Beginning in chapter 40, the focus and feel of the book of Isaiah changes. In fact, many commentators argue that the changes are so pronounced, we must be reading the words of a different author than Isaiah of Jerusalem. Many of those who take such a position reject the idea that Isaiah, under the Spirit’s leading, could write and speak prophetically of future events (the rise of Babylon, the return of Jewish exiles from Babylon). Those who believe in a God as great as the One described in chapter 40, have no problem with the notion that the Holy One of Israel, the Creator of the ends of the earth, could reveal future happenings to his prophetic servants. Therefore, we find no necessity to see multiple authors for the book of Isaiah.
That said, there is still a change in focus and feel beginning in chapter 40. The book returns from prose to poetry. The tone changes, as signaled by the opening line in chapter 40: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God” (40:1). The message to Israel, which is still corrective at times, brims with hope. The vision of God is stunning and sweeping. The vision of the future is glorious.
While later chapters will address events in Israel’s future, including their return from exiles, nothing in chapter 40 indicates a distant-future orientation. Instead of calling Israel to look forward into the future, chapter 40 calls them to look upward at their incomparable God. In fact, Isaiah does more. He calls Judah (and all of God’s people) to “wait for the Lord” (31). The idea of wait merges and overlaps with the concepts of trust and hope. This is a confident, settled, patient expectation that God, in His time and way, will show His glory and shepherd His people. So, waiting on the Lord is not just passing time; it’s allowing the truth of God’s incomparable greatness to pass before our eyes (“Lift up your eyes on high and see”) so that it stabilizes our souls. To this end, Isaiah 40 showcases the God from whom we wait.
The chapter opens with good news: God is coming to comfort His feeble, chastened, vulnerable people. Jerusalem has indeed been chastened by God’s “double judgment” (2). But that is now past. God comes close to comfort (1) and carry them (11). The Lord is pictured as coming through the wilderness in a way that reveals His glory to all people (3-5). Here is a foreshadowing of God’s glory seen in the return of the Babylonian exiles and the greater glory of the coming of the Servant of the Lord, Jesus (with John the Baptist as “the voice”—John 1:23).
Throughout this chapter, God’s incomparable greatness is set in contrast with other insufficient sources of power and trust: all people are like grass that fades (6-8); the earth itself—including the oceans and mountains—is miniature and tiny (12, 26); the nations are like “a drop from a bucket” (15,17); the idols are pitiful, tottering chunks of wood and metal (19-20); the princes and rulers are like short-lived plants that He blows away like stubble (23-24); the stars are called by name and kept in place by His word (26). No one compares with God: “To whom them will you compare me that I should be like him? says the Holy One” (25).
Behold Your God
The Lord’s greatness is without rival or comparison. In this one chapter, the powerful, imposing and massive features of the world are placed next to God for comparison. The results? There is literally no comparison; the disparity between God and anything we might consider impressive is laughable. Mountains are miniature, oceans fit in his hand, rulers are stubble, idols are embarrassing. God alone is great.
The Lord carries out justice in a just way. The people of Israel are speaking ill of God’s dealings with them. They say, “my right is disregarded by my God” (27). Isaiah 40 forcefully refutes that conclusion. God has dealt justly with His people in allowing them to experience the full consequences of their sins (“received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins”—1). No one needs to teach the Lord the “path of justice” (15). He needs no ethics consultant (15). He is the Holy One who does what it right and true because of who He is.
The Lord is fully aware of His people’s situation. Israel has given way to thinking God must have lost track of them. Or if He is aware, He must not care; He has chosen to disregard them (27). Isaiah makes it clear how absurd it is to think the God who knows the stars by name and who keeps them in their place has somehow lost track of His people. As Isaiah 40:28 reminds us: “His understanding is unsearchable.”
The Lord is immeasurably great but still intimately concerned for His people. The same God who holds the waters in the hollow of His hand (12), holds his vulnerable sheep in His arms, next to His heart (11). Though He towers above the heavens and earth, He is touched by the needs and cries of His people. He is both transcendent and immanent.
Here Am I
I must keep a vision of God’s greatness in view to see life in proper perspective. Israel lost sight of God’s majestic greatness and so concluded that He was unaware or did not care (27). Isaiah 40 helps reorient our vision so that we see God towering above all the challenges we may face.
I am grass and a grasshopper, but also a sheep cared for by the Shepherd. Isaiah 40 reminds us of humbling truth: we are grass that withers and fades (6-8) and like grasshoppers before the One who sits above the circle of the earth (22). But Isaiah 40 also reminds me that, as one who belongs to the Mighty God, I am one of the sheep He cares for and carries as my Shepherd (11).
I must wait on the Lord for renewed strength. Isaiah 40 concludes by reminding us our strength comes from the Lord. He renews our weary souls and bodies as we wait on him. Though we are weak and often grow weary, He never tires of renewing. With His strength we can mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.
Rick and Linda Reed 