"Our Shepherd Gathers His Flock"

Isaiah 40:1–2 ¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 

            We can take a close look at the history of Jerusalem and quickly see she has suffered much and still suffers today.  Has God pardoned her for her sins?  Has she only received double for all her sins?  Look closely, Jerusalem's plight might raise a couple of questions in our minds.  What were all of her sins, and if she paid double for her sins where does that leave us with our sins? 

            The temple of God, the Holy of Holy place resided in this beautiful city of Jerusalem built under the orders of Solomon.  You might say the whole city was a temple of God's as Solomon was inspired by God to build it.  A temple that gave life to culture designed by God from the time of Moses to the time when all was lost in the Babylonian captivity.  Jerusalem is a representation of every believer (sinner saint) that has walked this earth, as we all have the temple of God within us hidden by our sinful nature.  Sin has a saddened way of destroying what God has entrusted to His people, even today the temple is hidden under the sin of mankind.

            Time had not stopped, generations had past, God's people renewed through offspring of those who lost their beloved city of God.  Jerusalem lay in ruin, its paraments (candles, altar, basin...) all had been looted by their captors taken from their place of duty.  What was of old from Moses and Solomon's time was now gone now just a thoughtless decor or trophy sitting on a pagan mantle.  The only thing that survived from the temple was the true temple, God and His will to stay with His people as they suffer through the consequences of their action and their lack of actions.

            Isaiah 40:3–5 ³A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  ⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 

            If you notice the quotes here in the O.T. are different than those in the N.T.   “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;" so what does this mean? Is it not a prophet who is wandering around in the wilderness where no one else lives or walks?  Maybe what Isaiah has been inspired to write is the wilderness that man himself is, one barren of faith and weeded with sin. 

In the O.T. and N.T. the voice crying also refers to the voice calling in the wilderness, the voice of a man telling us to prepare the way for our Savior.  How do we prepare for the Lord's coming?  What steps should we take?  How do we know when we have prepared the way? 

Isaiah 40:6–9 ⁶A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”  All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.  ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

            Life on earth is never permanent, like the flower and the grass it has its season and then they are gone.  Then out of the death of winter life comes in its spring and there is a new generation of grass and flowers and life on earth seems to continue on as a pagan dream fulfilled over and over until God puts an end to it.  As the generations have passed of those held in captivity and new generations spring forth, God replants His seed to raise up life in His people, in all those He has chosen.  But like flowers we wither and fade, but we die to sin and spring into life through forgiveness.

            Life in heaven holds no time so a thousand or a day is the same in the realm of heaven.  But not so in the realm of earth.  God did not make us in His realm of heaven and then transferred us to the realm of the earth so a day on earth is a day, there was morning and there was evening there was an earth day. 

However, God's plan was not to keep us on this earth, but to master a means to transfer us to His realm of heaven.  Christ suffered and died for our sins so that we might have life and relationship eternal.  As the old earth and heavens pass away, God ushers us into a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem.

            Isaiah 40:9–11 ⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”  ¹⁰Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.  ¹¹He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

            We cannot prepare the way; Jesus Christ is the way.  It is our Christ who has prepared the way and has prepared a place for each of those who He has called to believe and grow in faith.   Hear it?  Hear the voice? Lift up the voice who shouts joyously "The Good News," the Lord our Shepherd gathers His flock, holds them in His arms, and gently leads them through the gates of everlasting relationship and eternal life as the whole children of God.