To discover:
As you read note what God
is going to do for his people and how.
To ponder:
God calls Judah
to listen to him, charging them with taking oaths and invoking his name to
help, but not in truth or righteousness
- presumably meaning without sincerity nor according to God’s law. So
the LORD reminds them that the one whose city they are citizens of and who they
rely on, is Almighty. And he repeatedly brought to pass what he first foretold
because he knew how stubborn and reluctant to bow they were, and wanted to keep
them from saying idols had done what he had actually done. Indeed, he calls
them to admit this, and states he is going to tell them knew things that they
don’t know too - again, so it is very obvious these things come about by God’s
hand, and no-one can say they were already aware of them (48v1-7). As we have seen,
this predicting of what is then fulfilled is a key proof of God’s reality.
Once more,
he states his people’s reluctance to listen to him, and their rebelliousness,
explaining that the only reason they have not been cut off is because he has
delayed his wrath so that he would be praised. He then stresses he has refined
them into a degree of purity through the fire of affliction (ie. the exile).
This suggests the praise coming to him is either from them after having been
purified so that they appreciate him, or from others in seeing him do that work
of purification. Perhaps it is both (48v8-11). The LORD is worthy of praise in
how he uses hardship to deepen holiness in us too; not least, because it
displays such patience and grace towards our sin.
Once more,
God affirms he is the first and last, the creator, calling Jacob (ie. the
people of Israel )
to listen. He asks which idol foretold Cyrus acting as God’s ally against Babylon ,
and promises he will succeed, noting that he did not announce this event in
secret, so the people really can know it was his doing. He also says he will be
there when it all happens. Presumably this is to stress he is the one bringing
it to pass (48v14-15).
Isaiah continues with a reminder
of God’s personal relationship with Israel ,
which means that he teaches what is best for them. If only they had obeyed,
they would have known continual peace (like a river) and abundant righteousness
(like the sea), and their descendents would have been innumerable (as promised
to Abraham), never being cut off and destroyed as they had now been in the
exile (48v17-19). It’s a powerful reminder that one reason we obey God is
because he knows what is best for us as his people, yet also because, if it
displays genuine faith, it will result in the fulfilment of these things in
glory.
Yet having
noted Israel ’s
failure, God now calls them to joyfully proclaim to the ends of the earth his
call to flee Babylon , for he has
redeemed them in the sense that he has commissioned Cyrus to free them. So he is
caring for them just as he did when he miraculously gave them water from the
rock. But he warns them too: There will be no peace for the wicked. He wants
them to have learnt their lesson and so be repentant (48v20-22). How foolish to
cry to God in distress, and then, if he delivers us, carry on in sin.
Having
commanded Jacob to “listen” the nations are now (49v1, see 48v1). What follows
is a description of God calling a prophet before he was born, making his mouth
like a sword in the sense that his words would have power to judge, and hiding
him until the time was right to reveal him. The prophet then says that God
declared he was his servant, naming him “Israel ”
and saying God’s splendour would be displayed in him somehow. The strange thing
is that the prophet then says that he laboured for nothing, probably because
those he spoke to wouldn’t listen, but was content to do so because his reward
was with God. This is hard to relate to Israel .
Moreover, God then says this servant was formed in the womb to bring Jacob back
to God. So he is called Israel
but cannot be Israel .
He therefore seems to be someone who represents Israel ,
or who does what Israel
should have done. So he can say he is “honoured” and strengthened by the LORD,
and is being commissioned to be a light to the nations, as Israel should have
been, bringing God’s salvation to the whole earth (49v1-6). From what we have
heard elsewhere in the book, this means this servant is the Messianic king (see
42v6, 9v2-7). He is one who will be despised by Israel ,
who will serve rulers (no doubt by bringing them salvation), yet also be
honoured by them - all because he has been chosen by Israel ’s
God (49v7). This reminds us why we should listen to and honour Christ.
In the
light of the servant’s cry at being rejected (49v4, 7) God declares that in the
day of his grace and salvation he will help him, making him a covenant
agreement with his people to restore the land and free captives. And in that
day God will ensure his people will have all they need, guiding and enabling
them to return without hindrance from all directions (49v8-12, Aswan marked the
southern limit of the civilized world). So this return is not that from Babylon .
It is that begun at Pentecost, in which, having been rejected, those from all
nations started coming to Christ, in whom they are freed from the troubles of
this world and brought into the abundance of the new creation. And this act of
comfort and compassion from God is a reason for heaven and earth to rejoice
(49v13).
At this point Zion
(Jerusalem ) says she has been
forgotten. In response, God declares he can no more forget Zion
than a mother the baby she bore. Indeed, it’s as if her name is engraved on his
palms and her walls always before his eyes. This is how present to God’s mind we
are as the new Jerusalem. God therefore declares that Jerusalem ’s
sons will return whilst those who destroyed her will depart, and she will
somehow be beautified by them like jewellery, perhaps because they will then be
righteous (49v13-18). Indeed, they will be so many she won’t be able to
accommodate these children born during her bereavement (ie. born in exile,
49v19-21).
And how will these sons will
return? As the sovereign LORD who governs all things, God will call the Gentile
nations to bring them home, so that they are cared for by foreign kings and
queens, who will bow before Zion ,
presumably in recognition of Zion ’s
God. And this astonishing feat will prove that the LORD is God and hope in him
is well founded. This picture clearly moves beyond the return from Babylonian
exile, showing it is a paradigm for the ultimate coming of people to Christ, in
which kings and queens have played this part by promoting the gospel, and
bowing before the church.
The chapter
ends affirming God is able to do this, bringing judgement on Israel’s
oppressors and so saving his people from them – and all so humanity will know
that the LORD is Israel’s Saviour, Redeemer and Mighty One. This was proved
when Babylon fell; and it will be
proved at the final judgement too.
Praying it home:
Praise God for how
he governs even the most powerful to ensure those he is saving come to Christ.
Pray that the government in our country would be willing to promote the gospel
and bow in recognition of the church.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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