Isaiah, Week 8, Day 1: Isaiah 40

Day One: Read Isaiah 40:1,2 

Voices are ever speaking to us from the infinite; let us heed them. F.B. Meyer

Here beginneth the Gospel of the prophet Isaiah, and holdeth on to the end of the book. (J. Trapp.)

In passing from chaps, 36-39, to chap. 40. we find ourselves introduced into a new world. To arouse the indifferent, to reassure the wavering, to expostulate with the doubting, to announce with triumphant confidence the certainty of the approaching restoration, is the aim of the great prophecy which now occupies the last twenty-seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)

This section divides into three parts of nine chapters each (chaps. 40-48; 49-57; 58-66). The first two parts each conclude with the statement, “There is no peace… for the wicked” (Isa_48:22; Isa_57:21).

These prophecies of deliverance center around three events:
(1) Deliverance from captivity in Babylon (already prophesied by Isaiah, Isa_39:7). This is the main subject of chapters 40-48 and the chief deliverer is Cyrus, mentioned near the middle of the section (44:28-45:1).
(2) The rejection and restoration of the Suffering Servant. This is discussed in 52:13-53:12, near the middle of chapters 49-57.
(3) The consummation of God’s restoration of Israel and the world. At the heart of this third section (chaps. 58-66) is the coming of the Messiah (chaps. 61-63).

1. What two personal pronouns do you find in verse 1 and what word does each modify?
My people, says Your God.   There is a sense of belonging---Israel is the Lord's people, and He is their God.




 2. To whom is Isaiah to speak the Lord's word (verse 2)? Why is comfort needed? (from previous lessons)?  Jerusalem.   Comfort is needed because of the punishment/exile they have endured.

In our text, there is a specification of one large class of medicine; and therefore, by inference, ONE LARGE CLASS OF SICKNESS. “Comfort” is the staple of the prescription. 

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.” Here there is the same medicine—“comfort”; but you have the disease more clearly defined—a “multitude of thoughts.” Bishop Austin’s version is, “The multitude of my anxieties within me”; whilst the representation in the original Hebrew would seem that of a man involved in a labyrinth, from whose intricacies there was no way of escape. -H. Mevill, B. D.

3. What is the three-part message from the Lord to His people?

1-Warfare has ended.
2-Her iniquity is pardoned.
3--She has received from the Lord double for all her sins.

"To receive double for all her sins does not mean to be punished beyond what she deserves but in keeping with what she deserves. The point is that she has now received “full” or “sufficient” punishment for all her sins." -BKC