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(Jer. 51: 56). "The days of recompense are come" said Hosea (9: 7), and, reviewing the
history of Israel, the apostle Paul spoke of "a stumbling block, and a recompense"
(Rom. 11: 9). Under the free grace of the gospel such "recompense" would be entirely
unscriptural and undispensational, but we remember that even in Matt. 5:-7: there is
such a principle as "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6: 12), and,
lest we should feel inclined to tone this down, the Lord, in verses 14 and 15, makes the
matter unmistakably clear, fortifying it later with the parable of the unforgiving servant
(Matt. 18: 23-35). So we read:--
"With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt
shew Thyself upright; with the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward
Thou wilt show Thyself froward" (Psa. 18: 25, 26).
According to verse 24, this is "recompense". We shall find that preceding the passage in
Lev. 26:, where "acceptance of punishment" is found (a passage that bears intimately
upon Isa. 40: 2, as was found in our last article), there is the same principle at work:
". . . . . If ye walk contrary unto Me . . . . . I bring . . . . . I will send . . . . . I chastise
. . . . . If they shall confess . . . . . that also they have walked contrary unto Me, and that I
also have walked contrary unto them . . . . ." (Lev. 26: 14-46).
So, too, in Joel 2: we again have repentance of a mutual character:
"Turn ye even to Me with all your heart . . . . . turn unto the Lord . . . . . repenteth in
Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent" (Joel 2: 12-14).
So in Isa. 40: when the prophet passes on the Lord's word, "Comfort ye", he uses the
Hebrew word nacham, which is also rendered "repent", and John the Baptist, who partly
fulfilled the prophecy of Isa. 40: 3-5, had as the key-word of his ministry to Israel,
"Repent". If therefore these things are discerned, a very palpable link between Isa. 40: 2
and 3 will be seen to exist.
When Isa. 40: 3-5 is read and associated with John the Baptist two things stand out
for consideration. One is that while he did fulfil much that is written here, it could never
be said that "all flesh" saw the glory of the Lord. Let us consider the way in which this
passage is introduced into the Gospels.
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, and saying, Repent ye: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3: 1, 2).
The statement is followed by the assertion:--
"For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one
crying in the wilderness" (Matt. 3: 3).
With this quotation and its application to John the Baptist, Mark opens his Gospel
(Mark 1: 1-3). Luke also speaks in the same strain (Luke 3: 1-6). John, in his Gospel,
lays great stress upon the witness of John the Baptist but, instead of affirming, as do the
other Evangelists, that John's ministry was according to the prophecy of Isaiah, he allows
the Baptist to speak for himself:--