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'Should not a people seek unto their God' (Isa. 8:19).
'Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him' (Isa. 25:9).
'O Lord our God; (other) lords beside Thee have had dominion over us'
(Isa. 26:13).
'Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will
come and save you' (Isa. 35:4).
We will not multiply references; the subject is one that can be
explored by all.
We cannot conclude this part of our study without referring to the
parallel in Isaiah 52:7:
'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth!'
'Behold your God!'
'Thy God reigneth!'
But there is the other side to the matter that must not be forgotten.
The fact that Isaiah could say to Israel, 'Behold your God' suggests what is
found to be so in fact, that God can say of Israel, 'My people'.
So, in the Exodus, God is said to see the affliction of His people, to
demand of Pharaoh the release of His people, and Hosea condenses into one
brief verse the great day of restoration, saying:
'I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her
that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My
people, Thou Art My People; and they shall say, Thou Art My God' (Hos.
2:23).
We could, of course, have found the whole matter expressed for us in
the opening words of Isaiah 40: 'Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith Your
God'. Verses 10 and 11, with which this first section of Isaiah 40 closes,
are but an expansion of this blessed evangel of restored fellowship and
relationship. It is expressed in a number of propositions, not set out
formally, but nevertheless there. These may be visualized as follows:
(1)
This God who is 'your God' is 'The Lord God'.
(2)
This God 'will come'.
(3)
This God will come with a strong hand (or against the strong).
(4)
He is accompanied by both 'reward' and 'work'.
(5)
He is likened to a Shepherd, feeding, gathering, carrying and
gently leading.
We can do little more than point the way through the remainder of this
great prophecy, and set out the main outline of Isaiah 42 to 45:15.