How beautiful ... him that bringeth good

tidings, that saith Thy God reigneth.

C

54:11. O thou afflicted,  tossed with tempest

and not comforted.

The waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth.

(Noah = Heb. comfort).

D

57:6. Should I receive comfort in these?

B

61:1,2. Preach good tidings ... comfort all that mourn.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

The opening of the prison to them that are bound.

A

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you;

and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Lord will come with fire.

flesh.  The Lord shall plead with sword.

flesh shall come and worship.

flesh shall abhor the transgressor.

Even a superficial observer can hardly fail to see that these

occurrences are joined together as links in a chain, and the earnest student

who uses these notes in the right spirit, and is dissatisfied with a casual

survey, will see the great desirability of a scrutiny of the passages and

their contexts in order that the import of the opening cry of Isaiah 40:1 may

be gathered up at something like its true worth.

What this 'comfort' implies, how far it is possible of attainment, what

place human agency has in it, and many other features, may have to be left to

the reader's own diligence.  Meanwhile let us rejoice that there is room for

such a word in the purpose of the ages, and that even though the Church of

the Body of Christ be far removed in sphere from the kingdom of Israel, yet

they are all one in their need of forgiveness and in being met in wondrous

If we inquire what is the particular 'comfort' that the prophet would

administer to Jerusalem, we may find help by considering his own expansion

given in Isaiah 40:2:

'Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare

is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received

of the Lord's hand double for all her sins'.

Here, to 'speak comfortably' is literally 'to speak to the heart'; it

is the language of love.

'And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the

damsel, and he spake to the heart of the damsel' (Gen. 34:3 margin).

It was the language of Joseph, the great foreshadower of Christ, the

Saviour, Preserver and Restorer of His people, when he said to his brethren

in Egypt:

'Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones.

And he comforted them, and spake to their hearts' (Gen. 50:21 margin).