Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. THEY SHALL MOUNT UP (2 Samuel 1:23) - literally, they shall make their wing to ascend [ ya`ªluw (H5927) 'eeber (H83)]. Or else, 'they shall put forth fresh feathers, as eagles' are said to renovate themselves; the parallel clause, 'renew their strength,' confirms this. The eagle was thought to moult and renew his feathers, and with them his strength, in old age (so the Septuagint [pterofueesousin hoos aetoi], Arabic, Syriac, and Vulgate; Psalms 103...

31._But they that wait for Jehovah. _Hebrew writers employ the phrase, “exchanging strength,” (131) to denote “gathering new strength,” and thus “being restored.” The Prophet therefore shews, that godly persons, who shall hope in God, will not be deficient in strength; and he confirms what he formerly said, “In rest and silence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15.) We must not become agitated, or throw ourselves forward rashly, but “wait” patiently. In this passage, therefore, _waiting _means nothing else than patience. Violent men dash themselves to pieces by their own eagerness, but the vigor of godly men, though it has less display, and often appears to lie buried while they calmly “wait for” God’s assistance, is refreshed and renewed. We must therefore return to the saying of Paul, that...

27-31 The people of God are reproved for their unbelief and distrust of God. Let them remember they took the names Jacob and Israel, from one who found God faithful to him in all his straits. And they bore these names as a people in covenant with Him. Many foolish frets, and foolish fears, would vanish before inquiry into the causes. It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our minds, but worse to turn them into evil words. What they had known, and had heard, was sufficient to silence all these fears and distrusts. Where God had begun the work of grace, he will perfect it. He will help those who, in humble dependence on him, help themselves. As the day, so shall the strength be. In the strength of Divine grace their souls shall ascend above the world. They shall run the way of God's commandments cheerfully. Let us watch against unbelief, pride, and self-confidence. If we go forth in our...

Verse Isaiah 40:31. _THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES_ - "They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle"] It has been a common and popular opinion that the eagle lives and retains his vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. "Thou shalt renew thy youth like the eagle," says the psalmist, Psalms 103:5; on which place St. Ambrose notes, Aquila longam aetatem ducit, dum, vetustis plumis fatiscentibus, nova pennarum successione juvenescit: - "The eagle lives to a very advanced age; and in moulting his youth is renewed with his new feathers." Phile, De Animalibus, treating of the eagle, and addressing himself to the emperor Michael Pal

BUT THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD - The word rendered ‘wait upon’ here (from קוה _qâvâh_), denotes properly to wait, in the sense of expecting. The phrase, ‘to wait on Yahweh,’ means to wait for his help; that is, to trust in him, to put our hope or confidence in him. It is applicable to those who are in circumstances of danger or want, and who look to him for his merciful interposition. Here it properly refers to those who were suffering a long and grievous captivity in Babylon, and who had no prospect of deliverance but in him. The phrase is applicable also to all who feel that they are weak, feeble, guilty, and helpless, and who, in view of this, put their trust in Yahweh. The promise or assurance here is general in its nature, and is as applicable to his people now as it was in the times of the captivity in Babylon. Religion is often expressed in the Scriptures by ‘waiting on Yahweh...

PART III. ISAIAH'S LATER PROPHECIES (CH. 40-66.). SECTION I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD COMFORTED IN TRIBULATION (Isaiah 40:1.). EXPOSITION PREFATORY REMARKS THE Assyrian struggle is over. The prophet has accepted into the depths of his spirit God's announcement that the true spoiler, "the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation," is not Assyria, but Babylon. He has accepted the sentence that his people is to go into captivity. Into this future of his nation he throws himself with a faith, a fervour, and a power of realization, which are all his own. "The familiar scenes and faces, among w

BUT THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD,.... As children on their parents, to do them honour, to obey their commands, and receive food and blessings from them; as servants on their masters, to know their pleasure, do their work, and have their wages; as clients on their patrons, to have advice of them, put their cause into their hands, and know how it goes; and as beggars at the door, who knock and wait, tell their case and wait, meet with repulses, yet keep their place, and continue waiting: such an act supposes a knowledge and reverence of God, confidence in him, attendance on him, not with the body only, in public and private, but with the soul also, and with some degree of constancy, and with patience and quietness: the Lord is to be waited upon for the manifestations of himself, who sometimes hides himself, but is to be waited for, since he has his set time to show himself again, and his p...

Isaiah 40:1. _Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God._ «They need it, and they shall have it. Mind, O my servants, that you give it to them: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.» Isaiah 40:2. _Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins._ The first meaning of these words was that, as Jerusalem had passed through a time of great tribulation, she should have a season of rest, but the grand gospel meaning to you and to me is, that our Lord Jesus has fought our battle, and won the victory for us, that he has paid our debt and given to divine justice the double for all our sins, and therefore, our iniquity is pardoned

II. THE LATER PROPHECIES OF COMFORT AND GLORY (40-66) Like the first part this second part of Isaiah has three sections. The three sections of the first part revealed the judgments to come upon the Jewish people, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth. The three sections of the second part reveal the great blessings in store for the people of Israel, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth, after the judgments are passed. These sections give the past, present, and the future history of the Jewish people. In the first section (40-48) they are seen prophetically in Babylon, but about to be delivered and brought back to the land. Cyrus is predicted as the chosen instrument. However, this section looks also beyond the return of the remnant from Babylon. Their present dispersion and coming restoration is predicted as well. In the second section (49-57) we find this period of their history more f...

AN EXPANSION OF THE TEXT SUGGESTED IN ISAIAH 40:6. Isaiah 40:12. The Majesty of God, in Whose Eyes the World is Insignificant. God is the Creator, disposing of earth and heaven as very small things. No adviser instructed Him. The nations in His sight are like the drop hanging from the bucket, or the dust on the scale, too small to count in the bulk. The forests of Lebanon and the many wild beasts that range them would not provide fuel and victims for a worthy sacrifice. ISAIAH 40:14. PATH OF JUDGEMENT: rather, the correct way. WAY OF UNDERSTANDING: how to do it. Isaiah 40:15. isles: properly coast