A Voice Of Declaration Series

ISAIAH 40: 9-11. [ADVENT I SERIES PART IV]

A VOICE OF DECLARATION

[Acts 1:6-8]

The preparer of the way already has been called to bring the life changing message that the glory of the Lord will be revealed on earth. When Immanuel comes He will indwell those who receive Him in order to give them eternal standing before the Lord. This revelation is not only for Israel, but for the nations. This revelation, called the good news, is to be heralded not only by the prophet but by all God’s people. Such glad tidings are to be proclaimed openly with the strong voice of gladness and certainty. It is God’s word for all peoples, in all the earth, in every generation.

This fourth Sunday in advent we will look at the voice’s fourth word. It is A WORD or VOICE OF DECLARATION and is found in verses 9-11 of Isaiah 40. Listen to the command of our God to His people in verse 9. “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

The prophet, who seems to be the speaker in verses 9-11, [or perhaps the call is from the same anonymous voice which commanded the previous message] summons Jerusalem to become the ambassador of her God. With mounting urgency the voice calls “Jerusalem” to become part of God's great work. Salvation is not simply so those of Jerusalem can bask in God's mercy. Rather, it is for the sake of the world (2:1-5; 66:18-19). This task of “lifting up the good news” begins as Zion, understanding the Lord’s Word, shouts the good news to all the villages around (52:7¬-10).

Either the new message of comfort or the coming of the Lord is the reason to proclaim the good news. Jerusalem or Zion (the double name so characteristic of the second part of Isaiah) is to relay the good tidings of victory. A victory won by the revelation of the Word of God substantiated by the presence of God is to be announced. It is Jerusalem and Zion who first hear the good news of her God’s return and are commanded to climb, like a herald, to some elevated place, to proclaim the news to the surrounding regions. This reads like our Lord’s command in Acts 1: 8 to spread the Good News from Jerusalem, to all Judea, and then to ends of the earth.

[The word rendered ‘tell good tidings’ is a feminine form and falls in with the usual personification of a city as a woman. She is bid to bear to her daughter cities the glad tidings, that God has revealed Himself. It is the same thought as ‘Cry out and shout, you inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst’ (Isa. 12:6). The prophecy refers to daughter of Zion or the Church. [The imperatives are feminine, appropriate for “the daughter of Zion” (1:8). See NIV’s the marginal rendering. It sets forth her task or calling as the proclamation of her indwelling King. The possession of Christ makes the Church the evangelist for the world; for it gives the capacity and the impulse as well as the obligation to speak the glad tidings. Every Christian has this command binding on him by the fact of his having Christ.]

The command sets forth the bold clearness which should mark the herald’s call. Naturally, anyone with a message to boom out to a crowd would seek some vantage-ground, from where his words might fly farther. If we have good news to deliver, let us seek the best and every advantage to deliver it.

There are too many of God’s heralds who are always apologizing for God’s word, and seeking to reconcile it with popular opinions. We are prone to speak truth less confidently because it is denied; but, while it is needful to speak with gentleness and in meekness to them that oppose, it is cowardly to let one tremor be heard in our tones though a world should deny His message.

The injunction “do not be afraid” will be repeated often in the next chapters. Zion need not fear that God has cast her off, nor that His word will fail. She is to take the position of a prophet, declaring God's plan even when that activity is far in the past or in the future, all with the inspired confidence that God’s Word will stand.

From the beginning of chapter 40 our advent series has been anticipating the coming of the Lord; and now He is now described and depicted, with the repeated call to behold Him in verse 10. “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”