The One Who Comforts

Isaiah 40

Good morning friends! What a blessing it is to be with you all this morning...I pray our time together brings nourishment and strength to each of you as we continue to journey as God’s people in loving one another, in bearing each others burdens, and in pouring out our hearts before the Lord through times of weeping and times of joy because we know that it is in God where our peace and rescue is found.

As I reflected and prayed about what to share today I was drawn to Isaiah 40, probably due in part to this being the book I’m doing personal study in at the moment, but also because I sense this chapter captures in a powerful way not only the questions and burdens that we are so often weighed down by in the face of suffering or immense loss, but in an even greater way beckons us to come to the only One who can bring restoration in our pain, healing from our wounds, and peace in our lives...Yahweh, the God of all comfort.

So we are going to reflect on this word, observe the horizen and landscape from where this prophetic word was proclaimed, and then draw some truths that can bring life and perspective as we view the horizen of our own landscape. Let’s pray...

Isaiah 40:1–5 ““Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has received from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.” A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God! Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall become low, And the rough ground shall be like a plain, and the rugged ground like a valley-plain. And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all humankind together shall see it, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.””

The recurring theme woven throughout the earlier chapters of Isaiah was that God could be trusted in the face of threats from the surrounding nations. Unfortunately his people were tempted time and again to put their trust in other nations for protection, and for some of them even the pagan gods, rather than Yahweh. God’s response through Isaiah was that the other nations would fail them and the path they were on would lead to destruction and exile, potentially from the very nation they put their trust in. Despite this, Isaiah declares, God’s faithfulness was so great that even after this destruction had come, he would not forsake his covenant people, but would deliver them once again from the flood of chaos that would sweep over them.

The southern kingdom of Judah in which Isaiah lived and served as God’s messenger did indeed experience this raging torrent sweeping across the kingdom in a time of great turmoil and darkness during the reign of king Hezekiah. Isaiah warned of this in chapter 8 where the Lord spoke:

Isaiah 8:7–8 “Look! The Lord is bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And he will rise above all his channels, and he will flow over all his banks. And he will sweep into Judah; he will overflow and he will flood up to the neck. He will reach, and he will spread his wings out over your entire land, Immanuel (God with us).”

The largest war machine the world had ever witnessed swept across the kingdoms of the east, bringing desolation and oppression to all who stood in its path. The northern kingdom of Israel vanished from the pages of history in the wake of Assyrian invasion, and as Isaiah witnessed...the armies came up to the neck of Judah, Jerusalem itself, but God brought about a great salvation to his people as king Hezekiah poured out his heart in humility and turned to his Lord for refuge and rescue.

Tragically, trusting in Yahweh for proteciton would not continue and Isaiah prophesied about another invasion that would overwhelm the kingdom and God’s people would be swept away into exile. I don’t know if this is something you ever attempted or perhaps still do, but this image casts my mind back to a game I used to play and now watch my kids play at the beach on those beautiful summer days. You’re standing in the water observing the incoming waves and trying to ride them smoothly so as not to get swallowed up by them...ever done that? Well a personal experience of mine is getting a rather large wave sweeping in, and through shear genius I manage to keep my neck just above it...and in my excitement I celebrate my achievement, taking my eyes off the task at hand, only to discover all to late there was an even bigger wave coming in close on the heels of the one I had just overcome...it envelops me in its fury and dumps me violently into the depths...and when I finally emerge from a seeming eternity of torment I crawl to the beach exhausted and destraught, grazes all over, having swallowed way too much salt water, and having my self-esteem adequately crushed! And just for good measure I would look across at my supposed friends who are bending over in laughter at my demise.

In a much more tragic reality Isaiah foresees this being true for Judah as an emerging empire Babylon, once an ally from whom Judah sought refuge, would be the wave that overwhelmed and swept them into exile, because of their unfaithfulness to God.

For God’s people here and for God’s people today who are journeying through what the Psalmist describes as the ‘valley of the shadow of death,’ deep and heartbraking questions arise from that emptiness.

“Is this proof that God has forsaken us?” “Is God not actually the Lord of the universe?” “Is God unable to defend his people, or protect us from the flood sweeping over us?”

And it is to these questions that Isaiah can cry resoundingly, no!

“Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God. A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Hake a highway smooth in the desert for our God!

It is in the exile, in our times of wilderness, that God has an even greater opportunity to show his goodness and faithfullness to those who call upon his name...he can indeed be trusted to deliver the weak, broken and oppressed.

I’d like to draw our attention to a few couple key themes underpinning the narrative here. First of all let’s consider the wilderness. What is that...and why might we find ourselves there? Wilderness is a translation of the Hebrew word midbar, a common term used throughout the scriptures. Midbar can represent a barren, rocky wasted land with minimal rainfall, it can be an uninhabitable desert, it can be both a mountainous region or a plain, and yet with rainfall it can also be a land of pasture and protection. Throughout the story line of the Bible people find themselves in the midbar for varied reasons. One can find themselves there because of rebellion and it becomes punishment for unfaithfulness, such as when God declared that the Israelites must wander for forty years in the wilderness until the last of that generation had perished because of their disobedience and unbelief. Yet earlier the wilderness was a place of refuge and guidance when God rescued them from Pharaoh in Egypt, and where God both provided for them and dwelled among them. Incredibly, as Isaiah prophesies here, this midbar of exile and suffering is also a place from which revelation and proclamation of good news can come...we might think ahead to the voice in the wilderness presented to us in the opening verses of Mark’s gospel...John the Baptist, preaching that salvation has come to those who confess and believe in the Messiah king.

The reality for the exiles in Babylon, in fact the reality for each of us today, is that as we find ourselves in the midbar of life, we need someone to revive and restore us, but even more than that we need to be led on a highway through the wilderness to the place of refuge, a place of watersprings and life...a place like Eden. And notice...this is beautiful...the focus in verses 3-5 aren’t on those travelling on the road, but on God, the one who prepares the way for us and comes himself to draw us near to him. This is God’s highway. Prepare yourselves, for the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all people will see it! The truth is and always will be that we cannot help ourselves out of the wilderness, indeed no-one else can bring us through, except our God who comes himself to deliver, provide and reveal himself to us.

The other term I’ll draw us to is glory, or kavod in Hebrew. This speaks of the heaviness or weightiness of a thing, of reputation and importance, of splendour and riches. The glory or kavod of God is one of the most significant images woven through the story of the Bible. God’s glory can be described as the manifestation or displaying of the perfection of all his attributes. The glory of God emphasizes his greatness, splendour and holiness...and it has a heaviness or substancial substance you could say to it. And God revealed his glory in many different ways through the pages of scripture. In parallel to the wilderness, we see God’s glory on display through the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, the visible glory of God revealed in the wilderness wanderings through a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night...also in the worship at the tabernacle and later temple where God’s glory dwelled among his people. Upon Judah’s rebellion and exile we witness the tragedy of God withdrawing his glory from their presence...and it is here in the wilderness of exile that the promise is made that the glory of God will return and be revealed not only to the remnant of his covenant people, but to all humanity!

Isaiah 11 reveals more of what that will look like. Reading verses 1-10:

Isaiah 11:1–10 “And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots will bear fruit. And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him— a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. And his breath is in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with his ears. But he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips. And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. And a wolf shall stay with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together as a small boy leads them. And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle. And an infant shall play over a serpent’s hole, and a toddler shall put his hand on a viper’s hole. They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. And this shall happen on that day: the nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse, which shall be standing as a signal to the peoples, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

And jumping to verse 16: Isaiah 11:16 “So there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people that remains, as there was for Israel when it went up from the land of Egypt.”

The journey through the wilderness, the preparing a way for the purified remnant of God’s people, and for the poor and needy of the earth to find rest, would have to come through a faithful Israelite characterized by the very spirit or breath of God in his life. It would be through this Messiah, the prophet says, that the helpless and innocent will be at rest and indeed make peace with the most violent and oppressive of sinners at the holy mountain of God. In the Messaiah’s reign the fears of insecurity, danger, and evil will be removed, not only for each precious individual but for the whole world as well. Feel the force of the contradiction of a child playing over a serpent’s hole, where our instant reaction would be to snatch them away from the presence of sudden, and tragic death. Even more so when we have the words of Genesis 3:15 echoing in our ears: “And I will put hostility between you (that is the serpent) and between the woman, and between your offspring and between her offspring; he will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.””

Then let us think forward to a feeding trough in the town of Bethlehem. Here, hidden away from the eyes of the world was born the Messiah king, with no honour or majesty, and yet it was through Jesus the glory of God once again came to earth to dwell among his people, revealed now in human flesh. Just as Isaiah prohpecied, our Lord Jesus was despised and rejected by humanity, he was a man of suffering, acquainted with sickness and grief. However, it was he who lifted up our sicknesses and bore our pain, when he was crushed on that cross for our iniquities. It was on that cross that he defeated the powers of darkness, destroyed the curse of death, and opened up the highway to the new eternal kingdom for all who believe in him, through his resurrection and ascension to the throne as king of kings, and Lord of lords!

The eschatalogical, or end times revealing of God’s glory enacts a series of unparalleled transformations for us...a transformation of human relationships, a transformation of society at large, a transformation of our own heart, and ultimately a transformation of the whole world when our Lord returns to usher in the new heavens and new earth. To those of us in need of hope, and let’s face it, we need it often and so much more in the times we face don’t we...this hope is found in reminding one another of the grand reality that God’s kingdom has indeed come, that his spirit dwells in each one of us, and that this journey in the wilderness is the highway into our Saviour’s glorious presence. And we are thus inspired to persevere in the face of difficult circumstances, or tragic loss...believing affresh the truth that all things do indeed work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

This temporary affliction, writes the apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 4, is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen...because it is those things that are eternal. Jesus Christ is in us, the hope of glory, and when he appears we will appear with him in glory. (Col 3:4). This is the hope of the believing heart that has glimsped the greatness of God in his or her life.

As we draw to a close I want to bring us back briefly to Isaiah 40...reading from verse 9:

Isaiah 40:9–11 “Get yourself up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift it up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense in his presence. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will carry them in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.”

As we look upon the horizon of our lives today, and on the journey that this faith family has been on...We could search the heights and depths of knowledge, we could try and fail time and again to resolve and make sense of reality around us, we could attempt to create a how-to guide for working through life’s tragedies, and yet I am convinced that not only would that fail, it is pointless if we don’t first grasp the truth of this simple encouragement and assurance:

Our God is good, he is so gracious, so kind...and he is not so distant from our pain and trouble...no, he comforts us in our grief, carries us in our brokeness, and leads us in our weakness. So may it be the Lord Jesus that we pin our hope upon, and pledge our loyalty to, that we may enter from the highway into the courts of his glorious presence. “Comfort, comfort my people,” says our God.

Amen.