week2 | comforter. helper. servant.

Isaiah 40:1-42:25

This week we will get introduced to Isaiah’s words of hope for the people Israel living in exile. We find Israel feeling abandoned, forgotten, & unheard. God comforts his people that they have not been forgotten, that he is still working with & through them. He gives them great some promises of a hope to come.

There are three characters that are addressed in this passage: Israel, Babylonian idols, & YHWH. Isaiah contrasts the glory of creator God of Israel to the man-made idols of the nations.

While we may not initially connect with Israel’s situation of living in a foreign land among pagan religions vying for their worship; there is a parallel story happening for Christians today. We see a culture surrounding us which is in the least presenting a counter world-view to the one of Christ. The world says to be successful is to be rich, powerful, affluent, beautiful, big houses, fast cars. We may not build ‘idols’ out of wood which we worship (Isaiah 41), we do build houses & corner offices, we worship athletes & hollywood actors from our shrines of plasma & lcds. 2500 years hasn’t changed too much.

Take time this week to reflect on how we as Christians are living in a foreign land. Look at 1 Peter 2:11-12 for a further reflection on this from the NT. How would it look for us to model the servant of Isaiah 42, instead of the idol worshipers of ch.41?