Isaiah 40:1-5

Passage: Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort for God’s People.
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Journal: We will camp in Chapter 40 for awhile. It is rich. It is as if God has shed the light of salvation and mercy into the darkness of sin and wrath. It is hope. And it is love. The first 39 chapters have revealed God's justifiable wrath. The next 26 chapters reveal God's inexplicable grace. It begins with Chapter 40. And Chapter 40 begins with soothing words of hope. [v.1 -- "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God."]

I realize what a dreadful sinner I am, and that my thoughts and deeds, unchecked, are constantly rebellious and despicable. Yet, it is here that my God provides me with comfort. He finds me where I hide, as if Adam in the garden after the fall, and comforts me with His reassuring mercy. He will never abandon me even in the midst of the Assyrians and of the Babylonians He sends my way in His means of discipline and chastisement. He is my great encourager. [v.2 -- "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her . . ."] His greatest encouragement is the realization that I do not receive what my sins deserve. It is Christ and Christ crucified that received the brunt of my sin. Sins that He did not deserve. He bore my "double" portion. [v.3 -- ". . . that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins."]

Sin is a burden. I cannot bear that burden. Sin deserves a penalty. That penalty is death. My death was pardoned, and my sin did not receive the penalty it deserved. This is the work of Christ. This is the work of Christ crucified. [v.5 -- "And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."]