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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - Isaiah 40:1 - 40:31
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Isa_40:1-2. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.
The loss of comfort is no small loss. God would have his people happy. They are in the best condition for serving him, and less likely to be overcome by the temptations of the world, when the joy of the Lord is their strength. Therefore, three times over he bids his ministers comfort his people. O Triune Jehovah, help thy servant now to fulfill this commission!
Isa_40:2. And cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
After all beloved, you have not to fight your own battles. Under one aspect, you may have to do so; but the great fight is already over, that fight which is so much greater than all others, that the lesser ones are scarcely worthy of the name of warfare. You have but to scatter the foes whom your great Captain has vanquished, and to march boldly onward because he has cleared the way before you.
Isa_40:2. That her iniquity is pardoned:
Oh, when that is the ease, what does it matter about the warfare? Brethren, if you have a sense of sin forgiven, you may well bear the way. The sting is gone from death itself when sin is pardoned; and, therefore, it is certainly gone from life as well
Isa_40:2. For she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
If the Lord’s ancient people could thus be comforted in their seasons of sorrow, how much more may we be cheered when we think of all the blessing which has come to us through the sorrows of our great covenant Head! All is settled now. “It is finished,” was our Saviour’s cry from the cross. Our debts are all paid, so we may well be comforted.
Isa_40:3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
You have not to turn the wilderness into a garden; you have only to make “a highway for our God.” It is the presence of God that you want, O sorrowing soul, O mourning Church! Let the Lord but come to you, and then all shall be well. Your business is to give heed to the cry, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Isa_40:4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
That is what must happen to you who are very great and highly exalted, you will have to be made low. But as for the lowly ones, they shall be exalted. It is in this way that God comes to his people, marching over hills that have been overthrown, and over valleys that have been filled up, and leveled to make a highway for the King.
Isa_40:4-5. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain? and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
That is the great purpose and end of nature, of providence, and of grace, that the glory of the Lord may be revealed. It is revealed; but many men do not see it. Yet it is God’s purpose that all flesh shall see it together.” Do we all see it, clear friends? Are we not far too apt to take glory to ourselves, and to make out that we are strong, that we are wise? Ah! Too often, that is the case, so it is the Lord’s work to put an end to all that folly, so that nothing shall remain but the glory of the Lord, that all flesh may see it, and see nothing else.
Isa_40:6-8. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
So, you see, there is a withering work to be done by the Spirit of God, withering up all the glory of the flesh to the intent and purpose that the glory of God’s Word may be revealed, and that Jehovah himself may be seen in his majesty and might. This is the great battle of all the ages. Sometimes men have set up a golden calf to be worshipped; at other times, blocks of wood and stone; but idolatry is universal wherever man is found. We are all far too prone to trust in something else instead of in God; and God is always jealous of these rivals of his,-—these Dagons that dare impiously to stand in the presence of the ark of the Lord.
Isa_40:9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
That is the point which we need to reach, where we may see God,—where we may be conscious of his presence,—where we may trust in his grace,—where we may lean on his arm. And, oh! we need to have the voice very much lifted up before we can hear this cry, “Behold your God!” We run after this sight, and that, and the other, and forget him who alone is worth seeing. “Behold your God,” you who are sorrowing, you who are perplexed, you who are sorely burdened, behold your God, and you shall be strengthened and comforted.
Isa_40:10-11. Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
This is what the good Shepherd is constantly doing. Nobody else can do it. He alone can protect the weak, who are his lambs, and succor those whose inward sorrows bring them into deep distress; and there is nothing which he cannot do, for he is omnipotent. Then, why do you not trust him? You remember what the Lord himself says, by the mouth of Jeremiah: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green: and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Now comes a verse by which we are taught the greatness of God:—-
Isa_40:12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who has done all this but God? Then, after that, is there anything too hard for him to do? And who is so worthy of your confidence as this Omnipotent One? Oh, let the thunder of his power make you ashamed of the weakness of your unbelief!
Isa_40:13-14. Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
Dost thou want greater wisdom than his? Art thou perplexed because thou canst not understand all mysteries? What would thy wisdom and understanding be if they were placed side by side with his? A single drop of water, compared with all seas and oceans, has a larger magnitude than all thy powers have compared with the greatness of thy God, and all his glorious attributes. Trust him, then, and let him lead thee whithersoever he willeth.
Isa_40:15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
All the nations—Jews and Gentiles, the vast multitudes of China, and India, and all other nations,—all these are but as a drop of a bucket,—the one drop that trembles on the bucket’s brim when all the rest of the water is gone.
Isa_40:15. And are counted as the small dust of the balance:
That little imperceptible dust that does not turn the scale of an ordinary balance, and for which you would need the most sensitive scales in order to discover its presence. That is all that the whole of the nations of the earth are in comparison with God; yet, sometimes, we fancy that one man is so great that all must give way to him. Whereas, if we trust in God, and think as God thinks, a whole nation will be to us as a drop of a bucket, or as the unseen dust of the balance. Well did Dr. Watts sing:—
“
What worthless worms are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
“Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere seas or stars were made;
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.”
There, set Lebanon itself on a blaze; let all its forests of cedar be the wood to burn the sacrifice, and all its cattle the victims upon the altar; yet are they but as a child’s toys in the sight of the all-glorious Jehovah. There is nothing in them that can satisfy his infinite heart.
Isa_40:17-18. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Now, children of God, do not miss the meaning of this passage by saying that it relates to the heathen. True, it does; but not to them alone, When the heathen liken God to stocks and stones, they scarcely act worse than some of his people do; for, sometimes, we do not even think as well of our God as we do of ourselves. Ye, being evil, are constantly supplying your children’s wants, yet you doubt whether God will supply yours. You liken him to an ungenerous father, or to a forgetful and faithless friend, one who changes with the wind. Oh, dear friends, have you not so likened him? If so, let the rebuke to the heathen be also a rebuke to you. This is what the heathen do:—
Isa_40:19-20. The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation—
No precious metal,—
Isa_40:20-26. Chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning?
Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high,— Look at the stars,—
Isa_40:26-27. And behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
You see, it is another form of that same sin of forgetting God, or thinking little of God. It does not matter much whether it takes the form of atheism or of idolatry, it is the same kind of evil; it is getting away from God, or neglecting him; and, in our case, when we get depressed in spirit, and fancy that God forgets us, it is the same sinful nature working in the same sinful manner. May God help us to forsake every form of evil!
Isa_40:28-29. Hast thou not know? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint;—
Come now, faint heart, and swoon away at his feet. Come to him in all your weakness; do not try to conceal it, but trust him to remove it: “He giveth power to the faint;”—
Isa_40:29. And to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
What a mercy it is to have no might that God may increase our strength! What a curse it is to be so strong in yourself that you do not go to the Strong for strength!
Isa_40:30. Even the youths—
With all their vigor: “Even the youths”—
Isa_40:30. Shall faint and be weary, and the young men—
Though more confirmed in strength: “the young men”—
Isa_40:30-31. Shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
That is their first mode of progression, in which, perhaps, there is more flight than is good for them: “They shall mount up with wings as eagles;”—
Isa_40:31. They shall run, and not be weary;
That is an improvement upon the flying; but they shall still further improve their pace, for running is not the best pace at which a man can go. Enoch did not run with God, but he walked with him; and so, as we grow in grace, we shall advance, from flying to running, and from running to walking. This is the wise, sober, steady mode of going to heaven.
Isa_40:31. And they shall walk, and not faint.
The Lord help us to attain to that blessed rate of progression, in which we shall “walk, and not faint,” for his dear Son’s sake!
This exposition consisted of readings from Isaiah 40.; and Mat_16:21-23.
Isa_40:1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
“They need it, and they shall have it. Mind, O my servants, that you give it to them: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”
Isa_40:2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
The first meaning of these words was that, as Jerusalem had passed through a time of great tribulation, she should have a season of rest, but the grand gospel meaning to you and to me is, that our Lord Jesus has fought our battle, and won the victory for us, that he has paid our debt and given to divine justice the double for all our sins, and therefore, our iniquity is pardoned. This is enough to make anyone happy, one would think. It is the best thing that even Isaiah could say, or that God himself could say by the mouth of Isaiah, when his object was to comfort the Lord’s tried people.
Isa_40:3-4. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
When God means to come to men, nothing can stop him or block up his road. He will level mountains, and fill up valleys, but he will come to his people, somehow or other. And when he comes to them, if he finds many crooked things about them, he will make the crooked straight, and the rough places he will make plain.
Isa_40:5. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
And, since he has spoken it, it must come to pass. “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? “With him, to say anything is to will its accomplishment.
Isa_40:6-8. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Yes, the dearest ones that we have are but flesh, so they wither, and pass away like the green herb. Have you been bereaved, my believing friend?
Well, you may still say to your Lord, in the words of our hymn, “How can I bereaved be, Since I cannot part from thee?” The mower with the sharp scythe cuts down the grass, but he cannot touch the secret source of our hope, and joy, and confidence in God, and, above all, he cannot touch the God in whom we confide.
Isa_40:9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
If the chief, the best, the holiest city has found her God, if Jerusalem has been thus favored, let her sing the gladsome tidings, over the hilltops, to the most distant cities of the land, and say to them, “Behold your God “If you have seen your Lord, beloved, proclaim the good news to those who have well nigh forgotten that there is a God, say to them, “Behold your God. He is still to be seen, by the eye of faith, working graciously in the midst of the earth.”
Isa_40:10-11. Behold, the lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
He knows their weakness, their weariness, their pain, and how incapable they are of speedy and long traveling; he is very tender and pitiful, and he will gently lead them.
Isa_40:12-14. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
And yet, beloved, we sometimes act as if we were God’s teachers, as if we had to instruct him what he should do, and because we cannot see our way, we almost dream that he cannot, and because we are puzzled, we conceive that infinite wisdom must be at a nonplus; but it is not so. He was full of wisdom when there was no one with whom he could take counsel, and he is still wise in the highest degree.
Isa_40:15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
Not a bucketful, but just a drop that remains in the bucket after you thought it had been completely emptied.
Isa_40:15. And are counted as the small dust of the balance:
Remember that this is said of “the nations.” China, India, Europe, Africa, with all their teeming multitudes, are only like the small dust of the balance that is blown away by the slightest puff of wind.
Isa_40:15-16. Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon
With all its forests of cedar: “Lebanon” —
Isa_40:16. Is not sufficient to burn,
Think of all the cedars of Lebanon as being on a blaze, like some great forest fire, yet not being sufficient to supply the wood for God’s altars.
Isa_40:16. Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
Whether it be the wild or the tame beasts that are on that mountain range, they are not sufficient for a burnt offering unto the Most High.
Isa_40:17. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
As if they were the mere shadow of something, and had no more influence over him than as if they did not exist.
Isa_40:18. To whom then will ye liken God?
This is a strong argument against idolatry, against the worship of God under any visible form whatsoever: “To whom then will ye liken God?”
Isa_40:18. Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
The heathen did make these supposed likenesses of God. Here is a description of the process by which they manufactured their idol gods.
Isa_40:19.The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,
The rough metal is cast in a certain fashion, and then the goldsmith puts on it his thin plates of gold,
Isa_40:19. And casteth silver chains.
To adorn it.
Isa_40:20. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation —
The poor man, who cannot manage to make a god of gold,
Isa_40:20. Chooseth a tree that will not rot;
A good piece of heart of oak or enduring elm.
Isa_40:20. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
Fix it firmly, drive the post down far into the earth, so that it may be an immovable god.
Isa_40:21-26. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations or the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princess to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high,
Suppose it to be night time: “Lift up your eyes on high,” —
Isa_40:26. And behold who hath created these things,
These wondrous worlds, these stars that bespangle the firmament.
Isa_40:26. That bringeth out their host by number:
For God knows the number of them all, and the name of every separate world that moves in the vast expanse of space.
Isa_40:26. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
They are not propped up with pillars, nor hung upon some mighty ropes, yet they continue to occupy the spheres appointed to them by God. He hangeth the world upon nothing, and keeps it in its place by the perpetual out-going of his power.
Isa_40:27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
What! when he has not forgotten one of all those mighty hosts of stars, and when not a sparrow falleth to the ground without his notice, how can you dream that he has forgotten you, or that your way is hidden from him?
Isa_40:28-31. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.