Preparing the way for the Lord
By Lawrence Hirsch; LCJE coordinator for Australia/New ZealandComfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" (Is 40:1-9).
The opening words of this prophecy is often quoted but perhaps not always fully understood. God says through the prophet: nachamu, nachamu ami - "Comfort, comfort my people."
The Hebrew word nachamu has a double meaning; it means to "repent" and/or "comfort". The interchangeable meaning of this word makes the message to God's people all the more clear - true comfort for God's Chosen People can only come from repentance.
Verse 2 says that we are to speak comfortably or tenderly to Jerusalem. Literally this means to "speak to the heart." Thus, the message of comfort that we are called to give to Israel is not just to encourage them outwardly but that we are to look to God to do a deep and inner work in their hearts through his Ruach haKodesh.
What is to be the content of the message to God's people? It is a message that proclaims that her "warfare (or hard service) is accomplished … her iniquity is pardoned."
Here the prophet Isaiah was looking ahead and seeing the atonement that would be made by the Messiah even as he prophesied later in chapter 53. God comforts His people with the soothing reassurance that their sins have been atoned for, and thus God's pardon has been given.
Isaiah goes on to speak about "A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God."
The Brit Chadashah tells us that this was fulfilled by Yochan HaMatbeel, John the Baptist, who came with a message of repentance to prepare the way for the Lord to be revealed to Israel. And it was not long after that that Yeshua came down the hill to be baptised by John in the Jordan river and John declared, "HENEI - behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord's first coming, so are we, who are involved in the Messianic Movement and Jewish evangelistic ministries, called to be a prophetic voice today in preparation for the Lord's second coming.
The Hebrew word for cry in Isaiah 40:6 is qera, which also means "to proclaim."
We are called to proclaim from the mountaintops the Good News that Messiah has atoned for the sins of His people Israel and for the sins of the whole world.
Yes, we are to speak tenderly… Yes, we are to comfort… Yes, we are to do whatever we can to build bridges of trust and love to the Jewish people worldwide. But we need to remember that true and ultimate comfort flows from repentance that leads us to the assurance that our sins are atoned for - Messiah has paid the price for us by his death, burial and resurrection.
Lawrence Hirsch
lhirsch@celebratemessiah.com.au