Isaiah 40:8 The grass wither, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. All explanations can be reconciled by suffering the prophet to express his own ideas, without any adventitious limitation and admitting, as the only sure conclusion, that by "Word" he means neither promise, nor prophecy, nor Gospel merely, but "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). There is a tacit antithesis between the Word of God and man; what man says is uncertain and precarious, what God says cannot fail. Thus understood, it includes prediction, precept, promise, and the offer of salvation; and although the latter is not meant exclusively, the apostle makes a perfectly correct and most important application of the verse when, after quoting it, he adds, "and this is the Word which is preached (εὐαγγελισθέν) unto you"; that is to say, this prophetic declaration is emphatically true of the Gospel of Christ. (J. A. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.WEB: The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever." |
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