A NEW HOPE
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As it has been passed down through history (the Isaiah scroll was the most complete document among the Dead Sea Scrolls), chapter 40 begins a new stage in the book of Isaiah. Possibly written closer to the time of these later events, the focus turns to promises of restoration for the people of God after they were taken into exile in Babylon.
After years of silence, a new voice would be heard: “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). This was good news to be proclaimed throughout the scattered peoples and shattered towns of Judah. That God would intervene and that He would return to live among them was most joyous news and not something to shrink back from proclaiming. This message fueled the expectation of a coming Messiah toward the time of Jesus’ birth and was intensified with the preaching of John. Along with all the Gospel writers, John the Baptist agreed that this new era would herald the coming of the Messiah (see Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2, 3; Luke 3:4–6; John 1:23). Taking it as his personal mission statement and quoting Isaiah 40:3–6, John boldly proclaimed the coming of Jesus and the message of repentance and reformation to the nation. But there was also a strong sense that this was about more than just the national fortunes of God’s people. John came announcing Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
