Daily Bible Reading - December 4, 2017

Today's Reading:

Ephesians 2

Ezekiel 6-7

Isaiah 40

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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading   

Today, our reading plan takes us out of the Psalms and into Isaiah. Having read part of Isaiah before, earlier this year, we will re-enter this book at chapter 40. Isaiah 40 contains the Elijah Message - the message of the one who prepares the way for Messiah. This was the Message of John the Baptist, who was Messiah's forerunner in the past (Matthew 3:1-4). And it is the message and work of the final Elijah team (which is all of Yahweh's people) preparing for His Second Coming as well.

Bearing this in mind, let's look at the Elijah Message and Ministry, found in Isaiah 40:

Isaiah 40:3-5 - "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the Mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it."

Point-by-point, we will examine the meaning in this important Passage. For it contains the Work and Calling which Yahweh has for His people in the Last Days.

1. Prepare the Way of Yahweh

Isaiah 40:3-5 - "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the Mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it."

Prepare = Strong's Concordance #6437 – it is translated from the Hebrew word panah – which means: “prepare, to turn, dawning, turn back…”

The work of John was like Elijah. The people had left the pure truth of Torah. They were apostatizing. The prophets’ work was to turn the people back to the ways of God – Torah – to bring on a dawning of a new day of godly worship. 

2. Make Straight in the Desert a Highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3-5 - "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the Mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it."

The desert, in this Scripture, isn't a place, it's a spiritual condition. To be in a "desert" is to be spiritually dry and void of the blessings of Yahweh, as it says in Psalms 28:4-5:

Psalm 28:4-5 “Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors… render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of Yahweh… He shall destroy them, and not build them up.”

When people are in apostasy, they cannot experience the rich blessings which make them like trees planted by rivers of water (Psalm 1:1-3). 

The Elijah Message work is to prayerfully bring the people to repentance, preparing them to receive Yahweh's blessings upon their lives. In a spiritual sense, this turns their soul-desert into a "well-watered garden".

3. Every Valley shall be Exalted... Every Mountain... made Low... Crooked... Straight... and the Rough Places Plain

Isaiah 40:3-5 - "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the Mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it."

To understand the meaning of this highlighted portion, we need to look up the keywords in the Strong's Concordance. Having done this, keywords and their meanings are shown below:

Valley = "a split", or "a breach"

In Psalm 106:23, we find that Moses stood "in the breach" for the rebellious Children of Israel. Through His intercession, Yah's righteous Wrath was turned away from destroying Israel. From this context, we may plainly see that the "breach" which Isaiah called a "valley" is the separation between sinful, rebellious mankind and our righteous and holy Yahweh. While the breach remains, we face certain destruction.

Exalted = "magnified, yielded, lifted away, forgiven, pardoned"
Mountain = "promotion" (what was exalted) 
Low = "humiliated, abased, humbled"

Crooked = “fraudulent, deceitful, polluted”

–To be fraudulent – “breaking a 

contract/covenant by immoral and deceptive means”

Straight = “made plain, proclaim justice/uprightness”

Rough = “ties, bindings”

Plain = “broken, split, rend, cleave, make a breach, cut 

out”

Taking all these meanings and combining them in order, 

yields the following message:

The separation from a 

holy God (the breach) caused by willful

sin was to be pardoned and lifted away

 (exalted)

All the apostasy and spiritual pollution 

that had been exonerated (promoted mountain)

would be revealed in its true ugly nature 

(made low).

Where our covenant to be holy had been

broken (crooked), this wickedness

would be clearly proclaimed (made straight).

Every demonic stronghold and tie upon the soul

(rough place)

was to be unmasked and broken

and utterly cut down! (made plain)

In the deepest sense, Christians need not wonder what 

their Calling is in Him. The Elijah Message and Work, 

describe in Isaiah 40 and explained above, is our Calling. 

It's quite a job description! It is one which none of us can

accomplish - on our own. But in Him it is possible to 

fulfill our Calling and Purpose - just as John the Baptist

did as the forerunner of Messiah the first time around.