Isaiah 40
In chapters 1 to 35 of his book, Isaiah preached against the backdrop of an Assyrian threat against Judah. Chapters 36 to 39 then warns about the rise of the Babylonians and the danger they will be. Chapters 40 to 66 are written as if the Babylonian Captivity is coming to an end and God’s people are demoralised as a result of spending two generations in exile. This is how chapter 40 begins.
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:1-11
The book of Isaiah is clearly a Christian book. It looks forwards to future events. These may be in the immediate future, such as an immanent invasion by an enemy but they also look forwards to more distant events. It has been said that prophecy is like looking at a distant range of mountains. They all appear in line until you get closer the first peak proves to be only the first of many more, stretching into the distance. Old Testament prophecies may look forwards to,
The coming of Christ as our Saviour
The coming of Christ as our judge on ‘the Day of the Lord’, when he returns in glory
The days in between Jesus’ first and second comings, the times we live in now, which the Bible calls ‘the last days’.
The Bible teaches that God is a speaking God. In Genesis chapter one he brought the world into existence in stages by his word and he continues to speak to us through his book. In contrast the idols that many people follow never speak. These idols sit there impassively. If Jesus is not our God we invent false gods that have nothing to say about a hope for both now and eternity.
Later Isaiah ridicules those who create their own false Gods.
“. . . he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, ‘Save me, you are my god.’ . . . No-one stops to think, no-one has the knowledge or understanding . . .” Isaiah 44:17-19
Yet today false gods are everywhere. Careers, hobbies, families and even blatantly wrong activities can all give short term satisfaction but ultimately peace is only found when we return to live in harmony with our creator. How will people come to know this message?
1. God’s messengers must tell out God’s message
Isaiah 3 describes his meeting with King Hezekiah just before the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and began to exile God’s people to Babylon.
“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah (King of Judah), ‘Hear the Word of the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 39:5
The great commission of God’s people has always been to ‘speak out’. It is noteworthy that three times this need is emphasised in the chapter,
‘speak . . .’ Isaiah 40:2
’cry out . . .’ Isaiah 40:6
In verse 9 the plea is to shout the message out.
“You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid.” Isaiah 40:9
The book of Isaiah begins with the understanding that everyone must listen to what God has said.
“Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 1:2
“Hear the word of the LORD,” Isaiah 1:10
“For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 1:20
What a tragedy it is when churches fail to remember that this is their prime purpose - to declare publicly the Word of the Lord. After the Great fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild the city’s fifty two churches, including St Paul’s Cathedral. He lived at the time of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans and clearly understood the importance of preaching the Word of God. His new churches were built to a very different design to the old Roman Catholic churches. He put pulpits in prominent positions and galleries around so that many people could come and hear the Word of God.
What a tragedy it is to hear of churches that seem more interested in hearing ‘words of knowledge’ and ‘tongues’ from people in the church than the careful teaching and expounding of the word of God. It is interesting that Isaiah gives no names to these voices. They are ordinary people who pass on God’s message. There are great dangers when the messenger themselves becomes the highlight and that his or her gifts become the focus. All who speak should remember to ensure that it is ‘the mouth of the Lord that has spoken’ (v. 5)
This role is not optional - the primary purpose of God’s church is to proclaim God’s Word. The apostle Paul, shortly before his execution, wrote a final letter to his protege, Timothy. His final charge in this letter is very strong.
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2
How modern churches need to take head again of this injunction. God has spoken and all people need to hear what he has said for their eternal destiny is at stake. They must hear about and come to believe in Jesus, God’s only Son and our only Saviour. The disciple who was perhaps closest to Jesus wrote of Jesus’ essential message,
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36
Whenever Christians read verse three they automatically think of its fulfilment by John the Baptist coming to introduce the Lord Jesus to the people of his day. Matthew, in his gospel introduces John the Baptist with this quote from Isaiah 40.
“In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
‘A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” Matthew 3:1-3
Although this voice must apply, par excellence, to John the Baptist, in the original context it is just one of several voices that call out into worlds that are spiritual deserts, urging people to make way for the Lord God. Such voices are needed in every generation and every society.
“A voice of one calling, ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord.’” Isaiah 40:3
What should we say?
This is a telling response to the order to ‘cry out’. So many people are unsure what they should say to others and the listener, possibly Isaiah himself are unsure.
“A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ Isaiah 40:6
Bishop Stubbs of Oxford was once asked by a curate what he should preach about.
“Preach about God and for about twenty minutes.”
Many churches would be gratefully relieved if that were what their ministers did.
Here the answer is clear. Tell them what God has said. Don’t just share your ideas, however good an orator you are. All God’s people are conduits for God’s message.
Isaiah goes on to explain that there are two elements to God’s message.
Speak of Judgment
Isaiah answers his own question about what to say. He reminds all people that life is short. We enjoy life to the full for a while but then we grow old and will die. However there is one reality that is not subject to decay.
“All men are like grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:7-8
The Bible is not just about God. It is also very realistic about man. It starts by reminding us strongly how fleeting existence on earth is and he attributes this to ‘the breath of the LORD.’ God is saying that we must recognise this fact, he wants us all to be humble before him. There is a great difference between being humble and being humiliated. We must humble ourselves - if we don’t we will eventually be humiliated when we come face to face with our creator. He will see through any pretence.
There are times in life when we are all helped to sit up and think. When someone close to us becomes ill or dies, when there is a national tragedy, then our own mortality becomes all too evident.
When I was on holiday in Madeira I passed a young man wearing a T shirt which betrayed how many act today. They indeed “Stop Thinking”.
Difficulties in life should encourage us to think about why we are here and to search for answers. The only place we will ever find reliable answers is in what God tells us,
“. . . but the Word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8
When people make a profession of faith in God, a good test of the reality of that faith is whether they are willing to spend time studying God’s word to understand what God is saying to them.
Sir Kenneth Clarke, one of Britains most prominent art historians, wrote in the second volume of his autobiography, of a remarkable experience of God he had when he visited a church in Italy. He describes it as if God were speaking directly to him.
“I had a religious experience. It took place in the church of San Lorenzo, but did not seem to be connected with the harmonious beauty of the architecture. I can only say that for a few minutes, my whole being was radiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had ever experienced before. The state of mind lasted for several minutes . . . but wonderful as it was, [it] posed an awkward problem in terms of action. My life was far from blameless. I would have to reform. My family would think I was going mad, and perhaps after all, it was a delusion, for I was in every way unworthy of such a flood of grace. Gradually the effect wore off and I made no effort to retain it. I think I was right. I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course. But I had felt the ‘finger of God’ I am quite sure and, although the memory of this experience has faded, it still helps me to understanding the joys of the saints.”
Religious experiences are certainly not salvation. What God asks for is a positive, lifelong response to his calling to follow in his footsteps, however this may come.
In my lifetime there have been many dramatic political changes. The Iron Curtain has been dismantled, Communism has gone underground and today the Protestant church in Russia is the largest in Europe. In China, South America, Iraq, Afghanistan and in many other countries the Church of Christ is growing at extraordinary rates. Persecution cannot blow out the Word of God, instead it seems to fan the flames to life. It is apathy and treating the Lord casually that causes the demise of churches.
Christians will inevitably wake up when the Bible is well taught and applied to our lives. To become a Christian is the greatest privilege anyone can be given. This happens when we respond positively to the message of God that is given to us in the Bible. Peter took up this theme and used this passage from Isaiah 40 when he wrote to the early Christian churches,
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” 1 Peter 1:23-25
All people need to be reminded that we will get older, die, and we will then appear before God in judgment. This is the message all people need to hear first.
Speak of Salvation
However the good news is that there is a Saviour who is willing to give us a new birth, a new eternal future with him in heaven, if we will submit to his Lordship. This is the second part off the message.
When we have good news to share, the demeanour with which we deliver the message is very important. A judge when sending a person to prison will speak firmly, but a midwife who has just witnessed the delivery of a baby will pass on the news to the mother and her husband with great joy. When we are sharing the gospel with people who are in need, as we all are, then we must speak in an encouraging, enthusiastic way. This chapter begins,
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and say to her . . . “ Isaiah 40:1-2
Our good news is about our God who has acted on our behalf and who continues to help his people so the way we speak is very important.
However it is the message that is pivotal. God is all powerful and cannot be trifled with and this God is coming to this earth.
“See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.” Isaiah 40:10
How stupid it would be to turn your back on such a God. This same God is a person who cares like a Father or a shepherd. Why would people rebel against such love that the LORD has for those who are his people.
“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11
This picture of our heavenly Father runs right through Scripture.
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1
The Lord Jesus applied this picture to himself when explaining what he had come to do, to die to take responsibility for the sins of his people.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. . . . I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” John 10:11,14
Summary
Many people feel that God is distant and doesn’t bother about them. Such people desperately need to hear of the LORD who cares for his people more than we can ever know. He strengthens us when we get tired and grow older but he also has promised to lift us up when we die, to be with him in eternity. What a wonderful message. This is exactly how Isaiah finishes this chapter.
“Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:27-31
Unfortunately far too few people know these facts. And the reason is clear,
“Have you not heard?”
Has no-one told them?
BVP
