“All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:18,19
In the revelation of God to Israel of Himself, at a crucial point in history, and at similar points which will be renewed in different in differing times and manners, there is always an eternal purpose, promise and power, declared by God, one for which Israel would become responsible for. Chapter 40 of Isaiah is such a point, for in that chapter the intervention of the Almighty, Holy and yet Merciful God is so very apparent, and yet, many years later, when John the Baptist would come on the scene in Israel, as the precursor of Christ, we discover many of the same great truths, promises, and obligations committed to Israel with regard to her faith in God, and the powerful call for her obedience to the revelation.
God begins the revelation by speaking very strongly of the fact that the time had come for Israel to know Him as the God of all comfort, the One who gives peace, blessing, and eternal life to the one who is willing to believe. The response to the intervention of God, by the sending of one whose voice CRIES in the wilderness, is to be one of being willing to hear the voice of God, learn His ways in the face of all that is of sinful, lost man, to embrace Christ as one’s life and purpose. God gives the comparison of all the nations of the earth, being like a drop in a bucket. He then declares: “All nations before Him (are) as nothing.” (40:17) As a result, the promise that God gives, is to reveal His glory, His person, His nature, but also His power to save. Man’s response is only acceptable to God if it is according to His word, which lasts forever. Israel, as a nation was called in Isaiah’s day, and then later, in Jesus’ day, to hear the word of the Lord, for by His word He would reveal Himself again for His glory, giving to Israel, and to the world, a new opportunity to turn from their ways in order to embrace Christ. The revelation of God to Israel, and to the world, is of such magnitude and power, that any idea, concept, and resulting man-made object of worship coming from the sinful heart of man, is to be rejected in its entirety, in order to embrace all that is of God. This is the beginning point of man’s responsibility to the revelation of the Everlasting, Holy God, maker of heaven and earth, and sole Savior and Sustainer of us all.
When God revealed Himself through the writings of Isaiah, He did so that Israel, and the world, would become obediently faithful to adhere and respond whole-heartedly to His word. But God’s promises were not only objective truths to be obeyed. They were to lead to an experience of God, a communion with the Father and Son, by the Spirit. God would promise: “I am with you, … I am your God, …I will strengthen you, …I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (41:10) He would go on to say, “For I the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying unto you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ (43:13) Here is the eternal God, not only calling Israel to hear His words, His commandments, but to believe His promises, promises of commitment to bring Israel, and all men, into a communion of blessing with Him, that as Jesus said, speaking of eternal life, “…that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn. 17:3) God’s call is to Himself, to know Him, so that out of a life of communion with Him, there will be revealed His glory and blessing for all.
That which is born out of revelation will be the witness to the world of God’s infinite grace and glory.
Dear Father, Send out Your light. In Jesus’ name, Amen.