Day By Day - Isaiah 40
By Jacob Muthsam
Personal Thoughts:
We have come to a junction and a turning point in the book of Isaiah. The previous 39 chapters carried a large focus on warnings and judgement (although, not without sections of hope and encouragement).
But from here, in this chapter, there is a real shift. It now turns to be a prophetic message - that the future is filled with goodness and blessing and favour.
Key Points:
1. God Desires His People Are Comforted.
Verse 1 - ‘’Comfort Comfort my People says the Lord.’’
Chapters 1-35 are prophetic chapters; Chapters 36-39 are known as historical chapters and now Chapters 40-66 are Messianic chapters. We now start focusing on the coming Messiah.
I find comfort that, right through Scripture, we see a fantastic balance. One does not work without the other - Jesus called it Truth and Love. Here in Isaiah, it’s Warn/Instruct & Comfort.
This passage reminds us that God’s will is to bring comfort for and to His people.
This comfort will come in the way of salvation. This is a prophetic reminder and declaration of the Messiah that is to come.
The first 11 verses are all centred around and about, ‘a hope’ and ‘a comfort’ that is to come in a Messiah.
2. We Are Blessed To Live in a Period Of Hindsight.
What I mean by this, is that we read the passages about a Messiah who is to come, about a Saviour that will redeem, when He already has!
While we read it from a post-event position, the readers whom the Book of Isaiah was originally penned for, didn’t have that luxury. So, imagine being those people waiting and waiting for deliverance, waiting for a God you'd read about in the ancient texts, but perhaps didn’t know in great detail.
In verses 12-16, Isaiah uses “Who has” phrased questions around creation to paint for the people an image and understanding of the amazingness of God and of the Messiah who is to come.
3. It’s All About Hope.
Verses 30-31 - "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."
All of us get weary and all of us have seasons of entrapment. The people, for whom this was written, were going to be slaves.
Anyone who is trapped will eventually get tired and weary, but those of us who look towards the Messiah can have ‘a hope.’
Final Thoughts:
God is a God of instruction and warning, yet He is a God who loves His people and desires for them to have comfort and to have hope.
- Do you allow God to be your Hope and your comfort?
Personal Thoughts:
We have come to a junction and a turning point in the book of Isaiah. The previous 39 chapters carried a large focus on warnings and judgement (although, not without sections of hope and encouragement).
But from here, in this chapter, there is a real shift. It now turns to be a prophetic message - that the future is filled with goodness and blessing and favour.
Key Points:
1. God Desires His People Are Comforted.
Verse 1 - ‘’Comfort Comfort my People says the Lord.’’
Chapters 1-35 are prophetic chapters; Chapters 36-39 are known as historical chapters and now Chapters 40-66 are Messianic chapters. We now start focusing on the coming Messiah.
I find comfort that, right through Scripture, we see a fantastic balance. One does not work without the other - Jesus called it Truth and Love. Here in Isaiah, it’s Warn/Instruct & Comfort.
This passage reminds us that God’s will is to bring comfort for and to His people.
This comfort will come in the way of salvation. This is a prophetic reminder and declaration of the Messiah that is to come.
The first 11 verses are all centred around and about, ‘a hope’ and ‘a comfort’ that is to come in a Messiah.
2. We Are Blessed To Live in a Period Of Hindsight.
What I mean by this, is that we read the passages about a Messiah who is to come, about a Saviour that will redeem, when He already has!
While we read it from a post-event position, the readers whom the Book of Isaiah was originally penned for, didn’t have that luxury. So, imagine being those people waiting and waiting for deliverance, waiting for a God you'd read about in the ancient texts, but perhaps didn’t know in great detail.
In verses 12-16, Isaiah uses “Who has” phrased questions around creation to paint for the people an image and understanding of the amazingness of God and of the Messiah who is to come.
3. It’s All About Hope.
Verses 30-31 - "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."
All of us get weary and all of us have seasons of entrapment. The people, for whom this was written, were going to be slaves.
Anyone who is trapped will eventually get tired and weary, but those of us who look towards the Messiah can have ‘a hope.’
Final Thoughts:
God is a God of instruction and warning, yet He is a God who loves His people and desires for them to have comfort and to have hope.
- Do you allow God to be your Hope and your comfort?
Posted in Isaiah