Welcome to Day #16 of the Isaiah 40 Series!
Isaiah 40:16 “Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beast enough for a burnt offering.”
As you can tell by now, I really like the ministry of Precepts. God has used their inductive study method to enrich and refine my relationship with the Lord in amazing ways. One study tool that Precept teaches, is “Context Rules”. Basically, this means… read the surrounding verses, a whole chapter, other correlating verses, or even a whole book of the Bible, to get the context of a particular verse. We need to be careful to accurately handle the Word of God, and not take verses out of context.
Check out this article about context (scroll down down to #3 “Keep Context King” to read more in-depth about the importance of this). I also highly recommend Kay Arthur’s book How to Study Your Bible, which will help you with many inductive bible study tools.
Since we are doing a verse-by-verse study, what can we observe, interpret, and apply from this short verse?
Well, we see that Lebanon is being talked about here, and that it is not enough to burn. We also see that Lebanon’s beasts are not enough for a burnt offering. This seems to reveal that at the time this verse was written burnt offerings were still taking place. Click here for other verses in the Bible that talk about burnt offerings (notice that in the New Testament they were no longer required)!
The phrase that sticks out to me in Isiah 40:16, is, “is not enough”. Lebanon is not enough… nor its beast enough.
Do you ever feel that way? Like you are not enough. Not enough to do all the tasks before you. Not enough as a friend, or spouse, or parent? Not enough time in the day, not enough energy, not enough kindness, not enough money, not enough sleep; not enough.
One of Tough n’ Tender’s favorite songs is Your Grace is Enough for Me by Chris Tomlin (listen below). His grace is enough for us. It is not lacking; it is what we need.
Also the song, Enough, by Chris Tomlin comes to mind. The chorus goes like this, “All of You is more than enough for all of me- for every thirst and every need. You satisfy me with Your love- and all I have in You is more than enough.”
“You’re my sacrifice of greatest price” is another line from this song. This is the point. Jesus came; He died for our sins, He rose again. His complete sacrifice was more than enough, for ALL of us, who have ever lived, are living, and are yet to be born. More than enough- to forgive us, to save us, and to restore us to oneness with Father God.
We, and our sacrifices, are not enough; BUT, He is. He is enough. I hope this fact brings great comfort and joy to you. Aren’t you glad we do not have to atone for our sins anymore, with burnt offerings and bloody sacrifices? He is the sacrifice, of greatest price! He died a bloody death for us, you and me, for our wrong-doing; our sin. He died- for our lying, our gossip, our judgments, our pride, our mistakes, our greed, our selfishness, our impurity, our complacency, our anger… and the list goes on and on.
In Hebrews 10:10-14 we read, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Amen. Thank You Jesus!
Deep Breaths:
1. Memorize Isaiah 40:16
2. Read 2 Corinthians 12:9; what is your response to this verse? Take a moment to thank God for His Sufficiency and that He, and His grace, are more than enough for you.
3. If you haven’t already, listen to the two songs in this post; worship Jesus, the Savior, Our Lord, as you thank Him for His Sufficiency.