The Comforting Hope We Have in the Coming Lord

The Comforting Hope We Have in the Coming Lord

Isaiah 40:1-5

Holding on to the faith that God is in complete control at all times is a hard challenge. It is challenging to act like or believe that we have nothing to be anxious about. This is especially true when a difficulty in our life has continued for a long time.

The children of Israel were under the Babylonians. The Israelites were oppressed and had lost their wall of security. The Jews had lost their holy vessels and temple. Even their people were scattered as slaves around the Babylonian provinces. The Israelites were slaves physically and spiritually. They were forced to serve foreign rulers and foreign gods. The Jews were a conquered people who seemed to have no hope of fighting back.

However, sixty years after being defeated, in Isaiah 40:2, the prophet Isaiah declares that warfare is over and the Israelites have been pardoned. Later God raised King Cyrus, who, with his Persian army, conquered the Babylonians.

The Jews had been subjected to the might of Babylon, and Isaiah uses words suitable for war in his prophecy. Isaiah tells the Israelites that their King, God, is going to take control, so the people can take comfort. When the Babylonians conquered the Israelites, the Jews understood this to mean that their king had not fought for them because of the sins of the Israelites.

God takes away their sins even though the Israelites had done nothing to deserve this. Not only has God forgiven their sins, God would also deliver them from their enemies. The Jews had to do nothing but prepare the highway of The Lord. In the book of Ezra we read how some Jews accepted this message and returned to Jerusalem. Others did not because of their disbelief.

It would be easy to see why some Jews did not believe the prophecy considering the history of that time and what follows. The Persians conquered the Babylonians. Then the Greeks conquered the Persians in 331 BC and everything went back to being reigned by foreigners. Later the Romans defeated the Greeks in 146 BC and things became even worse. Warfare had not gone away.

Sin had not gone away, and its impact was felt. Still today sin affects many parts of our lives. Yet Isaiah spoke truthfully that we should take comfort.

By comfort, this is what Isaiah means.

1. Our comfort is found on the coming of Jesus. Jesus Christ has become our king. He has become our comfort since he has fulfilled the promises of God. He has also come out of love to us. We do not have the standards to return to good standings with God. Only Jesus can help us out of our situation since we are helpless to do this ourselves.

2. Jesus will bring our warfare with sin to the end. He does not just erase our failings, but gives us His Holy Spirit to us to help us live the way Jesus wants us to live. It is not just a final battle that has been fought, but also an effort of recuperation of strength and of total healing.

3. Jesus will lead His people and do this with tenderness. Not all of the Israelites were guilty of sin. Many people have not sinned and suffer because of the sins of others, and they need to be comforted. We find it hard to understand why God would allow for innocent people to suffer because of the sins of others. Yet we have security in knowing that Jesus will not let any wrongs go unsettled.

4. It is the Good News. Jesus will come and accomplish all that was said and promised by God in the Bible.

5. God will have all His glory when Jesus returns. All the confusion and injustice will be

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Romans 8:18 ESV