By Craig A. Smith
What is it that He requires of Israel and us? Hope. God is asking for Israel to hope again. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. In this passage God wants to fan their hope into flame once more.
So God sends a message to Israel, words of solace 'Comfort, comfort my people says your God'. These are the words of the covenant. God affirms Israel that they are still My people and I am still your God. The Father in heaven wants a new message to go out to His people stuck in Babylon. He wants his messengers to 'speak tenderly to Jerusalem, to tell them that their hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins'.
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God lets Israel know He has seen their pain. He knows their rebellion. He understands their undisciplined heart. He has observed their unfortunate prolonged circumstance. He remembers their unfaithfulness and disobedience. But mostly He recognizes their need to hope again. They are paralyzed and need hope. They need assurance that they are not a people without hope. They need assurance that they are not a people without a God. Their need can be satisfied if they remember who they are; they are Israel and they are God's people. So God begins to stir the embers of their hope through an unknown voice crying out:
'In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God'
What's God saying through this voice? Basically start a road construction company. The image is of God on Mount Sinai in the desert saying prepare the way for me to come. Having travelled through the Sinai desert in an overcrowded taxi I can appreciate how windy the roads are. There are no direct routes. Of course Isaiah is referring to a metaphorical highway. How are they to build this highway for God to come to them?
They need to begin to soften their hearts toward God, to turn themselves toward their source of hope, love and faith. They need to start to dream dreams again. This open-minded open-handed attitude is just what God needs to help His people.
But this text also emphasizes the urgency with which God wants to get to Israel. God wants to get there quickly. God wants to get there directly. No detours for God. He wants a straight highway. He wants an interstate highway not a country lane. He wants to show his glory by delivering His people. God wants to move. He is unstoppable. No mountain, no valley can thwart God.
Yet before Israel can hope they need to know that God is able to deliver Israel from Babylon. In verse 6 God tells Isaiah to cry out:
'All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever'.