Isaiah 40:2

Speak ye comfortably. The book of Isaiah opens with a message of stinging rebuke to Jerusalem (ch. 1:2-10). She was then “a besieged city,” and a wicked city like Sodom and Gomorrah (ch. 1:8-10). But now Isaiah foresees a time when “her warfare” is over and God sends a message of consolation to her. Punishment has been meted out because of her sins, and now pardon and restoration are offered.

Her warfare. The warfare referred to includes the military invasions of Isaiah’s own time, the conquests of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar more than a century later, and, figuratively, the broader warfare of the church against the powers of darkness in all ages. Looking forward with prophetic vision to the time of restoration at the close of the Babylonian captivity, Isaiah speaks with confidence, as if the foes of Israel had already been vanquished (see Vol. I, p. 27).