"Every valley shall be exalted..." - Isaiah 40:3-5

Isaiah 40:3-5

Isaiah spoke this prophecy 2700 years ago about what would happen to Israel, and it came about as prophesied in 750 BCE after the Babylonian captivity.  But there is yet another message here for us to consider a second gathering which is happening now as I write this post, God is gathering Israel for the second time in our day and time.  This is a tremendous promise kept for the Jewish people.  So what does that mean for us who are not Jewish?

We are the spiritual Israel which has been grafted into the promises and future of God’s plan.  Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel and He is also the savior of all people.  This prophecy of Isaiah speaks of the coming Kingdom of God upon the earth. 

“Every valley shall be lifted up, and every hill made low.  The crooked way will be made straight, and the rough places a plain”.  

This is metaphoric language to speak about how the Kingdom of God will be the opposite of what we know.  Jesus saw this as the heart of man which needed to be reborn with a different mindset, a Kingdom mindset.  

“...But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then”.  Matthew 19:30 (NLT)

Paul also saw this as allowing the Holy Spirit to conform our mindset to that of Christ: Philippians 2:5 (MEV) “Let this mind be in you all, which was also in Christ Jesus” 

But here is the catch to this prophecy, we can’t do it!  There is nothing for us to do here, if we were do something to fulfill these words then we wouldn’t need Jesus Christ who provided us everything for our salvation.  It is not a stretch to see that this prophecy speaks in symbolic language about how the Holy Spirit is going to reshape our minds and bring us into right relationship with the Kingdom and with Jesus Christ.

It is a beautiful picture of how God will do this work and conform us into right relationship with Himself.

It is as if the voice of the Holy Spirit is calling out “this is going to happen…so the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and this time everyone will see it”

I have included a song today from a Messianic band called Lamb which performs this passage in Isaiah 40:3-4 in Hebrew and also in English which I thought appropriate to capture the flavor of our enjoined heritage with Israel.  The translation is below.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett

V'niglah k’vod Adonai

V’niglah k’vod Adonai

V’ra-oo kol ba-sar yach-dav

V’ra-oo kol ba-sar yach-dav

Ki-pi A-do-nai

Ki-pi A-do-nai di-ber

Every valley shall be exalted

Every mountain and hill made low

For the crooked way shall be made straight

And the rough places plain

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

All flesh shall see it together
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. 
Has spoken it.