July 9, 2025 - Isaiah 40-45

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people” (40:1), the Lord instructed Isaiah.  So long in exile, and sufficiently disciplined – “She has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins” (40:2) – Israel will experience God's grace rather than his discipline.  Actually, though, even the discipline was part of his gracious dealings with the nation:  “For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines” (Hebrews 12:6) & “He disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).

It’s interesting that this section begins with the text:  “A voice cries:  ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (40:3), the prophesy that John the Baptist applies to Jesus (Matthew 3).  All that can be said of God the Father – Creator, holy, faithful, Redeemer, etc. – can be said of the son, Jesus.  How does Paul put it?  “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19).

Israel’s hope, and ours, is wrapped up in Jesus the Messiah.  It’s always been that way.  That’s been the plan from the beginning.  That’s what God is up to in the Scriptures and in history, i.e., preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah, and then, the fulfillment of that promise.  And that promise is for all who will receive him, both Jew and Gentile:  “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. . . .  And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:13,17).

And so, the Lord says:  “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other” (45:22).  To think on this and to consider what God has done for us . . . now, that’s a good start to a day!

Let every ear attend,

And every heart rejoice;

The trumpet of the Gospel sounds

With an inviting voice.

The gates of-Gospel grace

Stand open night and day:

Lord! we are come to seek supplies,

And drive our wants away.   –Isaac Watts (1760)