Isaiah 40:1-11
Lasting Comfort
Handel’s “Messiah” begins the first phrase of today’s passage: “‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,’ saith your God.” The theme of “comfort” sounds good, doesn’t it? Especially when you just can’t quite get comfortable. Bones ache, thoughts ruminate, neighbors irritate, relatives agitate, enemies intimidate, savings liquidate, and holiday stresses incapacitate! Even when we find comfort, it seems temporary, elusive, here one moment and gone the next. Yet, today’s passage speaks of God’s lasting, eternal comfort.
When Isaiah penned these words from God, the people of Israel really needed to hear them. After King Solomon’s reign, Israel went through a terrible civil war and split into two: Israel to the north and Judah to the South. Isaiah lived in the southern kingdom and watched as the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. The first half of his book is dedicated mostly to this event. Around chapter 40, though, Isaiah shifts focus some 150 years into the future, when he predicts the falling of the southern kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians. This actually occurred in the year 586 BC. And in chapter 40, Isaiah speaks to the eventual return of the exiles to their homes as if all these events had already happened.
The fall of both kingdoms was terrible for God’s people, yet God allowed it to wake his people from their sins. Many were killed and the rest taken from their homelands, their temples and cities ransacked. They would not be able to return home for some 70 years, more than a lifetime for most. Yet, Isaiah communicates God’s forgiveness and comfort in advance.
The first 11 verses of chapter 40 express God’s comfort packaged in three ways: We can take comfort that our sins are forgiven, that God’s word endures beyond our problems, and that God is coming again. To borrow three words from Pastor Norman Seeger, we might remember we are “forgiven,” “forever,” “for sure!” [http://gswels.org/multimedia-archive/comfort-gods-people-isaiah-401-11-december-8-2013/]. First, we are forgiven. We can ...
1. Take comfort that our sin has been paid in full (vv. 1-2)
As Isaiah moves in today’s chapter from the fall of Israel to the future fall and return of Judah, his writing style changes so much that some scholars think a different person wrote the rest of the book. Perhaps they are uncomfortable with his ability to look so far into the future. Yet, the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of our oldest source documents, have a seamless transition between chapters 39 and 40. Personally, I’m fine with one writer, even as he shifts themes from judgment to restoration.
In fact, I find an amazing parallel between the number of chapters in Isaiah and the number of books in the Bible. For 39 chapters Isaiah speaks of God’s judgment against the nations of the earth for not upholding his law. There are 39 books in the Old Testament. And then, starting with our chapter today, Isaiah uses 27 chapters to speak of God’s mercy and grace and forgiveness. There are 27 chapters in the New Testament. Pretty cool, huh? Chapter markings were added to the scriptures later, to help us find our way around them, so don’t read too much into this. But it’s interesting, nonetheless.
After 39 chapters of judgment, Isaiah begins chapter 40 with God saying, “Comfort.” In fact, God says it twice: “Comfort, comfort my people.” Notice the personal pronoun: God says, “These are MY people.” He claims them as his own. They have wandered; the exile was a direct consequence of their sin. Yet, God says—150 years in advance—their sins are pain in full, even doubly so!
Old Testament saints were saved by looking forward to a Messiah. We who live on this side of the cross look back to the source of our salvation. We know our Messiah, and his name is Jesus. Our salvation was born at Christmas! We bring all our sins to God. One sin blocks any kind of relationship with him. Yet, when Jesus died on the cross, God took all our IOUs and declared, “Paid in full.” We can take comfort because at Christmas God brought us a Savior!
So please receive God’s comfort. Your sins have been paid. As you bring all your guilt and shame to Christ, God forgives you. Christmas tells us everything is new, as new as freshly fallen snow over San Antonio. This Christmas take comfort that your sins are paid for. You are forgiven. And #2, consider the word “forever:”
2. Take comfort that God’s word outlasts our problems (vv. 6-8)
There’s a strange group of verses tucked into the middle of our scripture today, and it speaks to the frailty of human life. Many scholars wonder why Isaiah put it there. Listen to the words again, beginning with the second half of verse 6:
6 “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.”
It’s kind of a depressing section, at least until you get to the final phrase: “God’s word endures forever.” But apparently not people. Why is it here? The best explanation I’ve seen is that Isaiah is putting into proper perspective Israel’s enemies. The Assyrians and Babylonians were mighty conquerors. They did the unthinkable. They captured and exiled God’s people. They ransacked God’s land. They plundered God’s Temple. They were the problem too big to overcome!
And yet they wouldn’t last forever. In God’s eyes, they were like a flower: here one day and gone the next. They were but pawns in God’s master plan, to bring his people’s hearts back to himself.
What about us today? As big as your problem may seem, as dry as your wilderness may be, as lonely as your exile may appear: God’s word is bigger. Your circumstances are temporary; God’s word is forever!
Remember Jesus’ disciples in the boat when a storm came up on the Sea of Galilee? These guys were scared for their lives! (When a fisherman gets scared on the water, everybody should be scared!) So they did the right thing: they took their circumstances to Jesus. When they woke him up, in the back of the boat, he said to the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39) And everything stilled. Those disciples’ circumstances were temporary, but the word of the Lord is forever.
You don’t have the final word on your circumstances until you have God’s word on the matter. It’s not over until it’s over. If you are a child of God, you’ll know when it’s over because you’ll be in heaven with your maker and everything will be just fine. Until then, know that, as bad as it may seem, God is not done yet!
This Christmas take comfort that your sins are paid in full (you are forgiven!) and that God’s word will endure over your problems (it will endure forever!). And,
3. Take comfort that God is coming again (vv. 3-5, 9-11)
Isaiah writes about something exciting about to happen. We can tell because of the major construction going on in verses 3-5:
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.”
This reminds me of the interstate work down the street. Maybe you’re thinking: “I didn’t know they had highways back in Isaiah’s time.” They did. Their highways just weren’t quite as slick as today’s. But kings would travel in style along nicely packed dirt roads that straightened out the curves of the hilly terrain.
As I read these verses, I thought about when a president comes to town. Weeks before, the Secret Service quietly arrives, checking out every venue, every street corner, every potential hazard. Protocol gets busy, planning for the right people to be in the right places and greeted in the proper way. Everything is thought out in advance, nothing left to chance. All because the President is coming.
Isaiah is talking about someone much greater than the president! The King of kings, the one true God is on the move, and, like Santa, he’s coming to town! Some 700 years after Isaiah first wrote these words, John the Baptist claimed them as his own as he prepared the way for the long-awaited Messiah (John 1:23).
Verses 9-11 describe this king. He is both mighty and meek. He is powerful as a conquering warrior and as gentle as a shepherd with a little lamb. Think about it: This is a God worth following! You could have one without the other. Some people imagine God as all-loving but not all-powerful, kind of a soft pushover, all lovey-dovey but not much practical help. Others view God as all-powerful but not really caring about you or me. Maybe he’s got better things to do.
The one true God is both strong and caring. This God moves nations ... and he holds little lambs close to his heart. He returns entire people groups to their homes ... and he knows you by name. This is a GREAT God, but also a GOOD God!
And he is coming again. Christmas marked Jesus’ first coming. And now we prepare for his second coming. Straighten out the crooked places in your life, get ready, prepare the way. The King is coming! Let us pray:
Thank you, God, that your word stands eternal. As spot on as Isaiah’s message was for the people of Isaiah’s day, some 2,700 years ago, we find it refreshingly relevant for us as well. Help us to take comfort that your word is bigger than our problems. Help us to take comfort that our sin has been paid in full. Help us to take comfort that you are coming back again, to take us to be with you forever. We pray in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the King of kings, amen.
