Isaiah 40, "Comfort is Knowing and Hoping in God"

When our kids were small, the beach was a favorite place for us. One particular afternoon when Karen was at work, I took two of our kids there to play. A game of tag turned into a disaster when one of them tripped over a barnacle-covered rock. She was scraped from three inches above the knee to three inches below, and the blood was everywhere. She was inconsolable. The only thing I could do was pick her up in my arms and carry her home to clean and bandage her wounds. But the one thing I did not seem able to do was find any words to bring her comfort in her sorrow.

All around us, people are beaten and bruised by so many things all at once. Our friend John said to me a few years ago, “I can see why people go to church at times like these, people want soothing words.” Maybe that’s true for some. But that doesn’t give people enough credit. I don’t think people just want words. They want a real sense of peace in their soul and a true hope for the future.

All of us know the world is broken. The truth is all of us, in our sin, have contributed to breaking it. Our sins against God and others hurt others and ourselves. Each of us stands guilty for breaking our world.

The first half of Isaiah’s prophecy that we’ve been reading together has been a lot of hard truth. Because of Israel’s sin, they will be conquered, mistreated, and exiled. In fact, this is how chapter 39 ends. So when chapter 40 begins, it’s shocking.

Isaiah 40:1 (ESV)

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

God is telling Isaiah, my people are crying in pain. Console them. True comfort, the kind that brings lasting peace and true hope, will come as we are reconciled with God, truly see God just as He is, and put all our hope in God.

Be Reconciled to God

1-8 - When God speaks His final word, it is eternal comfort for His people.

The imagery is God returning to His people. His anger has subsided. He has compassion for their weakness. He is returning in all His glory and He doesn’t want them to be afraid. He wants to comfort and console them.

1-2 - Warfare ended, iniquity pardoned, received double for all her sins. The time of discipline and punishment for sins is over. He is not angry with them, He is not at war with them. (Who wouldn’t want this?)

3-5 - Cited Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23, fulfilled in John the Baptizer - The LORD God is coming back, through the wilderness, we will all see His glory. The wilderness was a literal place through which one would have to journey to come to Jerusalem. But in this case, it is also a wilderness of Israel’s making because of their sins. They made the path between them and God very rough. God will smooth it out.

v. 5 - “for the mouth of the LORD has spoken”, 1:20, then returns to, “the word of our God will stand forever”, in v. 8. When we speak, we announce our intentions, and it might happen 75% of the time. When God speaks, His intention becomes reality, every single time.

6-8 - 1 Peter 1:24-25 (see 1 Pet 1:13-25); people are fragile, frail, and finite, we fade and die; when God promises a thing, it will stand forever.

So, if God is speaking comfort to you, forgiveness of your sins, words of reconciliation, take comfort. God is not like my earthly dad. My earthly dad gets angry with me for a while, he punishes me, but after he has spent his rage and fury, it subsides or he forgets why he was angry in the first place, and everything is okay again. This could bring some comfort for a minute. But it’s not ultimate comfort. What if he gets angry again? I never know we’re reconciled for good.

God isn’t like your earthly dad. When He is done with a thing, He is done. He is not unpredictable, erratic, or impulsive. He doesn’t get angry over little things, He takes a long time to get angry, and He doesn’t stay angry after He has forgiven you. The cross of Jesus teaches us the terrible wrath of God for sin. Jesus, the only righteous human being, took our sins upon Himself. God’s anger for our sins was poured in full force on His only begotten Son at His death. But the resurrection of Jesus tells us that the work is done, God’s wrath has been spent, Jesus has been vindicated as a righteous sacrifice, and God reconciles us through Him.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (ESV)

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So God is not like your dad. In fact, He isn’t like anyone else either.

See God as He Is

There are all kinds of ways people see God. An out of touch old man, a force, an angry dad, the church lady. But ultimate comfort comes from seeing God as He truly is. He isn’t like anyone else. So I need to adjust my expectations of what I see when I look for Him. Isaiah helps us see God in a way that brings comfort.

Isaiah describes the city of Jerusalem on Mount Zion as a herald of good news, gospel. We think of the gospel as what we just explained, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and was raised on the third day for our justification. What is the gospel Jerusalem preached to the world? “Behold your God!”

Isaiah 40:9 (ESV)

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!”

So, Isaiah says that seeing God is good news. Would you agree? Why is it good news when we see God as He is? Because what we see about God is this, verses 10-26:

10 - He is the ruler who uses His power to reward.

11 - The shepherd that cares, gathers and carries the helpless, and gently leads those burdened with life.

12-17 - The omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent One

Isaiah says God is the one who could gather all the waters of the earth in His hand to measure them. He could measure the heavens with one span of His hand. He can pick up all the dust and the mountains and the hills of the earth and weigh them out in His scales. But He Himself can not be measured. He can not be taught anything He doesn’t know. If you add up all the people who have ever lived through all of human history and stacked them up, they would not measure up to His greatness. They wouldn’t tip the balance in a scale compared with God.

In fact...

18-26 - He is the substance of all created things. Nothing would exist without Him, and if He simply blew hard enough, all life on earth would be blown away. He forms the most massive stars, billions of times more massive than our sun, He counts them, He keeps track of them, calls them by name, and knows everything about them.

Isaiah 40:26 (ESV)

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.

And it’s at this point that you and I could begin, and should begin, to feel really small. It’s some comfort to know that God knows everything about everything in my world, and has already figured out all the things I’ll never be able to comprehend. It’s another thing to know that God also knows little me, and cares.

Hope in God

Isaiah 40:27 (ESV)

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”?

Isaiah goes on to bring it all together. What’s the application for us? God is offering reconciliation to us in Christ. If you can see Him as He is, in all His vast power, wisdom, and creative ability, realize that He uses that power, wisdom, and creative ability for you.

27-31 - God sees you, He knows your case, He is big enough, strong enough, and wise enough to help you, so hope in Him and you will grow strong. Isaiah says in verse 28 that Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator who does not faint or grow weary, with unfathomable understanding. And He will give all of that power to you in your weakest point in life to strengthen you.

Maybe you don’t have a lot of strength. Maybe life has worn you out and you’re tired. Maybe you are young and you never get tired, but you aren’t very wise so you spend all your strength on things that don’t matter and won’t last.

Isaiah 40:30–31 (ESV)

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.

This word wait comes from an image of twisting strands of a cord together. I’m not going anywhere or accomplishing anything, but I’m not sitting idle. I’m using my time to prepare for what’s coming. The cord could become a fishing line, or a snare to catch my next meal, or used to tie up a cow, or climb a mountain, or build a shelter in the desert. When I wait for the LORD, I am actively seeking God in ways that strengthen me for whatever He may give me next.

The faithful people of God have always waited on the Lord like this. In the New Testament we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth, another couple like Abraham and Sarah, who are faithful to God and continue to minister faithfully for God while they wait for Him to send the consolation for Israel who are still in Exile, even though they are in the promised land. God promises and provides a son, and they name him John, and John picks up the message of Isaiah, prepare the way for the Lord. Repent of your sin, and be reconciled to God.

And when God wanted us to see Him as He is, He sent Jesus. Jesus reconciles us to God through His death and resurrection. He shows us the wrath of God for sin and the mercy and love of God for sinners. And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, even in affliction, we have comfort from God knowing Christ has suffered for us, and God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. So now we comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. We have put our hope in Christ, and we tell others where hope can be found.

Questions for Discussion

What was a time in your life when you were inconsolable and someone brought you comfort? How did they do that?

When you were a child, what emotions did you experience when your parent(s) punished you for things you had done wrong? What were the emotions when the punishment was over? How did you know you were reconciled to your parent(s)?

What does this passage teach us about God?

Which of these attributes bring you comfort?

Which of these troubles you?

Why does Isaiah tell us about God’s greatness and power in order to comfort us?

What does this passage teach us about ourselves, or people in general? Why does Isaiah tell us how small and fragile we are?

In what ways has God comforted you in Christ? How can you comfort someone else in the same way(s)?