Year 3, Day 24: Isaiah 40

Deutero-Isaiah

As we begin Isaiah 40, I need to talk about Second Isaiah (sometimes called Deutero-Isaiah) and Third Isaiah (Sometimes called Trito-Isaiah).  Much of the remaining chapters in Isaiah speak about God’s comfort of His people.  In fact, many of these passages seem to actually be speaking to the Hebrew people at the end of their 70 year captivity under Babylon. 

Isaiah was already a prophet well before the Babylonians conquered Judah.  He would certainly have been dead by the time the captivity was coming to an end.  Therefore, if these passages are to be read as being written at the end of the Babylonian captivity, some people conclude that they must have been written by a disciple of Isaiah’s (or several disciples) – hence the Second and Third Isaiah concept.

I have some misgivings about this approach.  At the same time, there is no factual dispute of this teaching, either.  But my misgivings are as follows. 

Church tradition believes that Isaiah was the author of the whole book. 

Church tradition asserts that God is the source of the truth spoken by Isaiah.  Therefore, if God already knows that Babylon will take Judah into captivity – which we saw at the end of Isaiah 39 – then why can’t God also know about the release of the Hebrew people from captivity?  If God can know the future, which I absolutely believe He does, then there is no reason to think that God cannot give words of comfort prior to the events occurring for which they need to be comforted.  I don’t find any reason to force a Second or Third Isaiah understanding, so I choose to teach and believe that Isaiah wrote this whole book.

In fact, isn’t our Bible full of stories of people to whom God made promises regarding the future?  Did not God save Noah through a warning about the future?  Did not God teach Abraham several times through future promises of offspring?  Did God not promise good things through Joseph in Egypt?  Did not God promise future things to Moses and Joshua?  What about David?  If we so readily accept that God can speak to future promises in all of these stories, why is it so impossible to think that God can speak a message of hope through Isaiah prior to the people actually knowing the circumstances surrounding the message of hope?

I’ve digressed a good bit from the chapter at hand.  But I think it was necessary.  What we have learned is that while most of the chapters prior to Isaiah 40 speak about warnings and the coming judgment, the rest of these chapters will talk about hope and commitment to God.  This is a wonderful thing.

Comfort

Notice the first two words Isaiah speaks from God.  “Comfort, comfort.”  The Hebrew people have been through the wringer.  The Assyrians have just come and conquered every Hebrew land except for Jerusalem.  Isaiah has prophesied the captivity of the Hebrew people under the Babylonians.  The Hebrew people will again taste the fruit of their unfaithful labor.  They will understand the lesson.  At that point it is the time of comfort.

A Way In The Wilderness

Then we come to a very familiar passage.  “A voice is crying out in the wilderness.”  “Make straight the way of the Lord.” 

Isaiah is telling the Hebrew people that when the time of comfort comes, it is also joined up with a time of straightening out our lives.  Receiving comfort from God is paired with obedience to God.  If you think about this, it just makes sense.  God is always there to comfort us.  It is not God who tells us that His love is far from us.  It is we who turn our backs upon God and tell Him we are not interested in His love.  In order for us to truly appreciate and receive God’s comfort, we must turn, repent, and be obedient to Him.  As I’ve said before as I often quote Dietrich Bonheoffer, “Only those who believe obey; only those who obey believe.”

Can You Fathom God?

Then we come to the rest of this awesome chapter.  Who has considered the Lord?  Who has measured the Lord?  Who has been able to find where the Lord begins and the Lord ends?  Can any of us fathom God?  The middle section of this chapter sounds like something straight out of the end to the book of Job!

No.  We cannot fathom God.  God created this world.  God set life in motion.  It is He who sits upon the throne.  It is He who knows the proper agenda for this world.  It is He who counsels us through His Spirit.

We are like fading flowers in His sight.  We are like mown grass.  We are like grasshoppers.  We are born, we live, we rebel, we make promises we cannot keep, we seek forgiveness, we do that cycle a few million times, and then we die.  We are not and cannot ever be the focus.  God is great and mighty and majestic.  Life is not about me, it is about Him!

But the really cool part is how this chapter ends.  Even though life is not about us and life is all about God, we shall still receive our strength from God.  Even though we humbly submit to God, we shall fly aloft like eagles resting on God’s ability to make them soar.  Even though we turn and rebel and die, we shall not be weary.  God can rescue us.  He can save us.  He is the ultimate source of comfort.

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