For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 48:1-5     

1 ‘Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob,
    you who are called by the name of Israel
    and come from the line of Judah,
you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
    and invoke the God of Israel –
    but not in truth or righteousness –
2 you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city
    and claim to rely on the God of Israel –
    the Lord Almighty is his name:
3 I foretold the former things long ago,
    my mouth announced them and I made them known;
    then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
4 For I knew how stubborn you were;
    your neck muscles were iron,
    your forehead was bronze.
5 Therefore I told you these things long ago;
    before they happened I announced them to you
so that you could not say,
    “My images brought them about;
    my wooden image and metal god ordained them.”

A. Find Out:

1. How does the Lord identify who He speaks to next? v.1,2
2. Yet what slight barb is there in that? v.1
3. What does He say about Himself? v.3
4. What did He know about them? v.4
5. So what did He do? v.5a,b
6. Why? v.5c,d

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the Lord identifies Israel as He does?
2. What was God’s ‘problem’?
3. So how had He acted to deal with it?

C. Comment:

Now the prophecy moves on from Babylon and the spotlight is put back on Israel, but the Lord doesn’t just say ‘Israel’, He goes on to give a long list of descriptions of Israel to make a point. Jacob speaks of the twister from whom they came. Israel speaks of the transformation that God wrought in him. Judah speaks of their designed destiny. Oaths speak of their ongoing relationship with the Lord. The holy city refers to their established home, the place of long-term encounter with God. All of this emphasises the nature of their relationship with the Lord, a reminder that they were a redeemed people by the eternal Almighty God.

Then comes an ‘in your face’ assessment of Israel. First there are the words at the end of verse 1. They seemed to call on the Lord, but it was neither real nor right. Then comes the Lord’s assessment of them in verse 4. He knew they were a stubborn people. On a good day we can shine with the goodness of God, but underlying that, the sin presence seeks to push self well to the fore and we object to the righteous calls of God on our lives.

To help counter this foolish tendency with them (and us) the Lord spoke, long before it would happen, about their future, so that when it did happen they would not foolishly attribute it to the work of their idols (today we might attribute it to the working or technology or science or government or whatever else we rely upon!).

D. Application:

1. Know yourself! Potentially wonderful but with potential folly.
2. The Lord knows this and still loves us and works accordingly.

Passage: Isaiah 48:6-8

6 You have heard these things; look at them all.
    Will you not admit them? ‘From now on I will tell you of new things,
    of hidden things unknown to you.
7 They are created now, and not long ago;
    you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say,
    “Yes, I knew of them.”
8 You have neither heard nor understood;
    from of old your ears have not been open.
Well do I know how treacherous you are;
    you were called a rebel from birth.

A. Find Out:    

1. What does the Lord ask them to admit? v.6a,b
2. What does He say He will now do? v.6c,d
3. What does He say about this? v.7a,b
4. What cannot they say? v.7c
5. What does He say about them? v.8a,b
6. How does He describe them? v.8c,d

B. Think:

1. How does this passage flow on from the previous one?
2. What had been Israel’s tendency?
3. How could that not be now?

C. Comment:

Israel had given an appearance of following the Lord. They had used His name (v.1) yet they were stubborn and went their own way (v.4) and even relied upon idols (v.5) instead of the Lord. Their tendency had been to write off what the prophets were prophesying from God by saying that they knew it already, and then put their own spin on it. Men still have the same tendency today, to deny God’s word and place reliance in things instead.

Well, says the Lord, I’m going to say new things to you, new things that I’ve never said before and which you know nothing about. This is amazing, this is the announcement of a completely new phase in God’s dealings with Israel. He’s talking about what we know now to be the exile of Israel to Babylon and the subsequent fall of Babylon. For them at that time this was not thought of, something that was not going to happen for a couple of hundred years, so they couldn’t possibly envisage it. This is something, say the Lord, that your foolish idols couldn’t possibly tell you about.

The reality would be that Israel would not believe it and would continue on unrepentant until they were swept away out of the land under Nebuchadnezzar’s might. The trouble with sin is that it is blind and hopes optimistically that there will be no repercussions. Wrong!

D. Application:

1. The Lord plans and purposes over centuries. See His greatness.
2. You cannot get away with ongoing sin.

Passage: Isaiah 48:9-11    

9 For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath;
    for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
    so as not to destroy you completely.
10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
    I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
    How can I let myself be defamed?
    I will not yield my glory to another.

A. Find Out:

1. For the sake of what, will the Lord do what? v.9a,b
2. So what will He not do? v.9c
3. What does the Lord say He has done? v.10
4. How has He done this? v.10c
5. So why is He going to move? v.11a
6. What will He not let happen? v.11b,c

B. Think:

1. What has the Lord done?
2. What is He yet to do?
3. What is His motivation behind all this?

C. Comment:

We focus today on a very important truth in Scripture: God cares about His name! He starts these verses saying that it is for His “name’s sake”, it is because of what will be said about Him and His name, that He acts.

He says (that in the past) He has refined them or tested them by allowing them to go through trying circumstances. He does that with us and it is for the same reason: that when we triumph the world will see and know that He is God (Jn 17:21-23 / Eph 3:10). Israel were to be a light to the Gentiles, to reveal the glory of God to the rest of the world. Therefore as glory-bearers they couldn’t be just left to sin, God had to deal with them for the world to see that He intended righteousness and holiness for His people, and for the world.

The world asks about God and they get their answers through the people of God. The world wonders what sort of God it is that we’re talking about, and they get their answers as they look at Jesus and as they look at the lives and activities of the people of God. If Israel were just left then the world would get the wrong idea about God. When Israel were successful, the world had to know that the reason was God. Israel could not claim the glory, only God could! The same is true for us today.

D. Application:

1. We are to reveal the Lord to the rest of the world.
2. God’s honour depends in measure on His people.

Passage: Isaiah 48:12-15       

12 ‘Listen to me, Jacob,
    Israel, whom I have called:
I am he;
    I am the first and I am the last.
13 My own hand laid the foundations of the earth,
    and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
    they all stand up together.

14 ‘Come together, all of you, and listen:
    which of the idols has foretold these things?
The Lord’s chosen ally
    will carry out his purpose against Babylon;
    his arm will be against the Babylonians.
15 I, even I, have spoken;
    yes, I have called him.
I will bring him,
    and he will succeed in his mission.

A. Find Out:

1. How does the Lord describe Himself? v.12
2. What does He say He has done? v.13
3. What does He ask? v.14b
4. Who does He say will do what? v.14c,d
5. What does He reiterate? v.15

B. Think:

1. What does the Lord say about Creation?
2. What does He say about history?
3. What do both these things say about Him?

C. Comment:

Again the Lord specifically names Israel as Jacob, a subtle reminder of their history with Him, of their not-good origins. They have human origins, not very good origins. By comparison He has no origins, He is eternal, the first and last, the one there at the beginning of all creation, the one who will be there at the end.

Then He reminds them that He is the God who created all things.   He has done this a number of times in these prophecies (40:22,28 42:5, 44:24, 45:8,12,18); it is a measure of His greatness.

He briefly derides the idols again, as He has done many times in these prophecies. And then He declares that He will move sovereignly and deal with Babylon. Again many times in these passages He has declared that He will move sovereignly in the affairs of nations. All of these themes keep on coming up in these prophecies as the Lord keeps on saying over and over these things to a people who are slow to hear. It is both a sign of God’s grace and man’s folly that these things are here again and again.

Now, He is reiterating His greatness in order to convince Israel that when the exile comes, that will not be the end, He will deal with Babylon. For them at that moment they probably saw it as a warning against getting too close to Babylon (see 39:1,2), but in the longer term we can see it in the light of God’s long-term purposes.

D. Application:

1. Keep perspective – see the Lord as Almighty Creator of all things.
2. Keep perspective – see the Lord as the One who works in history.

Passage: Isaiah 48:16-19

16 ‘Come near me and listen to this:

‘From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
    at the time it happens, I am there.’

And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me,
    endowed with his Spirit.

17 This is what the Lord says –
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
‘I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is best for you,
    who directs you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had paid attention to my commands,
    your peace would have been like a river,
    your well-being like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sand,
    your children like its numberless grains;
their name would never be blotted out
    nor destroyed from before me.’

A. Find Out:

1. What does the prophet tell them to know? v.16
2. What does he now claim? v.16
3. What does the Lord say He does? v.17
4. What would have happened if they had been obedient? v.18
5. What positive thing would have happened? v.19a,b
6. What negative thing wouldn’t have happened? v.19c,d

B. Think:

1. What has been the Lord’s role with Israel over the years?
2. What would have been the fruit of following Him in that?
3. What instead has happened and will happen?

C. Comment:

The Lord turns from His specific words of judgement against Babylon to chide Israel generally. Hey, come on listen to what I’m saying here, is what He says in effect. Haven’t I always told you what was on my heart for you? Hey, says Isaiah, it’s the Lord who has sent me with these messages, listen to what He’s saying!

I come, says the Lord as your Redeemer. He’s come with this title before (41:14, 43:1,14, 44:6,22,24, 47:4), the One who has saved you out of Egypt and taken you into the land of promise. Every time the Lord uses this title He is reminding them of their history with Him. He expounds on that: He teaches them and directs them, that is part of the expression of the relationship that He has with them. Whenever He does teach and direct them it is always for their good and for their blessing.

However there is a catch! It’s all very well for the Lord to teach and direct but for the blessing to be received Israel had to respond to what the Lord said and be obedient. The blessing would come as they did what the Lord counselled, but if they didn’t DO what He was saying then the blessing could obviously not come. Peace and righteousness as a national experience should have been what they were receiving, but instead they had conflict with enemies who carried them away – all because they refused to do what God said. What folly!

D. Application:

1. Blessing from God isn’t automatic. It follows obedience.
2. Obedience means moving into righteousness. Peace follows.

Passage: Isaiah 48:20-22

20 Leave Babylon,
    flee from the Babylonians!
Announce this with shouts of joy
    and proclaim it.
Send it out to the ends 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 water gushed out.

22 ‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’

A. Find Out:

1. What does the Lord tell them to do? v.20a
2. How are they to announce this? v.20b
3. What are they to tell the world? v.20c,d
4. What didn’t happen to them in the desert? v.21a,b
5. Why? v.21c,d
6. Yet what is His final warning? v.22

B. Think:

1. What is the Lord telling Israel to do here?
2. What reassurance does He bring them?
3. Yet what warning is given?

C. Comment:

Back in chapter 39 in the historical narrative, Hezekiah had been making friends with Babylon. Chapter 47 was a warning of the downfall of Babylon. Yes, the Lord would use Babylon in the future to judge Israel and take them into exile and then bring them back 70 years later, but Babylon is not to be Israel’s partner. So says the Lord, stand clear of Babylon! Whether this was just a word for them there in the present, or for the future, it is quite clear – stand clear of Babylon, get away from them, you are free, you are independent. Indeed let the whole world see and know that the Lord has redeemed you. You are what you are because of the Lord, not because of any alliance with mighty Babylon. They will be brought down and the world will know that this is the work of the Lord.

He also reassures them: don’t worry about who’s going to look after you.  I, the Lord, looked after you in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt, so I will look after you after I bring you out of Babylon.

Then comes a final warning: there is no peace for the wicked!   Peace was what Israel should have known (see v.18) but peace will evade the life of the wicked. Peace will only come to those who honour and obey the Lord. Where the Lord is, there is peace.  When the Lord has been abandoned there cannot be peace!

D. Application:

1. Be separate, be distinct (2 Cor 6:17), be holy.
2. Trust the Lord to be your provider.