In the book of Isaiah we see a contrast between a man in the old creation(king Hezekiah, ch. 36-39) and a man in the new creation (ch. 40). No matter how good and spiritual Hezekiah was, because he was still in the old creation, he needed to be terminated and replaced with Christ!
A person in the new creation, on the other hand, one who has been regenerated through the living and abiding word of God, one who is transformed, who has been fired, who takes God in Christ as his replacement – this person is now continually waiting upon the Lord!
He may not be very strong or very spiritual in himself, but as he waits on the Lord having a little power, the Lord comes in to strengthen him, resurrect him, and enable him to soar above everything and everyone else, just like an eagle!
This is someone like the apostle Paul – with him, the old creation has been terminated, he has been fired and replaced with Christ, and he lived a life in the new creation – one with Christ(Gal. 2:20)! In Isaiah 40:29-31 it says,
29. He gives power to the faint, And to those who have no vigor He multiplies strength.
30. Although youths will faint and become weary, And young men will collapse exhausted;
31. Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and will not faint; They will walk and will not become weary.
Those who wait on the Lord – having been terminated, acknowledging that they are nothing and can do nothing – will be empowered and strengthened by the Lord with the eagle’s wings! Paul says in Eph. 6:10, Be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength! Also, in Phil. 4:13 he says, I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.
What a great pattern we have in the apostle Paul, who was terminated in his old creation and was waiting on the Lord, even depending on Him and taking Him as his replacement! In another place Paul says, “I have learned the secret” (Phil. 4:12) – he learned the secret of sufficiency in Christ, so he didn’t become weary or faint.
Christ is the secret – we are nothing but Christ is everything! We can take Him as our replacement and allow Him to replace us, live in us, and be expressed in us! Regarding this, I can’t say it better than bro. Lee as he says in the Life-study of Isaiah,
Isaiah 40 presents a marvelous picture of the all-inclusive Christ as Jehovah the Savior. Through His living and abiding word, we have been regenerated. We have been fed by Him to know Him as the Holy One, the eternal God, Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is unlimited, unsearchable, and high. We human beings are as a drop of water and specks of dust. We are nothing and even less than nothing, vanity, emptiness. When we know Christ in this way, we are qualified to wait on Him. We are nothing, and He is everything. Therefore, we do not have any trust in ourselves. We put our trust in Him and wait on Him. He then gives us the eagles’ wings to mount up, so that we can run the course of the Christian life without fainting or becoming weary. This is the very Christ presented to us in Isaiah 40.
Amen, what a Christ! As human beings we need the incomparable God embodied in Christ to be our everything – He needs to replace us and be everything to us! If we are those who stop ourselves and wait on Jehovah, we will experience His resurrection power, we will be transformed, and we will soar in the heavens – just like the eagles! [enjoyment from the morning revival on the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2)]
Lord, make us those who wait on You! Thank You for showing us Your all-inclusiveness! You are everything, and we are nothing! We are just like specks of dust on a scale, or a drop of water in a bucket. O, Lord, we take You as our replacement! We simply want to stop ourselves and wait on Jehovah, the living and true God! Come in, Lord, in Your time, and transform us further! We don’t trust in ourselves – we put all our trust in You! Without You, Lord, we can do nothing – without You, we cannot live the Christian life! Come in and replace us more today!
