For Those Who Hurt

KEY VERSE: “Comfort, 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.” —Isaiah 40:1,2, New International Version

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40:1-11

THE WORDS OF our text apply to the nation of Israel, the “seed” (Gen. 48:4) of Jacob, who for centuries were a people without a land, yet possessing many promises from the Word of God. This nation, to whom at one time belonged the great privilege of being God’s only chosen people, was left destitute. Circumstances, however, began to change in the late nineteenth century, and, more particularly, certain events resulting from World War I led in 1948 to the reestablishment of Israel as a nation. Students of Bible prophecy have, therefore, come to appreciate the fulfillment of various features in God’s plan for the returning favor to this historic people.

Ezekiel, using the illustration of a valley filled with dry, dead bones, reveals that God purposed restoring the nation of Israel back to life. See Ezekiel 37:4-6. These bones represent the nation of Israel (vs. 11), and portray the progression of political and social events that have transpired in that part of the world during our present time in history. They have been brought together again, and are now recognized as a nation—as represented by the covering skin. There are certain important events yet to transpire, however, before God will symbolically breathe life into these bones again, namely, the completion of the spiritual phase of God’s kingdom. The Apostle Paul addresses this matter saying, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins’.”—Rom. 11:25-27, NIV

All people will be blessed by that kingdom then in power, for “‘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’.” (Isa. 40:4,5, NIV) Thus in symbolic language Isaiah describes the time when the governments of earth, represented by mountains and hills, will be brought down to make way for the kingdom of God. Then the rough and rugged places will be no more, and the family of man will eventually stand before God on their own merit when the work of the grand Mediator will have been completed.

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (vs. 8, NIV) During the present time of sin, death comes to all—mankind being represented as the flower of the field that loses its beauty and fades away. Nevertheless, God’s promises are true, and will never pass away. During that kingdom age, the prophet says: “They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isa. 35:10, NIV) There will be worldwide rejoicing at that time for the former things of this earth will be forgotten. Nothing will hurt nor injure anyone living under that restored society, including those who will be resurrected from the dead.

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