COMFORT, COMFORT MY PEOPLE The Book of Isaiah started by revealing the extent of corruption that the people of God, as well as the whole humanity, have reached. Now, in the present chapter, the Holy Spirit of God lifts us up to discover God’s plan of salvation, and his ordinance for His people, in order to enjoy His divine work, and His exalted comforts. This chapter and the next one, aim to uproot the spirit of despair from the captives, and to implant that of hope in them. 1. Comfort, comfort My people 1-2. 2. Preparing the way for the Lord 3-8. 3. The incomprehensible plan of God 9-26. 4. The situation of unbelievers 27-31. 1. COMFORT, COMFORT MY PEOPLE God used to refer the people to Him when He is pleased with them, calling them “My people;” But, when they get rebellious, He used sometimes to refer them to Moses (Exodus 32: 7), or just call them “the people” (Exodus 32: 9); or more frankly “not my people” (Hosea 2: 23). But here, as He opens before them and before all humanity the gate of salvation, He calls them “My people.” The prophet used to repeat a certain word twice, as what came here: “Comfort, comfort” (51: 9, 17; 5: 1), for He is talking about the Church of the New Testament, that comes from two categories: the Jews and the Gentiles, as it is the Church of love that unifies and binds. The figure 2 refers to love that turns the two into one. It is the Church of love, that binds God to it, as a Groom to His bride; and that binds the members coming from all nations, as one body to one head. Through this love, He addresses it saying, “Speak comfort to Jerusalem” (Is. 40: 2); the literal translation being, “Speak kindly to the heart of Jerusalem,” an expression that came several times in the Old Testament (Genesis 34: 3; 50: 21; Judges 19: 3; Ruth 2: 13; 2 Samuel 19: 7; 2 Chronicles 20: 22; Hosea 2: 14), addressed to someone beloved. The Church here, is the beloved bride of Christ, whom He addresses with the language of love, understood only by the heart - the same language He spoke with, more openly and deeply through the cross, to acquire humanity as His bride (Revelation 19: 7; 21: 2, 9). It is an invitation presented by the Groom to His suffering bride, so that she would look forward, amid her sufferings, to the happy end, to help her endure the pain with hope and pleasure. The same way as her Groom did; who, “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross” (Hebrew 12: 2), having seen our salvation and glorification in His bearing the cross. And as the apostle says, “For as the sufferings of Christ abounds in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1: 5) What is the source of our comfort? God says, “I am your comfort.” The Father embraces us as His children, through our union with Christ, the Only-Begotten Son, who offers His life as atonement for our sins, as the Source of our comfort. “Our consolation also abounds through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1: 5) Our Christ, who embraced us by His blood, offers us His “comforting” Holy Spirit, filling our hearts with Him, to set the kingdom of joy in our hearts. That is why He presents a talk addressed to the heart, saying, “Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her; that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Is. 40: 2) Literally, the prophet looks at the captivity of the people, not as a political disaster, happening at random, or because of military weakness, but as a divine decision for the sake of chastisement. She received double chastisement. On one side she committed sins shameful for her, and on another side, she had not practiced God’s righteousness or done good. The divine commandment asks us to stop doing evil and to do good. From the prophetical side, as she looks at her crucified Groom, she finds that He, completely paid her debt, not only for the sake of relieving her from it, but also to justify her by His blood, and to sanctify her, to enjoy the share in His glories. As though the entreaties of humanity, expressed by the prophet David, has been realized, in which he says, “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.” (Psalm 25: 18) Now, the prophet watches over the procession of the people returning to Jerusalem, as a symbol of the procession of those redeemed through the blood of Jesus, the Lord of glory. St. John the Baptist came to prepare the way for that heavenly messianic procession. 2. PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE LORD Perhaps the prophet Isaiah heard a heavenly voice calling the heavenly hosts to prepare for the coming-back procession from captivity to Jerusalem. Previously the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord departing from the city (Ezekiel 11: 22-25), and now the procession is coming back with the return of the captives; as though it is a royal procession, preceded by God Himself, the Redeemer of His children! Yet, the greatest procession is the preparation of the way for the entrance of the Savior Messiah into the life of humanity, that was realized by St. John the Baptist, the angel of the Lord, through talking of penitence, and proclaiming the need of a Savior (Lamentations 1: 3; Matthew 3: 3; Luke 3: 4-6; John 1: 22). St. John the Baptist has been the voice crying out in the wilderness, to prepare the way for the divine Word, proclaiming that every haughty soul will be made low (Is. 40: 4), every crooked heart will become straight, and all obstacles will vanish, because the glory of the Lord will be proclaimed through the Savior Messiah, to be seen by all human kind: Jews and Gentiles. That is why the prophet says, “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Is. 40: 3 - 5) John was called a “voice,” while Christ was called “the Word.” There is a great difference between the two; as the Fathers say, the voice is what the ear hears, while the word is what is apprehended by the mind. So John came as a witness to Christ the divine Word: That can probably explain how Zechariah lost his voice, as John was conceived, and did not get it back until the “voice” that preceded the “Word” was born. The ear must hear the “voice,” so that the mind would apprehend the “Word” to which the voice refers. John refers to Christ, as the talk (the Word) is proclaimed through the voice1. Origen From our talk, you know that the “voice” comes first when the “Word” is heard. That is why John proclaims himself a “voice” as he is preceding the “Word.” 1 Comm. On John, book 2:26. Coming before the Lord, he was called a “voice,” and through his ministry, people received the “Word” of God. He cries out proclaiming, “Make His paths straight.” The Lord’s path to the heart would be straight, when the heart humbly receives His words of Truth. It would be straight, if we practice our lives in accordance with His commandments. That is why Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14: 23) Pope Gregory the (Great) Isaiah was aware of the preaching work of John the Baptist. So while he calls Christ, “God and Lord” (Is. 9), he refers to John as a messenger, a minister, and a lamp that emits light preceding the appearance of the true light. He is the ‘morning star’ that proclaims the rising of the sun from beyond the horizon. John was a voice and not a Word, preceding Christ, as the voice precedes the word2. St. Cyril the Great What does this voice proclaim? It proclaims the gospel of the New Testament, which is the Lord’s path that raises the humble souls to heavenly life, destroys the pride of the haughty, renews the creation that got crooked, to let it walk straight, and to remove the obstacles before it. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Is. 40: 5) I wish you would walk along the royal path, and would not deviate right or left; to be led by the Spirit through the narrow door; then all your affairs would be set right on that day, in Christ Jesus our Lord3. St. Gregory of Nazianzus “A voice crying in the wilderness” (Is. 40: 3) of this barren life, that does not contain inside it ‘the tree of life’ as did the first paradise. He came to proclaim the coming of the Lord Christ, the Tree of life, to be planted in the wilderness of our nature, to turn it, through his dwelling, into a fruitful paradise. In the same meaning St. Ambrose says, [Before the Son of God sets members of the Church He started His work in His minister John. “The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 3: 2) That was realized in the desolate wilderness, as “More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman” (Is. 54: 1); to whom it was said: “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore” (Is. 54: 1)… as it was not yet planted among the foreign nations, and has not yet come, He who said, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52: 8); and the heavenly vinedresser has not yet given the branches fruits (John 15: 1). Thus the “voice” cried out, for the wilderness to produce fruit4.] Let the Lord’s path be prepared in our heart, as a man’s heart is spacious, as though it is the world at large. Look at how great it is, not as flesh, but in the strength of the mind that gives it the possibility of embracing such a very great knowledge of the Truth. Therefore, let the Lord’s path be prepared in your heart, through a worthy life and good and perfect deeds. Let that path keep your life straight, so that the words of God get to you without hindrance5. Origen St. Augustine noticed that the prophet Isaiah used the word “flesh” in the 2 On St. Luke, Serm. 6. 3 To whom who had invited Him, 8. 4 Comm. On Luke 3:1- .ترجمة مدام عایدة حنا بسطا . 5 5 In Luke hom 21. phrase “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Is. 40: 5). Yet he does not refer by that to the flesh without the soul, but he refers to man as a whole. The Holy Bible often uses the word “flesh,” or “soul” to mean (man); as it is man in his wholeness, who beholds the glory of God [flesh alone without the soul beholds nothing6.] When the evangelist says, “The Word became flesh” (John 1: 14) he does not mean that the Word of God became flesh without a human soul, as claimed by Apollinarius; something that made Pope Athanasius the Apostolic, wrote a book to prove that his friend Apollinarius was wrong in his interpretation, without mentioning his friend’s name. The prophet Isaiah heard another heavenly voice confirming that every flesh (man) is like the grass of earth (Psalm 90: 5; 103: 15). But, “The grass withers and the flowers fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Is. 40: 8) Whoever attaches himself to the dust of the earth, namely to love of the world, will become like withered grass. While who attaches himself to the Lord Christ “the Word of God” will rise with Him to live eternally in His glory. That is the path prepared by the Holy Bible for receiving the Savior. Our commitment to fellowship with Him, He, who turns us from being like withered grass of the earth, to fellowship with Him, and eternally abiding in His glory. And as St. Augustine says, [If someone yearns to real comfort and happiness, he has to lift up his hope above perishable things, to let it abide in the Lord’s Word, so that, being attached to it, it stops forever and he abides with it eternally.] Origen comments on the words, “Every flesh is like grass,” by saying that the Lord Christ instructed the multitude to sit down on the grass (Matthew 14: 21), in order to feed them. Namely, that when man submits his flesh (sitting on grass), and places all worldly matters under the leadership of the soul, to walk in his wholeness according to the Holy Spirit, he will then, enjoy the blessings of the Lord Christ, and the true satisfaction. We will not be capable of encountering our Christ, nor receiving His divine gifts through the disciples (the Church), as long as we live according to the flesh. Therefore, let us submit the flesh to our souls by the Holy Spirit, and sit on the grass, so that when the flesh becomes an obedient servant, and works in harmony with the soul without resisting it, we enjoy the spirituals. Here are some comments of the Fathers on the phrase, “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it.” (Is. 40: 6, 7) As you see, whatever attaches to your soul, will do that eternally; if you attach to grass and grass flowers, you are binding yourself to the grass that withers and to the flowers that fade and fall, and God will perish it at the end7. God, being our Father, knows our nature that we are nothing but dust, that if we flourish, it would only be for a certain time, therefore He sent us His Word, to stay with us forever, as a brother to the grass that withers in no time. Do not marvel that you shared in His eternity, as He has already shared in your grass8. That was how Moses did with the head of the golden calf (Exodus 32: 20), he burnt it. That head of the calf represents a great mystery, it represents the flesh of the wicked that feeds on grass and seeks the world things, for every flesh is but grass9. 6 On the Soul and its origin. 7 On Ps. 52. 8 Ibid 103. 9 Ibid 62. St. Augustine Why do you fear worldly matters, that pass like water in a river? This is the nature of contemporary things, either joyful or sad. Another prophet compares human flourishing to grass10. Every day we hear this and the like, yet we are still nailed to earth11. St. John Chrysostom I know that some people believe that comparing every flesh to grass refers to the condition of primitive people from different nations, with various ways of life, who, coming to faith, have become, by the Word of God, as harmonious as the righteous12. St. Irenaeus 3. THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE PLAN OF GOD Now, having demonstrated that whoever attaches himself to perishable things will become like the grass of earth, that withers; while he, who attaches himself to the Word of the eternal God, will stay with Him forever, he proclaims the significance of the attachment to the Word of God: a. Receiving the joyful evangelic gospel: “O Zion, You who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tiding, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.” (Is. 40: 9, 10) Who is she, who lifts her voice, but the Church of the New Testament, that lifts up humanity as though on the mountain of the Word of God, through the preaching of the disciples and apostles, as well as through the testimony of all the people. She lifts up souls toward the heavenly life, or the new life, that came to us in Christ Jesus, to encounter our Lord Savior, as a Source of joy. She sees Him coming to her to reign in her depths, and to establish His kingdom by His exalted arm. b. Apprehending the nature of God: As we are lifted up to the new life and encounter God on a personal level, we do not find him as an unknown hidden power, but as a being, dealing with us, “comes, rules, reward, and tends etc.” And as St. Gregory of Nyssa says in his response to Eunomius: [Is God, then, an energy, and not a person?!13] St. John Cassian says that when we hear the word “his arm” or the like, we should not understand it according to a material physical sense. c. Discovering God’s care for us, being the Shepherd who tends His flock (Is. 40: 11): He is unique in His person, as well as in his care: * He is the Creator, and almighty in His providence to us: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?, measured heaven with a span? and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales? and the hills in a balance?” (Is. 40: 12) He is the Creator of waters and heavens, of dust and solid mountains; and He who created, can renew the creation. Waters refer to nations, heaven to soul, earth to flesh, and mountains and hills 10 On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed 16:24. 11 Ep. To Olympias 1:1. 12 Adv. Haer. 5:33:4. 13 Against Eunom. 2:12. to man’s capabilities and possibilities. As if God, in His care, is capable of renewing the Church through adding nations to it; as He renews every soul together with the flesh, with its energies, feelings, emotions, and possibilities. He measures and weighs everything, as He is the absolute Power. He probably wanted to confirm that God, who cares for His dumb creation, from waters to heaven, even for dust, mountains, and hills, how can He not care for us, who He created according to His image? He created the entire world for our sake! If you doubt God’s care ask the earth, the heaven, the sun, and the moon; ask the dumb creatures and the plants... ask the rocks, the mountains, the sand dunes, and hills; ask the day and night. God’s care is much more clear than the sun and its rays. Everywhere, in the wilderness and the inhabited cities, on earth and in the sea.... wherever you go, you will hear a testimony of that exalted care14. St. John Chrysostom * All-wisdom: “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel? and who instructed Him?, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?” (Is. 40: 13, 14) Being the almighty Creator who created and cared for nature for our sake, He is likewise, with His ‘all-wisdom’ knows what is for our salvation and our edification. His planning is different from ours, and His ordinances are high above ours (Romans 11: 34). The apostle Paul (Romans 11) did not just say that God’s judgments are unreachable, but that His ways are past finding out. Man is not only incapable of understanding their aim, but he cannot even discover how it was first planned15. He wants to say that He is the Fountain and Source of all goodness; He is in no need of a partner or a counselor16. St. John Chrysostom * He is the Almighty; nothing escapes His hands: “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the balance. Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.” (Is. 40: 15) He is the Almighty. If nations wish to control the world, and reign on it through power and violence, yet they are actually very weak, are seen by God as a drop of water in a bucket, or as small dust on a balance. While God, even in (the weakness and ignorance of the cross), reigns and rules with power and authority over the depths. The earth with all its nations, according to the Savior, is very tiny, carried by Him as dust in a small balance. As to the inhabitants of islands, proud of their military and commercial ships, they are all like a small dust held in the hand of God! God apprehends in Himself all creation, for every thing to be controlled by His power that embraces all17. St. Gregory of Nyssa * His interest in nations: “Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.” (Is. 40 16, 17) 14 Institutions 8:3. العنایة الإلهیة للقدیس یوحنا الذهبي الفم، ترجمة عایدة حنا بسطا، ص 15 .19 16 .9- المرجع السابق، ص 8 17 Against Eunomius. 2:11. A poetic description of the receiving of faith in God by nations that all trees of Lebanon are not sufficient for God’s altar fires, and all its animals are not enough for burnt offerings. There is great need of the wood of the cross that is more exalted above all the trees of Lebanon, and the sacrifice of Christ, incomparable to all animal sacrifices. Through this altar (the cross) and this sacrifice all nations will enjoy salvation. The divine living Lamb has come to the altar, and the crucifiers are offering Him as a Sacrifice! Our Lord was crucified, carried on Himself the trespasses of the universe, and nailed the sin with nails, so as not to reign. He crucified it with Him on Golgotha to prevent it from killing further generations. Mar Jacob El-Serougi * The greatness of the Lord Christ, the Savior and the sacrifice: “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” (Is. 40: 18) Idols are very costly; they need gold, silver or wood that would not rot, beside the cost of a skilled craftsman to make them (Is. 40: 20), beside the probability of being stolen. But our Christ offers free salvation, proclaims His kingdom in the heart, where nobody can steal it from our depths. * “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Is. 40: 22) At that time the earth was believed to be flat, and not a globe, but Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the “circle” of the earth, as a King on His throne, setting His Kingdom in the hearts of men. * “Its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Is. 40: 22) He does not reign out of need for the service of those who are on earth or in heaven, but out of love and fatherly care. The earthly things are, according to Him, like grasshoppers, and heaven like a canopy or tent. The elite are to Him like nothing and judges as false will vanish. Although earth and heaven are like nothing compared to His might, yet in His love, He rules and reigns on the earthly beings and heavenly hosts as a King and Savior. Astrologers were busy doing their calculations for celestial objects, but God knows all their details, as their Creator, “He calls them all by name.” (Is. 40: 26) How then can He not know and care for the salvation of every man? 4. THE SITUATION OF UNBELIEVERS Those who deny faith in God often assume that God is far away from the range of humans. He is in His heavens, while man lives in his world. That is the essence of the contemporary atheistic thought, used by the enemy to strike man, to let him lose his relationship, unity, and fellowship with his Creator; and as it came here in this Book: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God?” (Is. Is. 40: 27) That is what man says amid his spiritual trouble. He counts himself isolated even from God, who does not care for man’s way nor his life. That was probably what the captives said, assuming that God had completely forgotten them; months and years have passed, and it seems that He had broken His covenants with their forefathers. He gives them no thought and doesn’t care for their return. He doesn’t care for their case, had forsaken them in Babylon, and stayed in His heavens with no move to remove their disgrace, and to uplift their humiliation and servitude. The prophet responds to that as follows: a. Continuity of God’s work: God, in His love may delay, but is persistent on His care for mankind, “The everlasting God, the Lord; the Creator of the ends of the earth... Neither faints nor is weary.” (Is. 40: 28) b. God delivers through unexpected ways: “There is no searching of His understanding.” (Is. 40: 28) He saves by unexpected ways. c. Because of our sins, our faith weakens; yet “He gives strength to the weak, an to those who have no might He increases strength.” (Is. 40: 29) That is why we should surrender the matter in His hands; He will support even our faith d. He grants us His Holy Spirit who renews our nature, and lifts us up by the wings of the Spirit, as though to heaven itself, we are lifted without anxiety. “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.” (Is. 40: 31) By the Holy Spirit we become free of servitude and called to freedom! By it we became children of God, through adoption! Above all, if I may say, we are renewed, casting off the hateful burden of sins! He grants us forgiveness of sins! He purifies us from every disgrace! Through his gift, we turn from humans to angels, those who share with us the enjoyment of His grace. Yet, we shall not become like that instantly. What is amazing is that, while as yet in human nature, we behave in life like angels! That is the power of the Spirit!18 St. John Chrysostom
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