Before we get into the text, I want to address the “Deutero-Isaiah Theory” which states that someone else besides the prophet Isaiah wrote the part from chapter 40 to the end.
If you’ve never heard of this theory, you should at least have it on your radar in case you run into in the future. Here is a short, but solid article from Got Questions that explains the theory and then soundly debunks it.
Now, on with the post…
I cannot read Isaiah 40 without Handel’s Messiah playing in my head. So many wonderful pieces of it come from this text! If you want, here’s a link to one of my favorite choruses sung by a fantastic ensemble with historically-correct accompaniment:
Of course, the chapter is famous for the final verse:
“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31 ESV
If you read Isaiah 40 closely you’ll notice that there are 3 speakers: God, “a Voice,” and Isaiah.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Isaiah 40:1 ESV
God is giving a command to someone to comfort His people. Is He commanding Isaiah to do this? It would seem so. But it is not Isaiah alone who responds to this Divine commission.
“A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Isaiah 40:3 ESV
Who is this voice? We know that John the Baptist identified himself with this Voice. This is attested in every Gospel.
“For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’””
Matthew 3:3 ESV
Is Isaiah hearing the future voice of John the Baptist? Or is something else happening here? The voice speaks again giving a command to Isaiah:
“A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Isaiah 40:6-8 ESV
This cannot be the voice of John the Baptist because this Voice is telling Isaiah what to say. This Voice is speaking the inspired Word of God. I would suggest that this Voice IS the Word of God. John the Baptist spoke on God’s behalf as the final and greatest of all the prophets, but the original Voice was none other than the Word.
Ultimately, it is Christ who speaks tenderly to Jerusalem that her warfare is ended and her iniquity is pardoned.
What’s interesting about this proclamation is, at the time Isaiah gives it, Jerusalem’s warfare hasn’t even begun and the worst of her iniquity has yet to be committed, let alone pardoned. When Isaiah proclaimed the words, their fulfillment was not for that moment but for some point in the future.
So is this talking about the first coming of the Messiah or the second one?
Well, has the glory of the Lord been revealed? Has all flesh seen it together?
Yes and No.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 ESV
The glory of God was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Yes.
But – all flesh has yet to see this revealed glory. That’s why the last book of the Bible is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
We’re still waiting on this:
“Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”
Isaiah 40:10 ESV
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to what his deeds are!”
Revelation 22:12 LEB
This is literally the SAME text. The risen and ascended Jesus is quoting what Isaiah says about Him.
And the “reward” and “recompense” are not like Oprah saying “You get a car! And You get a car!” This is a day for both rewarding the righteous, and the wicked finally get what’s coming to them. And it’s not a reward you would want.
“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will reward each one according to his works: to those who, by perseverance in good work, seek glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who act from selfish ambition and who disobey the truth, but who obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger, there will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and to the Greek.”
Romans 2:5-10 LEB
This is the grand destiny and Day of Reckoning that has been foretold from Enoch to Jude (see Jude 1:14-15).
It probably felt like Judgment Day when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and they tore the temple down and leveled the city.
As they were being marched for weeks all the way over to Babylon, there were probably many people thinking, “We got what we deserved. We turned our backs on Yahweh. He sent prophets to warn us. And we ignored them. I guess we should’ve listened.”
I don’t know how many of them had access to the prophecies of Isaiah during the captivity, but if they did, they must’ve clung to them. The rest of Isaiah’s prophecies from here on are generally about a future restoration and the Lord’s defeat of their captor- Babylon.
Imagine being in Babylon for 40, 50 years… and reading this:
“I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. “See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated. Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing. You will look in vain for those who tried to conquer you. Those who attack you will come to nothing.”
Isaiah 41:9-12 NLT
It would probably feel impossible; like some old fairy tale or myth. But I ask you, where is the Babylonian Empire today? The Assyrians? Egypt? Their empires are nothing more than the subjects of history classes and artifacts for archeologists. What about Israel?
Still here. Against all odds. With most of the world actively trying to kill them across the centuries, miraculously, they are still here.
Anyone who needs proof of God’s existence or the truth of scripture only needs to look at the Jewish people. There’s no way they should still be here.
Oh – and as we sit here in 2026 wondering how things are going to shake out with Iran, look back up at that shirt design. The odds for the current regime in Iran are not good.
To The Reader 