NOTES for Isa 40:25-31

In antiquity many knew and spoke about the God who is "unlike anything." In fact, the whole apophatic tradition proceeds from the understanding that God or the Absolute is so unlike anything in our world that He can be defined not by likening Him to anything, but by unlikening Him from everything and everyone. Of course, no positive definitions are possible in this case; only negative ones are possible. And certainly all this can be applied fully to the God of Israel. Yet there is an essential difference between the God of the Bible and the Supreme Mind or Absolute of Greek or Indian mystics. Neither the Supreme Mind nor the Absolute condescends to the human person, who is absolutely indifferent to them. But from the very beginning of the history of Yahwism, the God of Israel speaks with the human person, overcoming the abyss that separates Him from the human person, while remaining infinitely distant in His essence from the person with whom He communicates. So in what does the dissimilarity of which the prophet speaks consist? And in what sense, then, does the Bible say of the human person that he is created "in the image and likeness" of his Creator? Perhaps in the fact that every person is always in some way similar to every other person, possessing self-consciousness and free will? Yes, perhaps. But here, apparently, also lies the main dissimilarity between God and every creature. Everything created is in one way or another subject to certain laws external to itself that limit it. Everything created is natural, even if the creature has a spiritual principle, as for example humans or angels do. And nature is always limited; it is limited by definition, insofar as it exists according to laws that it did not establish for itself. Even a spiritual creature is limited: the self-consciousness and free will proper to every spiritual being are preserved, but the measure of this freedom remains incomplete. Full freedom is possible only when the one living determines for himself the laws by which he lives, and determines them fully and absolutely. But only God can possess such full freedom, for He Himself determines for Himself all forms of His own being. For Him there are no external laws with which His will would have to reckon, and His freedom is absolute. Here, apparently, lies the main difference between God and the created world. This difference will remain forever: even after transformation, creation will not cease to be creation; it will only begin to exist according to other laws. Only for God does no external law exist. And therefore no limits and no boundaries exist.

Reasoning on God's power and powerlessness of man became a common point for every believer. But few are the ones who think that this doesn’t only apply to certain critical situations, when man can really change nothing, but also the human life in general.

Man in this sense is a unique being. God created us "from dust ", as well as all other animals, but our unique and irreplaceable life is what makes us human (in certain translations it is generally called "soul"), we receive with this the " breath of life ", that God breathes to us "in nostrils".

So paradoxical at first sight, is this situation: "breath" is not ours, but life and personality are ours! It turns out that we men since the beginning had been created by God to live our own life, as all other animals, but life, borrowed to God. And He gives us this life in loan, but in such circumstances that we did not feel bound by too much strict conditions, didn’t have too many bans and so that we feel completely free as regards the received instructions.

Such freedom is given to us; reason why and such an idea of the loan of life to God does not even arise, even when we turn back to our Lender. Here is, it turns out difficult to just inhale profoundly, standing back to Him. Well then the breath begins to weaken, and life and forces to leave, even if we do not notice it suddenly. But in the critical situations, their insufficiency becomes immediately noticeable, and then we remember the One Who gave us and life and strength and freedom.

This question is addressed to the people of Israel by the prophet, each of us can refer it to himself, and besides particularly in such form: hast thou not known, hast thou not heard? Certainly, I know that it is God who created the whole world. But why have I decided that after that He "fainted and was weary"? It is said that on the seventh day God rested from all His works, but it is not said that He fainted. And no matter when this "seventh day" will be, the whole Bible speaks about the continuation of God's activities. He is the One who takes care of Adam, He warns Cain, He saves Noah and calls Abraham. Et cetera, et cetera...

And if He continues to act, how can I then be despair? Indeed, He is good, He loves and He is almighty. In any second everything in this world can change in a cardinal way, at any time can come true the Second Advent of the Christ, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Yes, it is impossible to predict clearly when it will be, for “there is no searching of his understanding”, but then it will still be.

Today we begin reading the second half of the book of the prophet Isaiah, written in the middle of the sixth century BC. The unknown prophet usually called Second Isaiah began writing it while still in the Babylonian captivity and finished it in postexilic Jerusalem. His prophecy begins in Babylon with a word of hope and consolation. Today we read an astonishing hymn to the Creator’s might. The prophet sings this hymn while still in captivity, seeing only the very beginning of the complex historical processes through which God grants freedom to His people. The prophet’s main idea is that nothing can resist the Creator’s will. “His understanding is unsearchable,” and we cannot see all His ways, but His power is irresistible. Therefore, the prophet says, there is a great and inexhaustible hope for all of us: “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary.”