A Voice Of Continuance Series

ISAIAH 40: 6-8 [ADVENT I SERIES PART III]

A VOICE OF CONTINUANCE

[ Psalm 103:15–17; James. 1: 21-25; 1 Peter 1:23- 25]

The voice has just told us that fallen humanity will be visited by the eternal God who will indwell His people. We are told to proclaim these glad tidings with the strong voice of gladness and certainty. Why is that indwelling by the eternal God such great news? One reason is because we are transient and temporary, but He is permanent and eternal.

Our passage contrasts the difference between people and God (CIT). People are temporary and they change. By contrast, God and His promises are sure. His promises never fail for His Word endures forever.

The prophet again hears a voice and, in response to his request, he will be given a message for mankind. In verse 6 we hear heaven’s voice. A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

Yet another voice, [whether sounding from heaven or earth is as uncertain as the being or individual who calls,] authoritatively commands a third time to ‘cry out.’ The voice is then asked, by most likely Isaiah, “what call” is to be conveyed.

Hearing this command, the one commanded or Isaiah does not know what words to communicate. This quandary is often mine as I look to the Lord and the people each week for a word from the Lord; and I’m sure I’m not alone. What should I say to the people, to Your people Lord? Week after week people are in need and face demanding situations and often I’m faced with uncertainty about how to address it all. This text tells us who and what to focus on in our proclamation ministry. The voice, God’s voice, answered His man’s question of what to proclaim by telling him to declare the temporariness of this life, of our own individual lives specifically in contrast to the eternalness of God and the permanence of His word.

The second part of verse 6 begins the message the Prophet is command to proclaim. “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. (7) The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

The message to be declared the voice answers is man’s frailty and the everlasting vigor of God’s Word, [which secures the fulfilment of His promises]. The contrast in the difference between all mankind and God, is first assessed. People are temporary and they change. They are like wild grass and flowers that come up in the springtime only to fade and fail when the weather gets hot (Pss. 37:2; 102:11; 103:15–16). By contrast, God never fails for His Word endures forever.

“All flesh is grass” indicating that all human things, however goodly, are transitory. We must attach ourselves to something more permanent if we are to find hope beyond this existence. [“All flesh” can hardly be a reference to several thousand Hebrew people in Babylonian exile. Smith, G. (2009). Isaiah 40-66 (Vol. 15B, p. 97). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.]

What better picture of insignificance and temporality could be found than grass? Quickly grown and quickly withered, it is blown this way and that by every wind. An hour or so of deadly hot wind will scorch the pastures, and all the petals of the flowers among the foliage will fall. So it is with humanity [whose frailty is contrasted to the unchangeable stability of God’s Word.] Everything lovely, bright, and vigorous in humanity wilts and dies. One thing alone remains fresh from age to age, — the uttered will of Yahweh.

[The Exile itself must have made the people aware of their frailty.] What unites all human enterprises is their transience. Flowers may look beautiful, but what will they be tomorrow? God is the one-enduring reality in a constantly changing world and he has himself designed it so. Christ’s assertion that the entire universe will prove less enduring than His words (Mark 13:31) may owe something to this passage. The following chapters lay great stress on the enduring word of God.

[The fact that God’s Word never fails would greatly comfort and encourage the people in exile who read these words. Because God’s Word stands, His prophecy that the people would be restored to their land was sure to be fulfilled. Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1092). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.]

“Indeed” or surely is a Hebrew word [???] which always introduces that which is unexpected [Paul, S. M. (2012). Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary (p. 134). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.] His breath kills and makes alive. [What turns the grass brown here is not merely wind - it is the breath of the Lord. By using the word ruah the prophet is able to draw upon all the connotations from breath to wind to spirit to Spirit.]