The Prophet refers to the troubles of Israel in his times (chapters 36 through 39) during the the reign of king Hezekiah. Isaiah warns against reliance on military alliances rather than trusting God regarding Israel's freedom and national well being. This means in our consciousness that we must not compromise our connection and relationship with God by making negative traits and trends part of our Jewish identity. Either we rely on our bond with God or on ego's fantasies and illusions. These don't blend or cohabit with God's ways and and attributes, from which our identity is formed and shaped.
“Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, says your God. Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of labor is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
In this chapter the Prophet speaks again of Redemption. Our Sages say that God asks His Prophets to comfort Israel with the promise of the Messianic Era, after the completion of our exile among the nations. The ending of the exile begins when our learning from the negative traits and trends in consciousness is accomplished. As we finally assimilate our pain and suffering in our separation from God's ways, our guilt is paid off. Thus Jerusalem as the awareness of our permanent connection with God is compensated greatly by His hand, which is His Love.
“A voice is crying in a wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in a desert a highway to our God. Every valley is raised up, and every mountain and hill become low, and the crooked place becomes a plain, and the rough places a valley.” (40:3-4)
In the wilderness of ego's fantasies and illusions we cry out to God's Love, and from there we prepare our way back to Him. The way back is straight as His ways and attributes, in which humbleness is the means to lower that which we have raised up in our consciousness. We must transform the haughtiness of false beliefs and negative emotions, feelings and deeds into ways and means to return to our Essence and true identity.
“And the glory of the Lord has been revealed, and all flesh has seen it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken'.” (40:5)
This prophecy has been revealed before hand, therefore we know that God's glory is manifest in His Creation. There is an allusion to His revelation in mount Sinai when He gave us the Torah, and also our awareness that His redemption is in our reach. Hence it is up to us to choose back to God in order to fulfill His promise in us, individually and collectively.
“A voice is saying, 'Call', and he says, 'What do I call?'. All flesh is grass, and all its goodness is as a flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, for the Spirit of the Lord blew upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands for ever.” (40:6-8)
The Prophet's metaphors remind us time and again that God is our Creator, and we depend on Him. He invites us to attach our consciousness to God's word as His ways and attributes in order to live according to His will. Thus we will be able to transcend the withering and fading of the material world, and live by and for God's Spirit as the breath of life He wants us to experience in all levels of consciousness.
“On a high mountain get you up, O Zion, proclaiming tidings. Lift up with power your voice, O Jerusalem, proclaiming tidings. Lift up, fear not, say to cities of Judah, 'Behold your God'!” (40:9)
We must lift up our consciousness to its highest level, which is Zion, and proclaim from there our Redemption, for God is with us as we reach up to Him. The cities of Judah represent the potential goodness in our discernment, thoughts, feelings, emotions, passions and instincts. In God's ways and attributes there is no fear, for we see all aspects and dimensions of life from the right perspective, from the high place of our permanent connection with God. That is the tidings as the good news of our Final Redemption and entering into the Messianic Era, when the only desire and concern will be the knowledge of our Creator.
“Behold, the Lord God has come as a Mighty One, and His arm will rule for Him. Behold, His hire is with Him, and His wage before Him.” (40:10)
The knowledge of God is His hand as our ruler. Our attachment to Him is our labor, and also our pay. Thus we realize that our purpose in the material world is to reveal God's Presence in all levels of consciousness. The Prophet refers again to God's works and control over His Creation, with allegories (40:11-16) to tell us that all depends on Him.
“All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are accounted by Him as things of nothing, and vanity.” (40:17)
We are also reminded again about the vanity and futility of ego's fantasies and illusions, as well as the negative traits and trends represented by the nations. We must return to the truth from where we were created, as our reason and purpose in the material world.
“Why says you, O Jacob, and speaks, O Israel: 'My way is hid from the Lord, and from my God my judgment is passed over'? Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.” (40:27-28)
We can't hide from our Creator, nor from the ways and attributes He reveals to us in the Torah. Once more the Prophet invites us to reflect on what we place in our discernment, understanding, mind, thoughts, emotions, feelings, speech and actions. These are the vessels we fill in our consciousness, and we must do it with God's ways and attributes as our Essence and true identity.
“He gives power to the faint, and to him that has no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” (40:29-31)
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