Isaiah 40
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood[h] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told 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 like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 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.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
Pontius Pilate was recorded historically only in the last 40 years. He was recorded as scoffing at Truth. Eve was recorded as wanting to be the decision maker in Good and Evil on par with God.
When Jesus chose to live our life on earth. Roman money had poured into Judah. The Vine of David had been snipped from the Throne of David. Outwardly religious, Herod chose the priests for His Temple. Essenes left the Temple declaring the Temple, where Anna and Simeon greeted infant Jesus; later Jesus occasionally taught, to be devoid of the Holy Spirit. The Essenes did perish as well as the Temple. Choosing to live in an Ivory Tower - desert. Yet the fruit of the Temple and the fruit of the Essenes in the Dead Sea Scrolls reflect today the workings of the Holy Spirit.
This was a mess - the kind Jesus declares HE will come and save if we call earnestly upon Him. The Word of God is messy. Jesus is declared a winebibber - alcoholic - glutton - sitting with thugs and sinners. From a blended family the Sadduceen Council would gossip about for forty years after Jesus' trial.
Church tradition says leave the world and be more saintly. The Word of God does not leave the World. Only Elijah fled and had extreme despair. It was a terrible mess - and God came when earnestly sought.
Subtitles work when life is more perfect. And then you can skip the paragraphs unredeemed to be necessary for subtitles... No, the Word is Living and Active.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This glimpse of Heaven is explained more fully in Isaiah 49. Well worth looking up. Especially if you have lost a loved one and wonder what paradise looks like. Scripture requires some digging to be put into the heart and lived. We prepare our hearts when we look into Scripture. And more of this is found in the Gospels. John the Baptist was from Abilene. (The place where Abilene, Texas is named for.) The roads are level, the landscape is flat - Just like we glimpse Heaven in Isaiah 49. Although the grid work is flat, Heaven has hills and mountains. You can tell for all flesh shall see it together, for the Mouth of the Lord has Spoken.
Surely Heaven in God's word with Scripture fulfillment is worth looking UP!
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
~ Oh man, being middle aged, almost, you have to love the permanence of the Word of 'our' God Will Stand Forever.
And we get to the portion that says cry and the plaintive wail - where to cry, how much, when??? We all do that. This is when we realize when you go to your long ago Minister and your child is being spit - literally - upon and he says nope the turn the other cheek portion is gone after weeks. Now. That. Will draw you up short. Even that Minister doesn't believe "TURN THE OTHER CHEEK." Wow. That makes you want to sit down. Actually. NO. What our minister friend was saying is not so shocking. When you connect the thought dots. My son Cal tried peace. And that Scripture was just not the right fix to the problem. Peaceful solutions should be explored.
Come Lord Jesus always be our wisdom to apply the right fix to the right problem. !!!!!!!!!!!!
The adults advised Cal to save his reputation, rebuke the devil and he will flee. Acutaleee. We advised him to hit the spitter who first liked to draw a crowd first. My son went better than the adult advice and instead rammed the spitter against a wall and did this:
2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
Job 24:23
He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.
Merely with force and an eye pressed to an eye - the true grit determination and the pain - extinguished the jealousy the spitter had over a pretty girl. The girl chose poorly herself.
She picked
Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. Seeing that the embarrassment both boys caused her wasn't worth the struggle.
Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
She never gave that valiant son of mine another look. And let this mom tell you he was president of two clubs in High School. The teachers voted him in their top ten student pick. And Cal received a larger scholarship to college than the Valedictorian, because a parent dug through every book Amazon and the High School Counselor recommended. He was President of his college fraternity. Ran the blood drive. Was in Student Council. Ran two formals, and had many, many people stand in line during the parties to tell him of their troubles so he could solve them. Now. Please write Cal and explain to him - he has a God given talent to do psychology or psychiatry.
Happy 25th Birthday, Cal.
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
The Good News still is that Jesus Christ saves. And according to verse 10, God saves well and efficiently.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told 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 like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 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.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
The Lord lives within us when we accept Jesus Christ. For each season of our lives, God is for us. In trouble, God is our salvation daily - a wilderness still in God's care. In good times, God in His Glory prevails. We don't need to read the Bible just as history. Or we recognize that portion as the old John the Baptist portion. Not just looking at biblical stories with nostalgia of great times, we can look ahead in hope. God is for us in this time and in this generation. His reward is with Him and He is with us.
Isaiah 40:1-31 English Standard Version, David Cochran Audio
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