Let's put it into our
hearts, into our lives, and let's live it out.
Let's make it happen. Now we get into verse 9.
I don't want to get into any more of that. Listen
to verse number 9 today. Of Judah, behold your
God. I absolutely love Scripture so much. The
next verse starts out with, again, behold the
Lord God comes with might. I love the term behold.
There is something about it. It is a focus all
of your attention and eyes. Let everything else
go for a moment and just be attentive to this
one incredible thing. All of your facilities,
put them in this direction. He's saying, I want
you to go up to a mountain and herald the good
news. Herald the good news, by the way, is a
sharing or a proclamation of good news. What
is the gospel? The gospel is good news. I want
to read one more thing to you today that I just
couldn't help but share. It's not in our reading
plan today, so I'm going a little outside the
box. But in Isaiah chapter 52, down in verse
number 7, listen to this verse. How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings
good news, who publishes peace, who brings good
news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who
says to Zion, your God reigns. How beautiful
upon the mountains. Wait, what does he say here?
He says, go up on a high mountain and proclaim.
The good news. How beautiful are the feet of
those. I know if you are a student of the word,
you know there's another place in the book of
Romans that he says that the feet of those who
share the good news are beautiful. The feet of
those who go and share the good news of the gospel
are beautiful feet. I want to encourage you today.
Have beautiful feet. I want to encourage you
today to proclaim the good news. Why? Because
the good news is the word of God and the word
of God lasts forever. I love Isaiah 40. I hope
and pray you keep diving into it today. Don't
just take my word for it. Get in, see what the
Lord has to say. As you keep reading all the
way through, there's a couple more little sections
in Isaiah 40. It begins with this, God is greater
than all those things behind us, right? The enemy's
behind us. The situation, circumstances are behind
us. Those things fade away, but the word of God
is good forever. God's greater than what's before
us. This next section from verses 12 through
26, says God's greater than what's before us.
And then he ends the chapter with God's greater
than what's within us. We have problems and issues
within us. God's greater than those things too.
Isaiah 40, a beautiful place to land today. Spend
some time, spend some prayer, and let the word
last forever in you.