Isaiah 48

1. Isaiah 48

2. ISAIAH CH 48 690 BC

3. Isaiah 48 This is part of 8 consecutive chapters in Isaiah where God speaks in the First Person of His unique status as the One and Only God: the God of power and of creation we can never fathom the God of wisdom and good counsel the God Who can rightly ridicule all pretenders and goddies the God Who loves people and vows to protect Israel the God Who sets kings up and brings them down the God Who uses kings, people, nature and history for purposes of His own the God of the NT Gospel of redemption and restoration, through Christ, His Anointed One (Good News) the God of judgment (Bad News)

4. Isaiah 48 Read Matthew 3:1-10 Read Romans 2:17-29 These texts are the fullness of what the first half of Isaiah 48 is all about. In the Bible, we find that fuller understanding of OT passages only comes in conjunction with the NT. The obverse is also true: the NT comes into context only when the OT is used as a springboard. Isaiah 48:1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. 2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is his name. There can be no mistake that God was putting out a warning, in 690 BC, that God’s Chosen People needn’t let it go to their heads. They don’t get a free pass on behavior just because of their DNA. Neither do we, who are grafted-in and newly-born from above. We are held to a high standard BECAUSE we are called by His Name. It is for His Name’s sake.

5. Isaiah 48 3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. God’s foreknowledge, seeing the end from the beginning, and being bold enough to declare it to us, reminds us that He alone is God. 4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; You’re not just knuckleheads, you’re BRASS knuckleheads. Compare: Stephen, just before they stoned him to death; Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. All who would follow God should remember to walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts and tendencies of the flesh. These warnings should serve as appropriate reminders that God expects more of us than just words. Like Obama said: maybe we’re NOT a Christian nation any more. The proof is in the puddin’.

6. Isaiah 48 5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. 6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. 7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. 8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. God has many reasons for telling what is coming. One of them is to let people know that He alone is God. This preempts people from ascribing events to the little goddies people worship, or from taking credit for having known it beforehand all by themselves. God has foretold the event. If anyone says a goddie made it happen, or if they say, “I knew that…”, then they would have to answer this question: why didn’t you say so????

7. Isaiah 48 9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. 11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another. God has a lot invested in Israel, and in us, the Church. His Name is at stake. We are carriers of His reputation in the world. We should be in the business of making Him look good. Did Israel? Do we? That’s the question. That’s why He refines us. Sometimes He turns up the heat, and it is for our betterment. But He won’t vaporize us. He will just make us soft toward Him so He can mold us without breaking us to bits. With His Name at stake, He says, “for My praise, I will refrain, and not cut you off entirely.” Compare: Read Exodus 32:11-14 Moses pleaded with God on behalf of Israel. God said, “Get out of the way while I destroy them.” Moses said, “What about Your reputation?” I think God was saying, “Moses, you’re My kind of guy!” God won’t share His Glory with another, nor let another TARNISH His glory.

8. Isaiah 48 12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. Compare Rev. 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Job 38:Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

9. Isaiah 48 14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? TheLord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. In Chapter 47, God had been talking about what was going to happen to Babylon. Even though God had used Nebuchadnezzar’s empire to punish Israel, He had condemned Babylon for its excesses and sacrileges. Here, beginning in verse 14, God comes back to talking about Babylon and the whooping they’re going to get. In Chapter 45, God had named Cyrus as the one who would redeem and deliver Israel from Babylon. Here, He rejoins that train of thought. Please understand that Cyrus is one of the OT types of Christ – and he is probably THE most prominent GENTILE type of Christ. God starts out saying that He loves Cyrus; and that Cyrus will do God’s pleasure on Babylon, and will be God’s Arm against Babylon.

10. Isaiah 48 15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. One more reference to Cyrus, and God begins to transition into a direct prediction of Christ Himself, thus proving to us that Cyrus is very much an intentional and overt type of Christ. Compare: Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. 17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. This shows again that Cyrus being put forth as a benefactor toward Israel in the near term – but that Jesus Christ Himself, of Whom Cyrus is a prefigurement, is the Messiah of Israel, and that He loves Israel with an eternal love. So much for replacement theology. If the Lord loves Israel in spite of how they were before He came to earth, He certainly still loves them now that He has made His first appearance!

11. Isaiah 48 18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. Compare: Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. The Lord has always made a bona fide offer of peace to Israel. They have frustrated Him greatly. 20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. That last verse is a reminder to all, believer, or not – act wickedly, get into trouble. And yet, His love and perseverance toward Israel (and the Church) never ceases. He doesn’t refine us into vapor, but into silver!