“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her. Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for. Yes, she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
I wish we could all read Hebrew. Why? Because the Old Testament of the Bible (with the exception of a few chapters) was written in Hebrew. And despite how hard translators work to faithfully bring over the words and meaning of the original, sometimes the English language simply can’t capture all of the meaning, the tone, the feel of the original.
That’s the case with our English translations of the Hebrew words for “Comfort, comfort my people.” In the Hebrew these words sound soothing. Soft. Gentle. Every time I read this Hebrew out loud, my mind pictures a mother comforting a crying infant. “Hush. Hush. You’re safe. Everything will be alright.”
Hold that thought. Because you and I have a God in heaven who says to us, “Hush, hush, you’re safe. Everything will be alright.” You and I are blessed with the one true God who loves us even more than our own mothers! (Isaiah 49:15) That’s why the Lord instructed Isaiah to “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” With tenderness and care, the Prophet was to soothe the hearts of God’s people by announcing this Gospel fact. “Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for.”
“Comfort, comfort my people!” Our Lord no longer stands against us, but for us! (Romans 8:31) All because our guilt has been fully paid for! Every single sin we pile up in our lives: every complaint about the crazy traffic on 51 in Minocqua during tourist season; every whine about the heat, the humidity and the mosquitoes (next winter we’ll whine about the cold winds and the snow); every stinging word spoken in a flash of anger. Every worry. Every fear. It’s all been paid for in full—by the Savior who shouted, “Tetelestai!” “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
“Comfort, comfort my people!” “Yes, she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Are you puzzled by that last sentence? Do you struggle to see the comfort? Does the sentence sound, instead, almost like a threat? Then read it again against the backdrop of these words, “Her guilt is fully paid for.” And picture the words being spoken to you by your loving, caring Father. “Hush, Hush. You’re safe. Everything will be alright. If you sin a million times in your life, my Son has that covered, twice over. 100,000,000 times? Jesus has that more than covered. You can’t out-sin my grace.” As Paul once wrote, “Where increased, grace sin overflowed much more.” (Romans 5:20)
By faith, sitting with you in our Father’s lap,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
I wish we could all read Hebrew. Why? Because the Old Testament of the Bible (with the exception of a few chapters) was written in Hebrew. And despite how hard translators work to faithfully bring over the words and meaning of the original, sometimes the English language simply can’t capture all of the meaning, the tone, the feel of the original.
That’s the case with our English translations of the Hebrew words for “Comfort, comfort my people.” In the Hebrew these words sound soothing. Soft. Gentle. Every time I read this Hebrew out loud, my mind pictures a mother comforting a crying infant. “Hush. Hush. You’re safe. Everything will be alright.”
Hold that thought. Because you and I have a God in heaven who says to us, “Hush, hush, you’re safe. Everything will be alright.” You and I are blessed with the one true God who loves us even more than our own mothers! (Isaiah 49:15) That’s why the Lord instructed Isaiah to “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” With tenderness and care, the Prophet was to soothe the hearts of God’s people by announcing this Gospel fact. “Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for.”
“Comfort, comfort my people!” Our Lord no longer stands against us, but for us! (Romans 8:31) All because our guilt has been fully paid for! Every single sin we pile up in our lives: every complaint about the crazy traffic on 51 in Minocqua during tourist season; every whine about the heat, the humidity and the mosquitoes (next winter we’ll whine about the cold winds and the snow); every stinging word spoken in a flash of anger. Every worry. Every fear. It’s all been paid for in full—by the Savior who shouted, “Tetelestai!” “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
“Comfort, comfort my people!” “Yes, she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Are you puzzled by that last sentence? Do you struggle to see the comfort? Does the sentence sound, instead, almost like a threat? Then read it again against the backdrop of these words, “Her guilt is fully paid for.” And picture the words being spoken to you by your loving, caring Father. “Hush, Hush. You’re safe. Everything will be alright. If you sin a million times in your life, my Son has that covered, twice over. 100,000,000 times? Jesus has that more than covered. You can’t out-sin my grace.” As Paul once wrote, “Where increased, grace sin overflowed much more.” (Romans 5:20)
By faith, sitting with you in our Father’s lap,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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