Isaiah 40-41,  Proverbs 25:15-28,  Luke 23:13-25,  Hebrews 9:1-10  

Isaiah 40-41:  

At last! Isaiah 40 arrives like a glass of chilled, cool water after a long, hot journey in a desert! “Comfort, Comfort, my people” (40:1). Words made famous by Handel’s Messiah, filled with hope, joy and meaning. Isaiah proclaims forgiveness: “her iniquity is pardoned” (40:2). He proclaims that there will be a “voice” (fulfilled in John the Baptist, John 1:23) who will prepare the way for the LORD (40:3). And the glory of the LORD will be revealed (40:5).

We almost feel like we are in the New Testament—and indeed, in a sense, we almost are! “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (40:8). This blessed comfort, pre-announced, will not fail, for God’s Word will not fail. It is “good news” (40:9). And the cities will say, “Behold your God!” (40:9). What will this sight of God be like? “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms” (40:11). The good shepherd, the Christ, God incarnate, tender. This incarnation is nothing like the “idol” (40:19). No, he speaks of God, who “does not faint or grow weary” (40:28). So then let us wait on and trust in God: 

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30-31) 

By contrast, how ridiculous are those idols (41:7)! Isaiah depicts the craftsman making the idols, the idols that are foolishly worshipped. But God himself has chosen his people (41:9). He will strengthen them, he will help them, he will uphold them (41:10). Take comfort. Be strong in God.