Isaiah, Chapter 40, speaks of a new dispensation from the Lord. Because of the sinfulness of their fathers, the Lord abandoned the people to their own devices. As a result, they have lost their homeland and they have been exiled to Babylon. Now, after a generation of suffering, the Lord comes to offer relief.
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.The Lord, for his part, calls the people to renew their Covenant vows, to open a path in their hearts for the Lord to enter and to convert them to his ways. Isaiah expresses this idea with very graphic imagery, depicting a soul that has become arid, like a desert, through the apparent absence of God, and describing what must be done within that soul before God's glory can shine through.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.The mountains and valleys are obstacles to the traveler, God's Spirit, in the arid terrain of the soul. We are to cooperate in leveling the field. The light of the Lord that enters through the core of our being can shine outward, illuminating everything in our lives. Then the glory of God can be revealed. The Church has chosen this passage to represent God's call to us to reform our lives and prepare for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, at Christmas. If we live as Christ would have us live, then the glory of the Lord, seen most fully in the Transfiguration, can be revealed in us. The glow in our hearts will be visible to everyone around us.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm;Zion, the mountain where Jerusalem rests, is God's holy mountain. It is the place where God reveals himself to his people. The herald of glad tidings tells the people that God has returned to dwell among his people. This is comparable to the peace that enters the heart when God returns to claim us as his own. The final part of the Isaiah passage describes God's tender care of his charges.
here is his (i.e., God's) reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.The reward of our loving obedience to God and service to each other is a sense of inner peace, a sense that God cares for us and will lovingly guide us to his kingdom.