Isaiah 40 - Introduction

Commentary Chapter s 44-55.

The first 39 chapter of Isaiah have been based on prophecies made at different times and brought together in a pattern. They were made at various times throughout his prophetic life. Now we come to Chapter s 40-55 (alternatively we may see it as beginning with chapter 34) which were written as one whole with a continuing theme. The amazing deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria had awakened in his heart a recognition that Yahweh had a supreme work for His people, and that God must have delivered them with a purpose, in order that they might be His Servant who would take His truth to the nations.

In order really to fully appreciate his thinking we have to understand the background from which he wrote. It is quite clear that he had been meditating in Genesis. He had noted how the world in Genesis 1-11 had gradually developed in its opposition to God, a rebellion expressed in terms of ‘the city'. First Cain rebelled against God and went into the land of ‘wandering' (nod) and there he built a ‘city' (Genesis 4:17), probably representing a grouping of people in caves, or some other kind of primitive shelters. It was probably to be seen as the first gathering together of people in a combination to live together without being reliant on Yahweh. Then as mankind advanced this grew into the first empire. The mighty Nimrod established his empire based on Babel (Babylon) and its neighbouring cities (Genesis 10:10) and from there he established his empire in Assyria and built Nineveh and its related cities, the latter making together ‘the Great City' (Genesis 10:11). This was then followed by the attempt at Babel (Babylon) to build a tower up to heaven and establish their own name as a people who were independent of God (Genesis 11:1). The idea of the city therefore came to be seen as representative of opposition to God, and as an expression of man's independence of God and of man looking to his own resources, with his own independent religion based on his tower, and to be connected with Babylon. We see this idea clearly represented in the first part of Isaiah as Isaiah depicts ‘the city' as the object of God's judgment (Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 25:12; Isaiah 26:5; Isaiah 27:10), and sees ‘Babylon' as the enemy of the world and doomed to total destruction (Isaiah 13:1).

Then Yahweh called a man, Abraham, the son of Terah, to leave ‘the city', Ur of the Chaldees, (and thus connected with the Chaldeans and with Babylon) and go to the land which God would show him. Thus he was called to depart from Babylon. Once he had arrived in Canaan God promised him the land, and that through his seed the whole world would be blessed. However it was not long before the king of Babylon (Shinar) and the king of the nations invaded His land (Genesis 14:1) and seized a ‘son of Terah' (Lot). However, by the hand of Abraham, the King of Babylon and his fellow kings were thwarted and despoiled and the son of Terah was freed (Genesis 14:1), thus leaving Abraham free to carry forward God's commission as God's servant. Babylon was thus constantly revealed as the great enemy of God's purposes, in Isaiah's time association with Assyria, while in contrast Abraham was revealed as God's servant..

We can therefore imagine Isaiah's thoughts when Yahweh's land, the land that was to fulfil God's promises to Abraham, was invaded by Assyria, with Nineveh as its capital city, and Assyria then utilised Babylon to control Israel (2 Chronicles 32:11). It must have seemed that history was repeating itself. However, the last ditch deliverance of Jerusalem had brought home to him that again Yahweh was active, that Assyria was not to be allowed to have its free way with God's people, and it was as a result of that that God revealed to him the future that was to come.

We must note that Chapter s 44-55 know only of oppression of his people by Egypt and Assyria (Isaiah 52:4). Yet he was undoubtedly very much aware that behind all was the arch-enemy Babylon, the great city noted for its magic and interest in the occult, that boasted of its own superiority to all the cities of the world (Isaiah 13:19), and had now become the centre of the Assyrian Empire. So we can understand why, when Assyria and Babylon began to work as one (2 Chronicles 32:11), he recognised in this a renewed attack on God's purposes through Abraham.

But as he looked into the future he saw the fulfilment of God's promises to Abraham being brought about in terms of the coming Servant who would bring His blessing to the world, and thus he saw the opposition to the Servant in terms of ‘Babylon', who had been the great anti-God from the beginning. That is why in chapter 40-55 we have a continuous picture of the rise of the Servant and the need for the destruction of Babylon. It was like Abraham versus the king of Babylon all over again.

If when Uzziah died in 739 BC Isaiah was eighteen, and he lived into old age, Isaiah could well have been around at the time during Manasseh's reign (687-642 BC) when it became clear that Babylon were involved under Assyria in overseeing Judah (the involvement would ante-date the seizure of Manasseh). And he would unquestionably have been appalled by Manasseh's submission to Assyria and Babylon. Thus while it may be that he did not actually prophesy publicly during Manasseh's reign (Isaiah 1:1) he may well have written this second part of his prophecy to be passed on to the future.

For the Chapter s from 41-55, following the opening chapter in which God's great power and visitation of Jerusalem is emphasised, contain the account of the raising by Yahweh of His Servant for the fulfilling of God's purposes as promised to Abraham, and His dealings with the arch-enemies of idolatry and Babylon. In Isaiah 43:14 Isaiah stresses that for His Servant's sake Yahweh will cause the rulers of Babylon to flee from Babylon (the rulers are rendered powerless), in Isaiah 46:1 he stresses the powerlessness of Babylon's gods (the gods are rendered powerless), in 47 he depicts Babylon's humiliation (Babylon is humbled to the dust), in Isaiah 48:14 he declares that Yahweh will work His good pleasure (or Isaiah's good pleasure) on Babylon, and in Isaiah 48:20 he tells all who are involved with Babylon to desert it and flee from it. Babylon must no longer hold sway over the people of God. From that moment on idolatry does not arise as an issue in Chapter s 49-55, and the Servant goes on, first to suffering and then to victory. These are the basic facts that lie behind these Chapter s.

Chapter s 40-55 The Work of God and the Coming Servant of Yahweh.

This section can be divided up into three.

1) The Promise of Yahweh's Powerful Presence And Activity, And The Rise of the Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 40:1 to Isaiah 44:23).

2) The Restoration The Temple and the Destruction of Babylon the Enemy of God (Isaiah 44:24 to Isaiah 48:22).

3) The Future Work of the Servant on Behalf Of Israel and the World (Isaiah 49:1 to Isaiah 55:13).

In this part we will concentrate our attention on Isaiah 40-48, 49-55 will be dealt with in the next section.

In the light of what God had done for His people by His amazing and unforgettable deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (Isaiah 36-37), but having regard also to His warning of what was to happen to the house of Hezekiah at the hands of Babylon (Isaiah 39:6), Isaiah was now faced with two conflicting situations. On the one hand was the fact that God had triumphed, against all earthly odds, over a powerful enemy, who had been driven off in total disarray. His worship was now in the ascendant in Jerusalem, the people were filled with relief, expectancy and gratitude, and all false gods had for a time been thrust into the background. But on the other was his recognition that the house of David was rejected and awaiting severe punishment at the hands of Babylon because of their failure to trust wholly in Yahweh (Isaiah 39:6). For Yahweh's servant ‘David', as personified first in Ahaz and then in Hezekiah, had failed at the hour of need.

And he seemingly further recognised that because of the sins of God's people (Isaiah 43:22) there had to be a future cleansing of Jerusalem and a replacement of the old Temple which had been so severely defiled by idolatry (Isaiah 44:26 to Isaiah 45:7). The Chapter s that follow deal with both these situations.

So in chapter 40 we have an exalted description of the universal and triumphant power of God, which is followed in Isaiah 41:1 to Isaiah 44:23 by a description of how through Abraham, the man whom He called from the east, He has raised up His people, the seed of Abraham, as His servant to do His bidding. This is to result in the establishing of Yahweh's righteous rule over the nations under His chosen King (Isaiah 42:1), the putting to flight of the rulers of Babylon (Isaiah 43:14), the final rejection of idolatry (Isaiah 44:9) and the praising of Yahweh by the whole of creation (Isaiah 44:21).

This section was probably first written not long after the humiliation of Assyria.

But in view of the people's previous behaviour (Isaiah 43:22) this is then followed in Isaiah 44:24 onwards by a recognition that as a result of that behaviour the Temple has been defiled and needs replacing, and that as a result Jerusalem is once more to suffer under the hands of the enemy so that it will need to be rebuilt. This is seen as necessary before the Servant can fulfil his role. These Chapter s may well have first been written some time after the previous Chapter s, once it had become established that Babylon was responsible for the oversight of Judah as representative of the Assyrian Empire and had begun to exercise its insidious influence over Judah, so that it would have to be destroyed (47).

There has also been brought home to him the fact that God will raise up a deliverer from the house of Cyrus I in Persia, whom he may well have met in his position as a prophet of Judah. The house of Cyrus was chosen as the one which was to fulfil all His will (Isaiah 44:26 to Isaiah 45:7) Through it He will finally judge those who have so defiled Jerusalem (possibly having in mind Isaiah 39:6) and through Cyrus He will arrange for their destruction, the rebuilding of Jerusalem once it has been ravaged, and the erection of a new undefiled Temple. This prophecy may well have resulted from a visit to Jerusalem by a group from the Persian court who on learning of the humiliation of Sennacherib by Israel's God, and Isaiah's part in it, had come bringing the good wishes of their monarch and a promise of support in the future, together with the news of the birth of the new prince, Cyrus. Or alternatively from an embassy sent from Judah to the Persian court for the same reason, in which Isaiah participated.

The Persian monarch at this time would be Achaemenes, whose grandson was Cyrus I, who was born during the lifetime of Isaiah, and his house was clearly seen by Isaiah as providing the future conqueror who would restore the Temple (Isaiah 44:28 to Isaiah 45:1).

So as we move into these next Chapter s of Isaiah we can understand the feeling of exaltation and certainty that gripped him as he looked ahead, an exaltation that was, however, held in tension with the black cloud that hung over the house of David. On the one hand his expectations were positive, on the other there yet remained much that was to happen. We have here the same dichotomy between imminence and delay which characterises the New Testament. God will act, but meanwhile certain things must happen first.

The Condition of Judah.

We must remember that in spite of her glorious victory over the forces of Sennacherib (36-37), Jerusalem had not got away scot free. Her wealth had been hugely diminished by the fine that they had originally paid to Sennacherib to buy him off, prior to his second invasion of Judah (2 Kings 18:15), and her adjoining land and people had been totally devastated by the intrusion of the Assyrian armies. Her second city Lachish lay in ruins, and the whole land had become a wilderness. In the words with which Isaiah opens chapter 40, she had received ‘double for all her sins'.

Thus she is promised that now Yahweh will make a way for her, will raise her up as His Servant, establishing over her the righteous King promised in 7-11, and will restore what has become a wilderness and will fill it with pools of water (Isaiah 41:17; Isaiah 43:19), so that she has a way to walk in. And along with this He will not only pour out His rain on them, but will also pour out His Spirit Who will transform the whole people (Isaiah 44:1), having removed the encroaching threat of Babylon (Isaiah 43:14).

The Continual Threat of Assyria.

He was, of course, aware that Assyria remained a threat. It was Assyria who had oppressed them in the past (Isaiah 52:4), and, even though it had at present withdrawn its forces, and was busy elsewhere (Isaiah 37:37), he probably had no doubt that they would attempt to do so again, indeed were probably already doing so under Manasseh. He must have been well aware that Assyria would not stay away permanently. Their threat, therefore, continued to loom large over God's people. Their attempted overlordship, brought on Judah by the unbelief of Ahaz, had been a constant problem, and would continue to be so (Isaiah 7:17; Isaiah 7:20; Isaiah 8:4; Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 19:23; Isaiah 20:6; Isaiah 21:4; Isaiah 21:6; Isaiah 27:13; Isaiah 30:31; Isaiah 31:8; Isaiah 36-39; Isaiah 52:4). But it was not of too great a concern to him. God had shown what He could do with Assyria. So he did not see them directly as a matter of great concern, and indeed was informed that Yahweh would deal with the threat by giving Egypt, Cush and Seba to Assyria as a ransom for His people (Isaiah 43:3).

The Threat of Babylon.

Very different was the threat of Babylon. He could not overlook what Yahweh had revealed to him of what Babylon was going to do to Judah's royal house (Isaiah 39:6), and he was disturbed by the fact that Babylon, having been yet again subjugated by Assyria, was ominously being re-established by them after its earlier defeat (Isaiah 23:13), with authority over Judah. He recognised therefore that, as in the past, it would no doubt in the future ill treat God's people and be a menace to the world (Isaiah 14:3; Isaiah 14:6; Isaiah 39:7). Indeed he probably saw them as the greater problem. For as we have seen in Chapter s 13-14 he saw Babylon as supremely the enemy of God because of its proud boasts and high claims against God. It was the city that from the first had stood up against God and built a tower up to heaven which had resulted in the dividing of the world (Genesis 10:8; Genesis 11:1). It was the city whose king (Amraphel, king of Shinar) had invaded Canaan and seized Lot, Abraham's nephew, along with much spoil, and against whom Abraham had to raise an army so as to recover both him and the spoils (Genesis 14). It was a city from which every superstition emanated. Thus Babylon was an ever present menace, and now that Assyria were re-establishing it he had no doubt that it would again encroach on God's people. And that Assyria does indeed later appear to have administered its jurisdiction over Judah from Babylon, comes out, as we have seen, in the fact that Manasseh was taken there when arraigned by the Assyrian oppressors. So it was clear that if Judah was to be free from evil influences Babylon was a city which must be destroyed.

What later happened to Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33:11 quite clearly confirms that Assyria were at that time controlling Judah through Babylon, which itself was being ruled by a son of the king of Assyria, for when Manasseh was arraigned as a rebel he was dragged off to Babylon.

The Problem of Israel's Scattered People.

But as he thought of God's purposes for Israel Isaiah was also aware that many of God's people were still scattered around the world. Exiles from both Israel and Judah were in Assyria, in Media, in Babylon (Shinar), in Egypt, and even further afield. See Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 27:13; 2 Kings 17:6; and compare 2 Kings 17:24 for regular movements of peoples under Assyria. (And this be it noted without any independent Babylonian invasion). Many of the people of God were far from their own land.

Among them would be Manasseh, who was later taken to Babylon by the Assyrians, no doubt with a number of other exiles from the royal house (2 Chronicles 33:11), as Isaiah had earlier warned (Isaiah 39:7). But it was nevertheless Assyria who still continued as the prominent oppressor (Isaiah 52:4), even though her teeth had temporarily been drawn.

So wanting to proclaim a message of encouragement and deliverance to his people, Isaiah, who knew that in the end Yahweh had promised to deliver His people from all outside influence, proclaimed the greatness of His power and what His future intentions were.

Let Judah, therefore, now consider what the deliverance of Jerusalem and departure of Sennacherib had revealed. It had demonstrated the sovereignty and overlordship of Yahweh in world affairs, so that now, if they would, they could seize their opportunity, rid themselves of all their enemies and become Yahweh's Servant to the nations in accordance with His purpose established in Abraham.

The Coming Deliverer.

Furthermore he has in mind God's promise of the raising of a Deliverer, one born miraculously from the house of David (Isaiah 7:14), who will rule the nations and bring peace and justice to the earth (Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 42:1), and this in spite of the fact that he has seen the failure of the house of David to live up to expectations. For he knows that the One Who will come in the future, will be of a different stamp (Isaiah 40:7). Like ‘David My Servant' (Isaiah 37:35) He will be God's Servant, and He will be totally dedicated to fulfilling the purposes of Yahweh. But He will not be simply an earthly king like the others. They are too fallible. He will be miraculously born (Isaiah 7:14).

Does Isaiah Have the Future Exiles in Babylon In Mind?

Significantly there is no mention anywhere in Isaiah of exiles being taken to Babylon, apart from the king's own ‘sons' (Isaiah 39:7), and those taken there by the Assyrians, probably from the northern kingdom (Isaiah 11:11). Thus to make the return of Judean exiles from Babylon prominent in these Chapter s is to ignore what is actually written and to read into these Chapter s what is not there. It is to see them in the light of future events of which Isaiah was not necessarily aware. This is fine as long as we realise that what we are doing is seeing a fulfilment beyond Isaiah's expectations. But whoever wrote these Chapter s does not speak as if aware of a large scale Babylonian exile resulting from a Babylonian invasion, does not speak of a Babylonian ‘world empire', does not speak specifically of returning exiles from Babylon and in fact, while mentioning it, does not lay great stress on Babylon at all except as a city which must be destroyed, as described in Chapter s 13-14 and Isaiah 23:13, because of what it is, the great Anti-God.

That does not mean that we ignore the later situation in Babylon. Only that we must not, if we are to be fair to the writer, interpret Isaiah 40 onwards solely as if he had the Babylonian exile under Nebuchadnezzar in mind. The impression actually given is that he did not. His mind was not on Babylon in that way. It is commentators who are obsessed with such a Babylon, who read Babylon in everywhere and interpret it in this way despite any lack of encouragement in the text, because it fits in with what they want to make the writer say, and with a future of which Isaiah was actually unaware. Isaiah in fact only mentions Babylon once in Chapter s 40-44 and twice in the following Chapter s (in 47 and Isaiah 48:14; Isaiah 48:20).

What is in fact made quite clear is that Isaiah was not concentrating his attention on Babylon. That is to demean his prophecy which had a wider worldwide view. He looked rather for worldwide redemption, for that was why Yahweh was raising up His Servant. He was concerned for all the exiles scattered around the world, and was speaking to the people of his own time.

What is actually so surprising in the light of Chapter s 13-14 and the clear inference in Isaiah 39:7 of a sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and of the expected Babylonian jurisdiction over Judah (which is why hostages would be taken), is that we have so little mention of Babylon (only in Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 47; Isaiah 48:14; Isaiah 48:20), with nowhere a reference to exiles returning from there. In fact his non-reference to these latter is quite marked, arising from the fact that he never did realise that so much of Judah would in future be carried off into Babylon. For Babylon was nowhere his great concern except as something to be destroyed by God (chapter 47), and the taking of the sons of David as hostages by them would be seen as but one more in their long list of crimes.

What then was his concern for Babylon? Simply that for Isaiah Babylon was a symbol. Babylon had to be destroyed because it represented the great enemy of God (Genesis 10:9; Genesis 11:1), that boasted against God (Isaiah 13:19; Isaiah 14:12) and ever threatened the people of God (Isaiah 39:7; Genesis 14:1). It was seen as the city that having been laid waste by the Assyrians (Isaiah 23:13), was being rebuilt to carry on its blasphemy, and was the one world city that must be finally destroyed, never to rise again. It should never have been rebuilt (Isaiah 13:19), and Yahweh will yet thus destroy it once again.

It is significant in this regard that in 40-47 regular diatribes against the gods are given, but, once the destruction of Babylon and its magicians is described, these diatribes cease, not to reoccur again until after chapter 55. Thus in 40-55 Babylon stands for all that the gods represent. It is the home of extreme evil. It is the very centre of idolatry. The destruction of Babylon is therefore the destruction of the very ‘centre' of the gods without according them any status. And that is why all righteous people must  flee  from Babylon (Isaiah 48:20) (which the later returning exiles did not do, they marched out confidently). They must desert all that it stands for. For Babylon represents idolatry of the most heinous kind. It represents the anti-God. It would be seen as such to the end (Revelation 17-18).

The Importance of Abraham.

There is a further point that we should note, and that is the importance of Abraham to Isaiah. He is the one who loved God (Isaiah 41:8), he is the rock from which Israel was hewn (Isaiah 51:1), he is ‘the one' who became ‘many' (Isaiah 51:2), he is the one whom Yahweh redeemed and in whom his seed is therefore to be redeemed (Isaiah 29:22).

In our modern day, with our modern knowledge, we see things very differently from the ancients. We seek, for example, to set Abraham in his background, as historically a minimal and unimportant figure, a minor tribal leader compared with the great nations of the world. But it is doubtful if ancient Israel saw him in that way.

To the people of Israel/Judah Abraham was a colossus. He was an essential part of their history and they knew well the stories about him. They knew that at the call of God he had with his family tribe come down initially from the east, from Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:31; Nehemiah 9:7), and then from the north (from Haran - Genesis 11:32 to Genesis 12:1), entering Canaan where he called on the name of Yahweh (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4), and was God's chosen, the one who loved Him (Genesis 41:8). They knew that he had had many momentous experiences of God, great revelations and theophanies, and had had many powerful covenants made with Him by God that determined both their future and the future of the world for ages to come. They knew how he had grown in power so that even Pharaoh had had to yield to him and give him gifts (Genesis 12:10). And they knew how when the kings of Babylon and Elam, with their allies, invaded Canaan it was Abraham who pursued them and administered to them a resounding defeat as leader of an alliance against them (Genesis 14). They knew that he was closely involved with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and had indeed interceded for them (Genesis 18-19), that the king of the Philistines had made treaties with him (Genesis 21:32), that he was a redoubtable Prince (Genesis 23:6). And they would take it all as it stood without seeing it against the background of history as known to us today. Thus they would have had no doubt that had Abraham been alive Assyria and Babylon would have had to watch out. Abraham had been a ‘mighty one'.

When the little boys in Israel lay in their beds, they would say, ‘Mummy, tell us again how Abraham drove out the kings of the east from his land, and rescued Lot. Tell us how he fooled the Pharaoh of Egypt. Tell us how he prayed about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Tell us about his adventures with the king of Gerar. Tell us how the people called him a mighty prince'. To them Abraham was a hero.

So when Isaiah speaks of one who was raised from the east and came from the north (Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 41:25), who was called in righteousness to His foot (Isaiah 41:2) and who called on the name of Yahweh (Isaiah 41:25; Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4), who defeated nations and kings and pursued them (Isaiah 41:2; Genesis 14) and trod upon them as a potter treads the clay (Isaiah 41:25), and in a context where Jacob/Israel, who are addressed as God's servant, are connected with, and yet contrasted with, Abraham, the one who loved God, we may safely assume that Abraham is in mind in the whole context. And the same probably applies to the bird of prey from the east who is ‘a man of His counsel', brought from a far country, who brings near righteousness and salvation (Isaiah 46:11). To be described as a bird of prey would not have been seen as defamatory but as glorious. It is saying that he was magnificent, like a great eagle. And it was as a great eagle that Abraham had previously swooped on the king of Babylon (Shinar) (Genesis 14).

Furthermore in Hebrew thought when Abraham entered Canaan his seed entered with him. All entered triumphantly in his body. He came as the one who loved God, and as Yahweh's servant (Genesis 26:24; Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 9:27; Psalms 105:6; Psalms 105:42), and in him came also God's servant, Israel (Isaiah 41:8). In him came God's servant David (Isaiah 37:35). And in him came also the greater David yet to come, God's ultimate Servant (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). The whole future of the Servant entered Canaan with Abraham. Essentially the Servant was ‘the seed of Abraham' (Isaiah 41:8) and incorporated all that seed from Isaac onwards. And as the Servant it was God's purpose that they might transform the world

Final Comment.

But of course those who interpret the Chapter s as referring mainly to the Babylonian captivity, against all the pointers, see Cyrus everywhere instead of just in Isaiah 44:28 to Isaiah 45:6, and that despite of no mention of him prior to Isaiah 44:28. They thus interpret verses which refer to Abraham in terms of Cyrus. One thing to be kept in mind here therefore is that translations often seem to support this case simply because the translators assumed that it was correct and translated accordingly, gliding over controversial verses, not out of a desire to deceive but in order to make them ‘clear'. The problem is that this then prevents fair assessment. For this purpose we would suggest in these passages reference to RV or ASV for a translation which has mainly remained close to the original text.

It is against this background and these warnings then that we must interpret these Chapter s for ourselves.

THE CALL TO DELIVERANCE: BEHOLD YOUR GOD! (Chapter 40).

Chapter 40 The Greatness of God and The Need To Return to Him.

Following immediately on the gloom resulting from the failure of the Davidic king in chapter 39, and the revelation of the future consequences in the taking of Jerusalem and removal of the Davidic line to a resurgent Babylon (which occurred under the Assyrians - 2 Chronicles 33:11), Isaiah now declares God's certain final triumph. In the end, Isaiah tells Israel/Judah, God will triumph over all, whether Assyria or Babylon or anyone else, because of Who and What He is.

He sees before his eyes what God has done to Assyria, and how He has humiliated her, and he must have wondered why others did not see it as well. Did they not recognise that God was now on the verge of acting finally if only His people would respond? They had paid heavily for their sins in the invasion by Sennacherib, they had received double for all their sins. But now God was calling on them to forget Assyria, to forget Babylon, and to behold Him and trust Him. It is very similar to Jesus standing at the door in Revelation (Revelation 3:20). The moment of truth is here if only they are willing to trust in Yahweh and open the door.

Seized by his enthusiasm for the moment Isaiah now goes on to describe in detail the greatness and glory of God compared with this puny world. This, he says, is the One Who can make it all happen. Why do they not respond?

And then God Himself takes it up and confirms Isaiah's words (Isaiah 40:25). Let them but all but see Him and respond to Him, and they will be all conquering. Let them wait on Him and they will find that His strength is more than sufficient.