Sunday: Comfort for the Future
Isaiah 40.1-2
In Isaiah 40.1-2, God comforts His people. Their time of punishment has finally ended. What punishment is that?
Is this punishment administered by Assyria, the rod of God’s anger (Isaiah 10), from which God delivered Judah by destroying Sennacherib’s army in 701 B.C. (Isaiah 37)? Or is it the punishment administered by Babylon, which would carry away goods and people from Judah because Hezekiah had displayed his wealth to the messengers from Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39, NRSV)?
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“Assyria” and “Assyrian(s)” are mentioned 43 times from Isaiah 7:17-38:6, but this nation appears only once in the rest of Isaiah, where Isaiah 52:4 refers to past oppression by Egypt and then by “the Assyrian.” In the latter part of Isaiah, deliverance from exile in Babylon is mentioned (Isa: 43:14; Isa: 47:1; Isa: 48:14, Isaiah 48:20), and it is Cyrus, the Persian who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., who is to free the exiles of Judah (Isa: 44:28, Isa: 45:1, Isa: 45:13).
Isaiah 1-39 emphasizes events leading up to deliverance from the Assyrians in 701 B.C., but at the beginning of chapter 40, the book leaps ahead a century and a half to the end of Babylon, in 539 B.C., and the return of the Jews shortly thereafter.
Is the theme of return from Babylon linked with anything earlier in Isaiah? If so, what?
Isaiah 39 serves as a transition to the following chapters by predicting a Babylonian captivity, at least for some of Hezekiah’s descendants ( Isaiah 39.6-7). Furthermore, the oracles of Isaiah chapters 13, 14, and 21 predict the fall of Babylon and the liberty this would bring to God’s people: “But the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land. … When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon” (Isa: 14:1-4, NRSV). Notice the close connection with Isaiah 40.1-2, where God promises His people there is an end to their suffering.
| What do Bible promises about the end of suffering mean to you now, amid your present suffering? What good would our faith be without those promises? Why, then, is it so important to cling to them, no matter what? |
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If the only study you do for this lesson this week is to read Isaiah 40 every day I am sure you would be blessed as you think about what you read and apply it personally. As I think I told you, English and in particular English literature was not my forte at school. It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that I really understood the power of language well-expressed. Isaiah 40 uses powerful adjectives, figures of speech, and turns of phrase, all carefully crafted together to create a meaningful picture of God, us, and salvation. This is fine literature expressing powerful concepts.
We have images of a road builder, building a highway through the landscape. A creator God lasting forever compared with withering grass and flowers and nations that last about as long. We have pictures of a compassionate shepherd gathering lambs in his arms. He contrasts an all-powerful all-knowing God with the ephemeral idol gods. Time and again he reminds us that the all-powerful God is interested in individuals:
And then he promises strength to us who believe in God:
Hopefully we will explore the message of these images, not just in their historical application, but also in their implication for us as living Christians today.
Comfort ye My People. Comfort for believers. God's people have a soft heart. Eze. 36:26 I will give you a new heart....I will take away the stony heart and I will give you a heart of flesh. A believer can't ever be a hard-hearted person. A soft heart is easily hurt and easily wounded. I thank God when my heart hurts to see abuse and horror on the news, for example. This is not the same as a weak heart. Though a soft heart can be easily undermined by Satan. Jesus said, "Except you become as little children you shall nowise enter the kingdom of God". A childlike heart can be an easy prey for Satan. Only the one who trusts and respects the worth of humanity can feel pain when humanity breaks that trust. God's people who are held captive by circumstances beyond their control are only truly comforted by hearing God's Word. God's truth sets us free.
Yes. I may faint. But God will not faint. The youth may faint. But God will not faint.
From beginning.....Comfort, yes, comfort My people! (Is. 40:1) We have received the full punishment for our sins by being united to Christ (Is. 40:2; Is. 53:6; Gal 2:20).
Building along, layer upon layer of truth, to end.... They that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength (Is. 40:31).
The message I get from today's study guide is the LORD's promise to His people throughout history is one of salvation. It starts with the Exodus from Egypt and through various ups and downs looks forward to the return from exile to Babylon. Those were literal rescues from physical oppression which are object lessons for our spiritual condition. 1Cor 10:1-6
The LORD offers to rescue you and me from the dominion of Satan now in our hearts and minds and in the future total freedom from evil in the New World. 2Peter 3:13
I search the Scripures for the spiritual context in everything I read, and the Book of Isaiah is a treasure trove in that respect.
Isaiah receives the Word of God to speak comfort to His People, to let them know “that her warfare (appointed time) is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins” – Isa.40:2KJV.
Whoever or whatever God uses as the ‘Rod of Anger’, it is done to direct the people away from their way of wickedness which leads to destruction, and to redirect them back to their God’s Way of Truth and Light as they had vowed to observe. Sadly, the people of Israel sinned continuously and so it followed that most of the time some form of punishment was levied against them in accordance to the warnings contained in their Covenant.
But then, the prophetic Word of God came to let them know that God had not abandoned them: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” No matter the experiences of dire losses and disappointments, suffering and grieve, there was laid out before them the hope that the Glory of the Lord would be revealed, that the Right Way would still lead them to Salvation.
The perceived value of God’s Promises is in proportion to the perceived value one places in the God one claims to believe in. Our living Faith calles us to trust the God who makes these promises. Faith and God’s promises are interchangeable - no promises, no need for faith; no faith, no need for promises. The beginning of Faith is that we believe there is a God who makes promises and intends to keep them for blessing or for correction, which, in the end, is meant for good again for those who love God and are called according to His purpose – Rom.8:28KJV
Comfort for the Future
The Lord sent Isiah with a message to comfort his people. He encouraged them that punishment and being captive as slaves will not last forever.
This brings me to my present era. There were groups of people who were held captive by others as slaves. These groups of people were/are slaves in many continents of this present world. The Lord is saying to the slave masters, remove your feet from my people so they can serve me. As a result to keep them in slavery forever, a 'slave bible' was written. This bible was redacted with the jots and tittles removed. This bible says, servants must obey their masters, or it shew them when Joseph was in slavery. This bible never mentioned the Exodus of Moses and the children of Israel from Egypt (slavery). But as it was in olden days, so will it be in my era. Every slavery has a beginning and an ending. God will rise up for his people. He has promised to deliver his people who love and serve him.
Concerning the specific punishment referred to, I find this wonderful passage of encouragement to apply to any who read it with faith. As many as God loves, He rebukes and chastens. I would imagine that all who have come to trust in the Lord have experienced this chastening in one way or another. The wise man encourages us to "despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction"(Prov 3:11,12).
We can trust our future with God and not in Material things,though his promises are are future He has proved time and again that he is faithful in Keeping his promises.We can trust Him.