Power I Will Strengthen You

Power 

I Will Strengthen You 

God said 200 years before it happened that

He would go to the four ends of the earth

He would go to the remotest island

To judge unrighteousness and rescue His people 

God fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah through Cyrus the Great

He again fulfilled it through Jesus Christ

And He will fulfill it again in your personal life

“Fear Not… I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties,

Yes, I will help you.  Isaiah 41:10 AMP

I Will Strengthen You

For most of us Isaiah 41 holds

only a verse that comforts us.

Verse 10 is a powerful verse

of comfort in and out of context.

Once you see the context of Isaiah 41, the big

picture, you will see how strong our God is.

The God of Creation, the God of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob is greater than any idol.

Isaiah 41 reveals how God will rescue His

people who have been taken in captivity.

Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the

temple and taken God’s people captive.

Now God was going to deliver them.

God used a foreign leader named Cyrus.

Cyrus the Great conquered and created

the largest empire the world has ever seen.

  

He became king of the four corners of the earth.

A Persian, not a Jew, freed the

people of God and restored the temple.

Isaiah lived 200 years before Cyrus the Great.

God revealed His plan 200 years before it

happens and uses a heathen to be His deliver.

God does not rescue a few of His people through

this Empire, but every one of His people who

have been scattered to the four ends of the earth.

You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are My servant —

I have chosen you and not cast you off [even though you are exiled].

Isaiah 41:9

The chapter starts off with…

“LISTEN IN silence before Me, O islands”

Verse 5 brings up the islands again…

The islands and coastlands have seen and fear;

the ends of the earth tremble. They draw near and come

What is significant about islands?

Islands are remote…

 They are separate from the main land.

There is a feeling of isolation on an island.

On an island you can feel like you can do

whatever you want and escape judgment.

If you look at the history of Key West, Florida,

 you will see many illegal things have taken place there

because the people were so hard to reach for the authorities. 

We, in need, can feel like we are on an island

and no one can reach us to help meet our need.

You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are My servant —

I have chosen you and not cast you off [even though you are exiled].

Isaiah 41:9

Look at what God calls His people…

“Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel!

I will help you.”

“you worm”

But this is not any worm, this is a grub, that

makes red or crimson color dye for cloths.

This passage is so rich.

  

“I will strengthen and harden you

to difficulties, yes, I will help you”

Many prophecies are fulfilled more than

once and this is one of those prophecies.

Just like God rescuing all His

people to the every ends of the earth.

He also sees you when you feel

all alone on an island with no help.

 You may feel like a worm.

But as one of God’s chosen you are

covered and filled with the blood of Christ.

Isaiah 1:18-20

18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;

20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword."

 For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

How strong is our God?

Look at history…

 Look at what God said He would do and then look at

how God did it in a way you would never have thought.

How does red crimson turn white as snow?

Only by the blood of Jesus.

Let God…  “strengthen and harden you to difficulties”

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 41:1-14 AMP

41:1 LISTEN IN silence before Me, O islands and regions bordering on the sea! And let the people gather and renew their strength [for the argument; let them offer their strongest arguments]! Let them come near, then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment [and decide the point at issue between us concerning the enemy advancing from the east].

2 Who has roused up one [Cyrus] from the east, whom He calls in righteousness to His service and whom victory meets at every step? He [the Lord] subdues nations before him and makes him ruler over kings. He turns them to dust with the sword [of Cyrus], and to driven straw and chaff with his bow. [Ezra 1:2.] 

3 He [Cyrus] pursues them and passes safely and unhindered, even by a way his feet had not trod and so swiftly that his feet do not touch the ground.

4 Who has prepared and done this, calling forth and guiding the destinies of the generations [of the nations] from the beginning? I, the Lord — the first [existing before history began] and with the last [an ever-present, unchanging God] — I am He.

5 The islands and coastlands have seen and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They draw near and come;

6 They help every one his neighbor and say to his brother [in his tiresome idol making], Be of good courage!

7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths [the metal] with the hammer [encourages] him who smites the anvil, saying of the soldering, That is good! And he fastens it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

8 But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham My friend, [Hebrews 2:16; James 2:23.] 

9 You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are My servant — I have chosen you and not cast you off [even though you are exiled].

10 Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice. [Acts 18:10.] 

11 Behold, all they who are enraged and inflamed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; they who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.

12 You shall seek those who contend with you but shall not find them; they who war against you shall be as nothing, as nothing at all.

13 For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you!

14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.