August 26, 2024 | Be God's Light
Comfort for God's People in Captivity
Scripture: Isaiah 40(NIV)
1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 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.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 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!”
10 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.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Devotional
The prophetic ministry of Isaiah spanned sixty years and four kings of Judah. Here’s an overview of those kings during Isaiah’s ministry:
Jotham (mostly good) – during Isaiah’s first 5 years.
Ahaz (completely evil) – during Isaiah’s next 20 years.
Hezekiah (completely good) – during Isaiah’s next 29 years, including 11 years when he reigned jointly with his son Manasseh.
Manasseh (completely evil) – during Isaiah’s last 5 years, plus the 11 years when he reigned jointly with his father Hezekiah.
In the midst of Isaiah’s ministry to Judah in the south, Israel in the north was wiped out by Assyria. There was a constant threat that Assyria would do the same to Judah. Though good king Hezekiah held them off, Isaiah prophesied that the future Babylonian empire would do the job, saying to Hezekiah, “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (2 Kings 20:17-18).
Jerusalem would be destroyed. The temple would be demolished. The people would be taken into Babylonian captivity. Though Isaiah gave no timeline, this is exactly what happened one hundred years later.
In today’s reading, Isaiah gives hope for those future inhabitants of beleaguered Jerusalem: “Comfort, comfort my people.” Beyond that, his words prophesied the future Messiah Jesus who would come over a half millennium after that. The gospel writers saw John the Baptist as the one who fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy to “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him” (Matthew 3:3).
Later, 1 Peter 1:24-25 quotes Isaiah 40:6-8, reminding us that our temporal lives on earth are like the white puffball of a dried-up dandelion: “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.”
Amid despair, there is hope.
In brokenness, there is comfort.
Though temporary, our lives are eternal.
How do you rely on the promises of God’s hope, the comfort of His presence, and the certainty of His eternity?
Poem
Nacham
Breathe, sigh
Let the sobbing out
Curl up into the soft embrace
Your sorrow is over
Repent, console
Let your burden down
Run back down the road to home
Your sin is covered
Be comforted, ease
Let your arms extend
Receive the compassion of your God
Your mourning has been heard
Soothe, relax
Let your wounds be dressed
Allow the balm to remove the pain
Your healing has begun
Weep, sob
Let your walls be rebuilt
Lay down the weapons of warfare
You peace has come
