Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:6-8- When The Spirit Withers And The Word Endures

Over the last several weeks we have been transitioning from the Book of Judges into the Gospel of Mark. Throughout the Book of Judges we saw the importance of true repentance, but in Judges 19-21 we were confronted with the fact that we do not always get repentance right.

In Judges 19-21 there were two reasons for this. First, we try to deal with sin and its effects with worldly wisdom. In other words, we run from it, we ignore it, we try to address it with worldly wisdom, worldly pleasures, worldly relationships, etc. Secondly, we also saw that someone can look and sound very religious in their repentance but God, who sees the heart, my not accept it.

As we considered these things we may have wondered…

• Have I truly repented from my sin?

• Have I been honest with the LORD and turned to Him with my whole heart?

• If repentance is this difficult, how can I be sure that I have truly done it?

If we had these questions and concerns they should be answered as we begin to study the Gospel of Mark. As soon as we begin to read we are confronted with the fact that repentance is central to receiving ‘Gospel Comfort’. After introducing us to Jesus in v.1 Mark immediately quotes a passage from Isaiah 40 and so we have been considering that passage to answer some of these questions.

Two weeks ago we looked at Isaiah 40:1-2 which says, “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.”

One of the shocking aspects of this message of comfort was that in Isaiah 39 God had just told His people that they were going to become exiles. A message of comfort was the last thing you would expect to hear after those words. And yet, where else are we to turn for comfort? We will see in a moment that this sort of mercy and kindness is often used by the Holy Spirit to draw sinners to Christ.

Hezekiah took comfort in knowing that this judgment would not happen in his day. In this moment he did what we are all tend to do, namely, seek comfort in something other than God. I have come to believe that one of the reasons the Holy Spirit has given us this surprising message of comfort was to remind us that God alone can give lasting comfort in hopeless situations and difficult circumstances.

To help us accept this comfort, and to set it apart from all other comforts, the LORD immediately gave three facts to support this word of comfort: the warfare is over, iniquities have been pardoned, and God’s people have received from the LORD’s hand double for all their sins. This is the believers comfort in both life and in death.

Last week in Isaiah 40:3-5 we read these words, “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.”

This was the first of three voices that will speak in the first half of Isaiah 40. Like the three facts given in verse 2, these voices will help to support the message of comfort that has been spoken in verse 1. This first voice emphasizes two things.

• First, this comfort is given to people by Jesus Christ alone. You cannot have this comfort apart from Christ. And you cannot continue to enjoy this comfort if you do not continue in Him.

• Second, only those who repent and believe upon Christ enjoy this comfort. And only those who continue to repent and live by faith in Christ enjoy this comfort throughout their life.

Now this morning we come to Isaiah 40:6-8. Here we hear the second voice that speaks to us concerning this message of comfort. (1) We read, “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ (Emphatic) And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ (imperfect: continuous, incomplete, open-ended) All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

On Saturday July 4^th I was outside by my shed and all of a sudden there was a loud boom. I jumped because the noise was unexpected and very loud. I kind of get the feeling that this is what Isaiah experiences when this voice says, “Cry!” This is in the imperative form of the verb so it is a voice that speaks with the force of a command and with a cry of passion. Consider the contrast between this voice and the words of verse two which was told to speak comfortably, gently, and to the heart regarding this message of comfort and the three facts that are associated with this comfort. (1-2)

I get the feeling that Isaiah has a sense of the importance of this message that he is to speak because he asks, “What shall I cry?” This is an imperfect tense verb which means that Isaiah knows this is a message that he is to speak continuously. This command to ‘cry’ to the people this message is to begin and then continue. Isaiah’s mission is open-ended.

What is the message that Isaiah is to speak to the people? “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

To be honest, when I consider this message it is the message that I would have expected to find in Isaiah 40:1 right after the message of judgment in Isaiah 39:5-8. If you were to read those verses again you would see that the message of judgment begins (5) and ends (8) with an emphasis that this is a word from the LORD. This would fit with the end of our text today that says that the word of our God will stand forever. If the message of our text today were connected to the message of Isaiah 39:5-8 then the message will be proven to be true when all flesh will be like the grass and the flowers in the field which quickly withers and fades as the Babylonians invade the land.

Doesn’t it seem like verses 5-8 would have flowed nicely at the beginning of Isaiah 40? We expected judgment but were surprised by a message of comfort. If our text today were connected to Isaiah 39:5-8 we would understand the intensity of the command to “Cry!”. Isaiah was to speak this message continuously so that God’s people would repent quickly without delay.

And yet, having said all of these things, we know that this is not the order in which the Holy Spirit has laid out this message. The message of Isaiah 40:5-8 is not connected to Isaiah 39, but to the message of comfort that was spoken in Isaiah 40:1. It is connected to those three facts in v.2. And it is one of three voices that will speak to us regarding this comfort and how to receive it. The imperative verb ‘Cry’ and Isaiah’s call to continually speak this message is connected to that word of comfort which will be given to sinners, rebels, and people who have brought these tribulations upon themselves!

So what is the meaning of this message in our text that is connected to comfort? Most often you hear these words spoken in the context of our mortality, the shortness of our lives, the briefness of the period of time that you and I will live. Our life is like a vapor, a mist, like the grass that is here today and tomorrow thrown into the furnace. All of this is true and it does remind us that we should not put off repentance; however, there is another message that we ought to consider.

Notice what verse 7 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surly people are like grass.” We might have some questions about this verse. We might ask, ‘Why does the Holy Spirit wither people?’ Or ‘Does He do this to everyone or only some?’

When we ask, ‘Why does the Holy Spirit wither people?’, we might automatically think back to the words of judgment in this book of Isaiah and see that when God’s people sin and they do not repent they can be removed by the root and begin to wither away. This could be, but we have already noted that the context of this voice is supposed to be a voice of comfort and although there may be this connection I think there is a different comfort to be had.

We also asked, ‘What type of people is the Holy Spirit withering?’ We might suppose that God is doing this to sinners who are rebelling against Him and who are unrepentant. However, in verse 6 the people that God withers are described as having a form of beauty. The word that is translated as ‘beauty’ is the word ‘hesed’. This word is often translated as lovingkindness, goodness, and goodliness. Why is the Holy Spirit withering these types of people?

Could it be that we are getting a behind the scene look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the effectual call of sinners through the preaching of the Gospel? On the one hand, the Gospel is preached to a person and beneath the surface the Holy Spirit is working upon their heart withering all of their self-righteousness, all their pride, all their objections, all of the things that they would tend to boast in and place their confidence in apart from Christ.

On the other hand, we see at the end of text that as the Holy Spirit withers these things in a person He is also planting the Word of God in its place so that it bears the appropriate fruit unto salvation. I say this because of how the apostle Peter quotes our text in 1 Peter. Consider 1 Peter 1:22-24 which says, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brother love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the LORD remains forever.’ And the word is the good news that was preached to you.”

Peter uses our text to talk about what happens when a person is born again as the Good News is preached to them. When this happens the Holy Spirit is withering what needs to be withered and planting in its place the imperishable word of God in the heart. This same work which begins in the life of a believer continues from that day forward in them and it bears more and more fruit.

Isn’t it a great comfort to realize what the Holy Spirit is doing when we are saved and that this work continues throughout the life of a believer?! The immediate context of our passage displays the confidence we can have because the Holy Spirit is doing these things. For example, look back at verse 4 and notice how the Holy Spirit inspired the words that are written there. In verses 3-5 we saw that this comfort is found only in Christ and that we have to repent to receive it. Because of this, if we wrote verse 4 we would say something like, “Every valley must be lifted up, and every mountain and hill must be made low; the uneven ground must become level, and the rough places must be made into a plane.”

It comes so natural for us to view these things as something we must do to qualify for the Gospel Comfort that is being offered. However, when the Holy Spirit inspired these words to be written it sounds a bit different than this, “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill (shall be) be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places (shall be) a plane.”

Because of this withering and planting work of the Holy Spirit in a believer the Holy Spirit speaks here with such confidence that these things will be done. These things will be done because He is the one that will do this work in the hearts of His people. You can understand now why John the Baptist was so excited to say in Mark 1:8, “I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In the chapter entitled ‘Saving Faith’ in the Baptist Confession we read these words, “The grace of faith enables the elect to believe so that their souls are saved; it is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts.” (14.1) It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person that overcomes all sin and hardness which would forever prevent them from coming to Christ. In that same confession in 15:1 we read these words, “Some of the elect are converted after their early years, having lived in the natural state for a time and served various evil desires and pleasures. God gives these repentance to life as part of their effectual calling.” Oh what a wonderful work of the Spirit when He withers what needs to be withered, and when He plants the Word of God in its place.

It would have been easy to read our text today and place it back in the context of the judgment of Isaiah 39:5-8. There are some who need to hear such a message and respond to the Good News because of it. However, most of the time God deals with us by showing us His goodness, His kindness, and His loving-kindness which brings us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) In this case, Isaiah 40:1 shows us the LORD’s mercy and loving-kindness through the gospel comfort and it is meant to draw us to the LORD in repentance and faith.

Knowing that the Holy Spirit is working for us in this way is such a comfort and it ought to make us draw closer to the Throne of Grace to find grace and mercy in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) Consider the profound continuous work that the Holy Spirit does in withering the sin, transgression, and iniquities that are embedded into every area of our lives. We need the work of the Spirit in this way and it ought to be commanded, ‘Cry out continually regarding this withering work!’ The Holy Spirit blows on our self-righteousness, our pride, our arrogance and these things melt away till we consider all things a loss in comparison to knowing Christ. (Philippians 3:8) The Holy Spirit blows upon small sins and large entrenched iniquities and withers them away. We would be powerless to do this work!

Consider also the withering and planting work of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s life. Paul had reason to have confidence to boast in the flesh, but the Holy Spirit withered these things. Then the Holy Spirit planted the seed of the Gospel in his heart where those things once grew. (Philippians 3:1-11) All his self-righteousness was withered away on the road to Damascus where he was going to persecute the church. Before that withering work he hated Jesus and His disciples, but after the withering and planting work of the Holy Spirit happened everything changed. After that work Paul loved Jesus and His church and he filled up in his flesh the sufferings of Christ on behalf of the church. (Colossians 1:24) He pressed on as he reached forward toward the resurrection hope in Christ.

Have you experienced the withering and planting work of the Holy Spirit?

Christian, are you continuing to experience the withering and planting work of the Holy Spirit?