Introduction:

After the defeat of the Assyrian, God will comfort His people in His Kingdom. This week's lesson will disclose how God comforts His people. Inspiration says, "The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would accomplish nothing. "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God." "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom." Isaiah 40:1, 9-11.

Tell the people of Him who is "the Chiefest among ten thousand," and the One "altogether lovely." The Song of Solomon 5:10, 16. Words alone cannot tell it. Let it be reflected in the character and manifested in the life. Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple. Every one God has predestinated to be "conformed to the image of His Son." Romans 8:29. In every one Christ's long-suffering love, His holiness, meekness, mercy, and truth are to be manifested to the world. {DA 826.3}

Follow the outline below as we dig deeper into the mine of truth:

A. Comfort: Isaiah 40:1-2

B. Preparation: Isaiah 40:3-8

C. Evangelism: Isaiah 40:9-11

D. Strength: Isaiah 40:12-18, 21-31

E. Worship: Isaiah 40:19-20

Prayer Thought:

In the darkest days of her long conflict with evil, the church of God has been given revelations of the eternal purpose of Jehovah. His people have been permitted to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when, the warfare having been accomplished, the redeemed will enter into possession of the promised land. These visions of future glory, scenes pictured by the hand of God, should be dear to His church today, when the controversy of the ages is rapidly closing and the promised blessings are soon to be realized in all their fullness. {AG 372.2}

Comfort: Isaiah 40:1-2

“‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ Says your God.” (Isaiah 40:1)

Verse 2: leaves no doubt that Inspiration is speaking to a people in the latter days, -- the days in which the warfare, pilgrimage, and captivity of God's weary people are accomplished. Having received double for their sin and rebellion, their iniquity is pardoned and are now soon to be delivered. You cannot afford to overlook this comforting message. You must not neglect to make ready, for that is the reason that it is now unsealed and freely delivered to you. Prepare to meet thy God is its key note {verse 3).

God's Church, His People in the Last Days

When we analyze this statement {verse 2} we find that this condition was not true in John's time, for Jerusalem's warfare was not accomplished and her sins were not at that time pardoned. Nor were her trials over. But she was to be comforted by these words. If John's preaching was a type of anything, it must be a type of the message that God wants His servants to preach today just before the Lord comes to baptize and purge His people with fire. If this be true, then this chapter most certainly says that we are in the time when Jerusalem's warfare is to be accomplished and her sins are to be pardoned, the reason being that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. And we understand clearly that Jerusalem cannot mean anything other than God's church, His people.

God's Church in the Wilderness

What specific punishment did the church receive? -- The Lord took away her kingdom and then sent her into the wilderness where she was to be fed 1260 days (Revelation 12). Though some may understand that the church was to be in the wilderness only for the duration of the prophetic 1260 days, it should be pointed out that Revelation does not say that. The Revelation only says that the woman was to be fed in the wilderness 1260 days; it does not say how long she would be there. Her warfare was to be in the wilderness. By the authority of other Scripture prophecies in conjunction with Revelation 12, we have learned that when her warfare is finished she is to journey out of the wilderness and return to the vineyard (Kingdom) which God is to restore unto her. We believe we are now approaching that very event when God's people must return and reestablish the vineyard -- God's Kingdom -- that is to constitute the "stone" of Daniel 2:44, 45.

Note: You can click the above or this link Daniel 2:44, 45 or this link: Dan. 2:35 - our previous Sabbath School Lesson dated January 11-18, 2020, for further studies and reconsideration.

Expectation for Christ's Kingdom

When John the Baptist came he found the people deeply entrenched in sin, and therefore not at all prepared for the Kingdom of Christ. And if he and his work are a type of the message and work today, then it, too, must find the people in the same condition -- asleep and in sin and thus unprepared for Christ's Kingdom. Because of their low spiritual condition in John's time, he baptized them in water. If we are in the same condition today, then the message of today must baptize us, too. But the message is not teaching rebaptism and it most likely will not do so for the Bible teaches only one baptism. The message does say, however, that it finds the people of God in a sad deception (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 253).

Apostles' Purification

John the Baptist came and baptized with water. Then Jesus came and He also baptized with water. It was not until the end of His ministry that Christ ordained the Lord's Supper among His disciples. Before they partook of that supper He washed their feet which He said they must let Him do for them if they would have part in the Kingdom. In the evening of this occasion, Jesus told the disciples that they were all clean save one. They were as clean as they could be at that time. The unclean one was Judas who was present among them and who also partook of that ordinance; but he partook of it to his own damnation. Because he allowed the Devil to be in Him he committed treachery against Christ and then hanged himself. This, though, actually was a great blessing to the apostles, because as a result of his own act, they were purified. {12SC 6, 7.7}

Impart Courage and Help to His People

"I am more thankful than I can express for the uplifting of the Spirit of the Lord, for the comfort and grace that He continues to give me, and that He grants me strength and opportunity to impart courage and help to His people. As long as the Lord spares my life, I will be faithful and true to Him, seeking to do His will and to glorify His name. May the Lord increase my faith, that I may follow on to know Him, and to do His will more perfectly. Good is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." [GENERAL CONFERENCE BULLETIN, 1913, P. 164.] {LS 427.4}

Cry Earnestly to the Lord

Unsanctified minds fail to receive that strength and comfort that God has provided for them. They are restless and possess a strong desire for something new, something to gratify, to please and excite the mind; and this is called pleasure. Satan has alluring charms to engage the interest and excite the imagination of the youth in particular, that he may fasten them to his snare . . . . You need to cry earnestly: "O Lord, my inmost soul convert." You can have an influence for good over other young people. . . . May the God of peace sanctify you wholly, soul, body, and spirit (Testimonies, vol. 3, pp. 83, 84).

For a Little While: God shall Save Israel (of Today)

Soon the battle will have been fought, the victory won. Soon we shall see Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness. The former things “shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”“Israel shall be saved . . . with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” {OFC 224.2}

Let Faith Continually Increase

Look up, look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city into the great beyond, the wide, unbounded future of glory that is for the redeemed. {OFC 224.3}

Look back at the ancient Israel, let's note the following:

• Chapters 1 to 39 of Isaiah cover events in the history of Israel during the prophet's life (and some predictions about the future of the nations around them).

• From chapter 40 on, the message is focused on the future. It revolves around two main events:

(1) The Babylonian exile and the return of the remnant, and

(2) the coming of the Messiah.

• According to Isaiah 40:1-2, God will forgive His people, and He will comfort them.

Preparation: Isaiah 40:3-8

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3)

Read verses 3-8

Verse 3: True, verse three found fulfillment in the work of John the Baptist; but the verses preceding and also the verses following, definitely apply to the people in the latter days and only partially to the people in John's day. Therefore the truth stands out boldly that the direct fulfillment of this chapter is found in our time, thus making John's work an ensample of our work -- John's work the type, ours the antitype.

The "wilderness" and the "desert" (Isa. 40:3) in contrast to the "vineyard," the house of Judah literally and antitypically says: "The voice of him that crieth in the land of the Gentiles, that says, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the Gentile world a highway for our God."

Verse 4: To make this highway straight, "the voice" is, as it were, to raise up the valleys, cut through the mountains and hills, and grind down the rough places; that is, every obstruction must and will be removed, the saints must be gathered regardless where they live.

Verse 5: This shall come to pass as soon as the highway is made ready.

Verses 6-8: "The voice" proclaims that all are grass, that all the goodliness in men is as the flowers of the field, but the Word of God stands forever. It must be, then, that men are blind to these realities, else they would not need be reminded of them. It must be that they are depending upon flesh, instead of upon the Word of God and His Spirit. {1TG 36.4}

How to Gain Spiritual Strength

a. Partake His Words

A rich banquet is set before those who accept Christ as a personal Saviour. Day by day, as they partake of His Word, they are nourished and strengthened. {RC 128.4}

b. Have the Great and Grand Promise of God

Why do God's people pass by the words of the Great Teacher? Why do they rely upon human beings for help and comfort, when they have the great and grand promise, "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. . . . He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever"? . . . {RC 128.5}

c. Gain a Personal Experience and Value It

Those who partake of the banquet provided for them will gain an experience of the highest value. They will see that in comparison with the Word of God, the word of man is as chaff to the wheat. {RC 128.6}

d. Plan, Act and Depend Entirely upon God

In every plan we make, we must act with entire dependence upon God, else we shall be deceived by a semblance instead of the reality. . . . {RC 128.7}

Be Likeminded, have the Same Love, One Accord and One Mind

a. Share the Truth Anywhere you go: Let the old standard-bearers go from place to place, from meeting to meeting.

b. Have the Benefit of Long Experience: Let our people have the benefit of their long experience.

c. Speak the Truth Aloud and be Prepared: Let them speak the truth in all its force, but let them be sure that their feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

d. Be Comforted in His Love through His Spirit: Let them present the truth, not in a way that will arouse the worst feelings of the human heart, but in love and tenderness and compassion. "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, ... fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

e. Be Humble and Teachable: Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." {RY 37.3}

• How will God comfort His people? There are two "voices" that explain it:

— Isaiah 40:3-5. Preparing the way for the presence of God being fully manifested in our lives.

— Isaiah 40:6-8. Through the Word of God that “stands forever.”

• John the Baptist explained what we should do to prepare (Luke 3:2-8): repenting and rejecting sin, so we can receive the comfort of God's presence and forgiveness.

Evangelism: Isaiah 40:9-11

“O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” (Isaiah 40:9)

Read verses 9-11

verse 9: Those who shall finally stand on Mount Sion, and who are now preparing the way of the Lord by bringing these good tidings, are all counselled to get on a high mountain, as it were, and to lift up their voices together without any fear whatever, to proclaim to the cities of Judah (to the churches everywhere) to prepare the way of the Lord and to say, "Behold your God."

verse 10: The arm of the Lord that rules for Him must be figurative of those through whom He works (Isa. 51:9), of those who are to stand with Him on Mt. Sion (Rev. 14:1), -- the Church spotless and without guile. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days." Hos. 3:4, 5. The messengers of the hour are to declare, too, that the Lord's reward (life forevermore) is with Him, but that His work is still before Him, yet to be finished. {2TG 9.6}

verse 11: This care over His people is to be felt when His arm rules for Him. He shall then take charge of His work, and of His people, as a shepherd takes charge of a flock. He shall exercise personal care over all, old and young alike.

The message which this chapter contains, we see, is not a message to be preached to the world, but to the cities of antitypical Judah, the church. And those who proclaim it are citizens of antitypical Zion and Jerusalem, members of the church. They are fearlessly to lift up their voices with strength.

They are to explain that the people whom God uses to get His work done are "His arm"; that they are to rule for Him; that His reward is with Him, and His work yet before Him; that He shall feed His flock, and with His arm (with His church) He shall gather the lambs (the newly converted) and carry them to His kingdom. {1TG 36.5}

• Once the way is prepared, “Zion” must introduce Christ to the world: “Behold your God!”

• The message we should announce is based on the wonderful power of God, and His faculty to judge and reward (v. 10; see Revelation 14:6-7).

• The Gospel we should preach goes beyond this message. We should also announce that our Redeemer truly cares for us. He is a Shepherd who tenderly takes care of His sheep (v. 11; see John 10:11).

Strength: Isaiah 40:12-18, 21-31

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Read verses 12-18, 21-31

verse 12: Since there is none other than God Himself who can do all these things, and since He Himself is to take charge of His Own flock, we know that His care over them will be matchless. And why should we not hasten that time?

verses 13, 14: We know that the Spirit Who leads into all Truth and all knowledge is not Himself led or taught by any man. Hence, why should we depend on any man that is divested of Inspiration to pass judgment on inspired Truth? The Word points out that not men only but even the nations are as nothing:

verses 15-17: When we realize that the nations on earth in comparison with God's power are as nothing, that neither the timber nor the beasts of Lebanon are sufficient for even burnt offering, just that soon we will see all men, including ourselves, as insignificant, and as worthless as the dust. Then we shall see our dependence upon Him as important and as complete as is the dependence of an infant upon its parents.

verse 18: This is now a question for each one to answer in his own mind.

Those who are ignorant of God liken Him to something. But the great question is, to what are we likening Him -- to something though there is no comparison of Him?

verses 21-26: Since God is greater than human imagination can fathom, why do men depend so little upon Him, -- and so much upon their own words? True, we may not actually bow down to an image, but we may do other things that are equally idolatrous. Indeed, if such were not the case these exhortations would not have come to us through this timely-revealed prophecy.

verses 27-31: Is it not surprising that the Church, having come down through the ages this far, must now be taught the very first fundamentals of her faith?

"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." Isa. 49:7-14.

Sion, as we have herein seen, being the church in which the 144,000 are at the time the sealing message is heard, and being as the apple of His eye, the Lord asks her: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee." Isa. 49:15-17. That is, the sinners will be taken out of her, cast away "from among the just." Matt. 13:48, 49. {8Tr 87.1-2}

• Two facets of God's nature are introduced in chapter 40:

— Powerful (v. 12-26). He is the Only One worthy of praise.

— Merciful (v. 27-31). He strengthens those who trust Him.

• Isaiah used questions to glorify God's power (v. 12-14), like God did when talking to Job.

• Isaiah explained that no one can compare to Him. God is never tired, and those who trust Him will never be.

Worship: Isaiah 40:19-20

“The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains.” (Isaiah 40:19)

Read verses 19-20

In these verses is shown how foolish men are: They do not stop to consider that though a piece of wood may be good for fuel, yet when man tries to make of it a likeness of God, it is but foolishness and that to bow down to it, is degrading and blasphemous.

• Can we worship God Almighty through an image?

• Israel imagined God as a calf (Exodus 32:4; 1 Kings 13:28). However, God emphatically rejected worship through images (Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Exodus 20:4-5).

• The Bible is clear about the uselessness of idols and those who worship them (Psalm 115:4-8). We may worship “something” through an image, but not God.

• Remember that an idol may not necessarily have a physical shape. “Anything that men love and trust in instead of loving the Lord and trusting wholly in Him becomes an idol.” (E.G.W. 5T, cp. 26, p. 250)