God has comforted his people

In Isaiah 40 God introduces a new hope to his people who are now enslaved in Babylon. For the first time in the Bible we hear about 'the gospel' - the announcement that God is coming to his people to save them and lead them home to his kingdom. The fulfilment of this comes when God's Son Jesus comes preaching that God's kingdom has arrived because he has arrived (Mark 1:1-15).