Isaiah 40
As we begin this study of
Isaiah 40, we must note a few things. First, we know that Isaiah was a prophet
for the Israelites. Most theologians consider Isaiah prophesied 60 years, but
according to Jewish tradition, as reported by chabad.org, he prophesied for God
for 90 years. In Isaiah 1:1, we find that Isaiah was the son of Amoz, who was
also a Hebrew prophet. Jewish tradition says that Amoz was the brother of King
Amaziah, who was a king of Judah, the southern kingdom. We must also remember
that God used prophets repeatedly to call His people back to Him from
worshipping the idols and gods of other nations. By the time Isaiah began
prophesying, the northern kingdom's (Israel) punishment from God via conquering
by the Assyrians and their subsequent dispersion was almost upon them. Assyria
captured Israel in 712 BC. The Assyrian king, Sargon II, chose to disperse the
Hebrews of the northern kingdom among people of other nations. These became the
“lost ten tribes” of Israel. It began the times of the Diaspora.
Another fact we need to note
and is commonly taught is that Isaiah 40 is the beginning of Isaiah’s heralding
of their eschatological hope, their hope for the Messiah and life after His
arrival. Isaiah 40 through Isaiah 66 not only speaks of the gross
idolatry of the current time, but refers back to the past times of all the
prophets of God, and goes forward speaking of the future of the Israelites with
Yahweh in His kingdom. It is believed that the first thirty-nine chapters are
historical, Isaiah’s pleading with/prophesying for God to the Israelites to
turn from their wicked ways back to the one true God, Yahweh. The second
section of Isaiah, from chapter 40, is filled with hope for the future of
Israel, that God would redeem them and would provide for them a home in His
promised land, His kingdom.
Upon my reading of Isaiah 40
this time (and, yes, I did sing some of it since it is a very famous song of hope for
Christians and Jews), I was struck for the first time on the obvious statements
about God. I know the first part well because of the song made from this
chapter. I know the last two verses, “Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait
for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up
with wings like eagles,
they will run and not get
tired, they will walk and
not become weary”
(40:30-31 [NASB]). Many of us have harkened back to these two verses
when we were going through hard and trying times. This time, upon reading the
chapter anew, God’s attributes jumped out at me. All of His attributes appear
in this one chapter. I do not know how often that occurs in the Bible, but in
Isaiah 40, every one of God’s attributes show.
Maybe this whole concept of
God’s attributes is new to some of you. Let me tell or remind you what we know and see
are God’s attributes/characteristics. They have been categorized under
different titles by different theologians, but the two titles I want to use
because I have found these easiest to understand is God’s greatness and God’s
goodness. His attributes of greatness are seen in who He is. His attributes of
goodness are His greatness reflected through His actions in relationship with
His creation. If you are like me, this makes more sense in a list.
Attributes/Characteristics
of Greatness
|
Attributes/Characteristics
of Goodness
|
Spirituality – He is spirit and not composed of matter and does not
possess a physical nature.
|
Moral Qualities:
Holiness – He is unique, totally separated from creation, and
absolutely pure.
Righteousness – Because God is
holy, His laws are right and just; thus, they are the standard for moral
living.
Justice – God acting in accordance with His
laws and administering His laws
|
Personality –
God is personal. He is an individual being with the self-consciousness and
will, capable of feeling, choosing, having a reciprocal relationship with
other personal and social beings.
|
Integrity:
Genuineness – He is real, not
made up, and true.
Veracity – God represents things as they
really are. What He says is accurate and true.
Faithfulness – God’s
faithfulness means He proves true; He keeps His promises.
|
Life – His name, I AM, indicates that He is a living God. He
is existence.
|
Love:
Benevolence – God’s concern
for the welfare of those He loves. His concern is unselfish.
Grace – God gives based on what people
need, not what they want, not because of what they have done or will do.
Mercy – This is God’s tenderhearted
compassion. It is pitying concern.
Persistence – God’s endurance
and faithfulness. He endures and withholds judgment while continuing to offer
salvation and grace.
|
Infinity – God is unlimited and He is illimitable. He is
all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and always and
everywhere present at the same time (omnipresent).
|
|
Constancy – He is unchanging. There is not quantitative or
qualitative change in God. He cannot increase because He is perfect and His
nature does not undergo modification.
|
|
With
these characteristics in our tool belt, let us look now at Isaiah 40 and see it
through a different window.
Is.
40:1-2 [NASB]–
1
"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. 2 "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."
What
we most obviously understand in these two verses is God’s justice. He sees that
the punishment of His people (Jerusalem in particular, but metaphorically, all
His children over all time) is sufficient. His children have been disciplined
enough according to His just, perfect, and righteous laws. He speaks through
His prophet Isaiah as the voice of all the prophets to all God’s children that
His people not only should take comfort now because their dispersion and
captivity are over, but because, eschatologically (regarding the end times)
speaking, He is drawing them to Himself for all time as His children. Their
disciplining is over because He has provided the adequate redemption for their
and our sin. This speaks from the prophets of all times, past and present, and it
speaks to the future for all God’s children, “You are to be comforted because I
have removed your sins once and for all. You have paid for your sins doubly and
I have provided the adequate sacrifice once and for all.”
The
attributes of God we see in these verses are God’s personality; He is capable
of having feelings for His people and for choosing to stay in a relationship
with us. He is life; He was, is, and will always eternally exist. We know this
and that is why we can derive such hope from His statements regarding our
future with Him. If He were not eternal, we would get no hope from this
statement. God is also constant; He cannot and will not change. These are His
characteristics of greatness shown in these two verses. His characteristics of
goodness are: holiness, righteousness, and justice; faithfulness; benevolence,
mercy, grace, and persistence. He is holy and requires holiness in His
presence. To that end, He has provided a way for His loving relationship with
us to continue. His righteousness follows on His holiness and His righteousness
requires justice. He shows His faithfulness by neither giving up on Israel
then, nor His children over the ages. He keeps holding out hope for us to turn
from our ways and receive the salvation He has provided through His Son, Jesus
Christ. His love is shown to us in all the categories of His attributes.
Is. 40:3-5 –
3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way
for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our
God. 4 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;
5 then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the
LORD has spoken."
This
voice calling are the voices of all prophets past and present. It is also a
foretelling of the one calling out to the people before Christ’s ministry
began, John the Baptist. Many times before a prince or king arrived in a
province, city, or town, criers/messengers went before him proclaiming his
arrival so that the way would be prepared for him – palm branches lay on the
ground as a carpet or “pot holes” filled in so his horse would not stumble. It
was also for the people to prepare themselves – removing from the mind any
thoughts that were in the way of worshipping/revering a king - anger, annoyance,
anxiety, and trials. This is the same way the prophets were telling the people
to be prepared for the coming Messiah.
In
these three verses, we see the God who is seen by the prophets. He is seen as
holy. As holy, He is to be revered and all things must be made ready for His
arrival so that nothing, internal or external to ourselves, keeps us from
worshipping Him.
Is. 40:6-8-
6 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. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath
of the LORD blows upon
it; surely the people are
grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the
word of our God stands forever.
The
voice calls out again, the voice of the prophets, messengers. In case you do
not know or have forgotten, says the voice of the prophets, here is who God is. He is the One who does not die
or fade away. Here is the One who holds life and death within His breath. He
brings beauty and life to plant and people. Though these fade and die, God and
His Word will never fade away; they stand forever. Isaiah says this twice for
emphasis so the people will know without doubt that God is the everlasting God.
God’s
attributes in these verses are His attributes of greatness. His might and power
are seen by His ability to give and take life. His greatness is seen in His
infinity and constancy. He does not die because He does not have a perishable
body. He is I AM. He is existence. It is from Him that anything else receives
the blessing of existing, in all its loveliness.
Is. 40:9 –
9 Get
yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up
your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of
good news; lift it
up, do not fear. Say to
the cities of Judah,
"Here is
your God!”
This is an anxious, anticipation-creating verse. After
reading this, I cannot wait to hear what is coming next. The messengers, the
prophets, are calling from a hilltop to Jerusalem, be prepared and do not fear.
The messengers tell them to go tell the other cities of Judah, God is here.
After they failed God and He sent them into exile, to have their hope restored
that God had not forgotten or left them, the prophets brought this word of the
Lord to them. In Isaiah, this prophecy of God’s presence took on a long-term
role of heralding the coming awaited Messiah. John the Baptist was His
herald. He tells them not to keep it to themselves, but to tell all the
children of God to renew their hope, for God is here. For the times after
Christ’s ascension, this passage also gives us hope that God is still with us
and He is still in control and awaits our arrival in His promised kingdom.
God’s attributes here are His life, infinity, and
constancy. Without this understanding of God, His promises would hold no
effect. Because we know that He is, has been, and always will be, we know we
can hold onto this promise of being with Him in His kingdom. He has not left us
or forsaken us.
Is.
40:10-17 –
“10 Behold,
the Lord GOD
will come with might, with
His arm ruling for
Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before
Him. (Spiritual Power)
11 Like a shepherd He will tend
His flock, in His arm He
will gather the lambs and
carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing
ewes. (Personality/Personification – Fatherly love)
12 Who
has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair
of scales? (Infinity - Omniscience and Creation)
13 Who has directed
the Spirit of the LORD or
as His counselor has informed Him? 14 With
whom did He consult and
who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path
of justice and taught Him
knowledge and informed
Him of the way of understanding?
(Infinity – knowledge and wisdom)
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on
the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands
like fine dust. 16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.” (Greatness – comparison between God’s
greatness and creation)
The
voice speaking for the Lord, Isaiah, other prophets, and John the Baptist,
spoke of the greatness of God. God puts these words in their mouths and quills
to remind all people and us just how magnificent He really is. In these eight
verses, His attributes become obvious. God shows His spiritual power in verse
10. He shows His personality and love in His personification as the shepherd
caring for the sheep in verse 11. He shows His knowledge and wisdom,
omniscience (attribute of infinity), in creation in verse 12. To make matters
more clear through verse 13, He rhetorically asks from whom did He consult or
ask advice. Who taught Him justice and gave Him understanding when He is the
Holy One. His righteousness is the standard for laws. Finally, just to make
sure we understand, verses 15-17 remind us who created whom and tells us there
are not enough trees to build an altar of worship for Him nor enough cattle to
offer as a sufficient sacrifice to Him for His greatness. These final three
verses return us to rhetorical question of verse 10: who is greater than God,
the One who created all things by His knowledge and in His strength because of
His love.
Is. 40:18-20 -
“18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? 19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates
it with gold, and a silversmith
fashions chains of silver.
20 He who is too impoverished
for such an offering selects
a tree that does not rot; he seeks out for himself a
skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.”
Should
we try to capture the image of God, what in all of the earth that God created is
glorious and magnificent enough to represent Him? What image would capture His essence?
None God says, and, God told us in Exodus, we are not to worship an image, an
idol. Nothing is great enough to represent God, not even the things we consider
in our greatest thoughts can capture the image of God. God is superlative to
all we can think of or imagine. In case we do not understand, God has these next
things to say in verses 21-25.
Is. 40:21-25 –
“21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits
above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges
of the earth meaningless.
24 Scarcely
have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock
taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither,
and the storm carries
them away like stubble. 25
‘To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?’
says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.”
Here
God, through His prophets Isaiah and all His prophets in time, asks another
rhetorical question leading to the same answer. He says think on these things
and tell me your answer. He is the one who is great enough to sit in heaven,
who is big enough that creation seems like mere grasshoppers. God is the one
who created the heavens and stretched them out like a tent. He is the one who
shows the strength, power, and wisdom of rulers is like foolishness and folly.
They are nothing compared to His wisdom and might. These rulers think they have
great plans. God is greater still and can confound their plans or completely
make their plans come to a standstill by removing the rulers. His breath that
created them will make them wither and blow away. These rulers to whom you look, would you like God to them? Our obvious answer is I think not. In addition,
in case you cannot imagine someone that great, look up to the sky and try to
count the stars. God not only created and counted them, He named them and knows
them all.
God’s
attributes of greatness abound in these verses. He is creator of everything –
grasshopper to king. He is not just Creator, but also ender of all things. It
only takes His breath to create and to end life. God’s might and knowledge is
greater than that of our highest earthly authority, kings. His might and
knowledge are infinite. What can compare to Him? He is no man’s equal nor is He
equal to anything man could imagine and create.
Is. 40:27-31-
27 “Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel, ‘My
way is hidden from the LORD, and
the justice due
me escapes the notice of my God’? 28 Do you
not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God,
the LORD, the Creator of
the ends of the earth does
not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble
badly, 31 yet those who
wait for the LORD Will gain new strength;
they will mount up with wings
like eagles; they will run
and not get tired; they
will walk and not become weary.”
God gets to the end and
He, in essence, says, “Since I am greater than all these things, you have no
reason to think I have disregarded you. You know I am greater than all creation or
what man can think or imagine. You know I love you and have not only provided
what you need on earth, but have promised to prepare a way for you to me with
me in My kingdom forever. You know I am faithful and will fulfill My promises.
What would make you think I would not care about you when you are living - your
strength, power, and energy?” God is not so great that He would overlook/miss
the needs of humankind, nor of His children of the covenant. For those who wait
for the Lord (those who are conscious of their responsibility to the Lord
because He is God), God cares enough to carry you through life, to give
strength and power. The youthful men who are chosen by kings for their vigor
will be weaker than those who wait for the Lord; He will give them His
strength. He will keep His children strong to run the race of life on earth.
God will not fail those who wait on Him. They will sail upwards toward God,
swiftly and strongly. They will press forward running without wearying toward
heaven following God’s commandments. They will walk in the ways of God in the
name of the Lord and not be weary because they are leaning on and trusting in
Him.
God’s greatness in all
areas fathomable is uncontestable. He is spirit, not matter, so does not and
will not die. He is personal - has a name and communes with us. He is life,
existence Himself and the cause of existence of creation. He is infinite – in
knowledge, wisdom, power, strength, time, space, and measure. He is constant;
he never changes but is always the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Isaiah gives us all the
attributes of God in one place. This is the answer to “why” we should clear a
way for the Lord from verse 3. He spends twenty-nine verses telling us and/or
reminding us who God is and what He has done, is doing, and has provided for us
in the future. These encompass the attributes of His greatness and goodness. Lest
we become busy battling life or seeking our own greatness and importance,
Isaiah provides for us today the remedy for battle-weariness and
self-importance. He provided a voice for God’s hope to the desperate Israelites
during their dispersion and captivity and a reminder of God’s faithfulness to
His promises of a place in His kingdom.
For those of us who
follow after these Israelites, Isaiah continues to offer these same promises to
those who are children of God through His covenant. There is the catch – to
God’s children through His covenant. You have to decide whom you will follow
and Isaiah has laid it out nicely for each of us. None of us is greater or
better than God. Each of us must decide whether we will follow God through His
plan of salvation for humanity, the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus
Christ. If you say, “Not now,” you are saying no and these promises are not
yours to hold. If you say, “Yes” to God’s gift of salvation, these promises by
the faithful one true God are yours for now and always.
We each must come to this
point of decision-making. What will you decide? Whom will you worship and
praise? That is really what it is all about, a love relationship between God
and humanity, individually. Who is your god, you or the only true,
never-changing, infinite, life-giving, personal God? It really is your
decision.
