Isaiah 40:5, commentary and pictures

The Lord promises that His glory will be openly revealed so that all people together will see it, and this is absolutely certain because He Himself has spoken it. That revealing is prepared when every obstacle is removed, with human pride and self-exaltation brought low and humility and obedience lifted up. Clearing the way means putting away sin and unbelief, confessing and forsaking wrong, and bringing forth the fruits of repentance in a holy and loving life. The promise was met in the coming of Christ as light and salvation to all nations, heralded by John the Baptist calling to repentance, and it will be met fully in His second coming and the restored world when all flesh worships before Him. In the last days the same preparatory work is to be done by God's people through proclaiming Christ's righteousness, receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and sounding the call to repent and be ready.

Context and Certainty

The promise belongs to God's word of comfort to His people and to Jerusalem, declaring pardon and the coming of the Lord after the way is prepared by exalting valleys, lowering mountains and hills, straightening the crooked and smoothing the rough. With that comfort comes the call for Zion to proclaim good tidings, to say behold your God, for He comes with a strong hand to rule and to reward. In that same coming He feeds His flock like a shepherd, gathering the lambs, carrying them, and gently leading the young.

The whole chapter is comfort for true believers who face God's judgments in the latter days, assuring them that the Lord's word will be fulfilled. It encourages them amid calamities affecting the world and the affliction those calamities bring even to Christ's righteous followers. What is promised is universal and open: the Lord's glory will be revealed for all flesh to see together, as the outcome of preparing His way. That outcome follows the messengers' work of comforting God's people and removing obstacles, and the preparation every church must make, and it is certain because the Lord Himself has spoken it.

The promise stands set against the frailty of all flesh as grass, while the word of God stands forever. The chapter teaches people to learn the Lord's will and ways and to build experience on the pure principles of God's Word rather than the world's sophistries. Men must not trust in men or make flesh their arm but must make the Lord alone their trust, knowing He will not be trifled with, and strength is given to His own people for diligent and most earnest work for repentance. The verse is to be studied in connection with Isaiah 42 and Second Peter and with Isaiah 40-42 as a call to reformatory work carried forward in deeply spiritual lines. That study requires hearts prepared to receive God's messages and men of clear understanding worked by the Holy Spirit to lead out in thorough reformation, and the promise belongs to Isaiah's teaching about Christ's work in the world.

It is a word of promise confirming God's sure mercies, grace and glory. It is given to lift discouragement and to call for faith in God, for speaking truth, for gaining precious victories, and for sharing a message of faith, hope, assurance and courage.

Meaning of Preparation

The prophecy pictures the preparation of a clear road for a king, and the exalting of valleys and lowering of mountains and hills illustrates the gospel's work by the Spirit. That work humbles human pride and worldly ambition, and national pride and claims of natural advantage must give way, while humility and self-sacrificing love are lifted up as truly valuable, with purity and obedience exalted in their place. To prepare for Christ's coming the disobedient must recognize their sins and humble themselves before God, and John's message of repentance belonged to this very gospel work.

Preparing the way by filling every valley, bringing low every mountain and hill, making the crooked straight and the rough smooth is the purging of heart and mind and soul. It means putting away wrong practices and bringing low self-esteem and pride, and bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance in sharing with the needy, honest dealing, nonviolence, truthfulness, and contentment. When this repentance and reformation is done in the experience of God's believing people, the glory of the Lord and the salvation of God are revealed so that all flesh sees it together in them.

Sin and unbelief bar the Lord's way so He cannot do what He would do, as Israel's sin with Achan hindered Him and as Christ could do few mighty works because of unbelief. Clearing the way therefore means cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It means calling sin by its right name, putting sin away, hating sin but loving the sinner, and making entire surrender to God, after which heavenly intelligences go to work upon that person and make him a living channel of light.

Acknowledging and confessing sin removes stumbling blocks and clears the King's highway, and listening to His message and removing obstacles prepares the way for the Lord. So cleared, He may enter among His people and bring blessing, and then His salvation is seen and His glory revealed. The verse thus makes known God's willingness to work when people let Him work, for when the King's highway is cleared all flesh together sees God's salvation.

Prophetic Fulfilment in Christ

The promise belongs to the work to be done before the first coming of Christ and also before His second appearing. In preparing a people for that second appearing history is to be repeated, with every valley exalted and every mountain and hill made low and the crooked made straight and the rough places made plain. The open revealing of the Lord's glory for all flesh to see together is part of that preparatory work and message.

John the Baptist did the appointed work of preparing the way by calling God's people to repent and confess sins, to turn from sin to righteousness, to leave false teaching, and to clear away obstacles to the Messiah's work. That clearing was needed so that Christ's words would find lodgment and people could recognize and value His work. The call is like the invitation in the parable of the two sons, where those who at first refuse but afterward repent and obey answer it. John and Christ carried the same message that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, with John preparing the way and Christ following with the announcement of the Lord's coming.

The verse portrays the Messiah's manifestation in splendor for all people to see, a prophetic picture of Christ's coming studied by John as already fulfilled in Christ's birth. It foretells the Messiah's coming as light for humanity, bringing salvation to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth. At that coming the long rule of evil is broken and His peaceful kingdom under heaven is established, when righteousness and praise flourish among the nations.

In Israel's complete restoration in Christ the glory will be revealed for all to see together, heralded by a messenger going in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way. That revealing belongs to the restored world when the saved worship God and all flesh comes to worship before the Lord, made certain because the Lord Himself has spoken it. After a brief season of persecution and sorrow the faithful will put on beautiful garments as peace comes and share in that promised day. The revealing also belongs to God's great day of preparation for His great work in the world, for which God Himself causes the means of rapid traveling to be invented. All men are His property and He works through them to fulfill His will in certain lines even when they refuse Christ as Saviour, entrusting talents and inventive genius so His work may be accomplished in ways not always discerned.

Nature of Revealed Glory

The glory to be revealed for all people to see together is God's salvation made known by removing obstacles through the opening of His Word and the clear proclamation of truth. That revealed glory stands against spiritual darkness and error, and the gospel announcement of salvation through Christ is what makes it known. Christ's kingdom is to be established in the world and God's salvation made known even in the cities of the wilderness, a work entrusted to the disciples after the Jewish leaders failed to do it. This glory is the message of Christ's righteousness, which prepares the way of the Lord and brings the work of the third angel to its close.

God's glory is made openly visible when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church in large measure and strengthens human workers to save thousands, so that Satan does not keep triumphing. That revealing comes only when the vessels are prepared to receive the Spirit, when faith is no longer limited and narrow, and when all act as channels by doing the work appointed to them. The same glory revealed openly so all see it together is seen in grand scenes of nature, in immense rocks rising toward heaven, high hills, streams, and striking views. Beholding such marvelous works lowers human self-estimate, humbles the heart, brings serious and solemn thoughts of God's greatness and majesty, and calls forth praise to Him, and the mouth of the Lord makes it certain.

God's glory shall be revealed in the world with unmistakable clearness and power when every one of His children gains the intelligence and knowledge He desires for them. Then each worker does his best with what he has to roll back the wave of disease and distress sweeping over the world and to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of darkness. When the Lord's glory is revealed, human theories built on reasoning will vanish like dew.

Last-Day Missionary Work

The verse belongs to the decided message to be carried by everyone truly engaged in the Lord's work in the last days, the same work entrusted to John the Baptist to call to repentance because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It calls for preparing the way for a revival of God's work, leveling every valley and mountain, making the crooked straight and the rough plain, with instruction suited to this time. The promise is that the Lord's glory will be revealed for all people to see together, set against the frailty of all flesh as grass while the word of God stands forever, because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

That preparatory work of exalting valleys, bringing low mountains and hills, straightening crooked places and smoothing rough places to make a highway for God is the pattern and culmination of the great missionary work now required of churches claiming to believe present truth for the last days. It rests especially on those carrying responsibility in school and sanitarium enterprises for educating and training youth for God's work, and on all holding positions of trust, showing their need of constantly seeking the Lord to accomplish it. The universal revelation of God's glory to all flesh together is made certain because God Himself has spoken it.

At the time when satanic agencies seem to be triumphing, God's people for these last days must be wide awake so the enemy gains no advantage to deceive if possible the elect. They are to let their light shine not only to those in the house but to those outside, and to lift the voice in no uncertain tones in the message of repentance and the nearness of heaven's kingdom. Difficulties and opposing elements will always be found in the way of the Lord's work, but in spite of them believers are to let the true light shine forth with power.

The call to prepare the way of the Lord and make a highway for God in the desert is present work done by waiting and watching and praying. The preparation happens by carrying the warning message to all peoples, kindreds, tongues, and nations, with each person acting their part and standing in their lot and place as a consecrated channel through whom God prepares people to stand in the last great day. Doing this requires being vigilant and keeping the oil of grace in vessels with lamps. Those who need the Spirit's guidance must seek its deep moving so they give the trumpet a certain sound, presenting truth in its power as it is in Jesus with the mind stayed on God and imbued with His Spirit. They are to present the affirmative of truth and stand on the platform of eternal truth without accusing and without saying anything to arouse enmity and strife, as illustrated by the call in Battle Creek.

Preparation includes earnestly sounding the warning of Christ's coming and clearing the King's highway so the light God has sent can reach His people. That means no longer denying and hedging up the way against it, no longer opposing it to the end, and no longer tampering with it. It means accepting the testimony and message given from its very commencement instead of turning to feelings, ideas, and impulses, working together with God, and not letting the grace of God come in vain by trifling with the Spirit of God.

Personal Clearing of Way

Clearing the King's highway is putting away every cherished sin and being converted in order to get ready for the judgment that stands on the borders of the eternal world. The glory and help of the Lord are revealed when His people do that clearing work. When it is done, God helps His people and gives the smile of Jesus.

The verse is to be read and prayed over to put away unbelief and to receive daily counsel from God. It is to be so used to appreciate the light of the Word, to remove commercialism woven into religious experience, and to receive the refining influence of the Holy Spirit. That clearing comes by a revival of faith in which each person does his best and sets an example for others. After that work is done, everything is to be placed in God's hands, trusting His promises and asking Him to give evidence of His working, with assurance that He will hear and answer.