What kind of event is described in Isaiah 40:9-11?
 Later in Isaiah there appears a male herald of good news for Jerusalem (Isa. 41:27, Isa. 52:7). But in Isaiah 40:9 the herald to proclaim “Here is your God!” (NRSV) from a mountain is feminine, a fact brought out in the Hebrew.
 In Psalm 68, David praises God because He “gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity” (Ps. 68:6, NRSV). Though here these words apply to the Exodus from Egyptian bondage, Isaiah uses the same ideas with reference to proclamation of a second “Exodus”: the return from Babylonian captivity.
 Meanwhile, the New Testament applies Isaiah 40:3-5 to John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ, the eternal Word who became the Lord’s presence in flesh among His people (John 1:14).
 Even earlier than John, others spoke about the good news of His coming. Among the first of these were the elderly Simeon and Anna, who met baby Jesus when He was dedicated at the temple (Luke 2:25-38). Like Isaiah’s heralds, they were male and female. Simeon was looking forward to the consolation/comfort of Israel in the form of the Messiah (Luke 2:25, 26).
 In light of Isaiah’s prophecy, it does not appear coincidental that Anna, a prophetess, was the very first to publicly announce at the temple mountain to the people of Jerusalem that the Lord had come: “At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38, NRSV). This was the birth of Christian evangelism as we know it: proclamation of the gospel, the good news, that Jesus Christ has come to bring salvation. Later, Christ entrusted to another woman, Mary Magdalene, the first tidings of His triumphant resurrection (John 20:17, 18), the act which ensured that His gospel mission to planet Earth was accomplished. Flesh is like grass, but the divine Word who became flesh is eternal (see Isa. 40:6-8)!