Do recall we are in the chapter that began this way: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her.” That chapter being Isaiah 40, the beginning of the second great Section of that large Bible Book.

And yet in the same chapter, before I know it, I am being reminded: “The Word of our God shall stand for ever.” This morning’s inspired Text, Isaiah 40:8.

Now this specific situation births a question in my mind … What could possibly be the nexus (the connection) between Millennial Comfort and, using Isaiah’s phrase, “the Word of our God?”

(By the way, here’s the history of the verb “comfort” in Isaiah, the whole Volume, so far. It has only occurred once prior to Isaiah 40:1, amazing! And there it is rendered in our King James Bible … “Labour NOT to COMFORT me.” A prohibition for comfort! But next in Isaiah, a massive Prophecy, “comfort” appears here in our Text. Doubly so! As I’ve already shown you: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.” Isaiah 40:1-2, where we have definitely entered into Isaiah’s “Comfort Zone!” Because the Lord Jesus has returned to earth!)

Comfort and God’s Word … any linkage, any direct connection?

Any Proof that God uses His Word to comfort you and me? And the future harried inhabitants of the Millennium, those miraculously surviving the Tribulation?

Yes, there’s Proof, lots of it!

But Paul comes to mind first … “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and COMFORT OF THE SCRIPTURES might have hope.” Romans 15:4, truly a classic!

But other verses easily come to the forefront with a little study. Like this one … “When wilt thou (Lord) COMFORT me? For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy STATUTES (Thy Word).” Psalm 119:81, of course!

Let me add one more … Psalm 119:50. “This is my COMFORT in my affliction: for THY WORD hath quickened (revived) me.”(Now you go find some!)

Wow!

So now I more clearly see why Isaiah blends the defining COMFORT of the coming Millennium with the Presence and Power of GOD’S WORD!

To which fact I an only say …“Hallelujah!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

In Joel’s recent death God’s Word as applied by the Holy Spirit has sure been a comfort to me. Especially Psalm 23 (“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For THOU art with me”) and 2 Corinthians 5 (“Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”)

I’ve said all I can right now …

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“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 40:3-5

Isaiah chapter 40, still talking about the Millennium, gives this glorious forecast with which we all are (at least slightly) cognizant. (I mean today’s Text, printed above.) The reason for this familiarity partly being the Prophet Malachi’s later allusion to it. (Malachi 3:1, specifically.)

Then later came the ministry of John the Baptist. That godly preacher whom we know as the “forerunner” of Christ. All three “Synoptic” Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) have John announcing Jesus’ Arrival, using Isaiah’s and Malachi’s vocabulary. John preached this at the Beginning of the Lord’s public Ministry. Jesus would have been about 30 years of age at that point in His life.

And yes, to some degree John the Baptist did: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” John was that “messenger.” But only to a point. When Jesus came 2,000 years ago, and the Jewish people rejected His Kingship … He fulfilled John 1:11-12. “He came unto his own (the Jews), and his own received him not. But as many as received him (whosoever will), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

But during John the Baptist’s days (Jesus’ days as well) Isaiah’s great words were NOT completely fulfilled. No literal highway in the desert was ever built, for example. Nor was earth’s geography (topography) changed in any way.

BUT in the Prophecy’s “long range” realization … I believe concretely that these Holy Spirit inspired Lines will become factual reality! During the Millennium, I mean even the “mountains and valleys” part too!

Including the last phase: “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

That’s never happened yet, not in earth’s short history. But it is going to occur … during the promised Kingdom Rule of Jesus on earth. During the Millennium!

How can I be so sure?

“The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” The last few words (affirmations) of Isaiah 40:5.

This “sooner” than “later” aspect of Bible prophecy is common in Holy Scripture.

King Jesus came and was rejected, the “sooner” event. (Sooner in Isaiah’s and Malachi’s eyes.)

But King Jesus will come again … and not be rejected! (Later in nearly everybody’s eyes.)

At His first Advent … He came as a lamb. The next one … as a Lion! Lambs are rejected a bit easier than lions!

“Lord Jesus, more every day we see that the only real solution to this earth’s chaos is your returning in great Power and Glory! Even so … Thy Will be done.” A prayer of mine, of course.

Revelation 1:7 … “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

You can “bank” on it, as my Dad used to say!

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If you seek to interpret the Bible literally, as I have been taught to do, these Millennium Verses are so exhilarating!

For example today’s Text, Isaiah 40:1-2 … “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.”

Something has happened in Jerusalem!

Instead of constant readiness for war, constant hatred and scorn flowing from all her neighbors, constant existential threats surfacing daily … “Comfort,” yes double “Comfort!”

What a change, what a “reversal” … due totally (I believe) to Jesus’ Second Coming to earth!

And not only does our Text suggest a cessation of hostilities … but a forgiveness of sin! With both results being miraculous, just the second a greater one than the first!

“Comfort” (in Hebrew “nacham”) is a powerfully emotional verb here. The Lord is quite excited, putting all His Strength behind the imperative. And, if you recall, when the Hebrew language doubles a word or phrase … its emphasis is increased exponentially!

And just (here) who are God’s people? The next Line answers, the inhabitants of “Jerusalem!”

Salvation has come! Jesus has come! Faith and belief in Him have come! The city that recently was a “cup of trembling unto all people” (Zechariah 12:2) is now “the joy of the whole earth!!!” (Psalm 42:8)

Because “her iniquity is pardoned.” Her “sins” (specifically “perversions,” the noun “avon” in Hebrew) have been “forgiven.” Yet a strange thing here, the verb for “pardoned” is literally “ratzsah,” normally translated “to be pleased with, to accept!”

I figure God has so washed away Israel’s putrid sins … that once where there was abomination and stench (in God’s Nostrils) there is now “delight and favor!”

Wow!

Remember the last time Jesus spoke to this Capital City? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:37-38

That’s NOT speaking comfortably!

But once she has repented, the people of that metropolis will again enjoy the gracious blessing of the Lord Jesus, His Presence too!

In fact, Jesus’ very next Words to Jerusalem in Matthew 23 … “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

Amen!

Israel has been punished for her spiritual failures, sins … punished to a 200% extent, according to Isaiah! Maybe God’s math here is calculating … double sins/double punishments/but now DOUBLE BLESSINGS!

However, looks like to me … “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20, Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I don’t even live in Jerusalem and my heart is comforted this morning, just studying this golden Millennial Promise!

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Need some good news?

The last verse of Isaiah chapter 35 sure provides it, with inerrant accuracy!

It’s a Promise from God as well.

“And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:10

Some future day the world’s newspapers will headline this event, in bold and huge type.

Yes, during the coming Rule of Jesus Christ upon earth, this earth, planet earth! The 1,000 year Span of time often called the Millennium!

Multitudes … returning to Zion, meaning Jerusalem (the Holy City in those coming days) … the little area of Land (which will greatly be expanded by then) known as Israel!

But, who are they?

According to the Prophet, the “ransomed!”

This verb, “padah” in Hebrew, means “redeemed, rescued, delivered!” These are likely survivors of the Tribulation, Jews mostly I suppose and some gentiles too, who have been scattered throughout the world … fleeing the murderous clutches of the anti-Christ! The recently deceased anti-Christ I might add! (Yes, Armageddon is past, Jesus has returned and Israel has believed!)

These people have been ransomed both physically and spiritually! Spared from certain bodily death by Jesus’ Victory at Armageddon and saved eternally by the marvelous Grace of God, spiritually … born again!

But why do they want to go to “Zion?” (A word literally meaning a “dry, parched place” … but now blossoming “like a rose!”) To the Holy Land?

Because Jesus is there, the short answer!

But do note they return “with songs (translated ‘triumph’ once in the King James Version) and everlasting joy” upon their heads, and “in their hearts” I suppose! Yes, the Millennium will be a delightful time. (The earth, far as I can discern, has NEVER experienced a thousand years of unbroken peace! And will not … until the “Price of Peace” comes back! That’s our Lord according to Isaiah 9:6,a glorious text indeed.)

“They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away,” requoting today’s Text, its last two clauses.

“Obtain” carries the idea of “finally reaching” a goal … “overtaking” a lifelong aspiration. This is positive!

And “flee away” most often means “to escape” some dreaded situation, according to my Lexicon anyway. This is negative!

No more “sorrow!” (Worded as “grief” twice in our Bibles.)

No more “sighing!” (Also written as “groanings” four times elsewhere in Scripture.)

What a day, what an era, what an Administrator Jesus will be! After all, HE IS LORD!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Our world is “falling apart,” in many ways. And the worst (the Tribulation) is yet to come. But some day …

Hallelujah!

Ever heard the old hymn … “Some Golden Daybreak, Jesus will come?” I’d like to go on record this Monday morning … I believe this!

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Look at what Isaiah has written about that coming glorious “thousand year” stretch of time, when Jesus rules the earth. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” Isaiah 35:5-6

Yes, that would be Jesus, all right! The Messiah will have returned! He has already been on earth for a Season, when He died for our sins … but will yet come again in the same miracle-working Power!

He was loving and compassionate the first Time, and so will be again the second Time.

Blind men seeing!

Deaf men hearing!

Lame men leaping!

Mute men singing!

A duplication (or intensification) of Jesus’ Ministry, but for such a longer time! (Three years, maybe a little over … in comparison to a thousand years!)

We can’t count our Lord’s total healing episodes, not definitely, because of summary verses like these: “And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And ALL THE CITY was gathered together at the door. And he healed MANY that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils.” Mark 1:32-34

These miracles thus become “signs” (in the Gospel of John Jesus’ miracles are almost always referred to as just that, “signs”) as to the identity of our Lord.

An imprisoned John the Baptist one day (for unexplained reasons) sent a delegation to ask Jesus if He was really the Messiah! “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”

Then immediately … “Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matthew 11:4-5, at least an allusion to Isaiah’s great promises above.

Someone will now say to me, “Where are such miracles today?” To which question I will answer: “Jesus is coming again!”

And when He does, not only will humanity again meet the “Divine Physician,” even the planet (the earth) will be revitalized! Like this, the rest of our Text this morning, Isaiah 35:6 … “In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Jesus blessing the whole earth, the very Presence of God being here again. That noun “wilderness” too literally means “desert!”

But, don’t let me be misunderstood. Jesus is still working miracles today. The greatest of which is … the “salvation of a lost soul!”

A man or woman being “born again!”

Becoming a “new creature!”

The costliest miracle of all … the Price being Jesus’ incorruptible Blood shed on the old rugged Cross.

Hallelujah!

Are you saved?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Jesus words: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER. I tell you, this man went down to his house JUSTIFIED.” And He surely knew how to describe salvation!

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