Read Isaiah 40 and 41 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Isa 40:1-2 {s} Comfort for God’s people + Jerusalem, for her warfare ended, iniquity pardoned
Isa 40:3-5 {p} The voice of one crying: prepare the way of YHVH for His glory shall be revealed
Isa 40:6-8 {s} The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever
Isa 40:9-11 {s} You who bring good news, say to Judah: Behold your God! He will rule + feed His flock
Isa 40:12-16 {p} The greatness of God contrasted to the extreme smallness of the nations
Isa 40:17-20 {s}The nations are nothing, to whom will you liken God? A carved image?
Isa 40:21-24 {s} He who sits above the circle of the earth brings the princes to nothing
Isa 40:25-26 {s} To whom will you liken God? He has created all the eye sees, He brings out the host of heaven
Isa 40:27-31 {s} God who is never wearied gives power to the faint/ those who wait on Him shall renew their strength
Isa 41:1-7 {s} YHVH raised up the conqueror from the east/ the coastlands saw it, and fashioned idols
Isa 41:8-13 {s} Israel is YHVH’s servant: Fear not, for He has chosen you and will help you
Isa 41:14-16 {s} YHVH will help Israel + make him into a tool to thresh his enemies/ he will rejoice in YHVH
Isa 41:17-20 {p} The poor + needy thirst; YHVH will not forsake them: He will make pools of water in the wilderness
Isa 41:21-24 {p} Present your case: where are the works of the gods? They + their works are nothing
Isa 41:25-29 {p} YHVH will bring to Zion One who bears good news + only He declares what will be
The strong themes:
Isa 40:1-5 {s+p} Comfort for God’s people + Jerusalem, for her warfare ended, iniquity pardoned + YHVH is coming
Isa 40:6-16 {s+s+p} Flesh + nations wither to nothing; but the word of God stands + His gentleness + greatness you will behold
Isa 40:17-41:20 {sx7+p} The nations are nothing, it is God who gives power + brings down and raises up: Fear not, He has chosen Israel
Isa 41:24-29 chiastic structure:
1a) Isa 41:24 {s} Indeed you + your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination;
1b) Isa 41:25-26, I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; and he shall come against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay. Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And from former times, that we may say that he is right? Surely there is no one who shows, surely there is no one who declares, surely there is no one who hears your words;
1c) Isa 41:27a, A harbinger unto Zion I will give;
central axis) Isa 41:27b, ‘Behold, behold them!’
2c) Isa 41:27c, And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings;
2b) Isa 41:28, For I looked, but there was no man + no counselor, who, when I asked of them, could answer a word;
2a) Isa 41:29 {p} Indeed they + their works are nothing; their molded images are wind + confusion.
First, the harbinger. According to Webster’s a “harbinger” is a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; a herald. This definition reminds us of
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isa 40:3-5
The New Testament tells us this passage was fulfilled by John the Baptist, who was the harbinger sent by God: he went ahead to make known the approach of another – Messiah Yeshua! Yeshua is the One who brought good tidings – the good news, or gospel – to Jerusalem. So the central axis is saying, Behold the harbinger and the One whom he makes known: behold, behold them!
Knowing this, I believe the one who is raised up from the north (1B pair) is Messiah Yeshua. He came from northern Israel, from Nazareth in Galilee. From the rising of the sun He shall call upon My name: He was baptized in the Jordan River, which set the eastern boundary of Judea at that time. From the day He was baptized, He was anointed for ministry by the Holy Spirit which descended upon Him and stayed.
When He comes, He shall come upon princes and tread them as a potter treads clay. At His first coming, this is exactly what He did, for did He not defeat the principalities, the rulers of wickedness in heavenly places? He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross (Col 2:15). He tread upon the spiritual princes at His first coming, and at His second coming, He will tread upon the natural princes – all who exalt themselves above Him.
The last part of the 1B pair refers to the fact that only YHVH tells the end from the beginning. He has declared Messiah and made Him known, something the idols of the nations cannot do and did not do.
The 2B pair speaks to God who looked for a man but found none, who, when He looked for a counselor, found no one who could speak. Since this is matching with the 1B pair, He could find no counselor who could declare the end from the beginning, what is right. But I believe the sense of the 2B pair is that, since God looked and found no man, He Himself provided a Man in Messiah Yeshua. He Himself provided a Counselor in the Parakletos, the Holy Spirit whom Messiah came to give:
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Luk 12:49
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Mat 3:11
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