Isaiah 40:1-11 Waiting for Strength

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been asked by people who are struggling with the hard things of life to read this passage from Isaiah. It’s a passage filled with hope and strength to those who are exhausted and feeling weak. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” The Jewish people have been in exile, have been forced to be away from their country for almost 70 years now. Most of the people that hear these words of hope have been born and raised in a country that they don’t belong to, raised in a culture and place that serves other gods instead of our God. They don’t even know what home looks like. The people are looking for comfort, for hope, for someone to care about them, and for strength to keep trusting in God after all these years.

God turns to the prophets and leaders who are living in exile and he commands them to comfort God’s people. It’s been a long hard 70 years. Leaders like Daniel and his three friends, people like Mordecai and Esther have been used by God to keep the Israelites safe and protected during these years, but the times of persecution have made many of the people long to go back of their home in the Promised Land. God tells the leaders to “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” In Hebrew, God is telling the leaders to speak to Israel’s heart, here translated as tenderly. I love the imagery here, this is healing kind of talking, this is bringing hope kind of talk. God knows how Israel is feeling; that they need to hear words of compassion, love, and hope to find strength.

God gives Israel a picture of the way home, “A voice of one calling, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all the people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The prophets are to play the role of eastern heralds who were sent ahead of the monarch to proclaim the monarch’s coming visit and prepare everything for the monarch’s arrival. The picture the Lord is giving the people is that of the Lord’s coming to Jerusalem and of a processional highway being built to make the journey smooth, safe, and speedy for the Lord and his people. They’re going home and the Lord is going to prepare the way; he’s going to arrange it!

Can’t you see the hope, the strength flowing into the Jewish people as they heard their leaders and the prophets proclaiming this amazing news! You can see the people turning to each other asking, “Can it be true? Is our time of exile over? Our leaders and the prophets are saying this is from the Lord, that he’s going to show the nations his glory!” Matthew 3 echoes these words, pointing to John the Baptist who’s calling the people back to God, preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” as he gets the people ready for Jesus’ coming! John’s calling the people to see that the glory of the Lord is about to be revealed for all the people to see.

A new voice says here in Isaiah, “Cry out.” And the prophet asks, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” This is a fascinating passage. We hear all kinds of echoes of these verses in Scripture, from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about not worrying and uses the grass of the fields and the flowers as examples, where God makes them beautiful even though they wither away so quickly, to Peter’s first letter where he writes, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.” Peter points to how the word of the Lord endures forever and how we’re born again from seed that will not perish through the living enduring word of God, a message of hope that gives strength.

The word in Isaiah that’s translated ‘faithfulness’ is one of those key words in Hebrew, it’s the word ‘hesed.’ It’s often used to describe God’s loyal love, his unfailing kindness, devotion to his people. It can also be translated as glory or as having a lovely appearance, as found in our verse this morning and echoed in 1 Peter. Isaiah is comparing the glory of something like flowers which have only a brief time of great beauty to the glory of the Lord and the word of God which endures forever. It’s all flows out of God’s covenant faithfulness.

In an article in the Christian High School newsletter, the author talks about how many of our young adults and youth walk through life in a posture of weakness. They’ve been told that they’re not worthy, that they’re born as oppressors to others. This may be true in a culture without Jesus, but we walk through life knowing that we walk with the Holy Spirit, in the strength of Jesus and God to love and serve. We have the Scriptures as a source of strength and to give us hope as God reveals to us who he is and his plan to redeem all creation. I sometimes wonder how strong our trust in Jesus’ strength and ability to transform us is. Often, I hear people say they cannot change; change habits, ways of thinking, or acting. We easily say that with God all things are possible, but do we really believe that?

We easily trust in human power when we know that their power is only for a short time, while we know that God’s power and strength is forever and much more than any human kingdom’s. Isaiah calls Israel to trust in God as he prepares them to return home because he’s all powerful and able to do this. We hear an echo in Isaiah 52:10 “The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” The nations are going to marvel at God’s power as he saves his people. This message is still important for us to hear today. Scripture always warns us about putting our trust in governments, in legal constitutions that talk about individual rights and privileges; these are all human things. Place your trust and faith in God above all for he has the power to carry us through difficult times and to change us where we need to be changed.

Isaiah turns to the herald again, “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” The good news is that God is leading his people back home. The Spirit of God which left the temple when Israel went into exile is ready to lead his people home. “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”

Just over two thousand years ago, the angels came to bring good news, not just to Zion, but to all the nations, Luke writes, “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Israel’s king has come! Jesus comes as a child, but grows up to confront Satan in the wilderness when Satan tries to tempt him away from God the Father’s will, and then Jesus decisively defeats Satan on the cross and through his resurrection. Jesus brings us new life, brings us hope, fills us with his strength; a strength lies in humility, in servanthood, in grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love of God and neighbour.

As followers of Jesus, we often look at how powerful the things against God are, and we can lose hope, but in Isaiah, in Luke and the whole of Scripture, we are reminded again and again that Jesus is King of kings, Lord of lords, and as creator of all things, including Satan, Jesus is stronger than everything, everyone else, and he fills us with his strength through the gift of the Holy Spirit to be who he calls us to be as children of God. In Advent, we look ahead to Jesus’ return and the time he will completely defeat all his enemies and fully establish his kingdom here. We will be part of this because our God is strong enough to accomplish all things and he is on our side.