Isaiah 40:6

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:6-9, “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. 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!” Of course, the word “cry” does not mean to cry with tears. It means to cry out, to proclaim. That is what the word “preach” means. It means to publicly proclaim. God always wants His message proclaimed to the human race. That is very important. What will happen to mankind if they do not hear the truth of God’s Word? They will be without hope. Without the preaching of God’s Word, no one will get saved and no believer will get strengthened in faith. Some believers are called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and help spread the truth around the world. Other believers have different gifts, but their gifts will also be used to ultimately help spread the gospel because what they do will help strengthen the body of Christ, and will help those who are called to publicly proclaim to do their tasks. For example, concerning those who are called to preach, it says in Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” There are some believers who are not called to preach, but who have a different task to do so that the Word of God can be preached. These believers who are not preachers are involved in taking care of some of the practical matters of the church so that preachers can be free to study the Word and to preach the Word. It says in Acts 6:2-4, “Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

One of the reasons that the preaching of God’s Word is so important is because of what is said in Isaiah 40:8, “the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Of course, that which lasts forever is more important than that which is temporary. Everything in life is temporary. That is the message of Isaiah 40:6-7. It says in Isaiah 40:6, “All flesh is grass.” And it says in Isaiah 40:7, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth.” God tells us in Isaiah chapter 40 that this is a very important message to deliver to the human race. If only people would wake up to their own mortality. If only they would realize that they are going to die. Some will die young, and some will die old; but all will die. Proclaim that message. It is important that people hear it. Maybe, just maybe when they realize the truth of that message, they will turn to Jesus, who alone can save them. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” The Spirit of God can use the message that life is short and life is temporary, because no one knows when they will die. Everyone needs to hear that they should be prepared to meet their Maker, and that they should turn to Jesus while they still have time. Death is coming, and so is the judgment.

Remember that in this passage in Isaiah chapter 40 that the Bible is telling us about the coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is important to notice what the Bible says about Jesus in Isaiah 40:9, “Behold your God!” We are told clearly that Jesus is God both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament many, many times. When Jesus came to the earth, God came to the earth. God came and revealed Himself to the human race. Jesus is God.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:10-14, “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. 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 counseller 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?” In this passage of scripture we are entering into teachings that are going to put a great deal of emphasis on what God is going to do for man, with no emphasis whatsoever on what man will do. That is because mankind has failed, and now our only hope is what Jesus will do for us. Thank God that He does have a plan whereby He is going to do everything, and we are going to enjoy the benefits of what He will do. That is what grace is all about: Jesus doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. There is a time to teach about man’s responsibility towards God, but there is also a time to emphasize what God is going to do for man by His own efforts, by His own will, and by His own strength. Isaiah 40:10-11 tells us things that God is going to do, and does not say one thing about what man is going to do. It says, “the Lord GOD will come with strong hand,” and, “his arm shall rule for him.” It says, “Behold, his reward is with him,” and “his work before him.” It also says, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm,” and He shall “carry them in his bosom,” and He “shall gently lead.” Of course, this is talking about Jesus. Jesus is the Great Shepherd, and the believers are His lambs. It is wonderful to belong to Jesus. He will protect, and He will provide, and He will lead His believers. Jesus said about Himself in John 10:11-14, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” The implication is that there are bad shepherds in this world, but Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd. Jesus is called the Great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20. It says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”

Isaiah 40:12-14 are verses that are emphasizing the great wisdom, and power, and understanding possessed by God compared to human beings. It is comforting to know that God is in control, God is involved, and God can do anything. Of course, we have many limitations and frailties, but God has none. Isaiah 40:13 says, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counseller hath taught him?” Not only can no man be God’s counselor, the opposite is true. We need counsel from God. We need to be sensitive to the moving of the Spirit, because we need very much to be directed by the Spirit of God. Wise is the person who knows which way God is going, and who goes with Him.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:15-22, “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 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? 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 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.” As these verses continue to expound upon the greatness of God compared to the smallness of man, one of the obvious arguments is given against having an idol to represent the living God. God is so great and so vast and so incomprehensible to man that God could never ever be represented by an image made by the hands of man. It is interesting to note that God did make an image of Himself after a certain sense in the human body of Jesus Christ. It says about Jesus in Second Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” And it says in Colossians 1:15 about Jesus, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” If you want to know God, then you must know Jesus. If you want to see God, then you must “see” Jesus (in a spiritual sense.) If you want to love God, then you must love Jesus. Jesus is God. He is the manifestation of God. He is the image of God. Jesus is God presented to man.

The Bible says about God in Isaiah 40:23-28, “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, 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.” If we compare God to the most powerful people of the earth: the princes and the judges, those people are as nothing. God will remove them at a moment’s notice, if and when He chooses: “he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.” If we compare God to the vastness of the universe and to the billions and billions of stars, God knows every detail of every star in every galaxy because He created them, and He knows all things about all things. It says in Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes on high, 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.”

Jesus Christ is the all-knowing God. Jesus is described in Revelation 1:13-16, and it says about Him in verse 14, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” The phrase “his hairs were white like wool” are symbolic of His great wisdom and knowledge of all things. The fact that God is omniscient means that no one should ever think like Israel: “My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God.” Jesus always knows all things. Therefore, He knows every detail of your life and of my life. He knows what each event in our lives means, and He knows what the outcome of it will be. He allows what He allows, because He knows, and He knows what is best. The omniscience of God is one of the reasons that there is a purpose to all things: a good purpose.

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