Friday, December 6, 2024  //  Day 6

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”. —Isaiah 40:1

Hundreds of years after the prophet Isaiah first shared today’s passage with an oppressed Israel, John the Baptist would proclaim this same good news of comfort, peace, and forgiveness. He would do so as a voice in the wilderness, crying out to a once again oppressed people in need of hope.

In the time of both Isaiah and of John, God’s people had lost their way. While Isaiah speaks predictively to a nation in exile as a result of their own sin, John cries out to a hard-hearted people dwelling beneath their Roman rulers. Both audiences find themselves in dire need of comfort and grace, sick with sin and longing for redemption.

Of course, we know that such circumstances aren’t necessarily unique. Because of our own sin, all of humanity longs for the comfort that Christ alone can give. In a general sense, Jesus’ coming offers divine comfort to everyone who responds in faith to the gospel, as He redeems His people and secures their eternity.

However, more specifically, the comfort of Christ extends presently to each of us as individuals with unique troubles, battles, and burdens. In other words, the comfort of verse 1 is not simply a comfort that comes from knowing that one’s eternity is secure – it is a comfort that meet us in the mud of life and is sensitive to the aching of our hearts.

What a beautiful thing it is to hear the word “comfort” spoken over us from the lips of our God. And what a joy it is to know that our Savior and King offers us grace each day to calm our troubled, anxious hearts.

This Advent season, let us remind ourselves of the closeness of Christ and the comfort He freely gives to us as His children. Let us resist the temptation to neglect His nearness and care. And let us rejoice in response to the tender voice of God: