Isaiah 40:1-5, 25-26, 29-31

“Comfort ye . . .” (v. 1). The Lord is speaking to His people. God’s message: Warfare against you is over. Your iniquities are pardoned. At the moment in history in which God spoke these words, warfare against Jerusalem was far from complete. God’s word reveals that the transgressions of the physical seed of Abraham according to the flesh also had not come to an end when Isaiah recorded this message.

The warfare against Jerusalem of which Isaiah spoke is a possible reference to the prophecy of Isaiah 39:6-7. The temple and the city would be destroyed in 586 B.C. (approximately 100 years after Isaiah’s lifetime). The message of comfort, however, is specific to such a time in which Jerusalem shall have received double punishment of the Lord for her sins (v. 2). Double punishment means that the price of transgression has been fully satisfied.

This prophecy cannot be fulfilled in an ultimate sense until the price of transgression has been satisfied. The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) has spoken to New Testament believers concerning the price of transgression. The Son has paid the price for all who believe. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. New Testament believers know that the Messiah is God’s righteous servant who has justified and will continue to justify many because He has borne their iniquities (Isa. 53:11). New Testament believers read Isaiah 40:1 and are comforted because the price of our transgressions was fully paid when we first believed. Our salvation is dependent solely upon believing that God has done as He has promised. The certainty of our salvation is as absolute as all creation.

Israel will have received double punishment when God pours upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem “the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). Israel shall mourn and be comforted. That time is yet future.

In verse 3, the focus shifts from the pardoning Jerusalem’s iniquity to making ready the way of the Lord. Making the way ready is likened to building a highway through difficult desert terrain (v. 3) — a task of physically lowering mountains and elevating valleys (v. 4). The physical is an image of the spiritual. The spiritual mountainous barriers must be lowered and the spiritual deep valleys filled before the glory of the Lord shall be revealed). “. . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (v. 5).

The message of the voice that cries out in the wilderness is a call to make oneself spiritually ready to receive the Messiah. John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness, calling for men to repent (Matt. 3:2). Repentance removes the barriers which hinder one from receiving God’s gift of salvation.

New Testament believers know that God would have all men to repent (II Pet. 3:9). Those who fail to repent shall perish. All who repent shall know the Messiah and live. Again, New Testament believers are comforted in that we know the Messiah. We have called upon His name.

In the verses which follow, Isaiah was moved by the Holy Spirit to describe the Messiah as the arm of the Lord (v. 9). In verse 25, the Messiah speaks and asks, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?” One cannot answer this question unless one knows the Messiah. The Holy One answers His own question in verse 26. The holy scriptures proclaim that the Messiah is equal with God, creator of the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1).

Yes, New Testament believers know the Messiah. We know Him to be the Word. We know that He was with God and was God and all things were made by Him (Jn. 1:1-3). We know the Messiah is He who gave names to all that He created. We know His strength and His power. We know that He never fails (v. 26). We know and because we know, we walk in faith and see His power.

We know “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength” (v. 29). New Testament believers have been given power and strength which we do not possess to do His will. When we abide in Him, He will be seen in us.

All scripture is of God and exists for His purposes. While Isaiah 40 reaches out to New Testament believers, it is a message directed at the people of the covenant. God reaches out to men such that all should know Him. God gave the law to Israel, knowing that His people would transgress and sin against Him. God loves His people and has promised comfort.

He promises renewed strength to them who wait upon Him. Young men are strong. Those who depend upon the strength of their youth —their own strength, however, shall fail. Those who wait on the Lord (those who believe God and that which He has spoken through His prophets) shall receive a strength that is of God. Those who believe shall be empowered. Through faith, one is enabled to “mount up with wings as eagles” and run and not be weary, walk and not be faint (v. 31).

New Testament believers have repented of our own strength (the strength of youth). We know that our righteousness is as filthy rags. We know that all righteousness that is found in us is a gift from Him. New Testament believers possess a renewed strength which is of God. That which is of Him is as evident as the soaring flight of eagles. God has not lifted us up to fail. By His power, not ours, we run and grow not weary. We walk and do not faint.

God promises renewed strength to all who shall wait on Him — even to them who have repeatedly failed Him. We serve a great and merciful God. He counts belief for righteousness.