Isaiah forty: Comfort for God’s people. The voice of one crying in the wilderness.
In Isaiah forty the prophet gives us the famous prediction of a voice in the wilderness. We now know that the voice in the wilderness was that of John the Baptist. He was laser-focused on his ministry, which was to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus. John wasn’t even too sure of who the Lord was at times. He just knew he was sent to prepare the way for the one who would come after him.
But first another comment on commentaries.
We misunderstand the scriptures and fail to see the big picture if we focus too much of our attention on the New Testament. The well-known Bible Commentator, Matthew Henry, made that mistake a lot. At least that’s my opinion regarding his well-read and broadly accepted commentary on the Bible. In a paragraph below I have posted what I believe is an excellent introduction to this chapter in Isaiah. But I think Henry makes a critical mistake as he opens this portion of his Bible commentary.
Find a devotional
He writes a fine piece of devotional material but he misses the essential point Isaiah made when the prophecy was first delivered to Israel. It was the Jewish people who needed comfort because they were about to enter a long period of judgment. The Assyrian threat was only the beginning of a centuries-long process God was about to take them through. But Henry writes as though the message of Isaiah isn’t for the Jewish people, but only the Church. Christians miss a vital part of God’s redemptive story if they assume everything is about them. Israel’s failure and its eventual redemption in the future is a mostly untold part of God’s plan.
Matthew Henry Commentary
40:1-11 All human life is a warfare; the Christian life is the most so. But the struggle will not last always. Troubles are removed in love when sin is pardoned. In the great atonement of the death of Christ, the mercy of God is exercised to the glory of his justice. In Christ, and his sufferings, true penitents receive of the Lord’s hand double for all their sins; for the satisfaction, Christ made by his death was of infinite value. The prophet had some reference to the return of the Jews from Babylon. But this is a small event, compared with that pointed out by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament, when John the Baptist proclaimed the approach of Christ.
So, as I said, I like what Henry writes as an encouragement to the Church. But in his effort to uplift the Christian, he seems to ignore the need to comfort the original people of God.
Isaiah 40:1 A voice in the wilderness. Comfort
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”
After thirty-nine chapters filled with warnings of coming judgments, Isaiah had a message from the Lord. Comfort is the keynote message from the prophet as he starts the third portion of his very long prophetic message. The message is for everyone who reads or hears it. But as Paul reminded us, the message was to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles.
Isaiah understood the importance of warning but also instructing God’s people. They had consistently lived in rebellion against God’s law despite the fact they boasted of their trust in that law. But as the severest time of judgment approached, the Lord gave Isaiah the important redemptive message of comfort. The judgment would end, and comfort would follow. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, we read that God is the God of all comfort.
Isaiah 40:2 A voice in the wilderness. Your war has ended.
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
When Isaiah spoke this word of comfort to Judah, the battle with Assyria and later Babylon still loomed. This was a true prophetic word in that he spoke about the end of a war that hadn’t even begun. As far as God was concerned, he saw the end of warfare before it began. That was the reason why the Jewish people should take comfort.
To the Church, Paul says we can count ourselves as conquerors even in the midst of the battle. Romans 8:37 We needn’t fear the strength of the enemy because our God is far greater. 1 John 4:4
Isaiah 40:3 A voice in the wilderness. Prepare the way
“A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”
A voice would appear in the wilderness. That voice would prepare the way for the Lord’s ministry. The angel Gabriel stated as fact that John the Baptist would come in the Spirit of Elijah and prepare God’s people. John’s message was simple. Repent.
Pulpit Commentary
The voice of him that crieth. Rather, the voice of one that crieth. A voice sounds in the prophet’s ear, crying to repentance. For God to come down on earth, for his glory to be revealed in any signal way, by the restoration of a nation, or the revelation of himself in Christ, or the final establishment of his kingdom, the “way” must be first “prepared” for him. The hearts of the disobedient must be turned to the wisdom of the just. In the wilderness; either, “the wilderness of this world” (Kay), or “the wilderness separating Babylonia from Palestine” (Delitzsch), in a part of which John the Baptist afterward preached. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. The “way of the Lord” is “the way of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). There is one only mode of “preparing” it – the mode adopted by John Baptist (Matthew 3:2-12), the mode pointed out by the angel who announced him (Luke 1:17).
Isaiah 40:4 A voice in the wilderness. Everything smoothed out
“Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low. And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley.”
In the eventual end, everything is smoothed out. The rough patches are filled in, the valleys raised up, and the high mountains brought down. The ministry of John the Baptist didn’t smooth everything out as it was supposed to. Did the prophecy fail? No, that process continues. It began with John, Jesus did the heavy lifting with his redemptive work on the cross, and then the Church was tasked with continuing the mission. The job won’t be complete until the Lord comes back through the clouds and begins the final cleanup and disposal of the waste from humanity’s destruction and Satan’s rebellion.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) Every valley shall be exalted.— the figure is drawn from the titanic engineering operations of the kingly road-makers of the East, but the parable is hardly veiled. The meek exalted, the proud brought low, wrong ways set right, rough natures smoothed: that is the true preparation for the coming of the Lord, and therefore the true work of every follower of the Baptist in preparing the way. (Comp. Matthew 3:5-7; Luke 3:3-9.)
Isaiah 40:5 A voice in the wilderness. The glory revealed
“Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
God revealed his glory in the life and ministry of Christ. But this prophecy isn’t fulfilled, but it will be in the future when the Lord returns and the heavens see the glorious and unmistakable sign of his return. The world will see the glory. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus died while his enemies mocked and his friends mourned. Three days later He rose from the dead but only a small percentage of people saw him before he went back to heaven. The whole world won’t miss his next glorious visit.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 5. – And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Then, when the preparation is complete, there shall be a revelation of the glory and might of Jehovah. The nature of the revelation is for the present shrouded in darkness, but it is a revelation which is not confined to Israel. All flesh shall see it together. It shall draw to it the attention of the human race at large. While the restoration of Israel to Palestine is the primary fulfillment of the prophecy, that restoration clearly does not exhaust its meaning, which points to the restoration of all mankind to God’s favor in Christ
Isaiah 40:6 A voice in the wilderness. Your ass is grass
“A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.”
Sorry for the vulgar comment, but it struck me as a fitting title as the core message in this verse. I put in over twenty years as a carpenter in the construction industry. In that industry, this type of vulgar but blunt language is common and accepted. When faced with eternal judgment, it’s clear that blunt, common man language is needed in many cases.
The voice asked for a message to preach. John preached in the wilderness and baptized sinners in the Jordan River. As stated earlier his message consisted of one word — repent. Human flesh is frail and temporary. The flowers in an open field of grass jump to life in the spring but fade quickly in the heat of summer. We are all like those flowers, we will fade away.
Pulpit’s commentary has an interesting opinion about this verse.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 6. – The voice said, Cry, rather, a voice of else that sayeth, Cry. It is a second voice, distinct from that of ver. 3, that now reaches the prophet’s ear – a voice responded to by another. The speakers seem to be angels, who contrast the perishable nature of man with the enduringness and unchangingness of God. The point of their discourse is that “the Word of the Lord endureth for ever” (ver. 8), and therefore the preceding promises (vers. 2, 5) are sure. And he said, rather, and one said. A second voice answered the first and asked what the proclamation was to be. In reply, its terms were given. All flesh is grass (comp. Isaiah 37:27; and see also Job 5:25, Psalm 90:5, Psalm 92:7, Psalm 103:15).
Isaiah 40:7 A voice in the wilderness. The people are grass
“The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.”
Learn a lesson from the beautiful flowers in the field. As quickly and surely as their beauty fades, ours will also. Be prepared for what follows. Bible prophecy is an extreme act of mercy on the part of God. If he were cruel he wouldn’t tell us what the future held. Instead, he has given all of us ample warning.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 7. – The flower fadeth: because of the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. When the hot winds, which God sends, blow in spring-time, the flowers fade; when a destroying breath from him (see Isaiah 30:33) passes over the generations of men, they perish. Surely the people is grass. Either a mere repetition of “all flesh is grass” (ver. 6) with an asseveration or an intimation that “the people” of Israel is not exempt from the lot of mankind in general, but shares it.
Isaiah 40:8 A voice in the wilderness. God’s Word is forever.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
The flowers, grass, and humanity will fade, but God’s Word will continue.
“Written on material that perishes, having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, did not diminish its style, correctness, nor existence. The Bible, compared with other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of classical literature combined.” (Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict)
“A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.” (Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences)
The Apostle Peter adds a beautiful commentary on this passage in Isaiah.
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now, this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you
What did the Church fathers know that we don’t?
Let me know what you think.