Isaiah 40:1-11

VII. SALVATION THROUGH GOD'S SERVANT
Chapter S 40-53
A, PURPOSE OF THE LORD'S SERVANT
Chapter S 40-43
1. COMFORT, CHAPTER 40
a. PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD

TEXT: Isaiah 40:1-11

1

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.

3

The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God.

4

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain:

5

and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

6

The voice of one saying, Cry, And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

7

the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass.

8

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever.

9

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!

10

Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11

He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the

12

lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those that have their young.

QUERIES

a.

Who is to do the comforting in Isaiah 40:1-27?

b.

Why cry, All flesh is grass?

c.

When is God going to feed his flock like a shepherd?

PARAPHRASE

Encourage and strengthen my people says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare and her struggle is fulfilledit is over; her iniquity is paid for; God's wrath is abundantly satisfied. Hark, a voice crying! In the wilderness prepare a way for Jehovah; make smooth and level in the desert a highway for our God. Every dark valley will have to be filled in and raised up and every mountain and hill scraped off and lowered. Everything that is uneven must be made level, and the rough places must be smoothed out like a plain. When the way is prepared then the glory of the Lord will be made manifest and all the human race will have His glory shown to them together. The Lord has promised this and it shall certainly come to pass. Hark, a second voice saying, Cry! And I said, What shall I cry? Cry out that all the human race is frail like grass and the flowers of the field. When the breath of God blows upon the grass in the hot, dry winds of summer, the grass withers and the flowers fade. That is just how fragile man is. He and grass and flowers wither and fade, but the word of our God stands forever.
O Zion, bringer of good news, get yourself up on a high mountain where you can really cry the good news to Jerusalem, as a bringer of good news and shout with a strong voice. Do not be afraid to cry loudly to all the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold indeed! For the Lord Jehovah is coming like a strong and powerful ruler and His arm will rule for Him. He is bringing His rewards and compensations with Him for His people. He is going to provide food for His people like a shepherd; He is going to provide safety and protection for His people like a shepherd; He is going to show compassion and gentleness to all those who need help.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 40:1-2 STRENGTHEN: There is definitely a division of Isaiah's book at chapter 40. This, however, does not mean the book has two different authors any more than there were two different authors for the Pentateuch (first five books of the O.T.). Moses, author of the Pentateuch, had different purposes in mind for his books and so used a different style. Isaiah has a different purpose in mind for the last half of his book and so uses a different style. For evidence of one authorship of Isaiah see Special Study, Seventeen Arguments That The Book of Isaiah Was Written By One Author, pages 1-4. Isaiah's main purpose in Chapter s 1-39 was to preach against the sin of Israel and predict judgment. His main purpose in Chapter s 40-66 is to preach of peace and predict the nature of the future Israel of God, the Church. Edward J. Young calls Chapter s 40-66, The Salvation and Future Blessing of The True Israel of God. These latter Chapter s are intensely Messianic! Isaiah 40:3-4; Isaiah 40:6-8; Isaiah 53:1-12; Isaiah 55:1-3; Isaiah 61:1-2 are specifically fulfilled in the New Testament. We have emphasized the Messianic nature of Chapter s 40-66 in our outline (see also the chart, Vol. I, pgs. 64-65).

These first two verses of chapter 40 form a prologue for the rest of the entire book. Some have outlined Chapter s 40-66 in a threefold division to correspond to the prologue thusly:

1.

40:1-48:22her warfare is ended.

2.

49:1-57:21 her iniquity is pardoned.

3.

58:1-66:24 she hath received. double for all her sins.

Nakhamu is the Hebrew word translated comfort. It is also translated repent in many places in the O.T. The authors of the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament) used the Greek word parakaleo which is the word Paraclete or Comforter comes from in John's Gospel. In Greek it means one called alongside to help, aid or strengthen. The command in verse one is for someone to strengthen, help or aid God's people.

Who is to do this strengthening? It is all the prophets from Isaiah to the Messiah. It is probably correct to say that the initial comforting was for the Israel of Isaiah's day or the Israel of the captivities (although the captivity in Babylon has not yet occurred). However, the ultimate target is the Messianic Israel. The fulfillment is for the days of John the Baptist and the Messiah. The true Israel's warfare was not ended and her iniquity pardoned until accomplished in Christ (cf. Luke 1:67-79) and John the Baptist was born especially to announce this. In Isaiah 40:1-11 there are two texts specifically quoted in the New Testament as finding their fulfillment there (Isaiah 40:3-4 and Isaiah 40:6-8). The prophets from Isaiah to Malachi must strengthen Israel that those who believe may prepare a remnant through which the Incarnate Son may come and establish His kingdom. John the Baptist was the one who was more than a prophet (Matthew 11:9), the one whose crying in the wilderness signaled the fulfillment of the law and the prophets (Matthew 11:13). The Messiah-Servant was the one to whom this prophecy pointed. (See Isaiah 49:13.)

The Hebrew phrase dabberu -allev translated speak ye comfortably or speak tenderly means literally, speak upon the heart. It is a phrase meaning to win someone over in Genesis 34:3 and Judges 19:3. In Genesis 50:21 Joseph spoke upon the heart of his brothers to build their confidence in his kind intentions toward them. This is the manner in which the strengthening is to be done. The comforting is not something to be done superficiallyit is to be lodged in the heart of the people.

What is to be planted on Jerusalem's heart is that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned and she has received double from Jehovah for all her sins. This cannot have the return from the Babylonian captivity for its essential goal for the nation of Israel enjoyed only a brief respite from conflict and struggle after their restoration. Daniel predicts 490 years of trouble to follow the restoration from captivity in minute detail (see our commentary on Daniel, College Press). Daniel also predicts that Israel's iniquity will not be pardoned until the end of those 490 years (Daniel 9:24-27 in our commentary). So, the comforting or strengthening of Jerusalem is predicted on the promise of cessation of warfare and pardoning of iniquity in the great Messianic era of the future. That era will be announced by The Voice who was none other than John the Baptist. Jerusalem received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins. This may mean either her punishment was abundant or her blessing was abundant. In either case, once again, it can find its ultimate fulfillment only in the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 53:1-2 for abundant punishment and Isaiah 61:1-11 for abundant blessingboth in the Messiah).

Isaiah 40:3-8 STRAIGHTEN: The Hebrew construction is interesting. Literally it is qol qorea, voice, one crying. The first three gospel writers all confirm this found its fulfillment in John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:4-6).

Certainly, all the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi were commissioned by this command to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Unquestionably, a faithful remnant needed to be continually prepared so that new generations of a messianic nucleus might be preserved through the centuries from Isaiah to Christ. But it was John the Baptist who had the climactic job of preparing an immediate nucleus for the coming of God in the fleshJesus Christ. It was John the Baptist who first immersed men and women in water for repentance unto the remission of sins (Matthew 3:1-2; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:1-3). It was the Immerser who pointed some of his principal disciples to Jesus (John 1:29-51) and these men became apostlesevangelists and missionaries of the Messianic kingdom, the church, Indeed, even the Lord Himself said of John the Immerser, ... among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist, (Matthew 11:11).

The Hebrew word ba-'aerabah means in the desert. It is the same word from which we have Arabia. The people are in the wilderness and God is going to come to them. They must prepare Him a way. The desert or wilderness was not necessarily an endless, flat sea of sand as we think of a desert today. A wilderness or desert could be any type of terrain which was uninhabited by people. The river banks of the Jordan, cluttered with reeds, brush and rocks was a wilderness. The barren mountains of southern Judea were a wilderness (desert). These wildernesses with their brush, mountains, valleys, rocks, and wild animals presented formidable obstacles to travel in ancient times. When kings and potentates wished to journey and it involved traversing such an unlikely territory, they sent great companies of slaves and workers on ahead of them to fill in valleys and lower hills and generally prepare a safe and easy pathway for them to travel. The desert is a figure of the obstacles and impediments that have kept God from His people. It was their sinful rebellion (Isaiah 59:1-3) as depicted in the first 39 Chapter s that was keeping God from His people. This rebellious attitude in the majority will intensify in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel until God leaves them (Ezekiel 10:18; Ezekiel 11:23). God wants to come to them in PersonIncarnatein the flesh. He wants to reveal His glory to all mankind (Isaiah 40:5). And when they have a remnant fully preparedwhen some believe Him enough to remove all obstacles into their heartswhen some are willing to obey Him completely (like Mary, mother of Jesus), then He will come! Isaiah is emphatically the missionary book of the Old Testament. He begins his prophecy (Isaiah 2:2-3) by stating that all the nations shall flow to Zion. He ends it by stating that all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord (Isaiah 66:23). One has only to take a concordance and look for peoples and nations in Isaiah to observe how often the prophet predicts that people from all nations will eventually become citizens of the Messianic kingdom of God.

A Voice is saying, Cry out. The Voice of verse six is evidently the Lord calling upon His messengers to add more exhortation to the message of strengthening, First, there is the exhortation to prepare a way for the Lord to come. The N.T. applies this to John the Baptist as the one who would prepare the hearts of people to receive the Messiah (Luke 1:16-17). Further preparation to receive God is proclaiming the message that all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: and the N.T. applies this to man's inability to save himself, the redemption that is in Christ, and man's access to that redemption through obedience to the gospel (1 Peter 1:13-24). Now the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi were charged to preach man's frailty and his inability to save himself, and the redemption of God provided by grace in some future era. And all their contemporaries who believed this and trusted in Jehovah were straightened out in their view of man and God. But only the substitutionary death of Christ and His resurrection (the gospel) validated once and for all man's lostness and God's faithfulness. Only the gospel straightens man out so God can come to him. Only the gospel demonstrated ultimately that the word of God shall stand forever. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the entire strengthening half of Isaiah's prophecy (ch. 40-66)!

Isaiah 40:9-11 SURRENDER: The construction of the Hebrew in verse nine does not necessitate the tidings to be told to Zion. Literally translated the verse would read, So, a mountain high go you to, you bringer of good tidings, Zion. We have indicated this in our paraphrase. In other words, Zion is the bringer of good tidingsnot the one to whom good tidings are brought. Zion and Jerusalem are personified as proclaimers of good news. Isaiah predicted earlier that the law and the word of the Lord would go forth out of Zion and Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The good tidings are to be proclaimed koakh, powerfully, and, tiyraaiy, fearlessly.

What is Zion to proclaim? Behold! God is coming in mightiness! Adonai-Yaweh, the Lord-Jehovah is coming. Zeroau, arm, usually symbolizes a characteristicpower. It may also symbolize the Messiah who came as God's Arm to rule (cf. Isaiah 51:4-5; Isaiah 52:7-10; Isaiah 53:1; Luke 1:51). Isaiah 52:7-10 also predicts the good tidings by which the covenant people are to be comforted involving the Lord baring His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. It is apparent that arm here and in Isaiah 52:7-10 refers to the Messiah.

There could hardly be a better climax to this great Messianic prologue of the comfort section in Isaiah's book than Isaiah 40:11. The shepherd can be none other than Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The Messiah-shepherd is one of the greatest concepts of Old Testament prophecy (cf. Ezekiel 34:20-31; Micah 5:1-4; Zechariah 11:7-14; Zechariah 13:7, etc.). Jesus called Himself, The Good Shepherd (Luke 15:3-7; John 10:1-30) and His audience as a flock that needed shepherding (Matthew 9:36-38; John 10:1-30).

If Isaiah and those prophets who come after him are to prepare mankind for the coming of the Lord, they must get men to prepare their wicked, desert-like hearts like a smooth, straight highway; they must straighten out their evaluation of man's ability to save himself and decide that man is capable of abiding forever only if he abides in the eternal word of God; they must surrender to the good tidings that God is going to send His Armthe tender, Good Shepherdto rule for Him.
Isaiah was writing of the glorious future for the benefit of the people of his day. Isaiah's task was to preserve a remnant of faithful Israelites who would be able to endure the disintegration of their nation, go into captivity and return to carry on the Messianic destiny. This remnant was to pass on their faith in the prophetic promises that this destiny would be preserved by God and ultimately fulfilledif not in their lives, in some glorious era to come. There may be an initial reference in this prologue to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine in the days of Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.
But, unquestionably, the ultimate focus of the great redemption promised herethe coming of God to His people who are preparedis to the Messiah and His kingdomthe church. We have inspired documentation in the New Testament that this is so!

QUIZ

1.

Give as many arguments as you can that Isaiah is the author of the entire book by his name.

2.

What does the word comfort mean?

3.

Why cannot the ending of warfare, etc., be applied to the Israel returned from Babylonian captivity?

4.

Who is the voice that was to cry, Prepare?

5.

What does the figure of speech, make level in the desert a highway refer to?

6.

How much emphasis does Isaiah place on a missionary task?

7.

What do men need to straighten out about all flesh?

8.

What message is Zion to proclaim as good tidings?

9.

What proof do we have that these eleven verses are Messianic?