Isaiah 5.7 47-48 (2)

Prayer Requests:

Carol, Jamison continued prayers

Jean, safe travels for a month

Arlene, Christy dsicovered a clot on her lung, on antibiotic

Cheryl, Nelson Llewelyn, shoulder surgery went well.

Suzanne, prayers for Faye, procedure on Monday

Miguel, daughter Candace PET scan on the 14th

Patti, London trip (-29th)

Laura, US military // war in Iran

Franklin Chinn, family

Isaiah 48:1–11 ESV

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. 2 For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is his name. 3 “The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4 Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, 5 I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’ 6 “You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. 7 They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel. 9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

It starts with an important naming of God’s people: notice the stacking of names “House of jacob; called by name of Israel, waters of Judah…” It is a reminder of the former things, of their past, it is a reminder that they are a people because of what God did for their ancestors and how He called them to be His own.

Then there’s the present identification: hear this you people (with the heritage we just discussed) who now swear by the name of the Lord, confess—it’s identifying them, but the key is the interjection at the end of v. 1: BUT not in truth or right.

Their confession of God, it turns out is a lie, their faith is not reliable (that’s the word true) nor it is correct (that’s righteousness). Isaiah is contrasting what one might call the people of Israel with the fact that this isn’t true of them.

It reminds me of what Jesus says about the Pharisees in Matt. 23:25-26

Matthew 23:25–26 ESV

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

This is a people, those in exile, who are hypocritical. They invoke the name of the Lord but lack true faith and righteousness, they lack obedience. We’ve seen this previously in Isaiah, there will be a faithful remnant, but not everyone among this people will be found faithful or to be the genuine people of the Lord.

Look at v. 3-5, God is saying: I announced the former things (that which has happened to Israel, including their exile). He is showing them his power above and beyond those false gods who had no power to predict the future nor influence its events, and to show Israel’s stubbornness. I told you what would happen (Persia overthrowing Babylon) specifically so that you couldn’t give the credit for that to someone else.

I think about this in our own lives: have you ever prayed for something, then it happened, and instead of giving God the credit and glory you gave credit to chance, good luck, or yourself or to someone else?

God’s revelation through the prophet was for the faith of the people, and it points out their stubbornness.

Then in v. 9-11 we see God’s refining purpose for his people. It is His mercy that restrains His anger that they will not be cut off, but it is also His mercy that has given them such a consequence like exile that it would have do a refining work among the people.

God does this for His glory.

Isaiah 48:12–22 ESV

12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. 13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together. 14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. 16 Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit. 17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19 your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” 20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out. 22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

The Lord is calling Israel to embrace God’s redemption from Babylon, trusting His sovereign hand to deliver them from exile even if that means using a nation like Persia to do so.

Now look at v. 16 Isaiah 48:16 “16 Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.”

Who is speaking? Some servant of the the Lord is here who has been sent by God. Is this Cyrus? It seems unlikely, considering Cyrus has not known of his role as a tool of the Lord. I think we ought to see this as the messiah, the servant of the Lord who will do even more for the redemption of God’s people than Cyrus.

And see what then the Lord says in v. Isaiah 48:17–18 “17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;”

Oh that you would have paid attention to my commands! If you had done that, then your offspring would be like the sand of the earth! What does this sound like? Yes! it sounds to us like the Abrahamic covenant—God’s proimse with Abraham. But that covenant was, unconditional, meaning it did not depend on human obedience.

Israel’s disobedience caused them to forfeit God’s blessings of peace and righteousness, since the covenant required that the people listen to Yahweh’s Word1. This addresses the Mosaic covenant, not the Abrahamic one. The appeal in verse 18 concerns the Mosaic covenant agreement, particularly the blessings promised in Deuteronomy 28:1–14 for obedience2. The conditional language applies specifically to this covenant’s rewards and curses.

But their hope, even here, is not in their obedience, not in their ability to pull theselves together, their hope is in this: Isaiah 48:20 “20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!””

The Lord has redeemed His people through the work of His servant. Isaiah 48, many scholars say, acts as a bridge to a series of passages about this servant, this messiah.

Isaiah 49:1–13 ESV

1 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” 5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The servant’s calling.

Isaiah 49:1–7 presents the Servant’s calling, beginning with a summons to distant peoples to listen as the Servant declares that God called him from the womb and assigned his name.1 God equipped him with a sharp mouth and polished arrow—metaphors depicting divine preparation for his mission.1

AT this point I think it’s worth considering, who is the servant? It’s easy for us to say the servant is Jesus, but I also think we ought to consider that the servant is Israel, or at least what Israel was supposed to be. God called her from far off places, formed her, birthed her out of Egypt, prepared her in the wilderness all those years to be a light. But they fail, they labored in vain because of their sin.

Yet Jesus is the ideal Israel, He does what she could not and he bears all these same characteristics. Called by God, born in a womb, prepared, etc., honored in the eyes of God.

Initially, the Servant expresses frustration, lamenting that his labor appears empty and his strength spent for nothing.1 Yet God responds by expanding the Servant’s mission beyond restoring Jacob to making him “a light to the nations” and God’s salvation to the earth’s ends.1 The passage concludes with God’s promise that kings and princes will recognize and honor this despised, rejected servant.

This is the ministry of Christ, rejected by Jews, by Israelites, He expands his mission to the Gentiles to include all people!

The progression from Israel’s rejection to a broader mission is explicit in the passage. The Servant expresses frustration, reflecting disappointment at Israel’s failure to receive his ministry2. However, in light of Israel’s rejection of the Servant, the Servant declares the expansion of his calling to the Gentiles2. Importantly, the Lord reaffirms the Servant’s ministry to Israel despite Israel’s rejection2—the mission doesn’t shift away from Israel so much as expand beyond it.

Isaiah 49:1–13 ESV

8 Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.” 13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

The Servant will fulfill God’s covenant with Israel by restoring the people to their land.1 He gathers them from nations worldwide—from north and west—and brings them home as the Servant-Messiah ushers in millennial blessings.1

The passage emphasizes the Servant’s role as liberator and provider. The Servant becomes a covenant for the people, bringing freedom for captives and light for those in darkness.2 The exiles will neither hunger nor thirst, guided beside springs of water—imagery that finds fulfillment in Jesus, who offers living water to those who come to him and presents himself as the bread of life.2

The passage culminates in cosmic celebration. All of nature responds with joy as Israel is restored to the land.1 This restoration extends beyond Israel’s immediate return from exile to encompass a universal gathering of peoples. The great return from captivity represents people from the nations streaming to Jesus in faith.