Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 40

Verse 1

Isa 40:1

Isaiah 40:1-2

INTRODUCTION TO DIVISION VI (Isaiah 40-66)

Our introduction to the whole prophecy is also applicable here; but due to the flood of critical comments to the effect that this division is utterly unlike Isaiah and that it comes from a different author who lived a century or more after Isaiah’s times, we shall address the question again, hopeful that new light can be shed upon the alleged problem.

It is our unwavering conviction that all of the prophecy in our version which is ascribed to Isaiah was indeed written by him, the fact being that no one except Isaiah could possibly have written a line of it. Why do we believe this?

I. The inspired writers of the New Testament quoted from this last section of Isaiah no less than thirty-seven times, almost always making specific mention of the prophet Isaiah as the author of the passage quoted. Here is the real evidence on the authorship of this prophecy, as contrasted with the fembu advocated by the critics. Who were those New Testament writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul? They were the Holy Apostles of the Son of God, to whom Jesus Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would guide them "into all truth." We believe this! Here is an analysis of their quotations from this last Division of Isaiah:

NEW TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS

BY THE APOSTLES FROM Isaiah 40-66 Isaiah 40:3-5 ........ Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23

Isaiah 40:6-8 .........1 Peter 1:24-25

Isaiah 40:13 ..........Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16

Isaiah 42:1-4 .........Matthew 12:18-21

Isaiah 42:7 ........... Mark 4:15-16

Isaiah 45:23 ..........Romans 14:11

Isaiah 49:6 ........... Acts 13:47

Isaiah 49:8 ...........2 Corinthians 6:2

Isaiah 52:5 ...........Romans 2:24

Isaiah 52:7 ...........Romans 10:15

Isaiah 52:11 ..........2 Corinthians 6:17

Isaiah 52:15 ..........Romans 15:21

Isaiah 53:1 ........... John 12:28; Romans 10:16

Isaiah 53:4 ...........Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24

Isaiah 53:7-8 .........Acts 8:32-33

Isaiah 53:9 ...........1 Peter 2:22

Isaiah 53:12 .......... Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37

Isaiah 54:1 ...........Galatians 4:27

Isaiah 54:13 .......... John 6:45

Isaiah 55:3 ........... Acts 13:34

Isaiah 56:7 ...........Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46

Isaiah 59:7-8 .........Romans 3:15-17

Isaiah 59:20-21 .......Romans 11:26-27

Isaiah 61:1-2 ......... Luke 4:18-19

Isaiah 62:11 ..........Matthew 21:5

Isaiah 65:1-2 .........Romans 10:20-21

Isaiah 66:1-2 ......... Acts 7:49-50

Isaiah 66:24 .......... Mark 9:44.

The significant thing about these quotations is that the inspired holy writers took pains to tell us whom they were quoting. Did they know? Of course. Take just one out of many examples of this from the above list, the very first quotation, from Isaiah 40:3-5, quoted by all four of the gospel writers. They each identified the person whom they were quoting, as follows:

Matthew: "This is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, etc." (Matthew 1:3).

Mark: "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, etc." (Mark 1:2).

Luke: "As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, etc." (Luke 3:4).

John: "As said by the prophet Isaiah etc." (John 1:23).

What do the critics do with such an argument as this? They ignore it, that being the only answer they have; and for one who believes the Lord and his holy promises to the apostles, that is no sufficient answer. These quotations are an all-sufficient reason for accepting every word of Isaiah as being One Book by One Author. Nevertheless, there are other reasons for doing so that are just as convincing.

II. God’s "Modus Operandi". Yes, God has a modus operandi, that being the truth that he was never caught in an emergency. God anticipated every need of mankind in his plan of redemption, which was not formulated after men sinned, but "before the foundation of the world." When, in the wilderness of wanderings of Israel, God’s people encountered the biter waters of Marah, God did not instruct Moses to plant a certain tree and wait a generation or two till it matured and then cast it into the waters to sweeten them. Oh no! God had planted that tree perhaps a century before it was needed! Now, in the case of the comfort and encouragement that God’s people were sure to require during their captivity, may we suppose that God waited till they were twenty years deep into that punishment and that God then raised up some Johnny-come-lately of a prophet to prophecy their return and the blessings of God that would follow? Ridiculous! If God had done a thing like that, nobody in Israel would have believed such a "prophet." As Hailey accurately judged:

"Jehovah knows what is in man; and anticipating our every need, He makes provision for us. Over a hundred years before Judah went into captivity, Jehovah made provision through Isaiah the prophet for their spiritual needs ... This is the theme of this section." (Homer Hailey, p. 336.) (See Isaiah 40:12-31).

The utmost precautions were taken in order to insure that Judah would have every reason to believe what this great prophet declared. He was the one who prophesied the captivity; and from the very beginning he had repeatedly spoken of that "remnant" who would return. Furthermore, the Jewish tradition that Manasseh murdered Isaiah, is probably true. Thus Isaiah sealed his prophecies with his own blood. Yet, even with all of that, it was only a pitiful little remnant who believed Isaiah and the other true prophets and returned to Jerusalem. This undeniable fact simply will not square with the critical dictum that the wonderful prophecies found in Isaiah were written by "Some Great Unknown." The Piltdown Man hoax was no greater deception than this allegation of Bible enemies.

III. The Jewish people were incapable of producing any prophet at all during their captivity. The priesthood itself fell to such a low condition during this period that God, through Malachi, uttered a curse against them, accused them of robbing God, and gave expression to the thought that God would be pleased if someone would close the temple itself. What a preposterous proposition it is that during that terribly low estate of Judah, there arose the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, whose writings would be recognized for all ages to come as the "heart of the Old Testament," who would be the most esteemed prophet ever to appear on earth, and whose writings are undoubtedly the most eloquent prophecies ever given concerning the coming of the Messiah into our poor world.

IV. There is no textual evidence of any change in the authorships as we proceed from Isaiah 39 to Isaiah 40. In fact, Isaiah 40 is as well authenticated as belonging to Isaiah as if he had signed it two or three times. Critics complain that he did not sign it anywhere in the last twenty-seven chapters; but the critics themselves never sign their letters but once. There is no historical evidence that any "great unknown prophet" ever lived during the captivity who had the capability of writing these magnificent chapters. Who has ever explained just how such a thing could have happened? If the author of a little book such as any one of half a dozen of the minor prophets would have been so honored and respected as they were, how can it be imagined that that "great unknown nobody" wrote the most magnificent prophecies of a Millennium without anyone’s finding out who he was, where he lived, or anything else concerning him? And just how did he get his marvelous writings incorporated into the book of the writings of the most distinguished royal prophet, Isaiah? And just how did it happen that those writings were certified to all subsequent generations as a bona fide portion of Isaiah?

The preposterous allegations that underlie such a complicated and elaborate complex of deceptions deserve only one appellation. They bear all the earmarks of a gargantuan falsehood, a title which we do not hesitate to assign to this favorite allegation of Biblical enemies.

THE MIKE GLITSCH SUPPLEMENT

Mike Glitsch, a distinguished citizen of Houston, engineer, world traveler, and Bible scholar, the dimensions of whose mind never fail to amaze this writer, has prepared some observations on these last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah which deserve the attention of every careful student of God’s Word; and my wife and I are grateful that he has granted us permission to include portions of his magnificent studies in this introduction. These observations make up the final portion of this Introduction to Division VI.

In that period of time beginning when Christ went up to Jerusalem for the First Passover until he withdrew to the mountain in Galilee to choose the Twelve Apostles, Jesus Christ directly quoted from the Scriptures only six times, that is, from Isaiah 61:1-2; Isaiah 9:1-2; Hosea 6:6; Daniel 12:1-2; Numbers 28:9-10; and Isaiah 42:1-4. However, the subject matter as recorded in all four of the gospels which Jesus Christ discussed during this chronological period dealt very systematically and almost exclusively with the subject matter of Isaiah 40-66.

This means that our Lord Jesus Christ absorbed practically all of these last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah into his teachings, making them in fact the very heart of the teaching during his earthly ministry.

Why did Christ do this? (1) First of all, the prophecies of these chapters were fulfilled in Christ. The very volume of these is astounding. (2) Another reason appears in the fact that Christ did this in order to assure continuity and unanimity among the gospel writers. (3) It is, of course, speculative; but the coincidence is fascinating that Jesus Christ by this emphasis upon this particular section of Isaiah has provided, almost two millenniums before it was needed, an adequate and irrefutable answer to the allegations of those self-styled "higher critics" who, beginning in the 19th century, invented what they called "Deutero Isaiah," an allegedly "unknown prophet" of the exilic, or post-exilic era, whom they arbitrarily installed as the author of these last twenty-seven chapters.

This, along with other devices of the critics, affected all religious thought profoundly and to a degree impossible of being recounted in a few words. This laid the foundations for all modernist thought and led to the ultimate rejection of the authority of the scriptures by almost all Protestant religious groups.

Those "higher critics" confidently predicted that the expected ultimate discovery of Old Testament manuscripts would verify their textual and historical detective work; but the very reverse of this has happened. It occurred in Qumran in 1946, and in subsequent discoveries. The Book of Isaiah was the only one found totally complete in one piece! Yet, in spite of this, some forty-three years later, one will still hear allegedly "Christian" preachers and professors referring to this imaginative phantom "Deutero-Isaiah" as if he once existed, apparently in total ignorance of the truth that "Deutero-Isaiah" was never anything except a Colossal Hoax!

Here is the proof of this: There are forty-eight subjects mentioned in the New Testament during the chronological period between Jesus’ going up to Jerusalem for the first Passover and his retirement into the mountain for prayer the night before he appointed the twelve.

Subject Theme:

No.:

1. Man must be born anew.

2. The Son was sent from God.

3. Man was to receive eternal life.

4. Jesus is the bridegroom.

5. The Lord gives living water.

6. The proper place of worship - Jerusalem.

7. Salvation is of the Jews.

8. God is Spirit.

9. God is all truth.

10. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

11. Gentiles to receive promises, salvation.

12. Signs never seen before to confirm his identity.

13. Jesus is and also brings good tidings.

14. Others to be taught by those who have been taught.

15. The Son came to forgive sins. 16. New things not to be mixed with old.

17. Fasting, how, when, and for what purpose?

18. The mercy of the Lord to man.

19. The mercy of man to man.

20. Judgment was committed to the Son.

21. The resurrection of the dead.

22. A forerunner to go before Messiah (John the Baptist).

23. People accept false gods, and they love darkness.

24. Man will be self-sufficient, honoring each other.

25. Man has never seen or heard the Father.

26. The Son’s works bear witness of him.

27. The Father bears witness of the Son.

28. The Son comes in the Father’s name.

29. The Son knows the hearts of people.

30. The Father is the only God.

31. Moses wrote of the Son of God.

32. If ye honor the Son, ye honor the Father.

33. The Son seeks the will of the Father.

34. The Son can do nothing of himself.

35. Jesus was persecuted by his people (Jews).

36. The Son of God is the Light; he teaches.

37. People who reject the Son cannot perceive the truth.

38. The Son was to be crucified, "lifted up."

39. People must believe and obey.

40. The people who know him follow him.

41. The Sabbath, and Law; a right and a wrong way to keep it.

42. There is power in him.

43. The Lord confuses minds of those who reject him.

44. The Scriptures bear witness of the Son.

45. God loves His children.

46. The Son of God does not bear witness of himself.

47. The Son of God has zeal for the Father’s house.

48. The Son of God was to be put to death.

Now the significant thing about these subjects is that every single one of them is also in these last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah! There are no New Testament passages encountered (in the chronological period under study) that are not also in these twenty-seven chapters; there are very few subjects in this last division of Isaiah that are covered by these New Testament passages.

Note: Glitsch has also produced an elaborate set of charts, backing up every statement made with a verse by verse collation the subjects, leaving no possible excuse for doubting any of the declarations made in this treatise.

Thus, some eighteen hundred years before "Deutero-Isaiah" ever born in the imaginations of Bible enemies, Jesus Christ identified the author of these chapters as Isaiah himself, and systematically made him (the real Isaiah) the basis for his total teaching during his earthly ministry, and did it so completely as to all doubt either of the inspiration or authenticity, either of his holy Apostles, or of that great Prophet Isaiah who had died (sawn asunder, we believe) seven centuries earlier.

We are reproducing herewith a photographic specimen of the Glitsch charts. Note that in the first six chapters of these last twenty-seven, every single verse of each chapter is found to be represented in the Gospel quotations, in many cases not merely one time by several times. Thus, there are fifty-one points of correspondence in Isaiah 40, sixty-five in Isaiah 41, and more than fifty each in Isaiah 42; Isaiah 43; Isaiah 44; Isaiah , 45.

This pattern prevails throughout all twenty-seven of these last chapters of Isaiah. This is the most astounding thing that we have ever heard of in a study of Isaiah; and we consider it to be of the utmost significance. Did Jesus Christ consider these chapters valid portions of Isaiah’s prophecies? He most assuredly did!

A SPECIMEN OF THE GLITSZCH CHARTS

The numbers below refer to subjects the which were listed above (Subject No. 1 through Subject No. 48).

Isaiah 40:1 - Subject No. 18

Isaiah 40:2 - Subject No. 18

Isaiah 40:3 - Subject No. 22

Isaiah 40:4 - Subject No. 22

Isaiah 40:5 - Subject No. 11

Isaiah 40:6 - Subject No. 3

Isaiah 40:7 - Subject No. 3

Isaiah 40:8 - Subject No. 3

Isaiah 40:9 - Subject No. 13

Isaiah 40:10 - Subject Nos. 2,28, 15,3, 18,21

Isaiah 40:11 - Subject Nos. 18,36, 15,40

Isaiah 40:12 - Subject Nos. 30,9

Isaiah 40:13 - Subject Nos. 30,8

Isaiah 40:14 - Subject No. 30

Isaiah 40:15 - Subject No. 11

Isaiah 40:16 - Subject No. 29

Isaiah 40:17 - Subject No. 29

Isaiah 40:18 - Subject No. 25

Isaiah 40:19 - Subject No. 23

Isaiah 40:20 - Subject No. 23

Isaiah 40:21 - Subject Nos. 9,24

Isaiah 40:22 - Subject No. 9

Isaiah 40:23 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 40:24 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 40:25 - Subject Nos. 25,28, 2

Isaiah 40:26 - Subject Nos. 9,42

Isaiah 40:27 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 40:28 - Subject Nos. 24,9

Isaiah 40:29 - Subject No. 42

Isaiah 40:30 - Subject No. 29

Isaiah 40:31 - Subject Nos. 1,18, 21,15, 40,42

Isaiah 41:1 - Subject Nos. 1,11, 39,3, 20

Isaiah 41:2 - Subject Nos. 9,20, 30,44

Isaiah 41:3 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 41:4 - Subject No. 30

Isaiah 41:5 - Subject Nos. 12,39

Isaiah 41:6 - Subject Nos. 19,24

Isaiah 41:7 - Subject No. 23

Isaiah 41:8 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 41:9 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 41:10 - Subject Nos. 7,18

Isaiah 41:11 - Subject Nos. 35,43

Isaiah 41:12 - Subject Nos. 7,43

Isaiah 41:13 - Subject Nos. 7,18, 36

Isaiah 41:14 - Subject Nos. 7,2, 15,28

Isaiah 41:15 - Subject Nos. 7,12

Isaiah 41:16 - Subject Nos. 7,12, 28

Isaiah 41:17 - Subject Nos. 5,2, 28 Isaiah 41:18 - Subject Nos. 5,11

Isaiah 41:19 - Subject No. 11

Isaiah 41:20 - Subject Nos. 11,27, 28

Isaiah 41:21 - Subject Nos. 24,23

Isaiah 41:22 - Subject Nos. 23,9, 12

Isaiah 41:23 - Subject Nos. 23,12

Isaiah 41:24 - Subject Nos. 23,43

Isaiah 41:25 - Subject Nos. 26,20, 29

Isaiah 41:26 - Subject Nos. 27,24

Isaiah 41:27 - Subject Nos. 27,44, 13

Isaiah 41:28 - Subject Nos. 24,43

Isaiah 41:29 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 42:1 - Subject Nos. 2,8, 11,20, 36

Isaiah 42:2 - Subject Nos. 9,10, 12,13, 18,26, 44

Isaiah 42:3 - Subject Nos. 18,36, 9,13, 29

Isaiah 42:4 - Subject Nos. 42,9, 13,20, 11

Isaiah 42:5 - Subject Nos. 9,30, 27,8

Isaiah 42:6 - Subject Nos. 28,40, 1,36

Isaiah 42:7 - Subject Nos. 36,13, 15,18, 21

Isaiah 42:8 - Subject No. 28

Isaiah 42:9 - Subject Nos. 16,27, 44

Isaiah 42:10 - Subject Nos. 16,11

Isaiah 42:11 - Subject No. 11

Isaiah 42:12 - Subject Nos. 39,14

Isaiah 42:13 - Subject Nos. 26,27, 47

Isaiah 42:14 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 42:15 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 42:16 - Subject Nos. 36,43

Isaiah 42:17 - Subject No. 23

Isaiah 42:18 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 42:19 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 42:20 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 42:21 - Subject Nos. 36,16, 31,44

Isaiah 42:22 - Subject Nos. 24,41

Isaiah 42:23 - Subject No. 29

Isaiah 42:24 - Subject Nos. 20,41

Isaiah 42:25 - Subject Nos. 20,37, 43

Isaiah 43:1 - Subject Nos. 15,9

Isaiah 43:2 - Subject Nos. 18,36

Isaiah 43:3 - Subject Nos. 30,28, 15,2, 7,10

Isaiah 43:4 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 43:5 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 43:6 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 43:7 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 43:8 - Subject Nos. 40,36

Isaiah 43:9 - Subject Nos. 23,24

Isaiah 43:10 - Subject Nos. 27,28, 30

Isaiah 43:11 - Subject Nos. 30,10

Isaiah 43:12 - Subject Nos. 27,30, 14

Isaiah 43:13 - Subject Nos. 30,41

Isaiah 43:14 - Subject Nos. 28,10, 7

Isaiah 43:15 - Subject Nos. 28,10, 9

Isaiah 43:16 - Subject No. 9

Isaiah 43:17 - Subject No. 9

Isaiah 43:18 - Subject No. 16

Isaiah 43:19 - Subject Nos. 16,5

Isaiah 43:20 - Subject No. 5

Isaiah 43:21 - Subject No. 40

Isaiah 43:22 - Subject Nos. 24,29

Isaiah 43:23 - Subject No. 41

Isaiah 43:24 - Subject Nos. 41,29

Isaiah 43:25 - Subject Nos. 15,28

Isaiah 43:26 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 43:27 - Subject Nos. 37,41

Isaiah 43:28 - Subject Nos. 43,20

Isaiah 44:1 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 44:2 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 44:3 - Subject Nos. 5,8

Isaiah 44:4 - Subject No. 40

Isaiah 44:5 - Subject Nos. 28,29, 30,24

Isaiah 44:6 - Subject Nos. 30,28, 10

Isaiah 44:7 - Subject Nos. 30,9

Isaiah 44:8 - Subject Nos. 30,27

Isaiah 44:9 - Subject Nos. 23,43

Isaiah 44:10 - Subject No. 23

Isaiah 44:11 - Subject No. 20

Isaiah 44:12 - Subject Nos. 23,24, 5

Isaiah 44:13 - Subject Nos. 23,24

Isaiah 44:14 - Subject Nos. 23,9

Isaiah 44:15 - Subject Nos. 23,24, 43

Isaiah 44:16 - Subject Nos. 24,43

Isaiah 44:17 - Subject Nos. 23,24, 43

Isaiah 44:18 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 44:19 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 44:20 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 44:21 - Subject Nos. 7,45

Isaiah 44:22 - Subject Nos. 15,45

Isaiah 44:23 - Subject Nos. 28,15, 2

Isaiah 44:24 - Subject Nos. 28,15, 2,9

Isaiah 44:25 - Subject No. 43

Isaiah 44:26 - Subject No. 27

Isaiah 44:27 - Subject No. 27

Isaiah 44:28 - Subject No. 27

Isaiah 45:1 - Subject Nos. 27,9

Isaiah 45:2 - Subject Nos. 27,9

Isaiah 45:3 - Subject Nos. 27,9

Isaiah 45:4 - Subject Nos. 27,9

Isaiah 45:5 - Subject Nos. 27,9, 3

Isaiah 45:6 - Subject No. 30

Isaiah 45:7 - Subject No. 9

Isaiah 45:8 - Subject Nos. 5,27, 9

Isaiah 45:9 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 45:10 - Subject No. 24

Isaiah 45:11 - Subject Nos. 12,28, 10

Isaiah 45:12 - Subject No. 9

Isaiah 45:13 - Subject Nos. 6,16, 2,10, 13,15

Isaiah 45:14 - Subject No. 7

Isaiah 45:15 - Subject Nos. 23,3, 2

Isaiah 45:16 - Subject Nos. 43,23

Isaiah 45:17 - Subject Nos. 28,3, 2

Isaiah 45:18 - Subject Nos. 9,30

Isaiah 45:19 - Subject Nos. 9,36, 18,27

Isaiah 45:20 - Subject Nos. 23,24

Isaiah 45:21 - Subject Nos. 30,9, 27,28

Isaiah 45:22 - Subject Nos. 2,28

Isaiah 45:23 - Subject Nos. 39,28, 36

Isaiah 45:24 - Subject Nos. 40,39

Isaiah 45:25 - Subject Nos. 15,28

SECTION A. OF DIVISION VI

Isaiah 40-48

These eight chapters are entitled "The Contest Between Jehovah and the Idols" by Hailey.^[1] The first chapter in this section (Isaiah 41) gives us Jehovah’s Confrontation with the idols.

In this section, God presented three servants who will appear prominently in his deliverance of Israel from their bondage and captivity, that entire event being also a type of the far Greater Deliverance of mankind from the captivity and bondage of sin. These three servants are the Secular Israel (the blind and deaf servant), the earthly ruler Cyrus, and the Ideal Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ our Lord. "Jehovah’s victory over the nations and their heathen gods is the major theme of these chapters."

Of interest is the number of the names for God which are used in this section:

[~’El].....is used 15 times and means "the mighty one." Sometimes used of pagan gods, it usually refers to the true God.

[~’Eloah].......is found once in Isaiah 41 times in Job, and is parallel with the name Rock, indicating God’s permanence and ability.

[~’Elohiym]......is found 21 times.

[~Yahweh] (Jehovah).... is found 66 times in references to the Covenant.

Lord.......... is the KJV rendition of [~’Adonay].

The Holy One of Israel.....................This title of God was Isaiah’s favorite and was used 11 times in the earlier chapters, once in the historical portion, and 13 times in Division VI, and only five other times in the Bible, three times in the Psalms and twice in Jeremiah.^[3]

Creator.....Isaiah 43:15, Israel’s Maker...Isaiah 45:11, Israel’s Redeemer and Saviour.

This chapter begins the final division of Isaiah’s prophecies. There is a very remarkable difference in this division from all that has preceded in the prophecy. No, it is not a different author, nor a different style, but a different situation and a different purpose. These differences are far more than enough to account for the changes so evident from here to the end of Isaiah.

Isaiah had just announced in stern, dramatic terms the coming captivity of Judah in Babylon. Up until this point, it appears that Isaiah might have believed that the captivity might be avoided; but the failure of Hezekiah recorded in the previous chapter was a sure indication that the royal family of Judah was a poor place to expect the kind of changes that would be required by the Lord if the total punishment of the whole nation was to be avoided.

Isaiah no longer expected any further development in Judah except the ultimate execution of God’s wrath inherent in the forthcoming captivity.

What did Isaiah do? He, through the power of God, moved to comfort God’s people during the frightful ordeal through which they were destined to pass. He already knew, through God’s revelation, that a remnant would return; and in these chapters, Isaiah revealed the very name of the mighty ruler who would break the back of pagan Babylon and order the return of Judah to Jerusalem, Cyrus. But Isaiah’s prophetic insight extended far beyond Judah’s return from physical captivity to a still more glorious future event, namely, the return of all mankind from the captivity of sin to the loving fellowship with God. This great deliverance would be accomplished through the Messiah, called in these chapters "My Servant."

All of the thrilling messages of these chapters were designed to comfort and inspire God’s people to trust in the Divine visitation that would restore their liberty; but, over and beyond that, there continually looms the still greater deliverance designed for "all flesh," Jew and Gentile alike, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 40:1-2

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins."

Cheyne viewed this little paragraph as the theme, not merely of this chapter but of the remaining twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah. He also believed that this was a commission to "all the prophets"; but we do not agree with that. It was the commission to Isaiah, somewhat of an auxiliary commission to his original call, the great assignment here being that of comforting God’s people.

"Comfort ye my people ..." (Isaiah 40:1). Yes, God still has a people, despite the sins and rebellions of Israel. Although the sinful kingdom is to undergo well-deserved punishment, there remains nevertheless a "righteous remnant," that being, particularly, the "people" whom God will comfort.

Note that this chapter has no reference whatever to Babylon, nor to anything that is supposed to have happened to Israel between Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 39. One may find all of that in the speculations of critics! It is implied, however, in Isaiah 40:2, that Judah will endure hard military service (warfare) and receive "double" penalty from God for her sins. "The double punishment refers, perhaps, to (a) the seventy years of captivity, and (b) the eternal punishment visited upon the person of Christ the sin-bearer on Calvary."

"Her iniquity pardoned, her warfare accomplished ..." (Isaiah 40:2). "These are perfects of prophetic certainty," a fact proved by the truth that Jerusalem in the days of Isaiah had not actually received the forgiveness of her sins, nor had her warfare then been accomplished. As a matter of fact, it lay more than a century in the future. Isaiah, however, sees all as already accomplished in the Divine counsels, and so announces it to the people."

These two verses serve ample notice upon us that the theme of Isaiah’s prophecy here encompasses the far distant future, and that the ultimate comfort of God’s "righteous remnant" will not be their return from physical captivity, though that will be included, but will principally consist of the forgiveness of their sins, a benefit which will depend upon and derive absolutely from the achievement of Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom.

Some have complained that the repetition of "Comfort ye, comfort ye" is unlike Isaiah; on the other hand it is a hallmark of his writings. See Isaiah 24:16, and Isaiah 29:1 for similar instances of this type of repetition.

Isaiah 40:1-2 STRENGTHEN: There is definitely a division of Isaiah’s book at chapter 40. This, however, does not mean the book has two different authors any more than there were two different authors for the Pentateuch (first five books of the O.T.). Moses, author of the Pentateuch, had different purposes in mind for his books and so used a different style. Isaiah has a different purpose in mind for the last half of his book and so uses a different style. For evidence of one authorship of Isaiah see Special Study, “Seventeen Arguments That The Book of Isaiah Was Written By One Author,” pages 1–4. Isaiah’s main purpose in chapters 1–39 was to preach against the sin of Israel and predict judgment. His main purpose in chapters 40–66 is to preach of peace and predict the nature of the future Israel of God, the Church. Edward J. Young calls chapters 40–66, “The Salvation and Future Blessing of The True Israel of God.” These latter chapters are intensely Messianic! Isaiah 40:3-4; Isaiah 40:6-8; Isaiah 53:1-12; Isaiah 55:1-3; Isaiah 61:1-2 are specifically fulfilled in the New Testament. We have emphasized the Messianic nature of chapters 40–66 in our outline (see also the chart, Vol. I, pgs. 64–65).

These first two verses of chapter 40 form a prologue for the rest of the entire book. Some have outlined chapters 40–66 in a threefold division to correspond to the prologue thusly:

1. Isaiah 40:1 to Isaiah 48:22—“her warfare is ended.”

2. Isaiah 49:1 to Isaiah 57:21— “her iniquity is pardoned.”

3. Isaiah 58:1 to Isaiah 66:24— “she hath received . . . double for all her sins.”

Nakhamu is the Hebrew word translated comfort. It is also translated repent in many places in the O.T. The authors of the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament) used the Greek word parakaleo which is the word Paraclete or Comforter comes from in John’s Gospel. In Greek it means “one called alongside to help, aid or strengthen.” The command in verse one is for someone to “strengthen, help or aid” God’s people.

Who is to do this “strengthening”? It is all the prophets from Isaiah to the Messiah. It is probably correct to say that the initial comforting was for the Israel of Isaiah’s day or the Israel of the captivities (although the captivity in Babylon has not yet occurred). However, the ultimate target is the Messianic Israel. The fulfillment is for the days of John the Baptist and the Messiah. The true Israel’s warfare was not ended and her iniquity pardoned until accomplished in Christ (cf. Luke 1:67-79) and John the Baptist was born especially to announce this. In Isaiah 40:1-11 there are two texts specifically quoted in the New Testament as finding their fulfillment there (Isaiah 40:3-4 and Isaiah 40:6-8). The prophets from Isaiah to Malachi must strengthen Israel that those who believe may prepare a remnant through which the Incarnate Son may come and establish His kingdom. John the Baptist was the one who was “more than a prophet” (Matthew 11:9), the one whose crying in the wilderness signaled the fulfillment of “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 11:13). The Messiah-Servant was the one to whom this prophecy pointed. (See Isaiah 49:13.)

The Hebrew phrase dabberu ‘al—lev translated “speak ye comfortably” or “speak tenderly” means literally, “speak upon the heart.” It is a phrase meaning to “win someone over” in Genesis 34:3 and Judges 19:3. In Genesis 50:21 Joseph “spoke upon the heart” of his brothers to build their confidence in his kind intentions toward them. This is the manner in which the strengthening is to be done. The comforting is not something to be done superficially—it is to be lodged in the heart of the people.

What is to be planted on Jerusalem’s heart is that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned and she has received double from Jehovah for all her sins. This cannot have the return from the Babylonian captivity for its essential goal for the nation of Israel enjoyed only a brief respite from conflict and struggle after their restoration. Daniel predicts 490 years of “trouble” to follow the restoration from captivity in minute detail. Daniel also predicts that Israel’s iniquity will not be pardoned until the end of those 490 years (Daniel 9:24-27 in our commentary). So, the comforting or strengthening of Jerusalem is predicted on the promise of cessation of warfare and pardoning of iniquity in the great Messianic era of the future. That era will be announced by “The Voice” who was none other than John the Baptist. Jerusalem “received of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins.” This may mean either her punishment was abundant or her blessing was abundant. In either case, once again, it can find its ultimate fulfillment only in the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 53:1-2 for abundant punishment and Isaiah 61:1-11 for abundant blessing—both in the Messiah).

Verses 3-8

Isa 40:3-8

Isaiah 40:3-5

"The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough place a plain: and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it."

The first impression here may be that God will precede the captives on the way back home from Babylon, and that these words are a call to prepare the Lord’s way through the desert. However, as Archer noted:

"From Matthew’s application of this verse to the ministry of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3), it is apparent that these geographical features symbolize the arid lifelessness of the unconverted soul. The hills represent the carnal pride of the sinner, the valleys his moods of carnal hopelessness and self-pity.”

In short, the meaning is that Judah should prepare their hearts for the coming manifestation of God in their deliverance.

The figure of leveling and preparing literal roads is taken from the practice of some ancient rulers who actually required such preparation when they traveled to distant places. An ancient example of this, given by Lowth, is seen in the march of Semaramis’ marches into Media and Persia, "She ordered the precipices to be digged clown and the hollows to be filled up; and, at great expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious road.”

Despite the obvious primary application of this passage to the return of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, "At the same time it is clear that the prophet was inspired to use language of a special design that should also appropriately express an even more important event, the coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, and the work that he would perform as preparatory to the first advent of Messiah.”

As Adam Clarke noted, "We have the irrefragable authority of John the Baptist and of our blessed Saviour himself, as reported by the gospels, that these verses apply to the introduction of the Gospel and the kingdom of Christ, who was to effect a much greater deliverance of God’s people, Jews and Gentiles alike, from the captivity of sin and the dominion of death.”

Isaiah 40:6-8

"The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever."

The big point in this paragraph is the last clause. It points to the only dependable and certain anchor that men have, namely, the word of the Lord.

Both Peter and James quoted from this passage (1 Peter 1:24-25; James 1:10-11), bringing to six the New Testament authors who quoted from this chapter, four of them ascribing the passage to Isaiah. No Christian should dare to ascribe it to anyone else!

Isaiah 40:3-8 STRAIGHTEN: The Hebrew construction is interesting. Literally it is qol qorea, “voice, one crying.” The first three gospel writers all confirm this found its fulfillment in John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:4-6).

Certainly, all the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi were commissioned by this command to “prepare” the way for the coming of the Lord. Unquestionably, a faithful remnant needed to be continually “prepared” so that new generations of a messianic nucleus might be preserved through the centuries from Isaiah to Christ. But it was John the Baptist who had the climactic job of preparing an immediate nucleus for the coming of God in the flesh—Jesus Christ. It was John the Baptist who first immersed men and women in water for repentance unto the remission of sins (Matthew 3:1-2; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:1-3). It was the Immerser who pointed some of his principal disciples to Jesus (John 1:29-51) and these men became apostles—evangelists and missionaries of the Messianic kingdom, the church, Indeed, even the Lord Himself said of John the Immerser, “. . . among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist,” (Matthew 11:11).

The Hebrew word ba’aerabah means “in the desert.” It is the same word from which we have Arabia. The people are in the “wilderness” and God is going to come to them. They must prepare Him a way. The “desert” or “wilderness” was not necessarily an endless, flat sea of sand as we think of a desert today. A wilderness or desert could be any type of terrain which was uninhabited by people. The river banks of the Jordan, cluttered with reeds, brush and rocks was a wilderness. The barren mountains of southern Judea were a wilderness (“desert”). These wildernesses with their brush, mountains, valleys, rocks, and wild animals presented formidable obstacles to travel in ancient times. When kings and potentates wished to journey and it involved traversing such an unlikely territory, they sent great companies of slaves and workers on ahead of them to fill in valleys and lower hills and generally prepare a safe and easy pathway for them to travel. The desert is a figure of the obstacles and impediments that have kept God from His people. It was their sinful rebellion (Isaiah 59:1-3) as depicted in the first 39 chapters that was keeping God from His people. This rebellious attitude in the majority will intensify in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel until God leaves them (Ezekiel 10:18; Ezekiel 11:23). God wants to come to them in Person—Incarnate—in the flesh. He wants to reveal His glory to all mankind (Isaiah 40:5). And when they have a remnant fully prepared—when some believe Him enough to remove all obstacles into their hearts—when some are willing to obey Him completely (like Mary, mother of Jesus), then He will come! Isaiah is emphatically the missionary book of the Old Testament. He begins his prophecy (Isaiah 2:2-3) by stating that “all the nations” shall flow to Zion. He ends it by stating that “all flesh” shall come to worship before the Lord (Isaiah 66:23). One has only to take a concordance and look for “peoples” and “nations” in Isaiah to observe how often the prophet predicts that people from all nations will eventually become citizens of the Messianic kingdom of God.

A Voice is saying, Cry out. The Voice of verse six is evidently the Lord calling upon His messengers to add more exhortation to the message of “strengthening,” First, there is the exhortation to “prepare a way” for the Lord to come. The N.T. applies this to John the Baptist as the one who would prepare the hearts of people to receive the Messiah (Luke 1:16-17). Further preparation to receive God is proclaiming the message that “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field”: and the N.T. applies this to man’s inability to save himself, the redemption that is in Christ, and man’s access to that redemption through obedience to the gospel (1 Peter 1:13-24). Now the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi were charged to preach man’s frailty and his inability to save himself, and the redemption of God provided by grace in some future era. And all their contemporaries who believed this and trusted in Jehovah were straightened out in their view of man and God. But only the substitutionary death of Christ and His resurrection (the gospel) validated once and for all man’s lostness and God’s faithfulness. Only the gospel straightens man out so God can come to him. Only the gospel demonstrated ultimately that the word of God shall stand forever. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the entire “strengthening” half of Isaiah’s prophecy (ch. 40–66)!

Verses 9-11

Isa 40:9-11

Isaiah 40:9-11

"O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead them that have their young."

The repetition of the same thought in successive clauses, as in Isaiah 40:9, "is quite in the manner of Isaiah." Some scholars seem to be troubled here by the use of a feminine pronoun in "Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion." But the solution proposed by Archer appears to us as correct. "Jerusalem, the Holy City (The New Jerusalem that cometh down out of heaven as a bride, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ), she is to announce Jehovah’s coming." Archer also pointed out that "thou that preachest the Gospel" is a better rendition than appears in the American Standard Version.

Note that "the Lord’s arm and the Lord’s hand" in Isaiah 40:10, as Rawlinson pointed out is a favorite expression of Isaiah, occurring in "Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 31:3; Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 53:1; and Isaiah 62:3.” This is a good place to notice that other verses in this same chapter exhibit expressions and usages peculiar to Isaiah. In Isaiah 40:5, we have the words "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isaiah used this expression here, and in Isaiah 1:20, and in Isaiah 58:14. "No other writer uses this expression.” Also, in Isaiah 40:25, we have an abbreviated form of Isaiah’s special designation of God as, "The Holy One of Israel," an expression used dozens of times in Isaiah, and only once or twice by any other Old Testament writer.

Isaiah 40:27 has this: "O Jacob ... O Israel." "This pleonastic combination, so characteristic of Isaiah, is also found in Isaiah 9:8; Isaiah 10:21-22; Isaiah 14:1; Isaiah 27:6; Isaiah 29:23 in the earlier chapters, and in Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 42:24; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 43:22; Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 44:1; Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 46:3; Isaiah 49:5-6, etc. in the last twenty-seven chapters!”

The significance of this, along with other things cited here, is that it earmarks this chapter as having been written by Isaiah just as clearly as if he had signed it a half dozen times.

Isaiah 40:11 is an expression of the tenderness of God toward his people under the metaphor of a loving shepherd; and Jesus Christ our Lord called attention to the application of this metaphor to Himself when he declared that, "I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:14 ff).

Isaiah 40:9-11 SURRENDER: The construction of the Hebrew in verse nine does not necessitate the “tidings” to be told “to” Zion. Literally translated the verse would read, “So, a mountain high go you to, you bringer of good tidings, Zion.” We have indicated this in our paraphrase. In other words, Zion is the bringer of good tidings—not the one to whom good tidings are brought. Zion and Jerusalem are personified as proclaimers of good news. Isaiah predicted earlier that the law and the word of the Lord would “go forth” out of Zion and Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The good tidings are to be proclaimed koakh, powerfully, and, tiyraaiy, fearlessly.

What is Zion to proclaim? Behold! God is coming in mightiness! Adonai-Yaweh, the Lord-Jehovah is coming. Zeroau, arm, usually symbolizes a characteristic—power. It may also symbolize the Messiah who came as God’s “Arm” to rule (cf. Isaiah 51:4-5; Isaiah 52:7-10; Isaiah 53:1; Luke 1:51). Isaiah 52:7-10 also predicts the “good tidings” by which the covenant people are to be “comforted” involving the Lord “baring His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations.” It is apparent that “arm” here and in Isaiah 52:7-10 refers to the Messiah.

There could hardly be a better climax to this great Messianic prologue of the “comfort” section in Isaiah’s book than Isaiah 40:11. The “shepherd” can be none other than Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The Messiah-shepherd is one of the greatest concepts of Old Testament prophecy (cf. Ezekiel 34:20-31; Micah 5:1-4; Zechariah 11:7-14; Zechariah 13:7, etc.). Jesus called Himself, The Good Shepherd (Luke 15:3-7; John 10:1-30) and His audience as a “flock” that needed shepherding (Matthew 9:36-38; John 10:1-30).

If Isaiah and those prophets who come after him are to prepare mankind for the coming of the Lord, they must get men to prepare their wicked, desert-like hearts like a smooth, straight highway; they must straighten out their evaluation of man’s ability to save himself and decide that man is capable of abiding forever only if he abides in the eternal word of God; they must surrender to the good tidings that God is going to send His “Arm”—the tender, Good Shepherd—to rule for Him.

Isaiah was writing of the glorious future for the benefit of the people of his day. Isaiah’s task was to preserve a remnant of faithful Israelites who would be able to endure the disintegration of their nation, go into captivity and return to carry on the Messianic destiny. This remnant was to pass on their faith in the prophetic promises that this destiny would be preserved by God and ultimately fulfilled—if not in their lives, in some glorious era to come. There may be an initial reference in this prologue to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine in the days of Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.

But, unquestionably, the ultimate focus of the great redemption promised here—the coming of God to His people who are prepared—is to the Messiah and His kingdom—the church. We have inspired documentation in the New Testament that this is so!

Verses 12-17

Isa 40:12-17

Isaiah 40:12-17

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel? and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All the nations are as nothing before him as less than nothing, and vanity."

Isaiah here offered no argument for the existence of God, because he was addressing a people who had long been accustomed to the acceptance of such a fact. Here, Isaiah was commenting upon the greatness of God. As Hailey noted, "No more appropriate title for these verses could be imagined than the one found in the ASV, as follows: `The Incomparable Greatness of God.’”

There is a series of rhetorical questions here, every one of which requires the answer: "No one." Kelley commented that the use of such questions, "was a favorite literary device of this prophet.”

The apostle Paul quoted from Isaiah 40:13 in Romans 11:34. One of the unusual metaphors here is in Isaiah 40:16 where it is declared that the whole forest of Lebanon for the fire and all of the beasts thereof for the burnt-offering would not be sufficient to provide a single sacrifice for such a great God as Jehovah!

"The nations ..." (Isaiah 40:17). This means all of the nations on earth taken together.

Isaiah 40:12-17 SOVEREIGN CREATOR: If God’s covenant people are to be strengthened (comforted) in order to fulfill their messianic destiny they must prepare themselves to receive God’s coming to them in the flesh. This is announced in Isaiah 40:1-11. But they are not prepared. They have made for themselves gods of wood and metal. They do not know the God who speaks to them through the prophets because they have rejected His word for that of the “mediums and the wizards” (Isaiah 8:19). They think they know him. But they have compared Him to their idols and pronounced Him impotent, unable to carry out His promises (cf. Isaiah 5:18-20; Isaiah 29:15-16; Isaiah 48:1-5; Jeremiah 17:15, etc.). In fact, Isaiah’s contemporaries have already told him they do not want to know the Holy One of Israel! (Isaiah 30:9-11).

It is interesting that Isaiah, attempting to prepare the people for the messianic destiny, does not spend his time in elaborate plans for organization, entertainment, chicken-dinners, welfare programs, singing, or emotion-packed stories. He preached a logical, reasonable sermon on the nature and character of God. Mankind is not going to be saved by human programs but by perceiving the Person of God.

Who is the God whose coming the prophet has predicted? He is the Sovereign Creator. He has created the earth and its physical features in perfect proportion necessary to maintain the intricate balance of life. The fundamental principle of geophysics known as isostasy (“equal weights”) is announced in Isaiah 40:12. The waters of the earth’s surface, the land-mass and the atmosphere were created with the preciseness necessary to cause the proper gravitational and hydrological functions to sustain life on this planet. The Hebrew word shalish is translated measure referring to “the dust of the earth . . .” and means literally a third. The surface of the earth consists of land and water. Land, the solid part, covers about 57,584,000 square miles, or about three tenths (⅓) of the earth’s surface! Amazing! How did Isaiah know that “the dust of the earth” was a third 2700 years ago? The only accounting for it is that it was divinely revealed to him!

The God who is coming is not only omnipotent, He is omniscient. The verb translated directed in Isaiah 40:13 is the Hebrew tikken and may also be translated measured. He who has measured the creation cannot be measured by the creation. He is unmeasurable and unsearchable (cf. Job 5:9; Psalms 145:3; Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33).

Creation required infinite, supernatural knowledge. Look wherever he will—into the vastness of outer space or into the minuteness of biological space or into the labyrinthine space of human personality—man reaches limits to his knowledge. But God knows. This was demonstrated once for all in Jesus Christ who calmed the seas, raised the dead, cast out demons, read the minds of His disciples and enemies, and predicted the future behavior of men and women. God knows—but no one taught God this knowledge, for no creature possesses such knowledge.

How did Isaiah come to such a lofty concept of God? Not by human speculation. One has only to read ancient literature of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans to understand that the great thinkers of history never reached such sublime heights as these in their speculations about origins and gods. Isaiah’s knowledge of God came by revelation (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:1-13).

Not only is Jehovah infinitely supreme to individuals, He is sovereign to and independent of nations. Powerful world empires consolidate human wisdom, human power and natural resources, and seem to be able to exercise and execute the will of man in opposition to the will of God. World empires appear at times to have the power to usurp the sovereignty of God upon the earth. But compared to the power and wisdom of God they are as infinitesimal as a “drop in a bucket.” It is not that God has no concern for the nations. The Bible is His love letter to the world. But as far as their opposition to the fulfilling of His purposes, it is “less than nothing—vanity.” His Being and His Sovereignty is not dependent upon them. They do not create Him—He creates them. He does not need them. If all creation were a temple, Lebanon an altar, its lordly woods the fire-wood, and its countless beasts the sacrifice, it would not be an offering sufficient to make Jehovah dependent upon man. If God were hungry He would not need to depend upon man (Psalms 50:3-15). If He needed a house He would not need to depend upon man (Isaiah 66:1-2).

Perhaps Christians today need this sermon of Isaiah! Perhaps we sometimes flirt with the same arrogance of the Jews of Isaiah’s day—that God could not do without us! God is not dependent upon our goodness, our offerings, our wisdom, our buildings. It is we who need His goodness. We need to make offerings to Him. The Jews were not ready for God to come to them until they perceived this. No man is ready to receive God, His Son or His Spirit, until he perceives the same thing.

Verses 18-26

Isa 40:18-26

Isaiah 40:18-26

"To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains. He that is too impoverished for such an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skillful workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: yea, he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking."

The first few verses here speak of the utter foolishness of idolatry. Idols simply cannot be compared to God. An idol is not a person, it cannot see, it cannot think, it cannot hear, it cannot move, it cannot feel, it cannot "know" anything, it cannot move, it cannot "do" anything! How, then could it even remind anyone of God? Isaiah here emphasizes all of this by speaking of the manner in which idols are manufactured. As objects of worship, idols are "nothing," indeed "less than nothing." This writer once visited a pagan temple in Japan. It was the great temple of the Diabutso; and there were dozens of niches around the outer part of the great enclosure where many lesser gods were honored with statues; but on the day when this writer visited, there were large signs in black and red letters declaring that, "These gods are out for repair"!

"Have ye not known, have ye not heard, hath it not been told you, etc ..." (Isaiah 40:21). This refers to the basic knowledge that has been handed down to successive generations of the human race concerning God’s creation of the world and related truth.

Isaiah 40:22-23 speak of God in terms stressing his incomparable greatness and power.

"Be sitteth above the circle of the earth ..." (Isaiah 40:22). We are somewhat annoyed by some writers who hasten to explain to us that this has no reference to the earth’s being a sphere, because Isaiah, of course, could not have known that. Do such writers not know that it was not Isaiah who declared this, but God gave the words through Isaiah? Certainly the passage is compatible with the fact of the earth’s being round.

"That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ..." (Isaiah 40:22). Here is another scientific fact, utterly unknown to Isaiah, but apparent nevertheless in the words which God delivered through Isaiah to mankind. Are the atmospheric heavens indeed a curtain and a tent? Assuredly! Take a look at detailed photographs of the moon, where there is no atmosphere (heavens) like that which protects the earth, and it will be at once apparent what God’s "curtain, or tent" has done for our earth. That curtain, composed of earth’s atmosphere, traps and destroys millions of meteorites which otherwise would long ago have destroyed our world without God’s "heavens" spread out like a curtain or a tent to dwell in!

Such an omnipotent, ubiquitous, omniscient God could indeed behold the inhabitants of the earth as "grasshoppers." The mention here of princes that "have not been planted" suggests that great men do not even have the stability and permanence of a tree. All men, even the great ones, are "here today and gone tomorrow"!

How can such a great God be compared, or "likened" to anything on earth? Even the starry hosts of heaven are deployed and commanded by God’s authority. He made them; and he has a definite plan for every single one of them; and he even calls every one of the billions of trillions of stars by their names! Feeble, mortal, men do not have the slightest idea of how many stars there actually may be.

Isaiah 40:18-20 STUPID CREATURES: Since God is infinitely powerful, infinitely wise and unsearchable, it is sheer stupidity for the creature to attempt, in his finite limitations, to carve a likeness in wood or stone and think he has reproduced the totality of God. It is also sheer stupidity for men to devise political, ethical and philosophical systems and assume they have reproduced the totality of God, Man is limited to the experienced. God is beyond the experienced. The only possibility of man reaching beyond the experienced is that the Unexperienceable One shall reveal Himself in man’s experience. This He did in Jesus Christ. God can create man in His image—but man cannot create God in his image. Edward J. Young says it succinctly, “Isaiah’s question (Isaiah 40:18) brings us to the heart of genuine theism. There can be no comparison between the living, eternal God (‘el) and any man, for man is but a creature. Man is limited, finite, temporal; God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all His attributes and perfections. In our thinking about God the infinite distance between God and the creature must ever be kept in mind. To break down this distinction is to fall into the sin of idolatry.”

The Hebrew word pesel is translated image or graven image and is the thing Israel was forbidden to have in the Decalogue (Exodus 20:4). Moses was warned that God cannot be represented by any “form” (Deuteronomy 4:12-24). Men seem to have an insatiable desire to “see” some “form” of God (John 14:8-11), yet no one has ever “seen” Him (John 1:18; John 6:46; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:16; Matthew 11:27; 1 John 4:20). Christians are to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10), but this does not mean the flesh and blood body of Jesus (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:49-50). It is therefore a dangerous practice to make statues and pictures of Jesus and depend upon them for our concept of the Son of God (besides the fact no one actually knows today the precise physical features of Jesus). It is the thinking and acting of Jesus we are to adore and recreate in us—not His human body. Perhaps this is why God saw fit to obliterate from history any exact description of Jesus. Perhaps this is why God has seen fit to erase any precise location of Jesus’ birth, home, etc., lest men be more tempted than they are to worship things and places rather than the Person.

The silliness of attempting to fashion a Creator out of that which is created is best exemplified by Isaiah 44:9-20. There the idol-maker cuts down a tree and with half he builds a fire and cooks his food and with the other half he makes himself a god. How ridiculous! It is a fundamental principle of life that men take on the character of that which they worship (Psalms 115:3-8; Hosea 9:10; Romans 1:18-32). Idolatry produces stupidity, degradation and death. Carving images of men and animals from wood and stone to adore and worship is not the only form of idolatry. Disobedience and rebellion against God’s commands (1 Samuel 15:23) and covetousness (Colossians 3:5) are both forms of idolatry.

Even the poor people of Isaiah’s day refused to be deprived of indulging in idolatry. They could not afford gold and silver so they had a craftsman carve them an idol from hard wood. Making of idols was taken seriously by those who worshipped them. Only the best craftsmen fashioned them lest the production be an unworthy representation of the god or goddess. They must be made substantially of endurable materials. The larger they were and the longer lasting, the more prestige and power the idols supposedly retained.

Isaiah 40:21-26 SENSIBLE CONSIDERATION: There are two sources from which these stupid people should have perceived the sovereignty of Jehovah and prepared for His coming—the word of God and the world of God. Isaiah’s questions are rhetorical. Only one answer is possible—yes! Over and over, through His spokesmen (the patriarchs and the prophets), the existence and nature of the Creator was proclaimed to Israel. Day by day Israel could see the Creator in nature and providence. Have they heard? have they known? Yes! There is no excuse for their stupidity. They could not plead ignorance as the cause for their idolatry. Their sin is deliberate and in spite of their knowledge.

The prophet implores his people to come back to a sensible consideration of the sovereignty of Jehovah based on more evidence from creation and history. One thing is certain from man’s experience—man is not supernatural and omnipotent. Compared to the eternal, sovereign Jehovah, who sits enthroned upon the “circle” (zenith) of the earth, men are like grasshoppers. Get all the millions and millions of grasshoppers together and they cannot hold the world in its course, All the men of the world are like that. Some interpreters see in the word hkoog (“circle”) an indication that ancient people knew the world was round. Others think it merely means the highest part of the horizon or the zenith. God is pictured as sitting over the highest part of the earth to watch over His creation. The emphasis of the context is on comparing the power of God and the weakness of man. God also stretched out the heavens as effortlessly and quickly as a man in Isaiah’s day would stretch out a curtain. These vast, endless, majestic heavens are His dwelling place. Light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second. The estimated distance to the extent of the known universe is 6,000,000 light years! Multiply the number of seconds in a year by six million and you get the estimate of the known universe. But there are areas beyond that!

Proud, haughty, presumptuous human potentates and rulers strut through history pretending they rule the earth. But it is Jehovah who gives and takes away (cf. Daniel 2:20-23; Jeremiah 27:5-11; Isaiah 45:1-7). God plants and sows and lets them take root only as long as He wishes. Some men scarcely are sown and hardly take root before He takes them away like the whirlwind takes chaff away. All flesh is like grass (1 Peter 1:24-25). ‘Our years are “soon gone and we fly away” (cf. Psalms 90:9-10; Matthew 6:27; James 4:13-17), but God is forever.

The prophet repeats his challenge. There is no being to whom one may liken Jehovah. No one in all His creation is His equal. He is the Incomparable One. He has created the stars and planets. He knows how many there are and has a name for each of them. Man cannot even count the stars, let alone create one. Someone has pointed out that while God formed other animals to look downwards for pasture and prey, he made man alone erect, and told him to look at what may be regarded as his own habitation, the starry heavens. When man seriously contemplates the heavens he is pointed to the Creator (Psalms 19:1-6). Charles A. Lindbergh was 25 years old when he took off from Roosevelt Field, New York, at 7:52 a.m. on May 20, 1927. After more than 3600 miles and 33½ hours, he landed at LeBourget Field near Paris, France. When he had flown his trusted plane, “Spirit of St. Louis,” midway on its transatlantic flight he began to think of the smallness of man and the deficiency of his devices, and the greatness and marvels of God’s universe. He mused, “It’s hard to be an agnostic here in the ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ when so aware of the frailty of man’s devices. If one dies, all God’s creation goes on existing in a plan so perfectly balanced, so wondrously simple and yet so incredibly complex that it is beyond our comprehension. There’s the infinite detail, and man’s consciousness of it all—a world audience to what, if not to God.”

Verses 27-31

Isa 40:27-31

Isaiah 40:27-31

"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest thou, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Kelley and others suppose that these words of reproach coming here in Isaiah 40:27 from the Jews and directed against Jehovah were due to the terrible anguish the people were suffering in their captivity. However, there is not even a hint of such things in the text. This attitude on the part of the chosen people was characteristic of nearly any period in their long history of distrust and rebellion against God and by no means was confined to the captivity. As a matter of truth, the Jews fared very well in Babylon; and the vast majority of them found it so good there that they even refused to go back to Jerusalem when the opportunity finally came. Remember, it was only a "remnant," and a very pitifully small one, that returned.

Of course, Isaiah designed these words to be of special comfort to Israel during the captivity who had prophesied in the preceding chapter; and the big admonition here is that Israel should stabilize and comfort herself by leaning "Upon God, (1) the everlasting; (2) the Creator; (3) the unwearied; and (4) the unsearchable.”

The word "wait" (Isaiah 40:31) is of unusual interest. Kelley informs us that:

"The basic word from which `wait’ is derived means `to wind’ or `to twist,’ the word `rope’ being a noun that comes from this term. The meaning here is that the believer should let the Lord be his lifeline, his cord of escape.”

Some are tempted to view the last clauses of Isaiah 40:31 as an anticlimax, that is, in the words flying, running, and walking; but as Kelley noted:

"The man of faith may sometimes soar on eagles’ wings, or run without wearing; but most of the time he will merely walk. And the real test of his faith comes, not when he flies or runs, but when he must plod along. It is in the monotony of everyday life that the man of faith reveals his true character.”

As Hailey noted, "`They that wait for Jehovah’ is another favorite expression of Isaiah." As we have already observed, the vocabulary, style, and favorite expressions of this great prophet are so abundantly used in this chapter that they are as valuable in the identification of Isaiah as the author of it, as would be a half dozen signatures!

It is curious that Lowth rendered a portion of Isaiah 40:31 thus, "They shall put forth fresh feathers." His comment on this tells of a common and popular opinion, "that the eagle lives and retains his vigor to a great age; and that beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. Psalms 103:5 has this: `Thou shalt renew thy youth like the eagle.’”

Isaiah 40:27-28 POWER IN JEHOVAH: If the people of the Lord (in this case Israel) are to receive the comfort He offers through the promised Servant, they must prepare, perceive and persevere. The people have, either unconsciously or deliberately, mentally reduced Jehovah to the level of their idol-gods. The influence of Baalism in Judah from the days of Isaiah to the captivity grew until the people practically called Jehovah Baal, and Baal Jehovah (cf. Isaiah 66:17; Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 12:16; Jeremiah 23:13; Jeremiah 23:27; Hosea 9:10; Hosea 13:1-2). When one reduces his concept of God to a wooden statue or a human philosophical system, one cannot help feeling his god is powerless to help him—for his god is nothing more than a creation of his own futility and frustration! Isaiah’s people, however, had abundant teaching and evidence that Jehovah was eternal (see comments Isaiah 40:21, etc.). Their complaint that Jehovah was unconcerned or unaware of their struggles was inexcusable. What their problems were at this time we are not told. It may refer to the political and military pressures being felt by the whole world as a result of the life-and-death struggle between the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Judah had become a political “pawn” on the geographical chess-board of these two great world empires. So Judah was complaining that Jehovah was either incapable of protecting her rights (Heb. mishepatyi; cause) or impervious to her situation.

Isaiah reminds the people that historically they have had prophet after prophet teach them of Jehovah’s omnipotence and omniscience. Generation after generation they have had demonstrations of His constant concern for them and His repeated miraculous deliverances. Their fault was that of so many of us—letting circumstances overwhelm us. Peter would have walked on water—until he saw the waves (Luke 14:22-33). The people of Judah had another problem—they could not understand eternality, deity, supernaturalness. They understood (they thought) only the natural, experienceable. Like so many today, what cannot be understood or reduced to the experienceable cannot be believed. Isaiah confirms that Jehovah, being Eternal Creator, is fully understood by no human being. But that does not keep man from believing when he has sufficient evidence to believe. Man does not fully understand all the physical and material things he knows about (gravity, nuclear physics, tornados, etc.), but he forms certain fundamental beliefs from what evidence he does have and functions toward a purpose on that basis.

Isaiah 40:29-31 PARTICIPATION BY FAITH: God is the source of all strength, physical and spiritual. But it is the spiritual, moral strength that is most important. God is able to fashion any kind of physical body He wishes (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). But the glorified, immortal body will house only a demon if the spiritual is not reborn, renewed. That renewal, though supplied by God, is participated in only by faith on the part of man.

The promise of renewal here then looks forward to the coming of the Messiah (the “consolation of Israel”) (cf. Luke 1:51-55; Luke 2:25-32, etc.). The Hebrew word kivvah is translated wait but also means trust, hope. It seems paradoxical but the one who depends upon the Lord is the one who is strong (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Ephesians 3:16; Colossians 1:11; Philippians 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:17; 1 Peter 5:10, etc.). The most perfect specimen of human strength sooner or later exhausts his human resources. But the man who waits upon the Lord is strong and unmovable even when the physical body begins to deteriorate. Of course, the Lord is calling upon the people of Judah to trust Him presently in the midst of the circumstances which have caused them to doubt. They must believe now that He will fulfill what He has promised. Although they cannot understand His ways He is cognizant of their way and will supply spiritual and moral strength to them if they will participate by faith. He will not take away their circumstances, necessarily, but will supply them the spiritual strength to conquer their difficulties.