Isaiah3-1

Isaiah, chapter 40, is a turning point in the book. Chapters 36 to 39 are historical narrative, which seem to act as a division between what has gone before and what follows. Some commentators divide the book into the ‘Book of Judgement', chapters 1 to 35, and the ‘Book of Comfort', chapters 40 to 66.

Judgement & Comfort in Isaiah

Whether we are in the former or latter parts of Isaiah, there are warnings about judgement and words of encouragement to the remnant. It's just that in the former, the emphasis is on judgement, in the latter the emphasis turns to comfort and encouragement. There is judgement and comfort throughout the book. God WILL judge ongoing unrighteousness but He will always be looking for a righteous remnant.

What we will find in these studies

A note about reading

Much of these chapters was seemingly written in verse and those who divided the chapters into verses have left us with large verses, often with 4 to 8 lines in them. For that reason, when identifying the part of the verses we are referring to (mostly 3 verses per day), we will use the designation v.4a or v.4d to refer to the part of the verse in question.

Part 1: Prepare the Way of the Lord

In this first part we will see the Lord declaring to Israel that her time of punishment has ended and that they should prepare the way for He is coming. He affirms His word and then declares His greatness. If they are to prepare to encounter God they need to be reminded exactly who He is. Wonderful verses, that enable us to see the Lord's greatness, compared with our frailty and weakness.

A. Find Out:

1. What is the Lord bringing to His people? v.1

2. What does He say to do? v.2a

3. What does He say has finished? v.2b

4. What has been paid for? v.2c

5. How? v.2d

B. Think:

1. When do you need comforting?

2. What has Israel obviously been going through?

3. Why is that coming to an end?

C. Comment:

We need comforting when we've been through a hard time. Israel had obviously been through a hard time. Whether that hard time had been as a result of Hezekiah's infidelities (see previous chapters) or whether it refers to a wider judgement on Israel, or even refers prophetically to the Exile, the message is the same: God has dealt with you according to what you did, and has completed your punishment.

God disciplines those He loves (Heb 12:5-7 / Psa 94:12,13). As someone once laughingly interpreted this, “Those the Lord loves, He beats the hell out of!” When God disciplines it is to remove all aspects of unrighteousness and ungodliness, it is a specific process to remove what is wrong, from the individual and from the people of God.

So, God had been dealing with Israel and had brought double the grief on her for what she had been doing. That was to remove her sin. We'll see this in Isaiah again and again – God will bring righteousness, but He does it by removing the unrighteousness – which is bad behaviour (if the person will repent), or the person if they will not repent!

Thus the Lord is coming to Isaiah and saying, it's all right, the corrective discipline is coming to an end, it's had its effect. Israel is now in a tender, sensitive and humble state, and she now needs gently building up and encouraging. The time for blessing has come!

D. Application:

1. God doesn't leave our unrighteousness unattended!

2. God's corrective processes remove that unrighteous behaviour.

Chapter: Isaiah 40

Passage: Isaiah 40:3-5

A. Find Out:

1. Where was what to be done? v.3a,b

2. How was that repeated? v.3c,d

3. What is to be done to the ground? v.4

4. What will then be revealed? v.5a,b

5. Why will this happen? v.5c

B. Think:

1. Where is the work to be done?

2. What, do you think, is significant in that?

3. What is to be done and why?

C. Comment:

All we are told is that a voice, presumably from heaven, is calling an instruction. We're not told to whom it comes – presumably to the people. The content of the instruction is simply to prepare a way for God to be able to come so that all mankind will be able to see His glory.

Notice in this that because there is an instruction, it is presumably requiring people to be involved in this, i.e. God will not automatically come, but requires the co-operation of people who are to ‘get ready'. What is to be done? Obstacles (hills etc.) are to be removed and holes (valleys) are to be filled in so that the road upon which God will travel will be smooth and easy. Where is it to be done? In the desert or wilderness! God will come to or in the place of dryness? Yes, revivals normally seem to come in times of great spiritual dryness. Israel was in such a place when John the Baptist and Jesus came.

So those are the basics but what is it really saying? Isaiah is saying that the hard times of discipline are coming to an end and a period where God's blessing and His glory are coming, is arriving. But somehow, people have got to have a part in preparing for that. John required the people to repent and ensure their lives were right before God BEFORE Jesus came! John brought the correction (preparing the way) and Jesus brought the blessing (the glory of God seen). There are thus two parts to God's work: correction (discipline), then blessing.

D. Application:

1. Seeking God is my responsibility. I do what I can.

2. Bring blessing is God's work. Only He can do that.

Chapter: Isaiah 40

Passage: Isaiah 40:6-8

A. Find Out:

1. What is Isaiah called to do? v.6a

2. How are men described? v.6b

3. What happens to the grass? v.7

4. But what stands in stark contrast? v.8

B. Think:

1. How is the introduction in verse 6 different from verse 3?

2. What is the point of these verses?

3. Why do you think that is important?

C. Comment:

Israel has paid for her sins and God is coming to the people of God. Now comes this reference to God's word. Why?

Observe first the description of mankind. We are compared here to grass or even on a good day, the flowers of the field. Watch such a field. What happens? Frost or heat comes and the grass withers and the flowers die. What does this say about us? Very simply, we don't last. We come and we go and as Solomon commented in Ecclesiastes, after our death we are soon forgotten. That point is important to remember in this picture.

Because now he is told to contrast the word of God with this picture of frail, temporary mankind. God's word lasts. Why is he saying this? Because God speaks and sometimes it is centuries before that word is fulfilled. God is going to be speaking words here that are going to take centuries to come about, centuries before the time is right for Jesus to come! We should not be put off if God's word seems to be delayed. We're simply called to be faithful in that time of waiting.

Note also the beginning of these verses. In verse 3 it was simply a voice calling and our listening was passive. In verse 6 the voice requires Isaiah to do the calling out. First there is passive information impartation, then comes a call to become involved in imparting the message. We are called to become part of the message we have to convey from God to the world.

D. Application:

1. Am I passively just listening to the word of God?

2. Have I moved on to be involved in passing on the word of God?

Chapter: Isaiah 40

Passage: Isaiah 40:9-11

A. Find Out:

1. Who is now being addressed? v.9a,c

2. Where are they told to go and what to do? v.9b,d

3. What are they actually to say to whom? v.9f

4. Who is coming, how? v.10a

5. What is He bringing? v.10b

6. How does He appear? v.11

B. Think:

1. What is the basic message seen in verse 9?

2. How is it shown to be good news in verse 11?

3. How does verse 10 reinforce all this?

C. Comment:

The message from earlier in the chapter was, “Get ready for God is coming!” That message is reinforced now in verse 10. It isn't completely clear who is being spoken to. It may be Isaiah, it may be Jerusalem, but they are told to become proclaimers of this news, and to go up to a high place, where their voice will carry, and loudly declare this.

The message, again, is very simple, “Here is your God.” (Ponder on ‘your'). He is identified as “the Sovereign I am”, the LORD who was revealed to Moses, the God with whom Israel had had dealings throughout their history. What more are we told about His coming?

He comes powerfully and strongly and will not be withstood. He comes bringing a reward or a wage for those who will respond to Him in righteousness. This is good news for the righteous.

More than that though, He also comes in the form of a shepherd who comes to look after His sheep, gathering His young ones (in the faith) in His arms, close to His heart. He also guard, protects, provides for, and guides those who have young (in the faith) with them. What a beautiful picture of the Lord who especially looks after both the young in the faith and those who bring them into being. The picture of the Lord is one of strength and power AND gentleness and caring.

D. Application:

1. Are you young in the faith? The Lord watches over you.

2. Do you bring spiritual babes into the world? The Lord leads you.

Chapter: Isaiah 40

Passage: Isaiah 40:12-14

A. Find Out:

1. What four things are asked in verse 12?

2. What two things are asked in verse 13?

3. What four things are asked in verse 14?

B. Think:

1. What is the point being made in verse 12?

2. What is the point being made in verses 13 and 14?

3. What, overall, is the point being made here?

C. Comment:

Previously in the chapter we've seen proclamations that God is coming to His people. The three verses here start off a new passage that is extolling the greatness of God which carries on through the next chapter. These verses today start with His power, His might and His wisdom. Let's consider them.

In verse 12 the prophet starts asking rhetorical questions about God's greatness in Creation. Is there anyone else, he implies, who has decided the scope of the oceans? Is there anyone else who has established the skies and the universe? The obvious answer is, of course not. Only THE Almighty God can do these things. He is God! He continues: is there anyone else who has sculptured the earth and formed the mountains and hills? God has done these things, because He is God!

In verses 13 and 14 Isaiah starts asking about the Lord's wisdom and knowledge. Is there anyone who has a mind big enough to fathom God incredible mind? No! Has God ever had to take counsel from someone else because His mind was not big enough to solve a problem? No! Did anyone actually teach God all the knowledge that He has, did anyone give Him the understanding that He has, did anyone impart to Him the wisdom He has? No, He's just got it all! He is God!

Our problem in life, so often, is that we think problems that we have are too hard for God. Really? So God hasn't got the power to change your circumstances? So God doesn't know the reasons behind them and the way through them? Really? Read again!