The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Spirit” it comes from the Hebrew Word “ruach” which means “spirit, wind, breath.”
Isaiah opens a new section with a magnificent proclamation of comfort and God’s incomparable greatness. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Isaiah 40.
Isaiah delivers a message of comfort, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,” describing a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God,” a prophecy the New Testament directly applies to John the Baptist.
Isaiah describes all flesh as grass, and all its goodness as the flower of the field, the grass withering, the flower fading, because the “spirit,” “ruach” in Hebrew, of the Lord blows upon it, surely the people are grass, the grass withering, the flower fading, but the word of their God shall stand forever, urging the herald of good tidings to lift up her voice with strength, to say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
Isaiah asks who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, describing the nations as a drop of a bucket, counted as the small dust of the balance, all nations before Him being as nothing, and counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity, asking to whom then they will liken God, or what likeness will they compare to Him, describing how He sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers, closing with the beloved promise, “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” this magnificent chapter opening Isaiah’s later section with soaring, comprehensive praise of God’s incomparable, sustaining greatness.
This chapter’s beloved promise, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mounting up with wings like eagles, offers timeless encouragement that genuine spiritual renewal comes through patient waiting rather than exhausting self-effort alone. Its opening proclamation of comfort and its prophecy of a voice crying in the wilderness, later fulfilled through John the Baptist, mark a significant transition toward this section’s focus on genuine restoration and the coming Messiah.
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