If you will please, friends, turn to the
scriptures in the book of Isaiah, chapter 40.
I'd like to read for you just the
first two verses of that chapter.
Isaiah 40, verses 1 and 2.
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 the
Lord's hand, double for all her sins.
In spite of the fact that Christians have
been blessed with all spiritual blessings, they are
still a needy people.
But they don't all have the same needs.
There are those who need to be stirred
up with regard to the responsibility to spread
the gospel both at home and abroad.
Others who may be in a backslidden state
need the ministry of restoration, such as our
Advocate with the Father is always ready to
bestow.
Still others require the high priestly ministry of
our Lord Jesus.
But the one thing that almost every Christian
seems to need these days is a ministry
of comfort and cheer.
We live in a world that is seething
with unrest.
Many churches are in danger of dividing and
disintegrating because of internal strife and dissension.
The number of broken homes increases daily.
One is but to mention these things to
show that there is much need for comfort
and encouragement on every hand.
It is for that reason that I am
turning to this scripture at this time.
And even though some who hear these words
may not stand in need of such comfort,
we trust that the scriptures which we are
going to consider herein will furnish them with
words of hope, comfort, and cheer for those
who need it.
Some may wonder why we have chosen an
Old Testament text for this purpose.
We know, of course, that this part of
the word of God belongs by right to
Israel.
And we have no intention of spiritualizing these
scriptures in order to apply to the church
that which God has given to his ancient
people.
Nevertheless, we are taught in Romans 15, verse
4, that whatsoever things were written aforetime were
written for our learning, that we, through patience
and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
There can be no reasonable doubt that the
Apostle is here referring to the Old Testament
scriptures.
Moreover, it is a well-known fact that
many Christians use the Psalms without ever questioning
their right to do so.
And they are certainly a part of the
Old Testament.
As Christians, we have been blessed with all
spiritual blessings, according to Ephesians 1, verse 3,
and therefore we may claim a spiritual blessing
whether we find it in the Old Testament
or in the New.
In so doing, we shall not rob anyone
any more than we rob another of the
gift of eternal life, when we accept it
as a gift from God through faith in
his beloved Son, our Savior.
There are some things which are the heritage
of all of God's children, and we believe
that the comfort he has spoken of is
one of them.
The fact that questions have been raised as
to the authorship of this part of the
word of God seems to hinder some from
making full use of it.
For the encouragement of such, we need only
to point out that the Lord Jesus, when
quoting from different parts of the prophecy of
Isaiah, as he does in John 12, never
even hinted that he was quoting from two
different writers.
We believe that every word of God is
divinely inspired, regardless of who may have been
used to write it.
The prophecy came not in old time by
the will of man, but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.
That there is a difference between the two
parts of the book is freely admitted.
In the first part of this book, we
find some strong and even hard sayings, but
they're in keeping with the object in view,
namely, that of reaching the consciences of God's
people.
In the second part, the purpose is quite
different, hence the difference in tone.
Here he speaks to the heart of his
people.
Accordingly, we read, Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God.
The very fact that he addresses them here
as his people is in itself a cause
for comfort.
For a long time, he had to treat
them as if they were not his people.
And are there not times in our own
case when it becomes necessary for him to
discipline us in the same way?
As a result of disobedience and waywardness, we
may have lost the joy of our salvation.
Thank God that that does not break our
eternal relationship to him.
And when the rod of correction has brought
us to repentance, how sweet to be reassured
from his word that we are his very
own and that his love toward us is
ever the same.
The repetition of the word comfort seems to
make it emphatic.
He wants to impress it upon us so
that we'll never forget it.
As I say this, I'm reminded of a
teacher I had when I was just a
young lad at school, very fond of repeating
a Latin phrase which seemed to sum up
her method of teaching.
Repetitio est mater studiorum, she would say.
Repetition is the mother of studies.
And it may be that the divine teacher
here repeats this word because he knows that
none of us learns a thing very well
the first time we hear it.
Some of us need only to think back
to the time when we were learning our
multiplication tables.
What a temptation at times to use our
fingers instead of our brains to make sure
that we were right.
And we do not seem to learn much
better in spiritual things.
Hence the need for repetition in order that
these precious truths may be impressed upon our
hearts and minds.
Strictly speaking, this should not be necessary in
the school of God.
But it's quite possible that the people of
God had heard so much of the other
side of Isaiah's ministry that they could hardly
believe their ears when they heard him speak
these words of comfort as a spokesman for
the Lord himself.
On the other hand, they might have become
dull of hearing.
And we all know how easy it is
for those of us who've been brought up
in Christian homes and in the church to
get so accustomed to hearing the most precious
things out of the word of God and
not respond to them as we should.
I know it's been my own experience more
than once.
Take, for example, that loving invitation of our
Lord Jesus who said, Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest.
I've no way of knowing how many times
I may have quoted those words.
But one day as I read them over,
they struck me with new force.
It was one of those days when I
really needed rest or quietness of spirit.
I knew that my sins had been forgiven,
for I had long before that trusted the
Lord Jesus as my personal Savior.
But now my heart was restless, and here
I discovered afresh the invitation to come and
find rest for my troubled heart.
I knew the words so well I could
repeat them from memory.
Again and again I had urged others to
come to the Lord Jesus for rest of
both heart and conscience, but now the Spirit
of God was urging me to do for
myself what I had exhorted others to do.
And thus did the Lord repeat for me,
as it were, the words that he had
spoken so long before in other ears and
to other hearts.
And how wonderful it is that even though
he has countless numbers under his care, he
reminds us that so minute is his care
for us that even the very hairs of
our head are all numbered.
And therefore we may confidently say we're his
people and the sheep of his pasture.
It matters not what our social status may
be or what the color of our skin
or the language we speak.
All those whom he has saved by his
grace are his people.
He raises up the poor out of the
dust and lifted up the beggars from the
dunghill to set them among princes and to
make them inherit the throne of glory.
Such are they whom he calls my people.
Perhaps some of us need to be reminded
that our blessed Lord was commissioned not only
to preach the gospel to the poor, but
also to heal the brokenhearted.
When I first began to preach the gospel
more than fifty years ago, a dear servant
of Christ said to me, Always speak as
to broken hearts, and you'll never lack an
audience.
And I have found that to be true.
We know that the whole creation groaneth and
travelleth in pain together until now.
And not only they, but ourselves also, have
the firstfruits of the Spirit.
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption to wit, as a world of
comfort in knowing that we shall not be
disappointed.
The second verse of our chapter, that is
Isaiah 40, continues the theme, Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem.
This may be rendered, Speak ye to the
heart of Jerusalem.
This is an alternative reading, which may be
found in the margin of some editions of
the Bible.
Who these unnamed messengers are, we're not told.
No doubt there's design in that.
The servant who knows his master's voice will
instinctively respond to the summons to speak, as
he directs.
And, of course, Jerusalem here stands for the
inhabitants of that city.
It was to this same city that our
Lord came one day when he was here
on earth.
And when he was come near, he beheld
the city and wept over it.
We may be sure that he was not
weeping over buildings, institutions, and the like.
He was weeping over people.
Under the roofs of their homes he saw
them.
And it is to them that he now
sends his unnamed messengers with a message for
their homes.
The fact that they needed such a message
shows how little the city has lived up
to its beautiful name of peace.
It has probably known less of real peace
than any other city of its size in
all the world.
No doubt our Lord had all that in
mind when he said, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day
the things which belong to thy peace, but
now they are hid from thine eyes.
In one sense, Jerusalem is typical of many
another city with its thousands of heartsick inhabitants.
It's typical also of many of the Lord's
true people at this very time.
But he anticipated all of that, and before
he left this world to return to the
Father, he said to his own and to
us, Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God?
Believe also in me.
It is to the heart that he addresses
himself rather than to the mind.
It is only as our hearts trust in
him that our minds will find peace.
Out of the heart are the issues of
life.
Perhaps that is why so many simple people
understand the things of the Spirit of God
much better than those who boast of their
much learning.
How true it is that the Lord preserveth
the simple.
Oh, that all of us knew more about
what it means to become as little children
in a world that becomes more complex every
day.
Inviting his servants to cry unto Jerusalem, it
was seen as though the Lord anticipated just
such a time as this when so many
others are clamoring to be heard.
We live in a noisy world.
At times the noise is so loud and
distracting that it is difficult to hear the
still, small voice of him whose spake is
never man's spake.
But he also knows how to make himself
heard, and so he bids his servant to
cry unto Jerusalem, and thus he overcomes both
the noise of this world and the dullness
of our hearing.
This message of comfort has three notes which
together form a lovely chord.
The first of these notes tell us that
her warfare is accomplished.
In other words, the fighting is over.
But that statement may be understood in two
different ways.
It could mean that Israel will not have
to go to war anymore.
If so, then all of the military preparation
she is making just now because she fears
Egypt and the other Moslem nations, Israel will
need all of the preparation she is now
making and more.
According to Gesanius, a highly recognized authority, the
word for warfare in the Hebrew is figuratively
used of a wretched and miserable condition.
On the basis of that statement, I would
like to suggest that this word may refer
to warfare from within as well as from
without.
This may be one of those designed ambiguities
of which we have other examples in the
Bible.
But when we say ambiguities, we hasten to
add that that does not necessarily mean that
such words are purposely deceptive.
It's quite possible for a word to have
two legitimate but wholly different meanings.
Take, for example, the message of Jonah when
he went to Nineveh.
He cried, yet forty days of Nineveh shall
be overthrown.
One is but to consult the Hebrew dictionary
to discover that the word overthrown may mean
to turn or to change in a good
sense.
It was in this way that the word
came unto the king of Nineveh, and he
rose from his throne and laid a robe
from him and covered him with sackcloth and
sat in ashes.
But the word also means to overthrow in
the sense in which Sodom and Gomorrah were
overthrown.
And as Nineveh itself was overthrown according to
the prophecy of Nahum, this shows us how
the Lord uses a word which enables him
to carry out his purpose of grace on
the one hand and his judgment on the
other without contradicting himself.
Take another example of this in the New
Testament.
In John 12, verse 32, we hear the
Lord Jesus saying, And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me.
Did he mean by that that all men
would ultimately be saved because he was lifted
up on a cross?
That the lifting up of Christ does refer
to his crucifixion is clear from the passages
in which the expression is used.
I know there are some who use the
expression when they mean the faithful preaching of
Christ.
But strictly speaking, to lift up Christ means
to crucify Christ.
And that explanation is given us right here
in the context in John 12.
Says this, he said, signifying what death he
should die.
But it is to the word draw that
I wish to call attention just now.
This word may mean to draw in grace,
and it is so used by the Lord
himself when he says, No man can come
unto me except the Father which hath sent
me draw him.
And every soul will rejoice forever because of
having been drawn by such love and grace
divine.
But the word may also mean to drag
in judgment, and is so used in the
book of Acts where we read that the
enemies of the gospel caught Paul and Silas
and drew them into the marketplace unto the
rulers.
All men will indeed be drawn to Christ
because he was lifted up at Calvary.
But some will be drawn in grace, and
some in judgment.
After this lengthy digression, let us now return
to consider the word warfare as found in
Isaiah 40, verse 2.
We have already suggested that it might refer
to warfare from within as well as warfare
from without.
If we take it to refer to warfare
from within, then this statement could mean that
God's people had ceased fighting him.
It will be recalled that Gamaliel warned his
colleagues that in persecuting the apostles they might
be found even to fight against God.
Likewise, the scribes who came to Paul's defense
said, We find no evil in this man,
but if a spirit or an angel hath
spoken to him, let us not fight against
God.
No doubt every true child of God can
recall how he also fought against God.
Well, do I remember the night my father
took me to the gospel meeting where I
came under deep conviction of sin?
I didn't want to go at all, but
I knew better than to argue with my
father about that.
It was a five-mile walk to that
meeting.
That gave me a lot of time to
build up even more resistance to what I
was about to hear.
Consequently, when I got there, I had already
decided that I did not like the preacher
nor anything about him.
I even pulled my watch on him as
he was offering the closing prayer.
And later as we were returning home, I
heard from my father about that.
His stern reprimand made me more determined than
ever not having anything to do with that
preacher and his preaching.
And so the struggle went on until I
got into my bed and then I realized
that God himself had been dealing with me,
that I was not fighting man but God.
And then I prayed the publican's prayer, God
be merciful to me, a sinner.
The answer seemed to come before I had
finished the sentence, and immediately I began to
sing as I had never sung before, happy
day when Jesus washed my sins away.
The fighting was over.
The warfare was ended.
Of course, I did not realize at that
time how much it meant to have my
sins washed away.
And that brings me to the second note
which we have in this chord.
The message to Jerusalem is that her iniquity
is pardoned.
But that involves far more than we understand
when we use the word pardoned.
That is why we find the word expiated
or atoned for in some other versions of
the Bible.
The truth of the matter is that a
holy and a righteous God has been perfectly
satisfied with regard to the question of our
sin.
His sinless Son bore all of our guilt
and our sins in His own body on
the cross.
And because of that we can sing, Jesus
paid it all, all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow.
What a comfort to know that.
Iniquity which has been expiated or atoned for
will never have to be faced again.
The matter has been settled and settled forever.
By the same token we know ourselves to
be eternally saved and secure.
I know there are some Christians who do
not like the expression eternal security.
But I've noticed that some of these same
people have no objection to social security.
They feel themselves secure because the government has
pledged itself to make certain payments in the
future for their well-being and support.
How much more secure they who trust in
the one who can never fail.
The third note in this divine chord is
struck in that final statement.
She hath received of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins.
There are those who believe that this means
that Jerusalem had received twice as much punishment
as she deserved.
But one can hardly reconcile that with the
righteousness and judgment of God.
So we shall let Israel speak for herself.
In the ninth chapter of the book of
Ezra we read, And after all that has
come upon us for our evil deeds and
for our great trespass, seeing that thou, our
God, hast punished us less than our iniquities
deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as
this, should we again break thy commandments?
Note that expression.
Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities
deserve.
Then again in the well-known 103rd Psalm,
listen to these words.
He hath not dealt with us after or
according to our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy toward them
that fear him.
And yet again in Romans 5 we read,
But where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound.
Surely with such words in mind we can
see that our text might very well refer
to grace rather than to punishment.
And the fact that the text speaks of
that which had already been received does not
contradict that thought.
Every child of God reading these lines has
already received infinitely more than he ever deserved.
I said more than once, if the Lord
were to take everything I hold dear, I
would still have to say with Job, The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And now we trust.