If we seek one old testament chapter that embodies the sheer greatness of God, for me it’s today’s: Isaiah 40 – surely one of the Bible’s truly great, truly lifegiving chapters!
What’s happening here? Well, ch39 finished Isaiah’s first half, with one of the Bible’s most traumatic moments, about 700 BC. There’s been a long process of decay & sin, with God continually warning His people that unless they got their act together in holiness and obedience, there would be disaster. And finally Isaiah had to bring terrible, irrevocable news: Jerusalem would be captured and destroyed by the brutal Babylonians. And so it came to pass, some years later. There was massive suffering (2 Chronicles 36:17). Spiritually it was terrible too: Jerusalem housed the temple built under God’s direct instruction to demonstrate His glory to the nations; while Babylon was (from Genesis to Revelation) the embodiment of all that is opposed to God. But now an incredible thing happens: Babylon captures Jerusalem; Babylonians loot God’s temple and burn it down; and they carry the Jews into captivity far away. It’s an utterly terrible thing; how can this be? (At least four old testament books are devoted to answering that question.)
But imagine you’re Isaiah. Having obeyed God and delivered this terrible prophecy, wouldn’t you want to crawl off into a hole somewhere because no one will ever want to hear from you again? But no. It’s never so. God had another ministry for him, something even bigger.
What happens to Israel will be very hard. But God still loves Israel, sinful though they’ve been. So God is now going to give Isaiah 27 chapters to equip Israel with what they need to live through this and come out the other side. (Possibly while Isaiah could have no public ministry, because Manasseh, arguably Israel’s most evil king ever, came to the throne, and Isaiah was silenced. Well, God can use exactly that kind of thing too.) And these will be Isaiah’s most towering prophecies. In every generation and every continent they’ve been used by God to comfort those going through desperately hard times: people like us. The rest of Isaiah is massively inspiring.
`”Comfort, comfort my people”, says your God` (Isaiah 40:1). What in this second half of the book does He provide to give them this comfort they so much need? (Maybe that can give us clues as to what He will comfort us with in similar situations?) Well, looking ahead we’ll find prophecies of Jesus, and of the cross (ch53, perhaps the deepest account of the cross in Scripture). And then we’ll find prophecies of the glory of what happens after Jesus returns – we can battle through hard times here if we’ve grasped the full wonder of the millions of years to come.
But how does this chapter start this equipping? Look at v9: `You who bring good news to Zion… lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” ` That’s what this, one of the greatest chapters of the OT, is designed to show us: God is with us here – and what a God! (Very like the crucial vision of ch6 with which God equipped Isaiah to be the OT’s greatest prophet?) May God who is with us as we feed on this chapter entrench it in our hearts and imaginations!
So then the first comforting thing comes in v3: Look, the Lord is coming, prepare the way! This, we remember Matthew explaining, speaks of John the Baptist, preparing the way for Jesus. It’s one of those texts that show us Jesus is Yahweh the Lord; and what’s so good is He comes to be with us forever, and He is God! `And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together` (v5), and so it was; Jesus was the utmost expression of God’s glory (Heb 1:3), and all nations are seeing it, thankyou Lord including us!
But then comes a second voice, v6: `A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?”` What will the second message be to comfort God’s people? It’s a more surprising one, vv7-8: `“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall – because the breath` (literally, the Spirit) `of the LORD blows on them!` But this is actually another starting point of God’s comfort: grasp our tininess (not easy if we’re gifted), set against the sheer greatness of God who is with us! Just as the starting point of new birth as a Christian is repentance, recognizing that He is the Lord, not me; so here for `comfort`, grasp His power, grasp His greatness. And then, also His love; that’s the very next thing (v11): `He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart.` But first, for comfort in a time like this, grasp His awesome majesty: then grasp that this God is for us (cf Rom 8:31), on our side!
And then the third comforting thing: His Spirit is on our side too! Look again at v7: `The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath/Spirit of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass…` This is God’s Spirit as revealed in the old testament (God shows us other aspects in the new): the Spirit who was at the heart of the universe’s creation (Gen 1:2), the Spirit who came on Samson and he seized a lion and ripped it apart (Jud 14:6), the Spirit who came upon Saul’s special troops and left them shattered on the ground, frantically prophesying the wonder they’d experienced (1 Sam 19)… Oh, God the Holy Spirit isn’t just cuddly; it’s serious to carry around as we do the presence of the living Spirit of God, and we surely would not wish to `grieve Him` like, say, Ananias and Sapphira did in Acts 5 and disaster followed. (Ephesians 4:30-31 explain how not to: `Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God… Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice…`) But once we’ve grasped all that, this too becomes so very encouraging! Because this Holy Spirit is here, He too, and if He is for us (Rom 8:31 again), then who can be against us…?
And, as ever, where the Spirit is, the Word is too, v8: `The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever.` What’s this about? Well, it’s fascinating what Peter builds practically on this Isaiah verse in 1 Peter 1:23-25: Everything decays, he says; we decay. In this world, most of what we treasure is temporary, transient: achievements, possessions, glory (v24). But in this world there are also some things that are `imperishable`, ultimately valuable, supremely worth desiring. And, says Peter (v23), when you were born again it was through one of these, the imperishable seed, the living and enduring Word of God. So when we were born again, we didn’t just `start being religious`; something came into us that’s part of a different universe altogether. Heaven got a bridgehead in us: something from beyond all the decay of this fallen world. Paul says this world is in `bondage to decay`: here all beauty disintegrates, everything eventually falls apart; all our glory turn to dust. But into this world God has introduced something radically different, and (1 Peter 1:25) it’s His Word. When everything around is perishing, the seed of God’s Word is the presence of the alternative; it embodies what’s living and enduring.
So again, let’s be encouraged!: there’s disintegration all around us right now, but from the moment we were born again, all the lasting, imperishable powers for good and for lasting growth of a different, heavenly universe, have been springing up in each of us. And look what Peter says in v25b: this is not just something vague and mystical, it’s about `the Word that was preached to you`, that we’ve fed on in everyday life; that is the presence of that alternative, heavenly universe. This is very practical: what we’ve fed on – in our personal time with God, in small groups, in church on Sundays, is that in us which, when everything else decays, will endure forever… (`The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life!`, says Jesus likewise, John 6:63.)
We see then why there’s this repeated challenge in Isaiah 40: `Do you not know? Have you not heard?` (vv21,28). Yes, tough times come to all of us; so here’s the last practical thing today – make it an absolute priority habit for yourself, and train your family if you have one, every day, day by day, to feed on, know, this `imperishable… living and enduring` Word. This is what will last eternally, this is what will keep us living, through good times and tough ones …
Plenty to worship God here for, right now; and greater things still in the second half…!
