Isaiah 40: Comfort for God’s People

Context 

• Part 1: Words of Judgment: Ch.1-39
• Part 2: Words of Comfort: Ch.40-66

• Part 2: Words of Comfort: Ch.40-66
  • 2.1 Israel’s release from Captivity: Ch.40-48
  • 2.2 The Future Redeemer: Ch.49-59
  • 2.3 The Future Kingdom: Ch.60-66

Chapter 40

• v.1,2 The Overall Call – to comfort & be gentle with Israel
• v.3-9 Three Voices
• v.10-31 The Greatness & Uniqueness of your God

[Preliminary notes: After judgment and discipline, the Lord comes to His people. He never wants to destroy but to discipline and correct them and bring them back to Himself. For that to happen, they have to realize the folly of their past idolatry and regain a right perspective of the Lord’s greatness.]

v.1,2 The Overall Call – to comfort & be gentle with Israel

v.1 The God is a God of judgment AND of comfort

v.1 Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.

v.2 Jerusalem is in a sorry state, so speak gently to her  

v.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.

v.3-9 Three Voices

v.3 [Voice 1] Listen, there is a prophetic voice calling in the desert to make an easy access road because God is coming.

v.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.

v.4 You will need to prepare it to make it easy for Him to come

v.4 Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.

v.5 His glory is going to be seen in the land again

v.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.”

v.6a [Voice 2] But a second prophetic voice calls

v.6  A voice says, “Cry out.”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”

v.6b-8 Remind the people of their frailty.

“All people are like grass,
    and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
v.7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
    Surely the people are grass.

v.8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.”

v.9 [Voice 3] Look you prophet, proclaim that I am coming.

v.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!”

v.10-31 The Greatness & Uniqueness of your God

v.10 God comes to act

v.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.

v.11 God is like a shepherd

v.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.

v.12 Hey, understand how mighty the Lord is.

v.12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
    or weighed the mountains on the scales
    and the hills in a balance?

v.13,14 Whose knowledge & wisdom can match that of the Lord

v.13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
    or instruct the Lord as his counselor?

v.14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
    and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
    or showed him the path of understanding?

v.15-17 All the nations are nothing compared to God

v.15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
    they are regarded as dust on the scales;
    he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

v.16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
    nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

v.17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
    they are regarded by him as worthless
    and less than nothing.

v.18-20 Little idols of wood. What are they in comparison to God????

v.18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
    To what image will you liken him?

v.19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and fashions silver chains for it.

v.20 A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol that will not topple.

v.21,22 Has no one taught you God created all things and He reigns high above all created things.

v.21 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

v.22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
    and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

v.23,24 Don’t you realise He is so mighty that He can bring down the most proud of princes, the mightiest of rulers.

v.23 He brings princes to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

v.24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

v.25 He asks us, come on people, to whom can you compare me?

v.25 “To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

v.26 Understand Him as Creator

v.26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.

v.27 Why do you people think God doesn’t see you?

v.27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?

v.28 Understand the Creator doesn’t tire

v.28 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.

v.29 He imparts His strength

v.29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.

v.30 Even the young men get tired and fall.

v.30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;

v.31 He gives it to those who rely on Him

v.31 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.

[Concluding comments: The prophet addresses the downtrodden people of Jerusalem who have been disciplined by the Lord. That discipline is going to come to an end and God is coming to them again and His glory will be seen in their midst again. The call is to recognize His greatness and realize that He doesn’t give up on them. Rather like Gideon of earlier centuries, when they are being disciplined they shouldn’t jump to wrong conclusions: God hasn’t given up on them, He’s coming to then again and they should get ready to receive Him, for He comes to comfort and strengthen them again. It is a word that challenges the idolatry that had been tolerated and challenges getting a right perspective of God.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: