In this section of Isaiah, we find words of good news for the weary, hurting, and struggling. We are meant to hear these and be encouraged.
The composer George Frideric Handel set this text to music in the famous Handel’s Messiah, with the famous “Hallelujah” chorus. This piece is often played at concerts and around Christmas as part of Advent. Handel’s Messiah has 3 sections. The first part opens with these words “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says my God…. “ These words speak words of comfort in a time of war. Part 2 speaks about sin, while Part 3 references Job and speaks of resurrection and resurrection hope. Thus Handel speaks of the story of Jesus — hinted at in Isaiah, then bringing us through His life, death and resurrection.
We see that the church as always understood Isaiah 40 as one that speaks of the coming of Jesus, and the good news revealed with His coming. Hear good news though these verses. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a long time — said a prayer, raised a hand etc. If you’ve believed in the good news of Jesus, you need to keep breathing this good news. We are people of the good news who hold on tight to this belief: that God has come for us. The Christian life is not about being a good person, but it is about inhaling and exhaling this good news, allowing this grace to change and transform us, and to bring this same good news to those around us.
(A)Herald God: Announce Good News of His coming (Isa 40:9-11)
Isaiah 40:9 opens with Zion and Jerusalem being addressed. Zion was the highest mountain in Jerusalem, the center and focal point from which the king rules from. Jerusalem was the city of David. Thus, it refers to the centre of David’s city and David’s hill.
Here, God is telling His people to proclaim good news to all the other cities from this high point. What are they to say? “Behold your God!” (Isa 40:9b).
To behold is a way of drawing attention to and pointing to something that is there. Thus, by saying this, theyare calling the cities to look at God. Isaiah 40:10-11 tells us what to notice about this God. This is a command to give attention to God as they approach them. Now, God is not more visible then than He is now. In fact, also realise that we cannot behold or see Him if He didn’t first approach us and chose to reveal Himself to us.
Next, we are given three pictures for this coming God in Isaiah 40:10-11. God comes like a powerful king and mighty ruler, as Isaiah describes him as coming with might (Isa 40:10a). God is also coming like a fair and just judge, whose reward is with him and his recompense before him (Isa 40:10b). He knows who to reward and how to deal with all. Finally, God is described to be like a tender shepherd who knows how to deal with those with young too (Isa 40:11). He knows our vulnerability and weakness.
These are the pictures of the Lord God who is coming. It is very rare to find this combination of pictures in one place. It is more common in the Old Testament, such as the psalms, to focus mainly on just one aspect of God’s nature. These pictures here combine God’s strength, wisdom and tender gentleness in one place. Isaiah wants us to know the character of this God who is coming. He is not so strong that He will break everything in His power. Neither will He be so judicious, that He is unable to understand our frame. He will not be so nostalgic, that His mind is not gripped by truth and justice. A God who is powerful, yet wise and tender, gracious to all is the one who has come. Now, go and tell the world.
Jerusalem is told to get up to a high mountain and be a herald of good news, to point the people to this God who is coming (c.f. Isa 40:9). There is no need to be worried, self-conscious or worried.
God, who is bringing good news, does not want it to be hidden. He wants it to be declared, Are you a herald of good news? Do you declare it to others? Or are you afraid? Perhaps if we are afraid, we do not really believe that it is good. We may not even really believe that the God of good news is Himself good.
To do what a good God commands, we need to first believe that God is good and then, to see that what He says is God. Do we struggle with Christian obedience today? The only way we will obey Him is if we see the goodness of His commands!
(B) Behold God: Incomparably glorious, not an idol (Isa 40:12-26)
Four rhetorical questions are asked about God’s authority, depth, wisdom and knowledge in Isaiah 40:12-14. Isaiah 40:12 speaks of God’s authority. The author is telling us how God is in charge and seems to be holding the oceans in his hand, marking the heavens with his hand, hold the dust and is also able to weight the mountains. He has authority over the entire material universe.
Isaiah 40:13b speaks of God’s depth, while Isaiah 40:14a speaks of the wisdom of God. Who is qualified to speak to God about plans and time? Certainly no one is! Finally, Isaiah 40:14b speaks of the knowledge of God., and we are meant to see that no one has the ability to know all that God knows, and neither can we converse and discuss with Him as His equal.
What is their effect? These words are humbling and puts us in our place. We are faced to admit and accept that God is greater than us. In using these descriptive words, our imagination gets engaged. This is similar to God’s speech to Job in Job 38-40. The bigger God gets, the more we are put in our place, and are able to see our size rightly. We get the right picture of God’s bigness when we hear the questions being asked! How big is your God? We are challenged by way of rebuke.
Two groups are also raised as comparisons against God in Isaiah 40:15-20. The first group is the nations (Isa 40:15-17). The nations are inconsequential, like dust. Lebanon, in their time, was known for food. Thus, it was meant to say that if we take the best things this world has to offer, it will still be just a drop in a bucket, a little bit of dust.
The second group are idols (Isa 40:18-20). These are words of mockery against idolatry. The outrage in the tone is unmistakeable. God made us in His image yet we are trying to make His image on stuff.
We may laugh at how outrageous this description it, yet, we do it all the time! We take what our heart desires — the approval of a friend, the praise of our boss, the love of a man or woman, the clothing we buy, the instastories that we watch, the entertainment of a lifestyle that we desire — these are all gods to us. We’ve taken happiness, joy and life’s meaning and purpose that are to be found in God and have applied it to the little screen that we hold on our phone. We get our purpose and dreams and definition of happiness and love from what we see and hold on to in this world. Perhaps we’ve been anxious because no one has praised you, or because your life doesn’t conform to what this world says is good and important.
As we worship this BIG God, we need to mock everything else that is small! The prophet here teaches us how to correct what we will typically trust in and seek! His logic helps us to correct our desires.
From time to time, it is important to remember that our idols have no power over you! Have you had a conversation with yourself about the things you are worshipping, pursuing and delighting in? It is important to see how silly, impractical the things we hold on to and then to also see how pursuing Christ is never silly and impractical. There is nothing better than to see God and His holiness. This is why we are alive and made for!
In the next part, perspective switches from a top-down view (Isa 40:21-26). The prophet mocks those who have power in this world here. What we typically think of as power and being secure, can be destroyed so quickly. God just blows and he is gone.
This is a call to stop making much of man. God’s breath is enough to remove them. Like dandelions they can be blown away. Yet, how big is our view of man! We have been told from the beginning that God is great and man is not. He is in heaven, but here we are, but grass,
This challenges what we think of life. All that we hold to as important is probably not important. It can be simultaneously depressing but also liberating. This is telling us to strive for what truly matters and truly lasts. Do you know your parents’ full names? What about your grandparents’? What about your great-grandparents’? Do you know what they have accomplished in life? This serves to reinforce the idea of our mortality, and how, unlike us, God is not! He cannot be fashioned in our likeness. What matters? The knowledge of the greatness of God! Only this is worth passing on to the next generations!
(C) Wait for God: Renewed in the strength of the everlasting God (Isa 40:27-31)
The writer of Hebrews goes on to address a complaint that the people might have in Isaiah 40:27-31. God’s people may have felt that God had abandoned them (Isa 40:27). By the time of Isaiah 40, the prophecy of Isaiah 39:1-8 had come to pass and God’s people have lost the land and are no longer under the rule of God’s king. A 200 year gap lies between Isaiah 39-40, thus, by Isaiah 40, the people wondering if God had forgotten them.
In Isaiah 40:28, we are told about who God is clearly and simply. This is a word of comfort for those that feel like God has abandoned you! Isaiah 40:28 reads: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
This is good news, isn’t it? The God who created the heavens and the earth doesn’t grow faint or weary. His patience doesn’t run out. His understanding is unsearchable. He knows all things, even the depths of our evil heart. We cannot surprise Him, hurt Him or affect Him. He is so great, He stands outside of time and space. Notice how He gives power to the faint, and not the deserving. To him who has no might, He increases strength. He extends power and strength to those who have none.
Isaiah 40:30-31 are a series of promises. Notice the use of the word “shall” in these verses. Now, we may be familiar with these verses, often seeing them on our fridge magnet. But see these verses in light of their context. See them as words of promises and comfort. These are also promises of renewal that will not end. These are promises for eternity. This side of Home, we will still be brokenhearted but one day, we will not be tired. One day, all things will be made new. Every part of our brokenness will be made right.
How do we know it will come to pass? At one level, we can be sure because He has said it and it will not pass away. But at the next level, we know because God has come! His work of renewal has begun! We already live in the last days, days between the first coming of the Lord and the final fulfilment of His promises. This is why as we live in the last days, we are to inhale and exhale grace and allow God’s goodness to transform us.
Where is transformation to be found if you are a Christian? It is to be found in you. God who has begun a good work in you will complete it. We then, are those who delight in this great God, see ourselves rightly, rejoice that He has come, believe in the goodness of this God and also declare this to the nations. Can you see yourself rightly? The only way is to see God rightly. And when we do so, the only appropriate thing for us to do is to sing, “Hallelujah!”