Exposition by Max A Forsythe
In our year and a half series on Isaiah, we have come to the final division within the scrolls: The Book of Consolation. For your benefit I have finally provided a brief outline of what I choose to call the Isaiah scrolls. Years ago I remember reading that Isaiah, as one of the longer books, required a second scroll to record the work of his long life and ministry of revelation.
How the sixty-six chapters were divided between them I do not remember. But within the scrolls, it early became evident that there were distinctive divisions. This seventh "book" or division in Isaiah is enough different from the rest of the book that too many of the worldly observers believe that it has to be from the hand of a different author. This is especially tempting to liberal theologians, who disbelieve that God granted visions and revelation activity of the Holy Spirit. Now, the differences in content between the first six and the last division are dramatic indeed.
Dr Young observes that "when one turns from the thirty-ninth to the fortieth chapter it is as though he steps out of the darkness of judgment into the light of salvation". Derek Thomas adds that "after the clouds of judgment that have overshadowed the entirety of the first thirty-nine chapters comes the sunshine of God's grace that will occupy the final twenty-six chapters". This difference should in no way be taken to indicate separate authorship! For most of the century too much scholarship has focused on what is called form criticism and textual analysis.
This is much like the educational establishment, where the teaching of English has degenerated to a veneration of grammar and the details of organization, which have kept several generations from really appreciating the meaning and symbolism of language and literature. If you want to understand what I mean, as well as the challenge of the school classroom, I would encourage you to see the latest Penny Marshal film starring Danny DeVito, Renaissance Man. Be warned, there are a few raw moments and I wish that the film industry could be persuaded in many cases to edit five minutes, or even twenty words, to make the best of their "art work" for general audiences.
Now, the Hebrew and Greek writers of our Old and New Covenants were literary craftsmen far above the common measure; so much so that the illiteracy of our present century causes us too often to miss the subtle structures and spiritual implications of the texts. Precise language, like precise doctrine, has suffered widely as a result. Chapter forty of Isaiah, which we begin today, is one of the greatest chapters in all of recorded history. There is so much here that we will divide this crucial chapter over the next three weeks as an introduction to the last division of Isaiah.
Before we begin our analysis of these first eleven verses, I would like to outline what is coming between now and next March, when we are scheduled to finish Isaiah's prophecy. The Book of Consolation may be subdivided into three sections, as you may see in your bulletin. The first section is theological, wherein Isaiah describes our Creator God. The second section concerns the method and means of salvation. Technically this study is named Soteriology. The third section concerns the last days, and is called eschatology. Given the amount of time and discussion given to this topic in the last year, I personally hope that the Lord might come before we open that topic up once again!
In the eleven verses before us, Isaiah introduces the theme of consolation in the opening word used twice: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." Now this comfort is both literal and spiritual in context. There should be no doubt that the Lord, speaking through Isaiah, is telling Judah that the Babylonian exile announced in chapter thirty-nine will only be temporary. God does have it in mind to return His people once again to the Holy presence on Mount Zion. This will indeed come about by the specific arrangements of our Creator God.
There is also here a specific reference, as we understand it, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in addition we may learn from the sinfulness of Judah and her dire straits, that we too live in exile from the eternal Kingdom of our God and our Christ. Now what is the nature of the comfort offered here by Isaiah to Judah and to us as well?
Think of it this way. When your tooth aches, you bite the bullet, so to speak, and finally call a dentist. Usually you have plenty of time to think about this decision before the appointed time arrives. When you go to the dentist's office, you know full well the routine, right? Of course, he doesn't come out and hold your hand and tell you that everything will be all right. He has to get specific and find the damaged tooth and go on and repair or remove the tooth as necessary. This is indeed so simple, a little pain and the offending "sin", oops, I'm getting ahead of myself here. A little pain and the offending tooth is either repaired or removed.
At any rate, the dentist must get specific. So must the prophet and all those who minister in God's name. But notice the tender instructions for those messengers in verse two. The Hebrew for this phrase is also used in 2 Chronicles 32:6 to describe the way that Hezekiah encouraged Judah to trust in God in spite of the Assyrian invasion. He and Isaiah are no Steve Martin type of dentists, grinding the drill, and racing the motor to threaten the patient! No indeed, their voices are tenderly calling people home, as the old Hymn goes.
One commentator identifies the voice of these verses as the voice of grace. Double comfort is God's gracious response to Judah. This double comfort may be explained in the sense that not only are the debts of sin covered over, but the blessings of the future are added as well.
A second voice is identified in verses three to five. The immediate context is the return from exile, but its final fulfillment is in the coming of John the Baptist. In our time, the construction of super highways literally applies the text to make journeys easier. The voice of preparation has a specific purpose in both contexts. The full and future context is in the baptism and repentance called for by John the Baptist. Yet time, like life, is short and decisions must be made while we may. After all, there is not and never has been any real doctrine of second chances within the Christian orthodoxy.
A third voice applies this timely message to a waiting world and tells Isaiah what he must say. That message is to remind everyone that their life is brief, and in comparison the word of God stands forever. And we have known the message of God's eternal word, and that word is full of hope. Isaiah and all of those who know that word are to speak that word to the world boldly. See in verse nine the instructions to the prophet, to John the Baptist and everyone who follows after?
"Go up on a high mountain ... lift up your voice with a shout"! Here we may know that our calling, like Isaiah's, is to make God's presence known. Certainly, John the Baptist's ministry was ever so much more dramatic. When he introduced Jesus to the people of his time he fulfilled literally the last words in verse nine: "Here is your God!"
Our calling may not be as dramatically real, but still when we call our friends, family and neighbors to the God of heaven revealed in Jesus Christ, He is indeed spiritually present. He comes in power and His sovereign arm rules well and fully. Yet, just as Jesus promises, He comes tenderly like a shepherd.
Like that shepherd, He gathers the little lambs of the kingdom into His arms and carries them close to His heart. This is the ministry of Christ and this is our calling as well, to gently, tenderly remind people of their sinful condition and encourage them to put their hearts, minds and soul into the care of our great and eternal Shepherd. In His care may we know the double comfort promised by Isaiah.