- This is covenant language. ‘My people’ refers to the covenant people of the Lord. He promises that His covenant people will be comforted.
2. God corrects, but He also comforts. God allows consequences, but He also offers forgiveness. God permits periods of struggle, but He promises restoration. And ultimately, He comes to His people. There is also something significant about the order of the message. Jerusalem is not told to manufacture its own comfort. Someone else is sent to speak comfort to her. That can be spiritually reassuring. Sometimes, after failure or prolonged difficulty, we may find it difficult to believe that God could still have a message of hope for us. Isaiah’s message is that God Himself takes the initiative in offering that hope.
3. ‘What is the voice crying in the wilderness to “prepare … the way of the Lord”?
These verses have multiple fulfillments. John the Baptist applied this passage to himself. He called for Israel to prepare for redemption through Jesus Christ by entering the covenant of baptism. Additionally, Saints in this dispensation are sent as messengers to all of Heavenly Father’s children, crying, “Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.”’ (Scripture Helps, Come, Follow Me.’)
4. Ask yourself – “What does the Lord need to raise, lower, straighten or smooth in my life so that I can better receive Him?” Instead of seeing the mountains and valleys merely as things God does to the world, we can see them as things He lovingly works on within us and around us as He prepares us for His presence.
5.’Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!’ ’ (New Living Translation)
6. All human things are transitory.
7. ‘When the hot winds, which God sends, blow in spring-time, the flowers fade; when a destroying breath from him (see Isaiah 30:33) passes over the generations of men, they perish.’ (Pulpit Commentary)
8. God’s promises shall stand firm.
9. ‘It was not uncommon in ancient times, when a multitude were to be addressed, or a proclamation to be made, for the crier to go into a mountain, where he could be seen and heard. …The sense is, that the messengers of the joyful news to Zion were to make themselves distinctly heard by all the inhabitants of the city, and of the land.’ (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible)
10. This is covenant language. There is no need to fear for God will strengthen us and uphold us.
11.’ “The Good Shepherd lovingly cares for all sheep of His fold, and we are His true undershepherds. Our privilege is to bear His love and to add our own love to friends and neighbors—feeding, tending, and nurturing them—as the Savior would have us do.”’ (Elder Russell M Nelson, Ensign, August 1994)
12. ‘Verse 12 is Isaiah’s poetic way of saying that God knows the world so intimately that He knows even the measure of the waters of the ocean and the dust of the earth.’ (Institute Old Testament Manual.)
13. Is there anything that man can teach God?
14. ‘Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does He need instruction about what is good or what is best?’ (New Living Translation)
15. ‘As the drop of a bucket is as nothing when compared with the waters of the immense ocean, so all the nations of the world are as nothing when compared with God.’ (Benson Commentary)
16. Even the greatest resources available to humanity would not be enough to adequately honour the greatness of God.
17. The greatness of nations is nothing to God.
18. Which of the false idols can be compared to the Almighty God?
19. An idol might look impressive. It could be beautifully crafted and covered with valuable gold. Its appearance might suggest power, wealth and importance. But Isaiah’s point is that appearance doesn’t create reality. A thing can look magnificent and still be completely powerless.
20. A poor person is so obsessed with his idols that he will one way or another find money to buy the materials and pay a craftsman to make a wooden idol cannot move.
21. ‘Have you never heard or understood? Are you deaf to the words of God – the words He gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?’ (New Living Translation)
22. ‘This is designed to show that the inhabitants of the earth, numerous and mighty as they are, are as nothing compared with God. The idea is that God is so exalted, that, as he looks down from that elevated station, all the inhabitants of the world appear to him as locusts – a busy, agitated, moving, impatient multitude, spread over the vast circle of the earth beneath him.’ (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible)
23. Isaiah has just said in verse 22 that God sits “upon the circle of the earth” and that its inhabitants are like grasshoppers in comparison with Him. Now he applies that thought specifically to human rulers. Kings, princes and rulers may appear extraordinarily powerful from a human perspective. They control armies, laws, wealth and institutions. But Isaiah says that God can bring even the most powerful rulers “to nothing.” Their authority is ultimately temporary.
24. ‘They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and their work withers. The wind carries them off like straw.’ (New Living Translation)
25. Who can compare to God?
26. ‘One summer while traveling in a remote area, our family spent an evening sleeping outdoors under a cloudless sky. Clearly visible above us was the magnificent Milky Way, filled with innumerable stars and the occasional shooting star. While we marveled at the majesty of God’s creation, we felt a reverent connection to Him.’ (Elder Benjamin M Z Tai, General Conference, April 2025)
27. ‘O Israel, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case?’ (New Living Translation)
28. God does not get fatigued or tired and is infinitely wise.
29. ‘Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith. I promise that you can experience for yourself that Jesus Christ “giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”24[ Isaiah 40:29] Few things will accelerate your spiritual momentum more than realizing the Lord is helping you to move a mountain in your life.’ (President Russell M Nelson, General Conference, April 2028)
30. ‘Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up.’ (New Living Translation)
31. ‘We will feel of His Spirit and experience joy even in our most trying moments. We will find strength to trust in Him and His promises of a better tomorrow.’ (Elder Clement M Matswagothata, General Conference, April 2026)
