Episode notes
Comfort for the weary
For the weak, worried, and worn-down, the opening words of Isaiah 40 ring out:
"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!' says your God" (V. 1).
George Handel chose these words from
Isaiah 40:1 as the opening words for his oratorio Messiah. Handel drew heavily from the words of the Old Testament prophets as he wrote the words for the Messiah, with the Book of Isaiah being the most used
Isaiah wrote these prophetic words to the Jewish exiles who would live in Babylon in captivity, about 150 years later.
Chapters 40-55 contain prophecies of comfort for them.
Isaiah looked forward to the time when the captives would return home, and ultimately to the Second Coming and the full salvation that Christ would bring to those who receive Him.
The word comfort is used three times there in the first two verses of chapter 40, signaling that the people's suffering is coming to an end.
The chapter ends with those stirring words of encouragement that the people would "mount up with wings like eagles" and that they would "not be weary" and "not faint.
The key is found in verse 31: "those who wait on the LorD." Waiting suggests
STUDY THE BOOK
Isaiah 40:1-31
Have an active confidence and hope, not resigning ourselves to whatever may happen.
Faith transforms a person's life, and faith is developed as we wait on the Lord.
This faith-growth through waiting and watching to see God working in our lives-sustains us so we can run and we can walk, going with God every step of the way.
No wonder Isaiah stressed the word comfort. The exiles, who were straining and struggling under the weight of captivity, would soar like eagles through God's power.
Comfort indeed.
MORE INSIGHT
Isaiah knew the Jews living in captivity would wrestle with feelings of loneliness and despair. So he wrote of God's comfort and eagles wings and not fainting. Psalms is filled with promises of God's presence and comfort.
The psalmist wrote in Psalm 56:8 that God "put my tears into [His) bottle."
For more verses of comfort, see Psalms 34:18;
46:1; 55:22; 71:20, 21; and 147:3.
previous: Isaiah 35:1-10
next: Isaiah 42:1-4