COMFORT FOR THE SUFFERING
Isaiah 40:1-5. Comfort ye, &c.
IT is generally agreed that these last twenty-six Chapter s relate to the restoration of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. They are the Gospel of the Old Testament. This is their value to us.
Put into the briefest words, the ideas contained in the first five verses of this chapter are—That a glorious change awaits the exiles, consisting of a new and generous manifestation of Jehovah’s presence, for which His people are exhorted to prepare.
The prophet is commanded to speak words of comfort to those captives from Jerusalem—to assure them that her warfare, her time of slavery, is about to end; that her sins are pardoned, abundantly expiated by her sufferings; that her God is coming to deliver her from the oppressor; and that she must prepare the way for His coming, as heralds ride before a conquering king.
The comforting announcement which the prophet was to make to Jerusalem was—
1. That her affliction had become full, and had therefore come to an end.
2. Her iniquity is atoned for and the justice of God is satisfied.
3. The third clause repeats the substance of the previous ones with greater emphasis and in a fuller tone.
The double punishment which she had endured is not to be taken in a judicial sense, in which case God would appear over-rigid, and therefore unjust. The compassion of God regarded what His justice had been obliged to inflict upon Jerusalem as superabundant.
But this is only the negative side of the consolation. What positive salvation is to be expected? “Hark, the voice of one crying!” The summons proceeds in a commanding tone: “Let every valley be exalted,” &c. Spiritually interpreted, the command points to the encouragement of those that are cast down, the humiliation of the self-righteous and self-secure, the changing of dishonesty into simplicity, and of haughtiness into submission. Israel is to take care that God shall find them in such an inward and outward state as shall enable Him to fulfil His purpose. “And the glory of Jehovah,” &c. When the way is prepared for the coming One, the glory of the God of salvation will be unveiled; and this revelation is made for the sake of Israel, but not secretly or exclusively, for “all flesh” will come to see the salvation of God. “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” is the confirmation of the foregoing prophecy.
Suffering endured through a long period, comfort promised, the elements of that comfort and the preparation for receiving it—these are the chief thoughts and main topics of the passage.
I. We all have to suffer, and to suffer for our own sins and for the sins of one another, in one way or another, and in a greater or less degree. It is part of the mystery of the world that some lives, even in the morning of their days, are overhung with dark clouds of sorrow. With how many is life a continual struggle with feeble health; in others, mental cares, cares of business, anxieties; in others, pangs suffered over sins committed and things left undone.
II. The Old and New Testaments say that there is Divine comfort for the sorrowful sufferers. This teaching casts a new light upon human grief. It puts to shame all ancient and modern philosophy. The Divine Physician uses suffering as a medicine (Psalms 119:67; Psalms 119:71).
1. We feel ourselves drawn into the true path of life.
2. Then the comfort of another message begins to be felt—that our iniquity is pardoned.
3. Then His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
III. God is coming over the desert of our lives to reveal His glory to us (Isaiah 40:5).
IV. But, for coming into the possession of this privilege, we must prepare the way of the Lord (Isaiah 40:4; Matthew 3:2). The conditions of comfort are here laid down. Christian comfort comes by raising up the whole soul of a man; by bringing down every proud thought; by straightening every crooked course; by chastening and refining all that is rugged in character or conduct. It is thus we prepare ourselves for the incoming of God.—Charles Short: Sermons, pp. 255–269.