Isaiah 40:8

(Verse 6 and following) The voice of one saying, Cry out. And I said, What shall I cry out? All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower falls; because the breath of the LORD blows upon it. Truly the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower falls; but the word of our God will stand forever. (LXX: The voice of one saying, Cry out. And I said, What shall I cry out? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of grass.) The grass withers, and the flower falls; because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower falls. But the word of our God remains forever. This portion marked with asterisks is added from the Hebrew and Theodotion's edition. From this it is clear that it was either omitted by the LXX or gradually lost through the error of scribes, since both the preceding and following verses end with 'flower'. Above we have read, the Prophet saying: And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said: Here I am, send me; and he said: Go and tell this people: Hearing you will hear, and will not understand: and seeing you will see, and will not perceive, and so on. After enduring a harsh preaching, now the voice of the Lord saying, he asks what he should shout, fearing similar things; and starting from the general, All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass, he comes to the particular, so that he may still say about the people: Truly the people are grass. […]

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,....

When we are brought to this, then, and not till then, we are fit for mercy. The word of our God, that glory of the Lord which is now to be revealed, the gospel, and that grace which is brought with it to us and wrought by it in us, shall stand for ever; and this is the satisfaction of all believers, when they find all their creature-comforts withering and fading like grass.

The grass withereth ... - This is repeated from the former verse for the sake of emphasis, or strong confirmation. But the word of our God - The phrase ‘word of our God,’ refers either to his promise to be the protector and deliverer of his people in their captivity, or, in general, means that all his promises shall be firm and unchanging. Shall stand for ever - Amidst all revolutions among men, his promise shall be firm.

A FEW thoughts, first, upon the things that wither. Then a word or two upon that word which endures. And then the lessons which the contrast will suggest. I. THE THINGS WHICH WITHER. The things which wither—grass and its flower; man and all that comes of man; the creature and all that springs from the creature. We are apt to think man a long-lived creature, and as we look upon races and nations, we regard the history of mankind as though it were of considerable length. If we could form any idea of eternity, we should ridicule ourselves for thinking a thousand years or six thousand years to be anything at all. They are but as a watch in the night in comparison with the endless ages of the life of God! They are no sooner come than they have gone! We look upon the grass as a short-lived thing, and talk about the frailty as well as the loveliness of the flowers—but is there so great a difference? They have their seasons—we have ours—and the seasons differ not so much after all. What if they last a month, and we last 70 years? Yet when both are withered, what does it signify? He that died but yesterday is as much dead as he that died a thousand years ago! And when the season is over, it comes to pretty much the same thing, whether we count that season by years or count it by hours. After all, the short-lived thing and we are cousins—and, looked at in the light of eternity, we and the insects are things which are and are not, floating for a while in the sunbeam, and then are gone from the land of the living.