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.]
God has established that there is not much in man that encourages future hopefulness. God now reassures His listeners declaring that His promises for the future do not depend upon man but upon the sure Word of Yahweh. Verse 8 declares, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.”
In order to emphasize human transience, the word “grass” has been repeated four times, “flowers” three times, and the verbs “wither” and “fade” twice each. After having learned how empty and destitute we are, how transitory and fading is the glory of the flesh, the only consolation left for us is that we be raised up by the Word of the Lord (debar ’elohim), as by an outstretched hand. We are frail and fading, but the Word of the Lord is durable and eternal.
Isaiah has wondered why preach to slow to respond rebellious people whose short lives accomplish little of real value? The message he receives is you proclaim God’s Word because it gives people the opportunity to receive it, grow and be changed forever by that which stands forever (Is 40:8, 15, 17, 23, 24).
The life which we need is not found in nor is it from ourselves, but in and from God’s Word [Calvin, John.]. We must fly to God, by whom alone we shall be established. Mankind need not fear or be discouraged by the knowledge of their frailty and emptiness. The eternal Word is given to them, to us, by which we may be abundantly supported and upheld.
We are also taught that we ought not seek consolation from any other source than in God, since nothing eternally durable or stable will be found on the earth. Nothing is more foolish than to rest satisfied with the present state, which we see to be fleeting. Every man is mistaken who hopes to be able to obtain long term happiness till he has ascended to God. Life flows to us from Him. This life flows to us from receiving His eternal Word (Jas. 1: 21-25).
The manner of seeking God is pointed out as well. It is by the Word of God, from which we must not turn aside. If we make any departure from it, we enter into strange labyrinths from which in our own strength we shall find no way to extricate ourselves.
The Word is called eternal, not only in itself, but when it is in us. This wonder ought to be noted and taken to heart, because otherwise we will seek after the temporary things and ways of earth. Peter’s interpretation of this passage applies to us, when he says that “we are regenerated by this incorruptible seed, that is, by the word which is preached. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower fades; but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:23- 25). Here (1 Pet. 1:23–25) the word’s full implications emerge in its final form as the gospel which is not simply a mere contrast to our transience, but the cure for it (1 Jn. 2:17). Life is offered for the dead in spirit who will come thirsting to the fountain that is proclaimed to them, the word of God. [Calvin ]
[This message reinforces God’s merciful promises so that trembling hearts may not falter when they see the natural order or their physical life failing. Rest assured that God’s promises are as good as God’s deeds, and so we may hope when all things visible would preach despair. This understanding was given to fortify confidence in the prophecy of a future revelation of the glory of God. It remains with us to inspire confidence in a past revelation, which will stand unshaken, whatever forces war against it. Its foes and its friends are alike short-lived as the summer’s grass. Man’s defenses and attacks are being antiquated while being spoken; but the bare Word of God, the record of the Incarnate Word, (who is the true revelation of the glory of God,) will stand forever. And as Peter writes, “This is the word which by the gospel is preached to you.’]
IN CLOSING
Men who are self-sufficient do not respond eagerly to good news from God. [The Epistle to the Romans expounds man’s need before laying out God’s solution in fullness (2 Cor 2:16; 3:4–6).] Those people who oppose God’s plans will fall just like the flower petals of a rose when God comes in all his glory. In contrast to man’s fading lack of dependability is the sure and totally dependable word of the Lord (40:5, 8). One should not trust other things, institutions, or people nor put any hope in them, for God’s promises are man’s only solid and a sure source of strength (55:10–11). The contrast is clear; flowers “fall,” but God’s word “will stand.” What He promises will happen. Man fades into oblivion; the Word of God alone shall stand for ever.
These verses are a glorious affirmation of the total sufficiency and eternal existence of God’s word. Regardless of the decay of nature, human frailty, and changing circumstances, God’s word is sure. He gives absolute promises which certainly will be accomplished. His word lives and breathes in the hearts of those who, through the ages, have been regenerated. [Criswell, W. A., Patterson, P., Clendenen, E. R., Akin, D. L., Chamberlin, M., Patterson, D. K., & Pogue, J. (Eds.). (1991). Believer’s Study Bible (electronic ed., Is 40:8). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.]
“O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.” May you know the grace, forgiveness, and peace of Jesus, who is born again in our hearts and lives. God makes all things new—even the old, old story becomes fresh. You are forgiven, loved, and restored. Go and share the Good News. Amen.
