Isaiah 40:1

Isaiah 40:1

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

a. NASB 2020: “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. [NASB20] New American Standard Bible. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation; All Rights Reserved]

b. YLT:  Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. The Milstein Edition, Later Prophets, Isaiah. With Rabbinic Commentary: Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  [THE ARTSCROLL SERIES\MILSTEIN EDITION THE LATTER PROPHETS, ISAIAH Ⓒ Copyright 2013 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.]

e. ESV: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

1. “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”

a. Comfort [ye] [Strong: 5162 nâcham, naw-kham'; a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):—comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).]

b. Comfort [ye]  [Strong: 5162 nâcham, naw-kham'; a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):—comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).]

c. [my] people [Strong: 5971 ʻam, am; from H6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:—folk, men, nation, people.]

d. saith [Strong: 559 ʼâmar, aw-mar'; a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):—answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, × desire, determine, × expressly, × indeed, × intend, name, × plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), × still, × suppose, talk, tell, term, × that is, × think, use (speech), utter, × verily, × yet.]

e. [your] God [Strong: 430 ʼĕlôhîym, el-o-heem'; plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:—angels, × exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), × (very) great, judges, × mighty.]

1). ICR Days of Praise, 12/13/2008: These two verses introduce the so-called book of "Deutero-Isaiah," which biblical critics (who deny that prophecy can be fulfilled) claim was written by a second Isaiah simply because it contains prophetic claims which have come to pass. The Lord Jesus, however, quoted more than once from both "divisions" of Isaiah, attributing both of them to the same inspired author, and He surely knew more about their true authorship than do modern liberals! Actually, however, the two divisions of Isaiah are quite distinctive in their respective vocabularies, simply because their respective themes are different. In fact, the chapter structure of the two divisions is quite remarkable, possibly even providential. The first book (chapters 1-39) contains the same number of chapters as the Old Testament has books. The second book (chapters 40-66) contains 27 chapters, the same as the number of books in the New Testament. The New Testament portion begins with John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:1-5), just as the New Testament itself does, and ends with the new heavens and the new earth (Isaiah 65 and 66; compare Revelation 21 and 22). The central chapter in the New Testament part of Isaiah is Isaiah 53, which contains the clearest and fullest exposition of the substitutionary death of Christ for our sins to be found anywhere in the Bible. And the central verse of this chapter (which actually should begin at Isaiah 52:13) is: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). HMM

2). The Bible itself claims Isaiah wrote Isaiah and that’s enough for me. I usually do not waste my time reading material that casts doubt on Scripture. It is different people but the same devil. “Yea, hath God said?” In all the following New Testament examples there are nine different chapters from the book of Isaiah quoted. This Scriptural evidence is enough for me to believe the whole book of Isaiah was written by Isaiah. Isaiah’s own exhortation fits in here.  Isaiah 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

a). In Matthew 3:1-3 Matthew says Isaiah wrote Isaiah 40:3.

b). In Matthew 4:14-16 Matthew says Isaiah wrote Isaiah 9:1, 2.

c). In Matthew 8:17 Matthew says Isaiah wrote Isaiah 53:4.

d). In Matthew 12:17-21 Matthew says that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 42:1-4.

e). In Matthew 13:14, 15 Matthew says that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 6:9.

f). In Matthew 15:7, 8 Matthew says that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 29:13.

g). In Luke 4:17 Luke writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 61:1, 2.

h). In John 12:37-41 John writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 53:1 and Isaiah 6:9, 10.

i). In Acts 8:27-33 Luke writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 53:7, 8.

j). In Romans 9:29 Paul writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 1:9.

k). In Romans 10:20, 21 Paul writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 65:1, 2.

l). In Romans 15:12 Paul writes that Isaiah wrote Isaiah 11:10.

3). The following segment is taken from the website Grace To You, featuring John MacArthur. I listened to his broadcast April 1st on the way up to the Dayton Airport to pick up Missy from her flight from London. This is only part of what he said, but I thought it was well worth noting.

“That brings you to the second section, 27 chapters remain, chapters 40 through 66. The theme of the second section is grace and salvation…grace and salvation. These 27 chapters, starting in chapter 40, are the most sublime and rich portion of Old Testament prophecy. It really is a single prophecy, one glorious vision, one majestic revelation of salvation through the coming Messiah. It is sublime, it is sweeping, it is comprehensive. It encompasses not only the deliverance of Israel from Babylon, not only the deliverance of sinners from sin, but the deliverance of the nations from the curse into the Kingdom of Messiah. So it has those same elements. The first part talks about judgment on Israel, it talks about judgment on sinners, and it talks about final judgment. The second half talks about deliverance for Israel, deliverance for sinners, and a final deliverance into the Messianic Kingdom. Most interestingly the second half, which is what we’re going to be looking at, 40 to 66, begins where the New Testament begins. I want you to look at chapter 40 for just a brief moment and the parallel is quite interesting. In chapter 40 we read, “Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God.” And that’s the turn in the book of Isaiah from the pronunciation of judgment in the first 39 to comfort in the back half because of grace and salvation. Speak kindly to Jerusalem. And then comes the prophecy in verse 3 of John the Baptist. “A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” And, of course, it was John the Baptist who came, who was the fulfillment of that prophecy, he was the forerunner of Messiah, he was the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, making the desert a highway for our God.” So, that’s where the New Testament begins, the New Testament begins with John the Baptist, and that’s where the back half of Isaiah begins. So this so-called gospel section of Isaiah begins where the actual New Testament gospel begins. Now this section of Isaiah ends where the New Testament ends as well. And that is another remarkable feature in the 65th chapter of Isaiah, as you’re getting to the very end and verse 17 we read this, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” The new heavens and the new earth, chapter 65 verse 17. Then in the final chapter, chapter 66 verse 22, almost at the very end, “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me, declares the Lord,” and so forth. Guess where the New Testament ends? It ends in Revelation 21 and 22 with the new heavens and the new earth. So this section of Isaiah begins where the New Testament begins, with the arrival of John the Baptist. It ends where the New Testament ends, with the new heaven and the new earth. And thus we see the magnificent way in which this incredible prophecy parallels the New Testament. And all of it is written 700 years before Messiah comes to begin to fulfill it…. 

…Now this is the heart of the section from 40 to 66, I’m going to show you how interesting just this little aspect of it is. There are 27 chapters, take my word for it, 40 to 66, that’s 27 chapters. They’re divided into three sections 9, 9 and 9 in terms of subject…terms of subject. The first section ends with this statement, “There is no peace to the wicked.” The second nine ends with this statement, “There is no peace to the wicked.” The third section ends, chapter 66 verse 24, with a similar judgment statement. Each of the three sections ends with a warning of judgment on the wicked. But all three sections promise salvation. They’re very evangelistic. They promise salvation and they end with a warning if you reject it. All three feature blessing and peace to the righteous and no peace and judgment to the wicked. All three determine that righteousness and wickedness is fixed forever. Destiny is not to be altered. Section one talks about salvation from the Babylonian captivity. Section two talks about salvation from sin. And section three, the last nine, salvation from the cursed earth. So the first has to do with the deliverance of Israel from Babylon. The middle one, as I said a lot earlier, has to do with the deliverance of sinners from sin. And the third one, the deliverance of the earth from the curse, the glorious coming Kingdom of Messiah. So the middle one is the one we’re in. The middle section that we’re in runs from 49 to 57. And this middle one is the issue of forgiveness of sins and it asks the question about salvation from sin, not temporal deliverance from Babylon, and not the eschatological Kingdom to come in the future, but deliverance from sin. Now that poses a very important question. Don’t miss this; this would be worth waiting for.