God Carries Us like a Mother

  • God says, “Listen to me… you who have been carried from birth,
    you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.
    I made you and I will support you;
    I will carry you and rescue you.”
  • Don’t invest in things of this age which will not be there for you in the end, but surrender your trust to God!

 

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Today is “Mother’s Day”

  • When babies are very young, they have to be carried everywhere.
  • God uses this imagery in Is 46.
    He is like the mother who carries her baby from the moment of birth:

Isaiah 46

  1. “Listen to me…
    you who have been carried from birth,
    you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.
  • -We also might need to be carried when we are very old
  • -of course our mothers have probably passed away by then
  • -But God is still there, as the eternal support
  1. Even when you are old, I will take care of you,
    even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
    I made you and I will support you;
    I will carry you and rescue you.

The God who Carries us

The God who Carries us

Image source: Andrew

  • Are you carrying burdens right now
    • God’s answer is sometimes immediately, sometimes a delay
  • One of the biggest dangers in reading the Bible is separating a verse from those around it and reading it how we want.
    • So, let’s look at the whole passage:
  • You all know what is meant by a “shock headline”. Its a newspaper headline designed to grab your attention
  • I once saw a headline that said something like:

Brazil destroys Chile

  • Brazil defeated Chile 3–0 at the Maracana, leaving La Roja without the chance to play in the next World Cup. Here, check out the highlights and goals from this match.
  • I didn’t they we were at war! I’d better go and see what this is about.

Mayers’ arm destroys England to leave West Indies on verge of victory

  • Kyle Mayers was the destroyer of England’s second innings with a five-wicket haul to put the West Indies on the verge victory in the cricket final on Saturday.
  • Here is a shock headline from the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah

BEL BOWS DOWN!

NEBO STOOPS!

  • read all about it...

Outline

  1. Understand the shock headline in Isaiah 46
  2. Go through Isaiah 46
  3. Take in what it means for us

Goal: That each of us would truly take in the deep encouragement in this chapter

1. Understand the shock headline in Isaiah 46

Isaiah

BEL BOWS DOWN!

NEBO STOOPS!

  • read all about it...
  • is this a shock to you?
  • To appreciate why the people that heard Isaiah say these words would be shocked, we need to know who Bel and Nebo were.
  • They were the chief gods of the great Babylonian Empire.

“Nebo”

Nebo

Image source: “chestofbooks.com”

  • 6 kings named after Nebo ? Nebuchadnezzar (Nebo, protect my frontier)

“Bel (Marduk)”

Bel (Marduk)

Image source: “Wikipedia”

  • Bel any names? Belshazzar “May Bel protect the king”
    • They trusted these gods to help them at war, and because they always won, they gave Bel and Nebo all the credit
  • Imagine what this must have sounded like to the Israelites, that Babylon was defeated!

God Carries Us like a Mother

  1. Understand the shock headline in Isaiah 46
  2. Go through Isaiah 46
  3. Take in what it means for us

2. Go through Isaiah 46

  • Let’s turn to our passage in Is 46:

Isaiah 46

  1. Bel kneels down,
    Nebo bends low.
    Their images weigh down animals and beasts.
    Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.
  2. Together they bend low and kneel down;
    they are unable to rescue the images;
    they themselves head off into captivity.
  • This is a prophetic prediction of what was to happen

“Walls of Babylon”

Walls of Babylon

Image source: “wikimedia”

  • Impregnable city of Babylon (2½ thousand years ago)
    • 10km of walls around the city, 8m/25 feet thick
    • Towering up to 100m/320 feet above the city
    • Fields within city for growing food
    • could not run out of water because the river Euphrates ran through the city
  • Captives are led out of the city
    • The treasures of the city are loaded onto donkeys

“Donkey”

Donkey

Image source: “Naciketa Datta”

  • Here is the poor donkey that would be weighed down by the weight of the idols
    • Stumbles and bends under the weight
    • The idols look like they are bowing up and down!
  • And here is the single message for today:
    • These idols have to be carried,
    • But God says: “I will carry you, from the cradle to the grave”
  • Let’s look at the whole passage:

Isaiah 46

  1. Bel kneels down,
    Nebo bends low.
    Their images weigh down animals and beasts.
    Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.
  2. Together they bend low and kneel down;
    they are unable to rescue the images;
    they themselves head off into captivity.
  3. “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
    all you who are left from the family of Israel,
    you who have been carried from birth,
    you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.
  4. Even when you are old, I will take care of you,
    even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
    I made you and I will support you;
    I will carry you and rescue you.
  • Are you carrying burdens right now?

Isaiah 46 cont’d

  1. To whom can you compare and liken me?
    Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
  2. Those who empty out gold from a purse
    and weigh out silver on the scale
    hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
    They then bow down and worship it.
  3. They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
    they put it in its place and it just stands there;
    it does not move from its place.
    Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
    it does not deliver him from his distress.
  • Read 5–7 (even if there is a supernatural power behind, it, it still can’t even lift it’s own weight)
    Let’s do some comparison right now! says God
    • but we are probably not engaged in open idolatry, yet we have our own idols
  • So this person wants a top-quality idol. No expense spared
    • Dumb and paralyzed! What a god!
    • Funny, but it’s the reality for a lot of us today

Isaiah 46 cont’d

  1. Remember this, so you can be brave!
    Think about it, you rebels!
  2. Remember what I accomplished in antiquity!
    Truly I am God, I have no peer;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
  3. who announces the end from the beginning
    and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred,
    who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
    I will accomplish what I desire,’
  4. who summons an eagle from the east,
    from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.
    Yes, I have decreed,
    yes, I will bring it to pass;
    I have formulated a plan,
    yes, I will carry it out.
  • 8–11 God summons the armies of an empire, like a man calling a bird
  • If I then say “what are you investing your time, energy and resources in now that will be paying off next year?”
    • You may say, “I’m studying hard and hope to graduate”
    • I’m putting in extra effort so I will get promoted or have a better job
  • Maybe you are in a relationship and you hope it will develop
    • or planning a wonderful vacation
  • Now these are good things, but here is the most important question:
    • Are you investing in your relationship with God?
    • God is challenging you right now to compare him!
  • Can you say?:
    “I am planning to devote extra time and energy this coming year to getting to know the Lord better because I know that this will pay much greater dividends than time and money put into material possessions.”
    • The other things are not wrong, they are gifts from God, but they will always be burdens, and not carry you like God promises to!

Isaiah 46 cont’d

  1. Listen to me, you stubborn people,
    you who distance yourself from doing what is right.
  2. I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;
    I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait.
    I will save Zion;
    I will adorn Israel with my splendor.”
  • 12–13 In the short term this is about restoring the nation, but in the longer term about sending Jesus
  • God is promising that even though they are still not accepting him, he is still going to bless them.
    This is not about their performance, but about grace

3. Take in what it means for us

Message

  • These gods had to be carried
  • But God will carry his people
  • We have burdens that we carry
  • But God says he will carry us
  • Why is this a difficult message?
    • Because we like to be in control
    • What God is really asking us to do is to surrender control
    • v.3b-4 cradle to the grave
      • Isn’t God amazing!
  • Go back three chapters (very similar message to Is.46)

Isaiah 43:1–5

  1. Now, this is what the LORD says,
    the one who created you, O Jacob,
    and formed you, O Israel:
  2. “Don’t be afraid, for I will protect you.
    I call you by name, you are mine.
  3. When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
    when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
    When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
    the flames will not harm you.
  4. For I am the LORD your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your deliverer…
  5. Since you are precious and special in my sight,
    and I love you…
  6. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
  • What burdens are you carrying right now
  • Can you give them to God right now?
  • This is what becoming a Christian is all about
    • No longer trusting in the things around you to carry you
    • But trusting God to carry you
    • Take the step of renouncing the things that can’t carry you and trusting God.
  • Once again:

Message

  • These gods had to be carried
  • But God will carry his people
  • We have burdens that we carry
  • But God says he will carry us

Goal: That each of us would truly take in the deep encouragement in this chapter

Isaiah 46

  1. “Listen to me…
    you who have been carried from birth,
    you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.
  2. Even when you are old, I will take care of you,
    even when you have grey hair, I will carry you.
    I made you and I will support you;
    I will carry you and rescue you.

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