Isaiah 40:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul was aware of nothing within himself, yet he was not justified in this ignorance. At the Last Supper, Christ declared, “One of you that eateth with Me shall betray Me” (Mark 14:18), indicating that He possessed foreknowledge of all that would transpire. How is this so? Prior to any good or evil occurring, God favors one and disapproves of another not without reason; hence, He will gather the lambs into His arms, without the need for a staff or any other tool. He will nurture those who are in gestation. Can you see the clarity with which He displays His compassion? Since this was not entirely realized at the time of judgment and recompense, it appears to me that it found fulfillment during the return of the Jews from Babylonian exile; they required greater tenderness than the other suffering individuals, or than mothers with child; and to them, it is said, “Have more care during the journey.”

The divine disciples, seeking these qualities for themselves, prayed, saying: "And now, O Lord, look upon their threats, and grant your servants to speak your word with all boldness" (Acts 4:29). Therefore, He instructs them not to fear, saying, "Proclaim to the cities of Judah: Behold your God. Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and His arm rules for Him." He reassures them that the promise of the Lord’s coming is not far off but imminent, akin to standing at the door. He urged them to extend their hands and point to the foretold Savior. Not just like one of the holy prophets or in the guise of a servant, He shows that He wields the might and authority that belong to God by declaring, "He comes with strength, and His arm with power." While the divine prophets pleaded with God as those under His sovereignty, the Savior and Lord acts with the autonomy akin to His sonship, dispensing the gifts of the Father to believers and accomplishing His works through His own power and authority.

The sacrament of His building will not be in vain for the one who took on our likeness and bore the cross and death, as stated: "Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him." He describes the result of His sacrificial death as a 'recompense,' as He declared, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). Additionally, He proclaimed, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). Similarly, Paul writes that He "endured the cross, despising the shame" (Heb. 12:2); thus God exalted Him and bestowed on Him a name greater than every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Col. 2:9-11). The divine David, prophesying through the Spirit, exclaims, "All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord" (Psalm 85:9).

Thus, the work of the Lord yields reward and fruitfulness; they followed Him, as if under the watchful eye of a shepherd tending to his flock, gathering the lambs with His strength. Those who believed in Him, like newly born lambs, were regenerated into a new life from above by the Spirit. Initially, they, like infants, craved the sincere milk of the Word, maturing into the fullness of Christ's stature. The lambs were tended to, while those who were expectant or nurturing the Word within them were comforted. By referring to lambs, we can justly interpret those Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ. The expectant ones can be likened to those who, through affliction, birth forth the Word within them, influenced by the Law and prophetic teachings. For Christ came not only to redeem the Gentiles but also the descendants of Israel, to whom He was primarily sent. Strengthened in faith, they received comfort that arose from the deep understanding of the mystery.

This term has a dual meaning in Greek interpretation, representing either the one who announces or the one who receives the announcement. Consequently, regardless of whether the word of God and the salvation of the Lord originates from Zion or Jerusalem—whether 'The law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 2:3)—the apostles are called to ascend to higher ground. Strikingly, even though Zion itself is referred to as a mountain, as stated in Scripture, ‘This mountain is Zion, wherein dwelleth thou’ (Psalms 73:2), the command still stands to rise to yet another exalted mountain, from which the prince of Tyre was cast down (Ezekiel 28:16). Given the challenges faced by the apostles who encountered opposition from rulers and tribunals, they are reminded: “Stand firm and have no fear; tell the cities of Judah—that is, the synagogues and people of Judah, to whom the Lord declared, ‘I am sent, only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24). Similarly, the Apostle Paul indicated, ‘It is necessary that we speak the word of God to you first’ (Acts 13:46). What are they to declare? Look, your God, the one you have long awaited: behold the Sovereign Lord, whom you rejected, who came in humility, now approaches with power. His might, which previously took on the form of a servant, obedient to the Father even to the point of death (Philippians 2:7-8), shall govern. This is His reward with Him, and His endeavors lie before Him (Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 62:11). Thus, He affirms in the Gospel, ‘But the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father; and then He will repay each person according to his works’ (Matthew 16:27). As a shepherd, He will shepherd His flock. He, who will later come in glory, first embodies the role of a shepherd, declaring: ‘I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, and I lay down My life for the sheep’ (John 10:14-15). The Father informs Zechariah: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’ (Zechariah 13:7). His hand, He states, will gather the lambs—not the mature sheep or the goats, which He rebukes through Ezekiel (ch. 34) for their greed and harshness towards the vulnerable flock—but the tender lambs of innocent faith recently reborn in baptism, about whom the Lord commanded Peter: ‘Feed My lambs’ (John 21:15). Thus, it is also written in Ezekiel: ‘I will set up one shepherd over them, My servant David; and he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I will be their God, and My servant David shall be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken it’ (Ezekiel 34:23-25). We must note His prophecy of raising David our Lord, a descendant of David, who will care for the lambs and comfort them in His embrace, and He will carry the weak ones, as portrayed in the Gospel, where the lost sheep that strayed from the fold is tenderly returned on His shoulders (Luke 15:3-7). Here, the pregnant sheep may symbolize the apostles, apostolic figures, and all teachers within the Church, who help bring forth the salvation of many and echo the apostle’s words: ‘My children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you’ (Galatians 4:19). The Jews hold firmly to the belief that the Holy Spirit is referred to in their language in the feminine form, i.e. Rua Godsa. In Psalm sixty-seven, it is written: ‘The Lord will give the word: great is the company of those who publish it’ (Psalm 67:12); they interpret this as meaning that the Lord imparts His word to those who proclaim the good news with strength, namely, those committed to the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, in the verse: ‘As the eyes of a maidservant look to the hand of her mistress’ (Psalm 123:2), the servant represents the soul, while the mistress signifies the Holy Spirit. Even in the Gospel of the Hebrews, as read by the Nazarenes, the Lord expresses: ‘My mother, the Holy Spirit, has lately conceived Me.’ However, one should not be misled by the variation in gender attributed to the spirit across languages, as there is no gender within the Godhead. Instead, it is addressed with three genders in the three primary languages employed in the inscription of the Lord's suffering, revealing that in essence, there is no gender in the Divine.