Commentary - Isaiah 40:9-11

Bird's-eye view

Following the glorious overture of comfort in the opening verses, Isaiah 40:9-11 provides the content of that comfort. This is the substance of the good news that the church is commissioned to shout from the mountaintops. The message is simple and profound: "Behold your God!" This is not a message about a distant, abstract deity, but about the imminent arrival of the covenant Lord, Yahweh Himself. He comes in two distinct but inseparable modes. First, He comes as a conquering King, with a strong arm to rule and to execute judgment and salvation. His reward and recompense are with Him, meaning His arrival brings a decisive reordering of all things. Second, this same mighty Ruler is a gentle Shepherd. The arm that rules for Him is the same arm that gathers His lambs. This passage is a magnificent portrait of Jesus Christ, the God-man who is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. It is a foundational text for the gospel, commanding its proclamation and defining its central character: our God who is both mighty King and tender Shepherd.

The imperative is given to Zion, to Jerusalem, who is personified as the bearer of this good news. The former recipient of bad news, judgment, is now transformed into the herald of salvation. This is the mission of the Church. We are to get up on the high mountain, a place of public visibility, and declare without fear what we have seen. And what we have seen is our God, in the person of Jesus, coming to rule and to save.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

This passage sits at a crucial turning point in the book of Isaiah. The first 39 chapters are largely concerned with the coming judgment upon Judah and the surrounding nations, culminating in the announcement of the Babylonian exile. Chapter 40 marks a dramatic shift in tone and content. It opens with the thunderous declaration, "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." The time of warfare is ended, the iniquity is pardoned. The rest of the book, from this point forward, is a sustained unfolding of the good news of God's redemption. Verses 3-8 announce the preparation for the Lord's coming, the leveling of mountains and raising of valleys for the King's highway. Our text, verses 9-11, then answers the question: what is the message that this herald is to proclaim? It is the message of God's personal, powerful, and pastoral arrival. This section sets the stage for the great Servant Songs and the prophecies of the New Creation that will follow. It is the beginning of the gospel according to Isaiah.

Key Issues

The Mountain-Top Gospel

The Christian faith is not a private, quiet affair to be cultivated in a secluded corner. It is a public announcement, a proclamation to be shouted. Isaiah here commands Zion to get up on a high mountain. Why? Because a message this good and this important cannot be whispered in the valleys. A high mountain is a broadcast tower. It is a place from which a voice can carry for miles. The gospel is news, and news is meant to be told. It is not good advice; it is good news. It is not a suggestion; it is a declaration.

And the content of this news is not a set of principles or a moral improvement program. The content is a person: "Behold your God!" The entire Christian faith is wrapped up in this. Look! See! Here He is! This is what the apostles did. They were witnesses. They did not say, "We have a compelling new philosophy." They said, "We have seen the Lord." The task of the church in every generation is the same. We are to point to Jesus Christ and say, "Behold your God!" He is the answer to every question, the fulfillment of every longing, the end of all our striving. The central task of all preaching, all evangelism, all discipleship is to lift Him up, so that the cities of Judah, and all the cities of the world, might see Him for who He is.

Verse by Verse Commentary

9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Raise up your voice powerfully, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Raise it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

The command is given to Zion, to Jerusalem, the very center of God's covenant people. She who was the object of judgment is now made the agent of proclamation. This is the story of the church. We who have received the good news are now tasked with bearing the good news. The posture is one of elevation and publicity, "on a high mountain." The manner is one of strength and confidence, "powerfully... do not fear." Why should the herald not fear? Because the message is true, and the King who sends her is all-powerful. Fear is the great silencer of Christian witness. Fear of man, fear of ridicule, fear of failure. The antidote to this fear is the substance of the message itself. When you are about to announce the arrival of the omnipotent God, there is nothing left to be afraid of. And the message is distilled into three perfect words: "Behold your God!" This is the gospel in miniature. It is a summons to look away from ourselves, our sins, our circumstances, and to fix our gaze upon the living God who has come to us.

10 Behold, Lord Yahweh will come with strength, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him.

The exclamation "Behold" is repeated, demanding our attention. This is what you are to see when you look. First, you see His strength. Lord Yahweh, the sovereign covenant-keeper, is not coming in weakness. He comes with strength. His arm, a common biblical metaphor for His power in action, is a ruling arm. This is the arrival of a king who means to take charge. This is fulfilled in Christ's first coming, where He bound the strong man and plundered his house, triumphing over sin, death, and the devil. It will be consummated at His second coming, when every knee will bow. Then we are told that His reward and recompense are with Him. This is the language of a returning conqueror who brings spoils to distribute. For His people, the reward is salvation, grace, eternal life. For His enemies, the recompense is judgment. His coming is never neutral. It always divides, it always sorts, it always brings things to their appointed end. He comes to set everything right, and that involves both salvation for those who are His and judgment for those who persist in rebellion.

11 Like a shepherd He will shepherd His flock; In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

Here is the great paradox and the profound beauty of the gospel. The same arm that rules with strength is the arm that gathers the lambs. The mighty King is a tender Shepherd. This is not a contradiction; it is a revelation of the heart of God. His strength is not the brute force of a tyrant; it is the protective power of a loving shepherd. Notice the intimacy of the language. He doesn't drive the flock from behind with dogs; He leads them. He gathers the most vulnerable, the lambs, into His own arms and carries them in His bosom, close to His heart. He shows particular care for the nursing ewes, those with young, who are easily distressed and cannot be rushed. This is a picture of the Lord Jesus's personal, attentive, and gentle care for His people. He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust. He deals with us not according to our strength, but according to our weakness. The same God who commands galaxies is the God who stoops to carry a lamb. This is the God we are to behold, and this is the God we are to proclaim.

Application

This passage presents us with a two-fold application that strikes at the heart of Christian living. First, we have a commission. Like Zion, the church is the designated bearer of good news. This is not an optional elective for the particularly zealous; it is our fundamental identity. And the command is to be bold. We are to find the highest mountain in our cultural landscape, whether it is the dinner table, the workplace, the internet, or the public square, and lift up our voice. We are not to be belligerent, but we are certainly not to be timid. We must speak powerfully, without fear, because our message is not about us. It is a command for the world to "Behold your God!" We must constantly ask ourselves if our lives and our words are functioning as a clear signpost pointing to Christ, or as a hedge obscuring the view.

Second, we have a comfort. The God we proclaim is the God who cares for us. He is the strong King who rules all things for our good, and He is the tender Shepherd who carries us when we are weak. In our moments of strength, we can trust His sovereign rule. In our moments of weakness, frailty, and exhaustion, when we feel like a vulnerable lamb or a nursing ewe, we can trust in His gentle care. He will not break a bruised reed. The Christian life is one of learning to trust both His mighty right arm that rules the cosmos and His gentle arm that gathers us to His heart. We must behold this God ourselves, daily, before we can ever effectively call others to behold Him.