40:4,5
The way will be made straightforward for the Lord. He will remove every obstacle. In our own lives He has removed every obstacle of sin on the cross. We have been made righteous by His righteousness. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed to all people. It would seem to the Israelites that the glory of the Lord was hidden, was far from view. Things seem very much the same in our society today. But the Lord will make His glory plain to all. This will happen because “the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. As it says in Is 9, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. We need to recognise that the fulfilment of God’s plans is not dependent upon us, but dependent upon Him. That is why they are guaranteed to occur. This does not mean that we have no part to play, but we need to understand that part properly. It is not a case of God saying “I’ll see if this group will do what I want them to do, and if they manage it then my plans will succeed”, yet that is often how we think. It is more a case of “I am going to do this, and I will involve these people in doing it”.
40:6-8
“What shall I cry?” Faced with the situation in Jerusalem/Babylon the herald may be at a loss as what to say. Looking at our own society we may wonder what to say. “All flesh is like grass ...” The supposed glory and beauty of the world is transitory, none of it will last forever. Like the grass it will wither, and remember this word was given in a somewhat hotter climate than we are used to. The Lord will blow and the glory of the world will vanish. We need to be careful never to be intimidated by the world and its supposed glory. No worldly power structures will last forever. Conversely the word of the Lord lasts forever. So in living our lives we should live them by the word of the Lord, not the current whims of society.
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