How do God’s people receive comfort? Isa. 40:1-8.
 An unnamed herald announces that God is coming to reveal His glory (Isa. 40:3-5). Another voice proclaims that although humans are transient like foliage, “the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8, NRSV).
 After the exile, God’s people gain back what they had received at Mount Sinai and then rejected all through their apostasy, for which they were punished: God’s presence and His word. These are the basic ingredients of God’s covenant with Israel, which were enshrined at His sanctuary in their midst (Exod. 25:8, 16). Because they had violated His word, God had abandoned His temple (Ezekiel 9-11), but He is coming back. His presence and His eternally dependable Word bring comfort, deliverance, and hope.
 What preparation is necessary for the Lord’s coming? Isa. 40:3-5.
 It is not fitting for a king to be jolted by a rough road. So his coming is preceded by roadwork. The more so for the King of kings! His coming, apparently from the east, where He has been in exile with His people as a sanctuary to them (Ezek. 11:16), would require major rearrangement of the terrain. Construction of a literal, level superhighway through the rugged hills east of Jerusalem would be daunting, even with dynamite and bulldozers. God is the only One who can do the work; it is He who turns “the rough places into level ground” (Isa. 42:16, NRSV). But He doesn’t need a literal road for transportation because He has an airborne chariot of cherubim (Ezekiel 1, 9-11).
 The New Testament explicitly applies Isaiah’s prophecy to the spiritual roadwork accomplished through the preaching of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:3). His message was: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt. 3:2, NRSV) and the baptism that he performed was “of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4, NRSV). So, the roadwork was repentance, willingness to turn away from sin, in order to receive the comfort of God’s forgiveness and presence.
 Jeremiah 31:31-34 proclaimed the same spiritual message in plenty of time for the exiles of Judah to understand the spiritual nature of roadwork for God. In this passage, the Lord promises those who are willing a fresh start: a “new covenant” in which He puts His law in their hearts and pledges to be their God. They know Him and His character, because He has forgiven them.