Meditations
What shall I cry?
Jan
All those voices speaking on Yahweh’s behalf, and what are they saying?
The messages spoken are most intriguing:
- Verses 1–2 have Yahweh’s voice calling upon His servants to speak unto His people words of comfort
- Verses 3–5, a voice calls for hearers to go out into the wilderness to prepare a straight, smooth, and clear path for God. All shall be levelled to enable the seeing of the glory of God the same way.
- Verses 6–8 describes an interchange, followed by a declaration of the contrast that exists between the transience of all flesh and the Word of God.
- Finally, in verses 9–11, Yahweh calls upon Zion to lift up her voice to comfort others by letting them know that Yahweh is near, and that He will reward the faithful, and bring comfort to the vulnerable.
Can you see the pattern here?
A. Yahweh calls for His servants to comfort His people: the time of anguish is over
B. The humbling of all flesh to be able to see the vindication of God’s Word
B. The weakness of human nature in contrast to God’s Word, which will be vindicated
A. Yahweh calls His servants to comfort His people: the time of deliverance is at hand
This pattern (called a chiasmus) is a device used in God’s Word to emphasise something of importance. The message of the two outer lines (A) are that of comfort; the two inner lines (B) speak of the inability of humans to overcome, but God’s Word can. Here, then, is the burden of the messages for the voices in Isaiah 40.
There appears to be an anomaly here. How is comfort brought about by the humbling of human nature? Actually, it’s most appropriate. The comfort cannot be found in our own nature, which is transient; it’s only found in God’s Word, which is powerful and stands forever. It’s only when we are levelled — skills, wealth, age, pedigree, and all that the flesh aspires to are all put aside — that we can see the glory of God in the same way.
The voices, therefore, have a major work to accomplish! They are to arrest attention; to convince the hearers to come out into a quiet place, into a place that reduces life to its essentials, to bring home the need for us all to recognise our transient nature — that we are really of no inherent value: perhaps a flower amidst grass, but we all have the same end. The voices are to bring home the need to humble ourselves to recognise that we are all on the same level. The voices are to be strong and not afraid in bringing people out of their comfort zones — all in order that they may be comforted! Why are they encouraged to not be afraid? They are not to doubt the message: God’s Word will stand; Yahweh has spoken.
Also see:
Isaiah 40: 1–11
1 ¶ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.