He’s the one of whom Isaiah wrote in the fortieth chapter of that great book. Isaiah is basically saying, “Here is your God. He is the sovereign Lord Jesus, he comes with power, he rules with a mighty arm, and yet he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” Isaiah’s prophecy is often called the Gospel According to Isaiah.
And yet, this is the one—this tender shepherd—is the one who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. He was there at the very beginning, and before the very beginning. That’s why we say that he is the start and finish—beginning and end—because in relation to time and space, he was there before all of it .
The Lord Jesus did not consult anyone, any human, to teach him the right way. No, he always knew. To him, the nations are like a drop in the bucket. He cannot be compared to any other God.
Isaiah is describing the Lord Jesus as the one who sits on the throne above the circle of the earth. The one to whom people are like grasshoppers. The one who brings out the starry host one by one and calls for each of them by name. He’s saying, “There is one who is the Lord, his name is Jesus, and he is the everlasting God. He’s the creator of the ends of the earth and he does not grow tired or weary.”
Isaiah invites us to put our hope in him, so that we too may soar with wings like eagles and run and not grow weary, or be faint.
So, Jesus is not just a part of the picture, he is the whole picture. The reality—Paul says—is found in Christ. We don’t worship angels, we worship the head of the church, the one who causes his body (his church) to grow as we’re connected to him, as we are united to him. He is—again, as Paul says—the image of the invisible God.
