The Three-fold Comfort of God
Notes
Transcript
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
“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.”
A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
“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;
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
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.
The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
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!”
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.
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.
Introduction
Introduction
Last month we looked at the first two verses of Isaiah 40.
A bunch of life has happened since then.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember last week’s sermon, much less last months.
I have to keep reminding myself that we are built to remember after being reminded many times over a long period of time.
The usual way this works is not that a single service or sermon will change your life, but over a period of time, with a mixture of life and listening, the truth will begin to build on itself in our minds, hearts, and lives.
And over that period of time, we will grow and be transformed.
This is the way that we are made.
But that being said, I still want to build on what we looked at last month, so I will have to remind us a little bit before we look at our passage today.
Isaiah chapter 40 is a kind of transition from the first part of the book.
For the previous 39 chapters of this 66 chapter book, for the most part, Isaiah has spoken judgement on the people of Israel and Judah for their sin of forsaking the worship of the One, True God.
God had specially chosen them as His people, and given them physical and spiritual blessings that no other nation would have.
They were the nation that He, by the power of His mighty arm, had rescued from slavery in Egypt.
He gave them a land that was occupied by many other peoples and won their victories over the wicked Canaanites, many times miraculously.
But He also blessed them with His word.
They were given prophets, and they were given His law.
They were given priests that would oversee the worship of the True God in a way that He prescribed.
And over and over again they failed to value what they had been given, and went after other false gods of the nations around them.
Isaiah 3:13-15 shows us that God will arise to judge His people for their sins.
The Lord arises to contend, And stands to judge the people.
The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
“What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the face of the poor?” Declares the Lord God of hosts.
But there is a turn in chapter 40 that changes to an overall message of comfort and rescue.
So much so that many have called chapters 40-66 Second Isaiah.
Now there are those that call is Second Isaiah because they think it was written by another person.
But they usually think this because they don’t believe that someone could be so accurate and specific about events 150 years before they happened.
But Isaiah isn’t just accurate 150 years early about the things that happen after the exile, he has accurate hundreds of years after his prophecies about the coming Messiah, and thousands of years after in the coming final kingdom of God.
We haven’t seen all that Isaiah had prophesied come to pass because we haven’t lived long enough.
The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
One day we will see all of his prophecies come true.
So last time we saw that the only true comfort we can find this life and the next is in who God is and what He has done.
In true prophetic fashion, Isaiah expands on this in a beautiful and very dramatic way.
He gives us what has been called the three-fold comfort of God.
As we go through these comforts promised to us through the example of the Hebrews, we need to be reminded of who Isaiah is writing to.
These are the Hebrew people, the people of God, they were an empire in their heyday.
They were modern men and women of their time, at one point strong and wealthy.
Then Judah saw the plight of Israel, as they were taken into exile by the Assyrians.
So Isaiah prophesied to the people of Judah that they too would become exiles and taken from their homeland because of their sin as well.
Now we do not know how this feels, but can only imagine it.
We have wars on the other side of the world that we hear of on the news.
We have terrible instances of murders and terrorism that we hear about on the news, but there is no direct threat to EBR or Livingston that we know is coming.
But we do have an absolute promise of trouble and tribulation.
There will be a time when we will close our eyes in death under this Sun.
And there will most assuredly come a time when we will all stand before the Holy Creator and Judge of the Universe and give an answer for our lives.
When that happens, what will we say?
The Hebrew people thought they would make it because they were the Hebrew people.
Even on the other side of exile, in Jesus’ time, there was a sense that you were justified by birth.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
What do you mean Jesus? We are the Jews? We are free by birth!
Today, our culture believes that we are justified by death.
Anyone who dies is in a better place.
But these ideas aren’t true!
And as the dust from the Assyrian horses is making a cloud in the distance, God through Isaiah is letting his people know that they are not ok just because they have the temple, or because they were given the Word of God, or because Abraham was their ancestor.
They would be ok in the end, because God was their God.
They would be ok because God was faithful to His word and keeps every covenant.
And so they could take comfort, even in the midst of exile in a foreign land, because God would protect them and provide for them.
God would save them with His mighty arm again.
Today, we have 24/7 news channels, podcasts, and X to get our news, but in that time news was heard by heralds.
Those men who would run from city to city and call out news from the King.
This is what I am doing today, calling out from the Word of God that He is coming, and we need to be ready.
The great thing is, it is a message of good news and tidings of great joy that we have.
Judgement is coming, but all of His people will be rescued in the end.
Isaiah is telling us that
Everyone must hear the call of the comfort of God.
Everyone must hear the call of the comfort of God.
This call has a three-fold message, first…
The Lord is Coming in Glory v. 3-5
The Lord is Coming in Glory v. 3-5
A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
“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;
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The first part of the news that the herald of God has for His people is that the King is coming.
The comfort of God will come when He comes to rescue His people.
The Old Testament people of God were waiting for His first coming, and His New Testament people are waiting for His second coming.
He is the King of the earth and His is coming to rule and reign over His kingdom with a mighty arm, with justice and peace.
The Psalmist of Psalm 97 said it well.
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about.
His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled.
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory.
And so the herald is telling the people to prepare the way for the King to come.
They are to clear the way for the Lord.
There are some things we must see about how this is to be done.
It was the custom for a royal person’s path to be cleared and made easier before they came to visit a city.
Sometimes this was done literally, and sometimes symbolically.
They would have men go before them and clean the road of stones and litter, like the mayor of San Francisco when a Chinese Dictator comes to town.
Sometimes it would go much farther than that, depending on the status of the royal person.
In Freeman’s Manners and Customs of the Bible, a reference book that I highly recommend for your libraries, he speaks of an Assyrian queen named Sammu-ramat.
Not only did here subjects clean the road she was to travel on, they leveled the hills and filled the valleys.
They made the straightest , widest road that was feasible, and at great expense, at her command.
This is like constructing the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge solely for the president to have an easier trip to Lafayette.
It was also done symbolically, like when Prince Ali Ababwa came to be introduced to Princess Jasmine.
Or, more seriously, when Christ made His triumphal entry to Jerusalem.
Listen to how they are commanded to clear the way for the Lord.
A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
“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;
Does this sound familiar to you?
The Jewish leaders in Christ’s time heard about a man in the wilderness who the people were flocking to.
They sent priests to interrogate him to figure out who he was claiming to be.
There were many people around that time who claimed to be the Messiah, so they wanted to see if they had another one of these on their hands.
John the Baptist said in
And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
Then after asking him if he was Elijah or the prophet, he, so frustratingly, answered no.
They said to him in verse 22.
Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
John the Baptist was the fulfillment of this prophecy, and he was preparing the way of Jesus the Messiah.
He was calling them to repent and prepare their hearts for the arrival of Christ.
So we see that when Isaiah was heralding this comfort, 100’s of years before Christ would come, he was speaking about Jesus.
In Jesus, verse 5 says
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In Jesus the glory of the Lord would be revealed.
Until that point, God revealed His glory through awesome acts.
The 12 plagues on Egypt, all of the great miracles of the wilderness, the fire coming down from Heaven on Elijah’s offering.
But this revealing isn’t just speaking of a manifestation of the glory of God.
This will be the fullness of his personal presence, for everyone to see, in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
And will be revealed in its fullness again and in finality at the Second Coming of Jesus.
So that is the first calling of comfort to God’s people, Christ is coming, once as a lowly Messiah, and finally as Judge and King of all of His Creation.
Note that this is only a true comfort for His people.
Secondly, we are to find comfort, even in the face of great trial, because…
The Word of God Will Stand Forever v. 6-8
The Word of God Will Stand Forever v. 6-8
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.
The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Have you ever been in a situation where a friend or family member has been ill, and you don’t know what to say when you want to bring them comfort?
Next time this happens to you, I want you to put your hand on their shoulder, look them straight in their eyes, and say, “Don’t worry, your troubles will be over soon, because like grass and flowers, you are going to be gone soon anyway.”
Doesn’t seem like us to be Hallmark material.
But this seems to be the word of comfort that God gives to Isaiah to proclaim to His people, at that time and this, when they are facing a great trial.
Put yourself into the sandals of an Old Testament believer.
Let’s say that you are one of the remanent that hasn’t bowed the knee to Baal.
That you look around at the sin of your people, and you understand why God is judging them.
But you remember His promises, like the covenant that He made with Abraham.
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.
This was supposed to be our land forever!
Or the Davidic Covenant.
“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
“He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Now we are going to be slaves of a foreign king!
God answers back with
The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
But the word doesn’t just end with the shortness and frailty of this life.
Isaiah ends the word of comfort with verse 8
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Now this makes more sense.
Alec Motyer calls this a “marvellous contrast.”
The complete brevity of our lives is the complete opposite of God’s word.
Our lives last a very short time.
They are a blip in light of eternity.
But when God Almighty speaks, the universe is created.
There is no accidental syllable that comes out of His mouth.
He makes promises, and He keeps them.
And that is the ultimate comfort.
Especially, to us. We are so very frail and powerless.
Our words are often inconsequential.
We are constantly breaking our word, sometimes simply because the circumstances and outcomes are out of our control.
But, neither the circumstances or outcomes are out of the control of God.
They were all planned from the beginning, and is plan will come to pass without any failures or accidents.
This is good news.
Don’t put your faith in me. I will let you down.
Why don’t we walk away from God when a Christian doesn’t act the way he’s supposed to.
We have had a lot of this in our lives.
Stephen Lawson. Josh Buice.
Maybe even someone at a small church you know personally.
Because we know that God’s word doesn’t fail, even when men do.
This is great comfort.
So when you go to your family member or friend, you don’t have to comfort them by telling them life is short and they are going to die soon, although that is true for all of us.
But you absolutely should remind them, with the greatest confidence, that God’s Word, His every promise, is forever.
And that’s a lot longer than any pain we will experience in this life, if we are His.
God comforts us my telling us He is coming, that His word is forever, and by letting us witness His mighty power to save His sheep.
Church take comfort and…
Behold Your God v. 9-11
Behold Your God v. 9-11
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!”
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.
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.
What greater news can be announced than there is a savior?
There isn’t any.
These aren’t rumblings in a corner somewhere.
His coming isn’t a secret, it’s to be announced to all in the clearest way possible.
Look at verse 9 again with me.
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!”
There are two things that I want to bring out from this verse.
The first is that Hebrew is a gendered language. This is simply means that grammar and spelling are slightly changed if one is referring to male things or female things.
There is a Latino pop culture news show named El Gordo Y La Flaca.
In English, the title is translated as The Fat and The Skinny.
But Spanish is a gendered language El Gordo is Masculine and La Flaca is Feminine.
So it could be said, The Fat Men and The Skinny Women.
The phrase, “bearer of good news” uses a feminine verb.
Women and children are often the biggest victim to national tragedy, especially wars.
Much of the evil done in war is done to women, and that includes modern times.
In the middle of the fighting, women are brought to safe places and protected as much as possible.
But when the war is over, they feel safe to come out of hiding, and this was often a time of great celebration.
This happened when David defeated the Philistines by killing Goliath in
It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.
David wrote a psalm that mentions this as well
The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host:
“Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home will divide the spoil!”
When the women would usually be most afraid, facing the oncoming Assyrian Empire, they are to be reminded that they will be the ones who come bearing the good news that God is their rescuer!
The second thing is just a translation note. Here in the NASB the last part of verse 9 is translated, “Here is your God.”
We recognize the phrase, “Behold your God” from the King James, and that is how the ESV translates it as well.
There is no difference in meaning, but we are just more familiar with the way it is written in the KJV.
In verses 10 and 11 there are two ways that we are to see God coming.
The first is with might.
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.
To His enemies, He comes with a strong arm.
There is no defeating the Lord God Almighty.
Yahweh Sabaoth, or the LORD of armies, comes with power to destroy all of the things that are set against Him.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
But to His own, He comes as a shepherd.
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.
To His own people, He doesn’t come with wrath and a strong arm.
He comes gentle and lowly, as a shepherd who loves His flock.
Christ has taken all of the wrath that we deserved on Himself.
How often does the Bible compare us to sheep? A lot!
Think about what God had in His mind when He created them.
I’m going to make the perfect illustration in this animal!
Now most of us don’t know what it’s like to shepherd sheep, but the Hebrews did.
My brother’s wife’s mother, my brother’s mother-in-law, my mother-in-law-in-law…
Just returned from a trip to her home country, Scotland.
She told me how many shepherds are still in Scotland, and how the sheep reminds her of how the bible talks about us.
Sheep are not the brightest animals, and are not able to take care of themselves.
They need to drink water, but are so afraid of moving water that they will die of thirst next to a stream, if the water isn’t still enough.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
The Lord is a good shepherd to His sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
His mighty arm is not used to hurt the sheep, but to protect and guide the sheep.
His arm gathers the scared lost lambs, and brings them back to the mother who will feed them.
“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;
for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
What a beautiful message of comfort!
All of our enemies will be destroyed, and all of our true needs will be met in Christ!
This is news worthy of being shouted from the mountaintop!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Believer take comfort in the almighty arm of God, who’s Word is eternal, and will one day come in glory.
If you are His today, He will hold you in His arms as a good shepherd, through any earthly trial.
And ultimately, after this world has ended, in His glorious day, you will live before Him in His glory, because of all that Christ has done.
But if you don’t know Christ savingly, if you haven’t put your faith in Him and followed His will in Biblical repentance, this comfort is not yours.
Isaiah later calls to those who haven’t come to God for His mercy in
Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Consider the power and holiness of God Almighty, but also the amazing grace and love given freely in Christ.
Hebrews 13:20–21 (NASB95)
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20–21 (NASB95)
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
