Mar 15, 2019
While the people of Judah were ecstatic at having been spared defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, the future was not as bright as they had hoped. Because Isaiah has just delivered the news from God that the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem will one day fall to the Babylonians – the very same nation to which Hezekiah pridefully revealed all the riches in his treasury. So, what is Isaiah supposed to tell these people? He has spent years trying to warn them about the coming judgment of God which would manifest itself in the form of the Assyrian army. But now, the Assyrians were gone and the next bully on the block was Babylon. And, this time, God says the nation will fall and the city will be destroyed. The people of Judah were facing the undeniable prospect of a life of captivity in a foreign land. But in Isaiah 40:1-11, God gives Isaiah a rather strange message for the people of Judah. And it begins with the words, “Comfort, comfort my people.” While the future looked dim, God wanted His people to remember that the future was in His hands. And He had a plan in place.