May 8, 2016 Welcome to assembly church.

Isaiah 66:10-17 (v.13) The God who Comforts.

Examine: The book is named after the prophet whose message it records. Isaiah wrote during the stormy period marking the expansion of the Assyrian empire and the decline of Israel. He warned Judah that her sin would bring captivity at the hands of Babylon. Although the fall of Jerusalem would not take place until 586 B.C., Isaiah assumes its demise and proceeds to predict the restoration of the people from captivity. The decree of Cyrus would allow the Jews to return home, a deliverance that prefigured the greater salvation from sin through Jesus Christ. Significantly, Isaiah means “The Lord saves.”

Isaiah son of Amoz was the greatest of the writing prophets and a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Most of the events discussed in chapters 1-39 occurred during Isaiah’s ministry, so it is likely they were completed around 700 B.C. He lived until 681 and may have written chapters during his later years.

Explain: When we look at our text of Isaiah 66:13, it speaks of God comforting Judah or Israel His chosen people. He does it according to our text as a mother comforting a child who has now grown up. We can all relate to by being a mother or being a someone that has been comforted. Points we might consider are these. 1) God is like a mother, but He is a Father. We are right to talk of God as a father, for the Bible speaks of Him repeatedly as a Father. The verses we have read liken God to sharing attributes of a mother. God is compared to a mother, and He is even likened to a hen brooding over her chicks. Since men and women are both created in the image of God, it should really be no surprise to us that God reflects attributes of mother as well as fathers in his dealing with us.

Matthew Henry reminds us that God comforts us and he does so “not only with rational arguments which a prudent father uses, but with the tender affections and compassions of a loving mother.” 2) God is compassionate like a mother. God created the world. Is it any wonder He should feel the same intense degree of warm love and care towards His children that a mother so clearly demonstrate to hers? In one of our verses God says in effect “no way would a woman reject her own baby,” before acknowledging that, then as now, sadly there are a few women who indeed forget the child they bore. But God can never forget! Why? Because of what happened on the cross when He “engraved our names on His hands.”

3) God is Sacrificial like a mother. Many women put their careers on at least a temporary hold, and go through the pains of pregnancy and childbirth to have a child. Jesus once said when that “when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish (John 16:21). God understand the pain that mothers go through, not just in labor but in the decades that follow. He has seen us his children go astray and reject Him, but still he loves us. Jesus showing us the father said, “I am like a mother hen, cooing over you, wanting to gather you under my wings.” Surely god understands the thankless task of trying to win over kids when they are rebelling and think you hate them.

The thousands of sacrifices the average mother makes for her children reflects upon the ultimate sacrifice of his life that Jesus would make. 4) God is Comforting like a mother. When is comes to hugs and kisses, especially when they were upset, my boys looked to their mother for comfort. Just as a skillful mother is able to pacify and soothe the woes of her child, so is God with us. Who here is distressed? God will soothe you. Who is sorrowful? God will calm your troubles. Who here is stressed? God will cause you to rest in Him. God is the God of ALL comfort. Jesus told us He was sending “another comforter” to replace himself, which tells us that His role and that of the Spirit was to comfort us.

Experience: When we as His children experience the work of God in comforting us, we feel understood, we feel calmed. Stress lifts. Anxiety passes. Our problems now belongs to the one whose wings we shelter under. God was the consolation of Israel in Isaiah’s day and now He is the churches consolation as His chosen people. He also is each individual Christians consolation today. When we are distressed or walking amidst a wilderness in our lives He is there to comfort and soothe us with His presence, truth and work in our lives and the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters, who reach out with God’s words, hands and presence. We are not alone in this world in our walk, He has planned for us.

Our God of all comfort, comforts like a mother! *When discouraged, it’s a God like mother who inspires and encourages. *When disobedient, it’s God like mother who corrects. *When doubtful, it’s a God like mother who says, “You can do it.” Our lives are kept straight by a God who loves like a mother who gives instruction and wisdom daily in our lives. He has nurtured us as Israel from the beginning of our existence and continues to be there at our side

Closing: A lady who turned 80ty was ask about her life, and was ask to name the greatest persons she had met. She responded, “The greatest persons I have ever met are those nobody knows anything about.” *A man ask another, “Who was greater, Thomas Edison or his mother?” You see when Thomas was a young man his teacher sent him home with a note which said, “Your child is dumb. We can’t do anything for him.” Mrs. Edison wrote back, “You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself.” And she did, with results that are well known. *Once the New York Times was ask to help a women’s club decide on the twelve greatest women in the United States.

After consideration, the editors replied, “ The twelve greatest women in the United States are women who have never been heard of outside of their own homes.” We have all experienced the comfort of a mother, and now even more we are experiencing the comfort of a God who with the attributes of a mother comforts us today. Israel did and we can also if we choose to be His child and look to Him.