Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:1-5
“Here the directness and the power are to remind the people of God’s ultimate tenderness and kindness…This tone of kindness and gentleness is reinforced in several ways. The opening words themselves are not mighty words, but homely, common ones…Furthermore, these are the words spoken to my people by your God…
The cause for encouragement is solely the activity if the Lord, His coming into the sphere of human activity. Neither Israel nor any other human agency is the cause of the comfort here extended. It is the coming of God, the revelation of Him in human sight…
The one thing the people can do is to prepare the way for the coming King…it speaks of an act of faith on the part of the people. They do not yet see the King, but they dare to believe that He is coming.”
John Oswalt in The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66 (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 49-52.
As the second week of Advent begins our waiting deepens and the watchful theme of hope comes into view. How we live reveals what we “dare to believe” about hope. Will we prepare the way of the Lord, so that all people will see it together?
Take five minutes today and reflect on where you would be without the generous gift of the hope of Christ in a world filled with despair. Conclude your time by asking God to reveal one person to you to comfort with the hope of Christ this week. Dare to believe that the Lord may reveal Himself to them through you this Advent.
Today is my last scheduled trip of 2015. I have meetings at the ECFA offices outside of Washington D.C. tomorrow followed by the annual Christmas celebration. Jenni will accompany me. It will be a special time. We feel as excited as little children on Christmas eve.