Isaiah 39:8

The Bible says in Isaiah 39:8, “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.” God had just given King Hezekiah the most terrible news that a king of Israel or Judah could possibly hear: the country would be destroyed by Babylon and taken captive. Notice carefully the reaction that King Hezekiah had: he praised God because Hezekiah found something positive in what would happen. At least there would be “peace and truth” during the lifetime of Hezekiah. Hezekiah had to learn to be thankful for shorter periods of peace. In a similar way we must learn to do the same thing. We must look for the good that God is doing in our lives. We must look for the blessings. Yes, there are enemies and there are sorrows; but there are also many blessings. Make sure that you are thanking God for the blessings. Make sure that you can always say with Hezekiah, “Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken.”

In the first thirty-nine chapters of the book of Isaiah much has been said about the sins and failures of the people of Israel and the other people who lived around them. And then of course, in the first thirty-nine chapters we were told about the judgment that had to come against these sins from a holy God. But God is also merciful. Yes, mankind has failed; and in some ways the story of every human being is a story of failure; but God’s love for man is greater than man’s sin, and always will be. And so Isaiah chapter forty starts out with a great prophecy about what the Lord will do to pardon the sins of people instead of punishing them.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:1-5, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 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 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: 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.” Instead of trouble and anguish and sorrow: what one would expect as the consequences of sin, God is offering “comfort” for the soul. God uses the word “comfort” twice in Isaiah 40:1, and He uses the word “comfortably” once in Isaiah 40:2. The word that is translated “comfort” means “to console” someone. The word that is translated “comfortably” refers to speaking to the inner man: to the heart. Only the Spirit of God can speak to the heart. Once your “iniquity is pardoned,” you will find the most important of all comfort: peace for your soul and true relief from a guilty conscience. That is what Jesus was talking about when He said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

According to Isaiah 40:2, God had brought “warfare” against the people of Israel as a punishment for their sins. But once their sins were pardoned, there was no more warfare. There is a time to reap the consequences of one’s sins, and that is one of the reasons that we should avoid sin at all cost. But there is also always the possibility to repent and find forgiveness, and thus to enter into a relationship with the Lord, whereby we do not pay for our own sins. That is what First Corinthians 11:31-32 is teaching about when it says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Of course, that is also the message of First John 1:8-9. It says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Be diligent to confess every sin, every failure, and every short-coming from the perfect way; and you will be comforted in knowing that Jesus forgives you and stays in fellowship with you: in other words you stay in a close and open and honest communication with Him.

The people of Israel and of Judah did suffer because of their sins. They suffered warfare and trouble and distress for many years. But there is nothing like the message of the forgiveness of sins to make the sufferings seem as though they are only a light affliction, and to give the “comfort” that my soul needs. Jesus has forgiven me of my sins. Therefore, what can man do unto me? Jesus will take me to heaven. How wonderful that is. What does it matter what happens to me in this life? I will suffer some things, and I might deserve most of those sufferings. But what does that matter, when the joy of salvation and the truth of Christ’s love for me fills my heart and leads me into eternity?

The prophecy about John the Baptist begins in Isaiah 40:3, and it says, “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.” It is interesting to notice that John the Baptist lived in the wilderness. Maybe that is one reason that Jesus said about John in Luke 7:27-28, “This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Perhaps one of the reasons that John the Baptist became so great is because he lived in the wilderness. Being in the wilderness, he had less contact with other people and therefore had fewer bad influences. Often people learn to sin from other people who are bad examples to them and bad influences. Human beings are copy-cats. They mimic the sins of others for many different reasons. Usually when young people go astray one of the primary reasons has to do with bad influences by others who are older or who have stronger personalities. That is why Jesus said in Mark 9:42, “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”

John the Baptist came from the wilderness with his message that was so important and that came from God. John the Baptist was not one of the clergy. He did not learn at a seminary. He did not have degrees and honors from men. If John the Baptist did not obtain an official education, then where did his learning and knowledge and spiritual truths come from? They came directly from the Lord Himself and from the Spirit of God. Perhaps when churches look for a pastor, they should look for the kind of qualifications that John the Baptist possessed: holiness, spirituality, and a message from God.

The message that John the Baptist gave was a very important message. As stated in Isaiah 40:3, his message was: “Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” When John said, “Prepare ye the way” and “make straight in the desert a highway,” he was talking about people cleaning up their lives. In Mark 1:3-4 this verse in Isaiah chapter 40 is quoted, and the following is said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Notice that the message to prepare the way of the Lord is tied directly to the message of “the baptism of repentance.” That’s because both of those messages mean basically the same thing.

The word “repentance” refers to a change of mind. When someone repents, they have a change of mind concerning the “way” in which they are going in life, and they “prepare” a new way. Notice that John called it “the baptism” of repentance. To baptize means to cleanse with water. Of course, spiritual baptism involves being cleansed form sin, and therefore water baptism is symbolic of that cleansing. Water cannot cleanse from sin, but can be used as a symbolism of the cleansing from sin. If you have repented, then you may be baptized by water to show forth the cleansing that took place in your heart when you repented.

John the Baptist preached the message, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” The Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. John said, “Get prepared for the coming of the Lord.” The way to become prepared to meet the Lord is to have a change of mind about the way that you are going in life, and to be determined to change that way. Of course, changing your ways is not what saves you, because we are saved by faith. But we cannot be saved unless we have true repentance, unless we prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord will not visit someone who is not willing to repent. Jesus wants to visit people: repent and believe. The water baptism did not give cleansing: it was simply symbolic of the spiritual cleansing that already took place when someone repented. That is what it means in Mark 1:4 where it says, “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” The phrase “for the remission of sins” means is “based upon” the remission of sins. John the Baptist taught that first a person repented, then that person was baptized. Notice what John the Baptist said in Luke 3:7-8, “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” John would not baptize anyone until they brought forth “fruits worthy of repentance.” In other words they had to prove by a change in their actions that they had really repented. John would not baptize someone just because they asked to be baptized. No wonder that we have so many unsaved people as members of churches today. People should have a definite conversion experience before being baptized.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:4, “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.” Things are not right in this world: many things are not right. There is deceit, and cruelty, and lust, and greed, and jealousy, and violence, and gossip, and lying, and selfishness, and unbelief, and much more that is crooked in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ has a plan to straighten all of this out. Jesus will get rid of all that is crooked or unjust or evil. One part of His plan involves you and me. He wants us to repent and clean up our lives, and live a holy life because He is holy.

Another part of God’s plan to straighten everything out is revealed in Isaiah 40:5 that says, “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.” Of course, this is talking about the first coming of Christ, which took place shortly after John began preaching His message, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” It is interesting that Jesus is called “the glory of the Lord.” That is because Jesus is and always has been God. “All flesh” saw Him, because He became flesh and dwelt among men. In some ways the coming of Christ was symbolic of the fact that He comes to every person to reveal Himself to them. It says about Jesus in John 1:9, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” And Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

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