Introduction
Earlier this month (September 2025) the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to support a two-state solution for Israel urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to comply, however, he is adamant and vehement not to divide up God’s real-estate given to the Jewish people through the Patriarch Abraham and to his decedents through the lineage of Isaac and Jacob, not through Ishmael and Esau, the fathers of the Arab nations. The Land of Israel from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River was to be for the Jewish people “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 15:17-19; 17:7-8). The name Israel was bestowed by God personally upon the Jewish people through the Patriarch Jacob (Genesis 32:24-30). As for the name ‘Palestine’ it was an invention by the Romans. In fact there has never been a country or state called ‘Palestine.’
The UN’s conditions for their two-state solution include establishing two so called independent states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in ‘peace and security’ within recognized borders, based on pre-1967 lines. Additionally, it called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the establishment of a so called ‘viable’ Palestinian state that is demilitarized and economically sustainable. However, the whole proposal especially Israel going back to its pre-1967 borders leaves Israel indefensible.
While the majority of the political leaders at the U.N. meeting continue to ‘bash’ Israel and call for one sanction after another against Israel, not one nation, apart from the United States, has even bothered to send military aid to help Israel defeat Hamas, who started the war with Israel. For the U.N. leaders to think that Hamas will just lay down their arms and surrender their forces and the hostages clearly demonstrates the U.N’s ignorance of the real situation in Gaza and of the agenda of Islam globally. This is an ignorance promoted for the most part by the mainstream anti-Semitic left-wing global media that has a bias towards Israel and are pro-Palestinian.
Just in passing what have the U.N. or the EU or the western democracies done about the 7,087 Christians that Islamic Jihadists massacred across Nigeria in the first 220 days of 2025 or from January 1 to August 10, during which no fewer than 7,800 others were violently seized and abducted for being Christians? What about the atrocities being perpetrated against Christians in Iran, Pakistan, China, Russia and in many Islamic nations today including what happens in Saudi Arabia? What about the slaughter of the Christian and Druze communities in Syria by Islam?
When will the western political leaders wake up! When will they get their heads out of the sand and realise the reality that you cannot do deals with Islam! Look at what is happening in France, Germany, Italy, and Great Britain and spreading to other western democracies as Muslims through uncontrolled migration are infiltrating every level of society and rioting in European cities, in Great Britain and in Canada. The Islamic Trojan Horse is well entrenched in Europe and in the western democracies.
Even President Trump may not fully realise the deceptive and subversive nature of Islam. The only political leader who really knows what is going down with Islamic malevolency and its threat to global democracy is Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is on the front line fighting a war with implacable satanically driven enemies that not only wants to destroy Israel and Christendom but conquer the nations of the world for Islam, the ultimate goal of the Muslim Brotherhood today.
As for Judea and Samaria (called the West bank), the Biblical heartland of Israel, to have this as part of a so called ‘Palestinian’ state would inevitably see more atrocities as we saw on October 7, 2023 with the bloody massacre and butchery of Israelis by demonically controlled Hamas terrorists accompanied by many Gazan Arab citizens who shared in the violence, the rapes, the murders and the killing of babies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that one leader in the Middle-East standing up to those who would divide up God’s real estate and bring disaster to Israel and to western democracy.
The Arab nations that are calling for the two-state solution are Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Morocco. While the Islamic world with its Sunni/Shiite divide fights each other, when it comes to fighting a common enemy they will join forces. No Arab nation is really concerned about the welfare of Israel or the Gazan Arabs for that matter if the truth be known.
Those nations that have decided to establish this two-state solution from hell are going to find that what Islam is doing to Israel is coming back to their own countries and it has already started. The Western countries that voted in favour of the two-state solution at the UN earlier this month, included France, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Andorra, Belgium, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The leaders of these nations are bringing down God’s judgement upon their own heads and that of the nations over which they govern. It does not pay to mess with Israel! The Day of the LORD is coming for all nations!
As Obadiah the prophet declares; “For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head” (Obadiah 1:15). As the prophet Joel declares; “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). As Isaiah declares; “Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty” (Isaiah 13:6). And again he declares; “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion” (Isaiah 34:8).
Added to these countries attending the U.N. meeting voting against Israel you also have the League of Arab States, also known as the Arab League, currently with 22 member countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It was founded in 1945 with seven original members: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. These are also antagonistic to Israel.
When you look at the panoramic view of these matters it is clear that the majority of the nations of the world are turning against Israel which has been foretold in the Word of God. The armies of all the nations will come against Israel and be destroyed by the LORD. He will bring these armies down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley where God judges, and they will go into the winepress of His wrath and their souls plummet into the pit of hell! (Joel 3:1-3, 12-16) (Ezekiel 38:1-6, 21-23; 39:1-6) (Zechariah 12:1-9; 14:1-5) (Ezekiel 32:18-32) (Isaiah 63:1-6) (Revelation 19:11-21).
Israel as a nation was reborn in a day (Isaiah 66:7-9). Regardless of the nations raging against the Jews the LORD is bringing Jews from the nations back to Israel. This is going to greatly increase as we see Anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head in the nations especially within the western democracies as we saw in the early 30’s with the rise of Nazi despotism with its Jew hating agenda. It happening all over again and the stakes are much higher today.
God is arranging for the Jewish people to have an encounter with the Messiah our Lord Jesus when He returns at His Second Coming. God is bringing the armies of the nations against Israel, not to destroy His covenant people, but to enable them to receive the salvation only possible through repentance and faith in the Messiah our Lord Jesus (Zechariah 12:10-13:1).
Once the faithful remnant in Israel has been saved and the armies of the nations destroyed, the LORD will deal ruthlessly with the survivors of those nations that afflicted Israel (Matthew 25:31-46).
Today Anti-Semitism is not only widespread and becoming wider within the Gentile nations; it is spreading like gangrene throughout Christendom. Replacement Theology is rampant as multitudes of ministers in their pulpits no longer even defend Israel or teach their congregations about God’s end-time prophetic purposes for Israel.
One of the leading organizations today promoting this is the New Apostolic Movement, rebadged as the “International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership” which is rife in Israel spreading the kingdom dominion doctrine which in reality is another form of replacement theology leading multitudes of naive and deceived Christians into thinking that Christendom is going to ‘Christianise’ the nations and present them to the Messiah our Lord Jesus on His return. According to God’s Word the last thing happening before the Messiah’s return will be the Time of Great Tribulation!
See “Kingdom Dominion Now” on this website.
Now Israel has suffered more down through history than any other nation because of their disobedience to God and through violating His commandments and because the nation by and large rejected the Messiah, the only one who save them from an eternal hell in the lake of fire. Israel by and large still remain aliens and strangers to their own covenants of promise and they have a hardness of heart towards the LORD as a nation, however, it is a partial hardness only, and when the nation encounters the Messiah all Israel be saved, the hardness of heart gone, and the veil over their eyes removed! For Israel it will be life from the dead! (Romans 11:15, 25-29).
As New Covenant believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus, who, as members of the Body of Messiah, have been spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel we have a duty towards Israel and the Jewish people. Not all of us can go to Israel, however there are many Jews living where we live and they need to hear that their Passover Lamb has been sacrificed and their sins removed and that through repentance and faith in Messiah and in His shed blood that has completely atoned for their sin, they can be reconciled to the God of our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob forever! With these things in view let’s now look at our text…
Isaiah 40: 1-11 Exposition:
(Vs. 1) “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.”
The time has come when Israel is to face its darkest hour and we are told that there will be a remnant that will survive. Many in Israel will continue to reject the Messiah and His salvation and the prophet Zechariah tells us that two thirds will perish in the land, and that a third will be spiritually purified, saved and rescued. This darkest hour will be so horrific that it is hard to even mention or write about. Personally I do not want to mention this terrible time that is coming to Israel, especially in light of the terrible suffering of the Jewish people in the Holocaust, however, I must be true to the Word of God. If we ever live in a time when Jews worldwide in every nation need to be comforted with the gospel of the Kingdom it is this time in which we live.
As Zechariah writes; “It will come about in all the land (Israel),”Declares the LORD, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (Zechariah 13:8-9). This will be called the Time of Jacob’s Trouble but the nation will be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:1-10).
The way to comfort Jewish people is to share with them the gospel of the kingdom when we have the opportunity to do so. God is telling Gentile New Covenant believers to comfort unsaved Jews. Yes they need to hear upon their end-time restoration as a nation, and that is good news for them to receive, however the best news they can ever have is in the next part of our text.
(Vs.2) “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD ‘s hand double for all her sins.”
In comforting Jewish people there needs to be a tenderness shown towards them and sharing with them why the nation has suffered as it has, and that their hard service of seeking a works based righteousness has not spared them from their rejection of the only one who can save them from their sins and He is a Jew, not a Gentile! Salvation is from the Jews and He is Israel’s Messiah and rightful King and the one who in His own body bore the full weight and penalty for our sins (Isaiah 53:5-6). Every unsaved Jew needs to know that at the cross the Messiah paid the penalty for their sin and for all men and women, and for our violation of God’s laws and commandments given in Torah.
As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Messiah for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Messiah Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one” (Romans 3:19-30).
A Jew who comes to a saving faith in Messiah does not cease to be Jewish or lose their identification with Israel. On the contrary they discover what it really means to be Jewish. They experience the circumcision of the heart where the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell in them and writes God’s law upon the tablet of their hearts (Romans 2: 28-29).
While God is no respecter of persons and does not show partiality, Jewish evangelism is at the top of His list. As Rabbi the apostle Paul also writes; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Now the next portion of our text focuses on John the Baptist
(Vs.3) A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”
The New Testament identifies this part of our text with John the Baptist (John 1:23). John was the forerunner of the Messiah and he like the Hebrew prophets before Him preached repentance and the need to seek one’s life to be straightened out and delivered from the power and grip of sin. He urged people to turn away from their sins because the kingdom of heaven was at hand” (Matthew 3:2). In other words the Messiah was about to be revealed to Israel who would die for their sins.
John also baptized those who confessed their sins in the Jordan River, emphasizing the need for a changed life in preparation for the coming Messiah. Now as we read on we see that the scripture uses metaphors, taking physical things and bringing out the deeper spiritual meaning they imply.
(Vs.4) “Every valley shall be raised up,”
The valley speaks of both Jews and Gentiles who are in the valley of despair, despondency and helplessness because of their sins, who have no hope for eternity being those who know their spiritual poverty and want to be freed from its grip in their lives. Theirs is the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3). These are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They will be filled up with God’s righteousness (Matthew 5:6). It is these that will be lifted out of the mire of sin and out from the valley of the shadow of death to be raised up to sit in heavenly realms with the Messiah Jesus whose blood has fully and forever atoned for and redeemed them from their sins (Ephesians 1:7). And then we read…
“…every mountain and hill made low;”
These are the proud in Israel and the Gentile nations, the lofty and high minded, the ruthless, the ambitious that labour for prominence, recognition and power in this world, who despise the things of God and who are caught in the grip of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the carnal appetites of the flesh, and for the material possessions that pander and promote the pride of life. These will be brought low, if not in this life, they will be brought low when facing the judge after they leave this life to answer for their sins in eternity, for it is appointed once for man to die and after that to face eternal judgement (Hebrews 9:27). And then we read…
“…the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.”
These are those who are doing it tough in this life, the poor, the disadvantaged, the marginalised, the misfits in society, those who are desperately in need of love, acceptance and forgiveness, who have no hope in this world or for the world to come. These are those the Lord Jesus will make rich with treasure in heaven, with the certain knowledge that no matter how they have lived in the past that He the Messiah can cleanse them from all sin and cast their sins into the depths of the sea and remember their iniquities no more, having repented before God and availed themselves of the Messiah’s atoning, redeeming and cleansing blood! Their former rugged lifestyle of sin from God’s perspective will have been done away with and in messiah they will have become brand new creations spiritually deep down on the inside and that all of this being the work of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). And then we read…
(Vs.5) “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In the New Testament we are told that the glory of God was fully revealed in the person of God the Son, the Messiah our Lord Jesus. As we read; “The Word became flesh and made His Tabernacle among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). As we also read; “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:19).
And again we read; “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). Furthermore we read; “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Messiah” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
When The Messiah our Lord Jesus tabernacled on earth as the Son of God being fully God and fully man in the same person, many saw the glory of God radiating out of the very centre of the Lord Jesus. He was totally transparent and like His Father in heaven was full of light and without any spiritual darkness in Him at all, being the sinless Son of God and equal with Him in nature and co-existing with Him in eternity before anything existed.
The time is coming when the whole world will see the glory of God in the face of his Son the Messiah our Lord Jesus when He comes back again. His glory and brilliance will be so powerful that the unsaved from every walk of life will seek to hide from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the day of their wrath has come and who can stand (Revelation 6:12-16). As the apostle John writes; “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” (Revelation 1: 7). Now let’s continue…
(Vs.6-8) “A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men 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 the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.”
One thing we all need to remember is that unsaved men and women in this world who chase after wealth, fame and fortune, who seek to feed the sinful carnal appetites, passions and sinful self-centred ambitions, and who seek to acquire wealth are here today and gone tomorrow.
The Lord Jesus spoke about a successful businessman who thought his life consisted of what he possessed. He was so wealthy and had so much that he decided to tear down his existing buildings and to rebuild them with a much bigger capacity for the ever increasing accumulation of his wealth. He said to himself that he had plenty of good things, having things good in this world laid up for many years, that he wanted to take life easy, to drink and to be merry, but God said to Him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself, but is not rich towards God (Luke 12:16-21).
We may accumulate wealth in this life, but when we die we leave it all behind! Nothing is permanent in this life and all people are like the flowers and the grass, they are here today but fade away very quickly. The only permanent and eternal thing in this world is the Word of God which cannot change but will say the same thing tomorrow as it does today.
As the Lord Jesus declared; “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). As the psalmist writes; “For ever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). Our faith is based on the solid foundation of the unchanging eternal Word of the Living Triune God! As the apostle John writes in His first letter; “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). And then we read…
(Vs.9) “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
God Himself has Jerusalem always on His heart and engraved on the palms of his hands. As He says through the prophet Isaiah; “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me” (Isaiah 49:15-16).
In ancient Jewish culture, it was common for women to engrave or inscribe names or symbols on their hands as a way to remember their children, reflecting a deep emotional connection. This practice symbolized the importance of family and the bond between mothers and their children. Even when Israel as a nation by and large were spiritually backslidden the God of Israel sent His one and only begotten Son into this world to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
We see this reflected in what the Lord Jesus said when sitting on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Look, your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38).
He said these words after pronouncing seven woes upon the city of Jerusalem because of the spiritual bankruptcy and hypocrisy of Israel’s religious hierarchy that were leading God’s people astray and who would eventually incite the people to call for the His crucifixion.
The Messiah our Lord Jesus had brought good tidings to God’s people. Zion in the Bible represents the dwelling place of God. It is depicted as a sacred space where God resides among His people (Psalm 132:13-14). The prophets, the Lord Jesus and the apostles all brought good tidings to the people of God. The gospel of the kingdom was first preached to Israel and then spread to the Gentile nations which was always God’s eternal plan for the nations (Amos 9:11-12) (Acts 15:1-21).
More so it is good news for the people of Israel which they desperately need to hear today with anti-Semitism spreading through the nations of the world and the approaching time of Trouble for Jacob being the time of Great Tribulation.
Today because of the urgency of the hour the Jewish people in Jerusalem and Judah need to hear the good tidings of the gospel of the kingdom. The way to say “here is your God” to the Jewish people is to share with them that their Messiah has already come and that His name is Yeshua and that He has paid for their sins with his own blood in order that God’s goodness might lead them to repentance toward God and of faith towards our Lord Jesus Messiah (Romans 2:4) (Acts 20:21). This message will bring comfort when spoken to unsaved Jews with tenderness empowered by the Holy Spirit.
See “Tenderness in the Wilderness” on this website
In light of the Holocaust and the growing anti-Semitism spreading on a global scale, the message of Israel’s spiritual restoration and their ultimate and complete national restoration is vital to their understanding of God’s eternal and prophetic purposes for Israel at the end of this present age. And then we read…
(Vs.10-11) “See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and His arm rules for Him. See, His reward is with Him, and his recompense accompanies Him. “He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.”
God is a sovereign God who rules the whole universe, who inhabits eternity, and the one who possesses wisdom and power, who changes times and seasons, who sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:19-21). He is coming again to earth in the person of His glorified Son the Messiah our Lord Jesus. He is God’s right arm, and the one God the Father has ordained from eternity to rule the nations with a sceptre of iron and with the government of the nations resting upon His shoulders in the age to come (Isaiah 9:6-7).
When He comes back He will come with His reward for all who have faithfully served Him down here in this life, who are still alive on earth, and who will inherit the Kingdom God the Father has prepared for them from eternity. He will also come with His recompense to compensate His people who have been afflicted by the Gentile nations. His people in this context are the people of Jerusalem and Judah because He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who has won the victory over Satan, over sin, over the hordes of hell and death and the grave (Revelation 5:5).
When the Messiah sits on David’s throne at Jerusalem after destroying all opposition to the establishment of His Messianic reign on earth, His redeemed people will come to Him as we read in the prophet Isaiah; “So the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 51:11).
In that day He will tend His flock like a shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to His heart; the one who gently leads those that have young. For those He has redeemed in Israel He will call by name and lead them as they follow His commands because they are the sheep of His pasture, the redeemed of the LORD and the inheritors of the Land of Israel and possess the nations! In that day Israel will be “the head and not the tail”, they “will possess their possession” and “possess the gates of their enemies” (Deuteronomy 28:13) (Obadiah 1:17) (Genesis 22:17).
As we read in the prophet Isaiah; “The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains (kingdoms), And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob (The Millennial Temple at Jerusalem); That He (the Messiah) may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law (Torah) will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And He (the Messiah) will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:1-5).
In that day all Israel will be comforted by God the Father who will speak to them through God the Son with great tenderness as the good Shepherd who has laid down His life for His sheep! Amen!
