Isaiah 40:1-5--Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-5
English Standard Version

Comfort for God's People
40 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
    double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

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We have seen in the past couple of passages that the people of God are headed towards disaster.  However, Isaiah is a book of prophecy that includes a lot of encouragement and comfort for the people of God.  We have another such passage here today.  Ther will one day be an end to the war and fighting.  There will come a day when all their iniquity will be pardoned by the LORD (because of the salvation provided only by Jesus and His sacrifice that was better than the blood of bulls and goats). For now, though, it may feel like the people of God have received a double-portion of discipline instead of a double-portion of blessing.

Then we see the prophecy of the herald for the Messiah--the very words that John the Baptist pointed to when people asked him to identify himself.  A harbinger would be sent to tell people to get ready for the coming day of the LORD (remember, this is a phrase used both of the day of salvation for God's people and the day of judgment for God's enemies which often happen concurrently).  Though our salvation is not about us straightening ourselves up and getting ourselves right, there is a desire to want to look our best for the arrival of the king--especially the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Did Jesus do all these things at His first coming?  Did He bring the kind of equity that the people expected to make the high places low and the low places high so that everything would be level (no more oppression, servitude, poverty, etc.)?  Certainly not.  Jesus told His disciples, "You will always have the poor among you."  Though Jesus had compassion on the poor and the oppressed and He did much to help those who cried out to Him for salvation from their physical frailties, infirmities, and He preached a gospel that helped to lay the foundation for the liberation and emancipation of many slaves, that was not the primary purpose of His first coming.  He came so that He might forgive His people for their sins.  It is only through this forgiveness that all these other blessings will flow.  To try to achieve the blessings of the New Covenant without the true message of the New Covenant is foolish, misleading, and ultimately destructive for those who believe a false gospel based off of the "Jesus wants be to be happy" or "God wants me to be healthy and wealthy" mentality.  The good things that God has planned for you may come by way of times of trial and tribulation just like they did for His people in the Old Testament.

It is that last verse that tells us God's purpose in all of this--The Glory of the LORD will be revealed.  Jesus revealed the glory of the LORD to us because He is God in the flesh.  However, there's more to this statement.  Our salvation--a miraculous feat that is impossible for any man to complete--brings much glory to God.  We will be a people of God that will praise and glorify Him forever and ever for who He is and what He has done.  He has acted to bring more glory to Himself, and that's okay, because He is the only worthy of all glory and honor and praise.  If we act with such a motive, we are glory thieves, but it is good and right for God to act so that He receives glory and honor and praise.  He has spoken it, and it will happen, and all peoples will know that it was accomplished by His will and power alone.