Isaiah 40:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For this reason, it is said, “Go up onto a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem”—so that many may bear witness to the words that have been announced and which were foretold long ago.

The divine disciples themselves expressed their desires in prayer, saying, “And now, O Lord, look upon their threats, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word” (Acts 4:29). Therefore, he encourages them not to fear but to proclaim to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God, behold the Lord comes with might, and His arm shall rule for Him.” He reassures that the hope of the Lord’s coming is imminent, as if He is already at the threshold. He commanded them to extend their hands and point towards the One foretold. He would not come as merely one of the holy prophets or in the guise of a minister; rather, He would possess the divine power and authority unique to God, as indicated by His proclamation that “He goes forth with strength, and His arm with power.” The prophets petitioned God, belonging to the people under His authority; however, the Savior of all and our Lord operates not through mere prayer or supplication, but with the full stature of a free Son, dispensing the Father’s gifts to believers and accomplishing all things by His own divine will and authority.

Furthermore, the sacrament of salvation will not be in vain for Him who for our sakes was made like us and bore the cross and death upon it, as indicated by “Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” He refers to the fruit resulting from His death in the flesh as a “recompense,” aligning with His saying, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Again, He professed, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself” (John 12:32). Likewise, Paul states that He “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2); consequently, God exalted Him and bestowed upon Him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow—whether in heaven, on earth, or under the earth—and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Col. 2:9-11). Foreseeing this by the Spirit, the sacred David proclaims, “All the nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord” (Psalm 85:9). Thus, the work of the Lord yields both reward and fruit; those who followed Him were, as it were, seen by the Shepherd of the flock, who, with His strength, gathered the lambs. The believers, akin to newborn lambs, were regenerated to new life from above through the Spirit. Initially, they craved the sincere milk of the word, growing thereafter into the fullness of Christ’s stature. The lambs were nourished, and those who bore fruit were comforted in their spiritual journey. This imagery of the lambs aptly represents those among the Gentiles who came to believe in Christ. Those bearing fruit in their spiritual wombs symbolize those who, while afflicted, nurture the word within them by the teachings of the law and prophetic voice. Christ did not save the Gentiles alone, but also the descendants of Israel, to whom He was primarily sent. Grounded in faith, they received the comfort stemming from a profound understanding of the sacred mystery.

However, the Hebrew text and certain other translations attribute a feminine aspect to this term, referring to the herald of Zion and Jerusalem. This term presents a dual understanding in the Greek translations, allowing for interpretation as either the one who announces or the one who receives the announcement. Thus, whether the message of God and the salvation of the Lord is proclaimed from Zion and Jerusalem—whether “the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3)—or delivered to them by the apostles, they must ascend to the elevated grounds.

It is remarkable that even though Zion is described as a mountain, as stated in Scripture, “This mountain is Zion, wherein dwelleth thou” (Psalms 73:2), still there is a command to reach another high mountain, from which the ruler of Tyre was vanquished (Ezekiel 28:16). Given the many contradictions to the apostles' doctrine, placing them before authorities and courts, the exhortation follows: “Rise up, do not fear; proclaim to the cities of Judah,” that is, to the synagogues and people of Judah, concerning whom the Lord has said, “I am sent, only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). The Apostle Paul affirmed, “It is better for you to speak the word of God first” (Acts 13:46). What should they declare? “Behold your God, whom you have always longed for: Behold the Lord God, whom you rejected, who came in humility, now arrives in power.” His might, who once assumed the role of a servant, obeying the Father to the point of death (Philippians 2:7-8), will reign. This is His reward, with Him, along with His work before Him (Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 62:11). In accordance, He states in the Gospel, “But the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father; and then He will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27). As a shepherd, He will guide His flock. He, who will later return in glory, first adopts the role of a shepherd, declaring, “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep, and am known by My sheep, and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). The Father has said of Him to Zechariah: “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7). By His hand, He gathers the lambs—not the mature sheep or goats, nor those who, as prophesied in Ezekiel (chapter 34), consume the nourishment and clothe themselves while trampling the vulnerable flock, but the lambs, tender and innocent, recently reborn in baptism. The Lord instructed Peter: “Feed My lambs” (John 21:15). Therefore, it is also written in Ezekiel: “I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, my servant David; he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be their prince. I the Lord will speak, and I will establish a covenant of peace” (Ezekiel 34:23-25). We must pay close attention to His words that, after many times, He will raise up King David, a descendant from the tribe of David, who will gather the lambs and warm them upon His bosom. He will carry the straying sheep or expectant ewes, as we learn in the Gospel when a lost sheep is returned to the fold on His shoulders (Luke 15:3-7).

The pregnant ewes can symbolize the apostles, apostolic figures, and all teachers within the Church, who give birth to the salvation of many, echoing the apostle’s sentiment: “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The Jews confidently assert that the Holy Spirit is referred to with a feminine name in their language, i.e., Rua Godsa. Moreover, Psalm sixty-seven states, “The Lord will give the word to those who preach the good news with great power” (Psalm 67:12), which they interpret as the Lord empowering those who minister the good news with fervor, or those souls led by the Holy Spirit. Similarly, the passage “As the eyes of a servant look to the hand of her mistress” (Psalm 123:2) is understood such that the servant symbolizes the soul, and the mistress represents the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel of the Hebrews, which the Nazarenes read, it is stated: “My mother, the Holy Spirit, has recently given Me birth.” Yet, no one should be misled by the use of feminine language for the Spirit in Hebrew respective to the masculine usage in our language or the neuter in Greek. There exists no gender within the Divine essence; instead, they are all expressed in three genders across the three principal languages, in which the inscription of the Lord’s suffering was rendered, showing us the singularity of the Divine nature unmarred by human distinctions.

All noble and elevated spirits make the ascent to the mountain; as stated, not every prophet urged: "Ascend the high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem" (Isaiah 40:9). This ascent is not accomplished with physical feet but through virtuous actions. Strive to follow Christ so that you, too, may become a mountain, surrounded as He is by mountains (Psalm 124:2). Upon examining the Gospel, one will find that only the disciples accompanied the Lord up the mountain.