Isaiah 40:6-8 contrasts the frailty of humanity with the eternal existence of God's word. People and their glory fade like grass and flowers, but what God has spoken stands forever. All that God promises will come to pass.
Isaiah 40:6-8 contrasts all human flesh, which withers like grass under the breathof the LORD, with the word of our God, which stands forever—the passage 1 Peter 1:24-25 quotes to describe the enduring gospel.
This passage begins by introducing another unnamed voice: A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field (v 6).
A second voice enters with a command to proclaim, and an answering voice asks what message he should proclaim.
The message given is a sentence over the whole human race, the primary point of which will be that all things human are temporal, that we do not last forever on this earth, but the things of God are eternal. The statement begins with an image asserting that the temporal nature of life on this earth applies to everyone: all flesh is grass (v 6).
In the hill country of Judah, the winter rains turn every slope green by February; by early summer the same slopes are brown. Grass is the Bible's standing image for humanity measured against time (Psalm 90:5-6, 103:15-16, James 1:10-11).
Just as grass has a growing season then dies off, humans have a limited life span. James 1:10 uses this imagery of this life being fleeting to point those experiencing prosperous circumstances toward what is eternal rather than relying on riches that will not last. And this applies to all flesh, meaning every human.
The word rendered loveliness in the phrase its loveliness is like the flower of the field (v 6) can also be translated "constancy." Both senses apply to humans, and the point is that everything attractive or dependable about human life endure only for a short time. The flowers bloom, then quickly fade. Human life is fleeting, and therefore not something to be relied upon. But God's word is eternal and dependable.
Therefore, this word of comfort spoken by God is something upon which Israel can bank. It's certainty contrasts with the changing seasons that affect the grass and flowers. Comfort that rests on human durability dies with the humans it rests on. The generation deported in 586 BCBiblical OverviewOld Testament EventsOld Testament BooksNew Testament EventsNew Testament Books would largely die in Babylon—Jeremiah's letter to the exiles told them plainly to build houses, plant gardens, and marry off their children, because the return lay seventy years out (Jeremiah 29:5-10).
And flesh includes empires. Babylon, the power that seemed permanent enough to swallow Judah whole, fell to the Persian king Cyrus in 539 BCBiblical OverviewOld Testament EventsOld Testament BooksNew Testament EventsNew Testament Books, within a single lifetime of Jerusalem's destruction. Every human force in the drama—captive and captor alike—were like flowers or grass—quickly fading. The next verse states this explicitly, The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass (v 7).
The word for breath is "ruah" the Hebrew word that also means wind and spirit. The immediate picture is the scorching east wind off the desert that can brown a green hillside in days. Behind the wind stands the LORD's own breath: the span of our lives is subject to His power. The same breath that formed the man from dust and made him live (Genesis 2:7) withdraws, and the psalmist holds both together—"You take away their spirit, they expire...You send forth Your Spirit, they are created" (Psalm 104:29-30). In the case of Judah, it expired at God's word. Babylon was God's agent to enforce His covenant/treaty with His people.
Surely the people are grass (v 7) repeats the emphasis on the briefness of human life. James uses a similar image for the brevity of life, stating "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). The exiles' own mortality, the deaths experienced in the siege, the deaths already accumulating in Babylon, the fading of the generation that remembered Jerusalem—the verse states their condition, but broadens it to be the experience of all humanity.
This is simply life after the Fall. However, although everything under the sun is fleeting, God's word is steady and dependable: The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever (v 8). This is relevant to this passage of comfort because Judah has experienced total devastation. The people are likely still experiencing shock. Everything seems to be in flux. How can there be comfort? God's answer is that comfort can come because of His promises, and His word is unchanging. His promises are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).
The first line of verse 8 repeats the first line of verse 7 verbatim. And the second line of both verses sets the exception beside it: God's spirit in verse 7 and God's word in verse 8.
That God's wordstands reflects permanence. The particular word in view is theword just spoken in this chapter: the comfort commissioned in Isaiah 40:1, the payment announced in Isaiah 40:2, and the coming glory guaranteed by the mouth of the LORD in Isaiah 40:5. Every hearer of that promise would die before its complete fulfillment but the promise itself would outlive them all and hold true. God's word never fails. It stands forever.
Isaiah returns to this axiom near the book's close, where the word that goes out from God's mouth "will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire" (Isaiah 55:11). Jesus states the same axiom of His own speech: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
Peter quotes this whole section (vv 6-8) and names the enduring word for the church: "All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. Thegrasswithers, And the flower falls off, But the wordof the Lord endures forever.' And this is the word which was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:24-25). Peter’s point in that passage is that the word of the gospel is unchanging. The gospel promise of deliverance is precisely what is being spoken of in this passage.
God promises to Israel a coming messiah who will bring salvation from sins and restoration of their nation. It will come to pass, and nothing will stop it, because the Lord has spoken. The word became flesh, dwelt among us, and died for our sins. And this word was then preached by Jesus's disciples, including Peter.
The word that stands forever is the gospel the apostles preached, and Peter shows the same destiny is for believers: those born again "not of seed which is perishable but imperishable" (1 Peter 1:23) share the durability of the word that begot them. The frail grass-like people who are then born of the Spirit through the enduring Word, inherit its eternity. That is the root of comfort in this passage: God anchors the hope of mortal people in the one element of their situation that endures: His own spoken promises.
Peter also speaks of God's promises as something through which those who believe in Jesus can "become partakers" through escaping "the corruption that is in the world by lust." Through walking in Christ's nature, we can escape the destruction of the lusts of the world. This walk is a walk of enduring faith and love (2 Peter 1:5-7).
Isaiah 40:6-8
6 A voice says, “Call out.”
Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”
All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
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Isaiah 40:6-8 meaning
Isaiah 40:6-8 contrasts all human flesh, which withers like grass under the breath of the LORD, with the word of our God, which stands forever—the passage 1 Peter 1:24-25 quotes to describe the enduring gospel.
This passage begins by introducing another unnamed voice: A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field (v 6).
A second voice enters with a command to proclaim, and an answering voice asks what message he should proclaim.
The message given is a sentence over the whole human race, the primary point of which will be that all things human are temporal, that we do not last forever on this earth, but the things of God are eternal. The statement begins with an image asserting that the temporal nature of life on this earth applies to everyone: all flesh is grass (v 6).
In the hill country of Judah, the winter rains turn every slope green by February; by early summer the same slopes are brown. Grass is the Bible's standing image for humanity measured against time (Psalm 90:5-6, 103:15-16, James 1:10-11).
Just as grass has a growing season then dies off, humans have a limited life span. James 1:10 uses this imagery of this life being fleeting to point those experiencing prosperous circumstances toward what is eternal rather than relying on riches that will not last. And this applies to all flesh, meaning every human.
The word rendered loveliness in the phrase its loveliness is like the flower of the field (v 6) can also be translated "constancy." Both senses apply to humans, and the point is that everything attractive or dependable about human life endure only for a short time. The flowers bloom, then quickly fade. Human life is fleeting, and therefore not something to be relied upon. But God's word is eternal and dependable.
Therefore, this word of comfort spoken by God is something upon which Israel can bank. It's certainty contrasts with the changing seasons that affect the grass and flowers. Comfort that rests on human durability dies with the humans it rests on. The generation deported in 586 BC would largely die in Babylon—Jeremiah's letter to the exiles told them plainly to build houses, plant gardens, and marry off their children, because the return lay seventy years out (Jeremiah 29:5-10).
And flesh includes empires. Babylon, the power that seemed permanent enough to swallow Judah whole, fell to the Persian king Cyrus in 539 BC, within a single lifetime of Jerusalem's destruction. Every human force in the drama—captive and captor alike—were like flowers or grass—quickly fading. The next verse states this explicitly, The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass (v 7).
The word for breath is "ruah" the Hebrew word that also means wind and spirit. The immediate picture is the scorching east wind off the desert that can brown a green hillside in days. Behind the wind stands the LORD's own breath: the span of our lives is subject to His power. The same breath that formed the man from dust and made him live (Genesis 2:7) withdraws, and the psalmist holds both together—"You take away their spirit, they expire...You send forth Your Spirit, they are created" (Psalm 104:29-30). In the case of Judah, it expired at God's word. Babylon was God's agent to enforce His covenant/treaty with His people.
Surely the people are grass (v 7) repeats the emphasis on the briefness of human life. James uses a similar image for the brevity of life, stating "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). The exiles' own mortality, the deaths experienced in the siege, the deaths already accumulating in Babylon, the fading of the generation that remembered Jerusalem—the verse states their condition, but broadens it to be the experience of all humanity.
This is simply life after the Fall. However, although everything under the sun is fleeting, God's word is steady and dependable: The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever (v 8). This is relevant to this passage of comfort because Judah has experienced total devastation. The people are likely still experiencing shock. Everything seems to be in flux. How can there be comfort? God's answer is that comfort can come because of His promises, and His word is unchanging. His promises are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).
The first line of verse 8 repeats the first line of verse 7 verbatim. And the second line of both verses sets the exception beside it: God's spirit in verse 7 and God's word in verse 8.
That God's word stands reflects permanence. The particular word in view is the word just spoken in this chapter: the comfort commissioned in Isaiah 40:1, the payment announced in Isaiah 40:2, and the coming glory guaranteed by the mouth of the LORD in Isaiah 40:5. Every hearer of that promise would die before its complete fulfillment but the promise itself would outlive them all and hold true. God's word never fails. It stands forever.
Isaiah returns to this axiom near the book's close, where the word that goes out from God's mouth "will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire" (Isaiah 55:11). Jesus states the same axiom of His own speech: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
Peter quotes this whole section (vv 6-8) and names the enduring word for the church: "All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.' And this is the word which was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:24-25). Peter’s point in that passage is that the word of the gospel is unchanging. The gospel promise of deliverance is precisely what is being spoken of in this passage.
God promises to Israel a coming messiah who will bring salvation from sins and restoration of their nation. It will come to pass, and nothing will stop it, because the Lord has spoken. The word became flesh, dwelt among us, and died for our sins. And this word was then preached by Jesus's disciples, including Peter.
The word that stands forever is the gospel the apostles preached, and Peter shows the same destiny is for believers: those born again "not of seed which is perishable but imperishable" (1 Peter 1:23) share the durability of the word that begot them. The frail grass-like people who are then born of the Spirit through the enduring Word, inherit its eternity. That is the root of comfort in this passage: God anchors the hope of mortal people in the one element of their situation that endures: His own spoken promises.
Peter also speaks of God's promises as something through which those who believe in Jesus can "become partakers" through escaping "the corruption that is in the world by lust." Through walking in Christ's nature, we can escape the destruction of the lusts of the world. This walk is a walk of enduring faith and love (2 Peter 1:5-7).