Isaiah now looks forward to the time when finally, as he has prophesied, the Babylonians have taken Judah into captivity.
Isaiah 40 You will find passages quoted in Handel’s Messiah here.
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
God knows the trauma that the people have gone through. Now they understand what it means when God himself turns against them and punishes them for their continual disobedience. Just as Isaiah had warned them many times, the unthinkable had happened. But although God had to punish them, he is not vindictive. He is still the God of love.
Now, even while they are suffering grief and desolation, Isaiah is sent again – but this time with a message of comfort.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
They need to be reassured that their punishment is complete, the slate has been wiped clean. Eventually they will return to Jerusalem and be able to start again in their relationship with god.
But now Isaiah is given an insight into an even more distant future, with the coming of the Redeemer, who will pay the penalty for sin once for all. More than that he will be given an understanding of almighty God himself.
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.’
Of course, we can look back with hindsight to John the Baptist who claimed his role in this prophecy (John 1:23). Imagine his joy when he met Jesus and could say ‘I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God’ (John 1:34).
6 A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
‘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 for ever.’
The message is one of contrasts. Grass appears to grow permanently, and meadow flowers appear every year. But these are actually short-lived; people too have only a brief existence and their faithfulness doesn’t last either.
It is only the word of the Lord that will endure forever. But there is still the question – What shall I cry?
9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’
And here is the answer – It is no coincidence that the New Testament would translate ‘Good news’ as ‘Gospel’! John’s message was to prepare the people to receive their God in the form of Jesus. But the message is to us too, Jesus said ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation’. (Mark 16:15) and ‘do not be afraid’.
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Here, the picture is of a conquering King, who returns from battle with the spoils of war to share with his people. And at the same time it is a picture of our loving Shepherd, gently gathering his lambs, and then leading them.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
Look at your hand, form it into a cup shape. Can you use that to measure the amount of water in the sea? Now open your hand flat. Can you use it to measure the heavens four inches at a time?
Now sweep up the world and collect your sweepings in a basket, or get your kitchen scales and go and weigh a mountain.
Now we begin to grasp the immensity of our God!
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counsellor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
We in our ignorance have always imagined we knew better than God. We have said ‘I don’t want to do what you want me to do – I want to do what I want to do’, never stopping to question how we could possibly think that our plans could be better than His. That of course is the Devil’s lie, encouraging us to rush ahead and not to stop to think rationally.
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing
If we think we know better than God, it is multiplied many times by our leaders. Many countries have been led into war by those who believe they are greater than others. Again, no one ever stops to consider how small we are in the sight of an almighty God.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
The theme continues: we make something with our own hands, put it on a pedestal, and then worship it. We don’t stop to consider how ridiculous that is.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
Now just stop and consider how great God is. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Read this passage again.
25 ‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
What a picture – looking up into the sky as night approaches, gradually we can pick out the brightest of stars, then one by one, the others all appear, each in it’s own place, with none missing. Obviously we now know that they are there all the time, but do we just take them for granted? Do we ever question who could possibly have put them there?
27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Are we tempted to think ‘God’s not listening’? Or perhaps ‘he doesn’t care about me’.
That is farthest from the truth. God said to Jeremiah ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart’ (Jeremiah 1:5) and that applies to everyone equally. We are each unique, and uniquely made by God. He loves us and is as concerned for us as he is for all his creation.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
What an inspiration to me in my old age! And what an encouragement for the people of Israel who have been taken into captivity to Babylon.
So Isaiah continues, and here God senses that people still have questions.
Isaiah 41
1 ‘Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
Ok says God – if you’ve still want to argue your case I’m happy to talk. Let’s meet – at the place of Judgement. And you realise that I’m the Judge and it’s you who are in the dock.
2 ‘Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind-blown chaff with his bow. 3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not travelled before. 4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord – with the first of them and with the last – I am he.’
So. First question: Why has God allowed the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to attack and carry us off into exile?
5 The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; 6 they help each other and say to their companions, ‘Be strong!’ 7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, ‘It is good.’ The other nails down the idol so that it will not topple.
First answer: Why ask me? You have been making and worshipping ‘gods’ of your own design. Shouldn’t you be asking them?
Now, let me explain clearly.
8 ‘But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, 9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, “You are my servant”; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Even though you have rejected me and followed other gods, I have chosen you, I haven’t rejected you. Starting with Abraham I have been leading and guiding you so don’t be dismayed, I am still with you even now in this desperate situation. Because you rejected me I had to do something to bring you back to your senses.
11 ‘All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. 14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,’ declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Look, two minutes ago you were seeing the immensity of God and wondering at his almighty power. ‘Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel’. Look at things from almighty God’s perspective. I will remove your enemies, those who would pick a fight with you will vanish away.
15 ‘See, I will make you into a threshing-sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. 16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The descendents of Jacob will become an instrument in the hand of God, able to smooth out even hills and mountains that stand in the way of God’s purposes. All the chaff and rubbish will be blown away, leaving a pure people who will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 ‘The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. 19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
When rain returns after a period of drought it is amazing how vegetation soon covers the land. But where does this new life come from? Only from Creator God who can produce springs and streams of water within a barren land, and make the desert bloom again.
21 ‘Present your case,’ says the Lord. ‘Set forth your arguments,’ says Jacob’s King. 22 ‘Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, 23 tell us what the future holds, so that we may know you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. 24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.
Ok says the lord. I’m still waiting for your defence. Why don’t you ask your idols to speak for you. Get them to explain your behaviour in the past and let them predict what the future holds for you. Or at least get them to do something – anything.
Why should you choose to worship such dumb lifeless lumps?
25 ‘I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes – one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.
When the Assyrians or Babylonians attacked ‘from the rising sun’ they had to make a circuit round the desert and attack from the north. And when they came there was no resisting them. It was like a potter trampling lumps of clay until it was like putty beneath his feet.
Now surely their ‘gods’ could have predicted this calamity? Could they not have warned them?
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so that we could know, or beforehand, so that we could say, “He was right”? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you. 27 I was the first to tell Zion, “Look, here they are!” I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news. 28 I look but there is no one – no one among the gods to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them. 29 See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
Almighty God through his prophets warned them, even predicted a better future, but their worthless images remained dumb.
