Isaiah 40:1-5 Preparing the Way

In the opening verses of Isaiah 40, God outlines His intent, the goals of His project, and the process for redeeming, healing, and restoring His broken people.

Isaiah 40:1-2
The text begins with an imperative command: "Comfort My people!" Comfort is the goal of God's highway project. Before we go further, consider what comfort means to you.


As we get into this study, we may find that God's idea of comfort isn't what we might consider comforting, but it is meant for comfort. That is a challenge we will have to face.
 
The first command is followed by a second, "Speak comfort." God then lays out the scope of His project. He is going to save them in two ways: 
Q: Why is it important to end the physical warfare?
Q: Pardoning sin puts an end to another kind of warfare. What is the nature of that warfare?

Physical warfare (between Israel and her human antagonists) and spiritual iniquity (warfare between Israel and God) are two aspects Israel's oppression that the LORD intends to resolve as He redeems her from exile and restores her.

First, there must be an end to the physical fighting. If the nation of Israel is going to be preserved to inherit the LORD's promises in her future generations, then she needs to be saved from the hands of physical oppressors. She cannot begin to heal and be restored until the fighting has stopped. So, there is a physical aspect to her redemption when He brings her physically out of Babylon.

But there is also a spiritual condition that must be resolved. Her fight with God needs to end. The reason she ended up in exile in the first place is because of her sin and unfaithfulness, so she needs that second aspect of salvation, a provision for spiritual salvation, to be reconciled to Him. When we talk about Israel being "saved" in future chapters, we will consider whether the salvation being offered is a physical preservation or spiritual salvation. Ending the fight on both fronts is God's goal.

A desire to end the fight is something I think we can appreciate in our own experience of our modern culture. There is a lot of fighting going on right now in our world. Physical fighting. Verbal fighting. And not just in the world, but even within the Christian community. Don't you wish all the fighting would end?


The spiritual warfare is ever present, but then there is warfare that comes from the sin nature. James 4:1-3 remarks on this.
As God points out, the physical fighting can't end until the source of the fighting has been addressed. That is where the sin aspect enters. Both the physical fighting and spiritual source must be resolved before comfort and restoration can happen.

Isaiah 40:3-5
God issued the command, and now His herald, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," takes up the cry with another command: "Prepare the way!" This same command is repeated in Isaiah 62:10, and becomes the theme encompassing chapters 40-62.
Preparing the way for a person to turn or return to God is a command for us. It encompasses the overall process by which the LORD brings His people out of their oppression. The same command is repeated a third time in Isaiah 57:14, with the additional command to "take the stumbling block out of the way of my people." Removing stumbling blocks is a big part of the process, but let's look at the full four-part process as it is defined here in Isaiah 40:4.

The voice in the wilderness describes preparing the way of the LORD as building a highway. The process isn't too hard to grasp. Simply watch a highway crew build a road. What are the basic tasks?


Notice the reversals in the imagery. The concept of return (Hebrew: shuv) describes going in one direction, then reversing course and going back the way you came. The reversal brings with it a radical change of condition, in this case, restoration. Israel's oppression was caused by their falling away from the relationship with the LORD. Therefore, the only way to end the oppression is by returning to the LORD. The author will reinforce that key theme of return by the heavy use of reversals in the imagery going forward.

So, those are the four basic steps for building a literal highway. But God isn't talking about a literal highway. That is just a metaphor for preparing the way for His people to return to Him. So, how these four highway-building steps translate into comforting and restoring a people? It is a similar process . . .

1. The lifting-up: Lifting up those in "the valleys"--those low in spirit--is a bit of a no-brainer. How do you lift up a person who is struggling and in need of comfort? With encouragement, exhortation, physical help, prayer.
   
   
2. The tearing-down: This seems like an unlikely step in the process. These people are already oppressed and in despair. Why would they need to be torn down further? Is this talking about removing the roadblocks in the physical aspect of bondage--the situation or circumstances? Or are there roadblocks in the spiritual, mental, or emotional aspect of the oppression that need to be torn down or at least challenged?
   
   When people suffer long-term abuse or oppression, they build defensive walls to cope with the hurt, but those walls can also prevent them from being comforted and healed. A self-righteous attitude and a victim mentality often lurk behind those walls. The LORD may need to strip away false sources of empowerment and comfort (the idols) in the victim's life before He can begin the healing process. If you think of others, add them in the comments.
   
   
3. Straightening crooked places: What does a "crooked place" describe in a people dynamic? How does crookedness manifest itself?
   
   The Hebrew words for "crooked" describes torturous, twisted, distorted, or perverted ways or something deceitful, sly, or fraudulent. In my mind, I think of it as being caught in a maze. You start down one path, only to hit a wall and then you have to make a decision over which way to turn. That decision brings you to another wall or, worse, a dead end and then you have to retrace your steps. Every decision you make leads you further into the maze until you are disoriented and completely frustrated. That describes being in a crooked place, and I think it has to do a lot with how we make decisions: sinful pursuits that lead to compromised lifestyles, bad coping habits, skewed perceptions and/or values. Straightening our crooked places requires realigning ourselves with God's values and vision and turning from sin.
   
   
4. Smoothing the rough-going: This is where the command to remove the stumbling blocks comes into play. Stumbling blocks are reactions to abuse or oppression that add to and/or perpetuate oppression and linger even after the actual oppressor is out of the picture. They prevent healing, reconciliation, and restoration of relationships, but also keep a person from being able to accept comfort when it is offered. Some examples of stumbling blocks are fear, despair, self-pity, anger, and shame, but there are more. 

This is God's highway project, and Israel is our case study. As we work through Isaiah 40-66, we will be looking at the LORD's model in how He lifts up, what things He tears down or challenges, how He remedies crooked places, what stumbling blocks He addresses and how He goes about the process in general. We will consider how He achieves His goals of ending the fight and dealing with sin and compare those to the world's way of pursuing an end to oppression. And then we will take some strategies from His model over how to experience comfort for ourselves and offer comfort to other broken people.

Questions for further exploration:

1. Stumbling blocks are a particular topic in both the Old and New Testaments. Read through the following verses and think about how stumbling blocks come about: Isaiah 8:14-15, Ezekiel 3:20, Romans 9:32-33, Romans 14:13, 1 Corinthians 8:9, 1 John 2:9-11.
   
   
2. John the Baptist is known as the "voice crying in the wilderness." How did his ministry illustrated these steps in God's Highway Project?