“NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD”
Paul A Gray
Luke 1: 37
Isaiah 35: 1-10
It would be quite impossible for a rose to blossom in the desert. Where would its source of water be? And would it not die quickly in the heat of the sun? But, “…nothing shall be impossible with God”. And it may be that there are issues in your life which you believe to be impossible, or family exercises or assembly exercises that look impossible too, but “nothing shall be impossible with God”. Job came to that, “I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine”, Job 42: 2.
Think of the incoming of sin. The scripture says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, Gen 1: 1. Isaiah tells us, “not as waste did he create it: he formed it to be inhabited”, (chap 45: 18), and yet in the beginning of Genesis it says “the earth was waste and empty”, chap 1: 2. An impossible situation seemed to have arisen; something had come in to disrupt God’s creation - sin had come into the universe. And “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”. God was looking for a response and there was none. So “God said, Let there be light. And there was light”, v 3. That is how God has acted in your life too.
The apostle Paul describes his commission in Acts 26, when the Lord spoke to him, saying “taking thee out from among the nations, to whom I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”, v 17-18. An apparently impossible situation arose through the incoming of sin, and Saul, who became Paul, would have appeared to be an impossible candidate for blessing: “a blasphemer and persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man”, 1 Tim 1: 13. But the Lord intervened in his life and the light shone in the middle of the day, above the brightness of the sun. It shone on Saul on the Damascus road, and turned that impossible man right round; it brought him not only into blessing, but made him useful. The Lord who spoke to him there gave him that commission to open the eyes of the nations “that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”. In the darkness everything may be impossible. You cannot see anything, and you do not know what you might trip over next. In the light everything is possible. It says in the Old Testament “in thy light shall we see light”, Ps 36: 9. What of the next step after turning “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”? It is to “receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me”. Every unsaved sinner is in an impossible situation. You and I were sinners far from God and the scripture says that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil”, (Hab 1: 13); He cannot look upon sin. So our situation was impossible, and God intervened through the Lord Jesus and brought Him before you as your Saviour, and turned that impossible situation round.
It also says in the Scriptures that God would give them “the valley of Achor for a door of hope”, Hos 2: 14. The valley of Achor was the valley of trouble; it was the place where Achan was stoned for taking the beautiful mantle of Shinar, Josh 7. It was the valley of trouble and yet God says that He would give them “the valley of Achor for a door of hope”. If you look at the cross you will see there, above all else, a place of trouble. The Saviour of the world was mocked, despised, crucified and slain there, and yet for every believer it is the door of hope, a hope of eternal salvation, the hope of glory centred on the Man who was there, and who has been into death and risen victorious. The power of death was impossible; it says, “all those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage”, Heb 2: 15. And yet that impossible power has been broken because the Lord went into death. He bowed His head and delivered up His spirit, and He came out of death. He says of His life, “I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”, John 10:18. And that impossible enemy of our souls, Satan, of whom it says that he “dismissed not his prisoners homewards”, (Isa 14: 17) has been defeated. The Lord Jesus has taken away Satan’s “panoply in which he trusted” (Luke 11: 22), and He preaches “the opening of the prison to them that are bound”, Isa 61: 1. For nothing is impossible with God!
The relatives and friends of Lazarus came to his grave, and they told the Lord that He could not do anything, for Lazarus had been there four days, and, “Lord, he stinks already”, John 11: 39. Not only was Lazarus dead but corruption had set in, and the Lord says, “Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth”, v 43, 44. The Son of Man was glorified, and God was glorified in that the Lord could say to death, “Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth”. So I say, to encourage our hearts, that nothing is impossible with God.
I remember a brother speaking at the burial of a believer about the time of the rapture, and he recalled that the Lord will come “with archangel’s voice and with trump of God .... the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord”, 1 Thess 4: 16-17. He turned to those who were there present and asked, ’Do you know how God will do that?’. He said, ‘I do not know either, but the Bible says it, and the Lord is going to do it, and I believe it and it will be so’: “nothing shall be impossible with God”.
We do not have to know how God will do everything. But we need to believe that He can do everything that He pleases, and that He will! “By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by the word of God”, Heb 11: 3. The Lord says, “say to this mountain …”, (Mark 11: 23); faith can move mountains; not because of something we have of ourselves, but because of what God can do! The first chapter of Genesis gives testimony to this. “Let there be light. And there was light.”; “God divided between the light and the darkness”, (v 4); and then on the second day He divided between the waters that were beneath the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; the third day, “let the dry land appear”, (v 9); the green grass seen, life coming in on the third day, the resurrection day; on the fourth day “the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night”, (v 16); on the fifth day the variety of life, the animal creation coming in; on the sixth day, man. Who brought that about? God did it; nothing is impossible with God! He brought in light where there was darkness, and in light He worked in creation and established a world in which He would make Himself known to man. He established a world in which Christ would be seen as Man, and would justify God in a scene in which He had been defied!
So chapter 35 of Isaiah tells us what God can do. What it describes is still to happen, and it will happen when the Lord returns to take up His rights on earth. But I would like to apply it to the present time because “as many things as have been written before have been written for our instruction” (Rom 15: 4); these scriptures have their present bearing on us today. This is not only a future event, although it will be so, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be gladdened”. When we are away from God we are like the wilderness and the dry land, but God is able to bring life and joy! The mind of the Spirit is “life and peace”, Rom 8: 6. “The mind of the flesh is death”, and that is like the desert, but “the mind of the Spirit life and peace”; “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose”. Think of that; there is something fruitful for God, delightful to His heart, something in a place that had previously been barren which is for the pleasure of God, and that can be so with each one of us. And then it says, “It shall blossom abundantly”. The gift of the Spirit brings in abundance of life. The Lord also said, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”, John 10: 10. Not life on a subsistence basis, but “It shall blossom abundantly”. So by the gift of the Spirit there is response Godward that demonstrates this abundance of life. It shall “rejoice even with joy and shouting”, means that it comes into expression too. God grant that each of us may bring in to expression that which we enjoy in relation to Christ.
Certain things are given: “the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it”. The cedars of Lebanon speak of what is dignified. Consider that God has not only given His Son to die for you, and poured out the gift of the Spirit, but He has dignified you with sonship, “the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon”. You need only look back to chapter 33 where, “The land mourneth, it languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, is withered; the Sharon is become as a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped”, v 9. You may say all these great and good things are all gone! Not so, beloved hearers, Carmel is a mountain; it would be an area of dignity. So there is not only sonship’s dignity in the cedars of Lebanon, but there is also an area of dignity in which that can be enjoyed. We speak of it sometimes as eternal life, and Sharon is spoken of in 1 Chronicles as a place where the flocks would feed. Sharon is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 27: 29 where you get the thought of the herds, and there is the thought of a valley. So God is a God of the mountains as well as a God of the valleys and in these valleys the flocks find a place to feed. In God’s arrangements dignity is provided, and a place where that dignity can be enjoyed, and a place where the flocks are fed - and all of this in what had previously been a desert.
“They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God”. It says of the Lord Jesus, “who being the effulgence of his” - that is, God’s - “glory and the expression of his substance”, Heb 1: 3. That is the way in which God makes His glory known: He makes it known in Christ, and we see “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Cor 4: 6. You might have thought that Corinth was an impossible locality given the difficulties there, and yet that is the place to whom Paul says that the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. And the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ for every believer and for every locality in which believers are set. That never changes: the glory of God always shines in the face of Jesus Christ. There is a point in the Old Testament where the writer says,
How is the gold become dim! Lam 4: 1.
It is not that the gold had lost its value, but it had lost its glory in the sight of those that were looking at it; “How is the gold become dim!”. The glory of God continues to shine in the face of Jesus Christ, and it will never stop shining because that is where it is set.
When we have an impression of that glory we are able to help one another, “Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees”. God never says to discard the weak hands and get rid of the tottering knees, He says “Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees”. If you say, ‘That brother or that sister is not able to do very much’, the answer is to “Strengthen the weak hands”. If the walk of a brother or that sister is not what it should be, “confirm the tottering knees”. God’s ways are ways of recovery; the work of creation in Genesis 1, is a work of recovery; that is God’s way.
This is the day of grace. Grace reigns through righteousness, (Rom 5: 21); righteousness is never overlooked, “Say to them that are of a timid heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God”. You may say that the situation is very difficult, but “Be strong, fear not; behold your God”. Look at the occasions in the gospels where the Lord says to His own, “Fear not”, such as, “Fear not, little flock, for it has been the good pleasure of your Father to give you the kingdom”, Luke 12: 32. “Fear not; behold your God”.
“Vengeance, cometh, the recompense of God!”: Israel will know that in a day to come, when those who have surrounded them will be dealt with, “He will come himself, and save you”. The Lord will not send a messenger to save Israel. He will come Himself for them, but He also came Himself for you and for me. It is worth looking at the things the Lord does Himself; “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Pet 2: 24. He did it Himself! When the two were going on the way to Emmaus, heading off in the wrong direction it says, “Jesus himself drawing nigh, went with them”, Luke 24: 15. And at the rapture it says “the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God” (1 Thess 4: 16): the Lord Himself! He is not delegating that to anyone else. He did not delegate your salvation to anyone else; He did not delegate the recovery of those souls to anyone else; and He will not delegate the rapture to anyone else. He does it Himself; “He will come himself, and save you”.
And the work is effective: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped”. There is no doubt here about what is going to happen. We preach on the principle of faith to faith; we do not preach the gospel doubtfully. These things will happen, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped”. We might say we have appealed to a brother or a sister, and it does not seem to be working. God is able; “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart”. Think of the man there at the beginning of the Acts; he looked at Peter and John expecting to receive something, but Peter says, “Silver and gold I have not; but what I have this give I to thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaræan rise up and walk” (chap 3: 6); “then shall the lame man leap as a hart”. He was “walking, and leaping, and praising God” (v 8); I think we can say that the leaping was also inward in the man’s spirit. God saw it; there was that which was springing up into eternal life. “And the tongue of the dumb sing”; not just speak but sing, as responsive to God. Younger brothers in the service of God might think that they do not quite know what to say, but it says, “the tongue of the dumb shall sing”; the Spirit’s power is available. Of course, this applies in measure to everyone, “the tongue of the dumb sing”. We can all join in the singing; we can all have our part in the service of praise. The sisters are not an addition to the service of praise; they are part of it. Sisters are an intrinsic part of the body of Christ, and an intrinsic part of the service of praise.
“For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and torrents in the desert”: think of the effect of free way being given to the Spirit; it is not just a trickle of water, “torrents in the desert”. Think of the beginning of the Acts when three thousand souls were added! The torrents were breaking out in the desert, that very place, Jerusalem, which had been so unresponsive to God; a place given up to falseness and formal religion, and by the incoming of the Spirit the torrents broke out in the desert, “and the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”, Acts 2: 47. “And the mirage shall become a pool”: a mirage is something that might give you a vain hope. We know that, when the sun is beating down, people in the desert see something that they hope might turn out to be refreshment, and they are disappointed. But under the hand of God there is no false hope; there is no disappointment, “the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water”. By the presence of the Spirit refreshment is always available.
Then we read of “the habitation of wild dogs”. You would not really want to go there; it is a place where you would fear to go, but it “shall be grass with reeds and rushes”. The reeds and the rushes would form what is useful, so that God is able to turn a place that is inaccessible and not useful, into a place where what is useful is available. An ark of reeds was used for Moses (Exod 2: 3). The note to “rushes” says ‘papyrus’ – material for something to be written on. Paul says to Timothy, “bring … the books, especially the parchments”, 2 Tim 4: 13. In a sense professing Christendom has become a place of wild dogs. At the time when Mr Darby and others were exercised to leave the established church there was opposition, but what appeared was a place of “grass with reeds and rushes”. Ministry began to flow, from Christ the ascended Head. Written ministry was distributed and Mr Darby was also given power to write correcting what was false. The way opened up, “And a highway shall be there and a way”, a way above the world, “and it shall be called, The way of holiness”. Separation from the world is an important thing. The world is an impossible place but the way of holiness is the way through. It says in Isaiah 30: 21, “when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it”, and that is the way of holiness, the way of separation from the world and all its doings. It also says, “Those that go this way - even fools - shall not err therein”. If you keep within the confines of the truth, that is preservative; keep within the confines of the truth, and you will not err in it. Next it says, “Those that go this way - even fools - shall not err therein”. You may say, ‘I do not know much’. I would never call a brother or a sister a fool; it would be wrong to do so, though I would say of myself that I have been foolish. But even a foolish person will not err in keeping to this one highway, the way where the Lord would lead, the way that is upward, the way that would acknowledge the truth and keep to it; “shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor shall ravenous beast go up thereon, nor be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there”. Remember, “nothing shall be impossible with God”, and that the word is that, “None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him”, Ps 49: 7. But there are “the redeemed”, because Christ has done the work of redemption - impossible for man, but possible with God! And if you are redeemed you have been bought with a price, and if you have been bought with a price then the Purchaser has a right over you. Acknowledging the Lord’s rights over you is a great preservative; and “the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing”. God would always give a way back to His original thoughts. Come back to the purpose of God, “the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing”. If there is difficulty, whatever it may be, come back to the purpose of God. God has purposed a place for you, and He means you to have it. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, Eph 1: 4.
If you have gone away, come back to the purpose of God. Do not be like the younger son who thought to say, “make me as one of thy hired servants”, Luke 15: 17. His father did not allow him to say that. In effect his father said, ‘Come back to the purpose of God’: “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet”. Come back to the purpose of God, and “everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee way”. Well, we are in a world of sorrow and sighing, and there are exercises upon us that cause sorrow and sighing, and it is right that we should feel things. But when you come to Christ where He is, sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Let us see that nothing is impossible with God. He has begun a good work in each believer and He “will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”, Phil 1: 6. He has purposed that Christ should have the assembly for Himself, and that will be so. He has purposed to have families for Himself eternally, and that will be so. Nothing of what God has purposed shall fail, for nothing is impossible with God.
May we be encouraged for His Name’s sake.
Brechin
16th April 2016