Isaiah 48:12-22

Passage: Isaiah 48:12-22
The LORD’s Call to Israel.
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."

Journal: There is both everlasting elation and serious sombre reflected in these verses. The hope, the elation, is found in the redemption of God's people. The mighty Babylon, the one that will take God's people captive in the coming days, will thereafter fall. [v. 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!'"] This escape from bondage, similar to the escape from the captivity of Egypt centuries earlier, is a picture of the redemption of our souls from the bondage of sin. This freedom is made possible by God providing a redeemer. [v. 15 - 17 -- "I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. 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. 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.'"] This redeemer, the Christ, who is filled with God's Holy Spirit, and will be a refuge for those "[whom] He called."

To the contrary, a somber tone is struck for those that despise His chosen redeemer; thereby despising the peace and righteousness He so graciously offers. This defiance can be outward and direct, or it can be inward; masked in hypocritical tones. This is a defiance for the ages, and makes the ages fraught with agony and despair. There is nothing as sad or hopeless as the eternal separation from the creator of all things. [v. 18 -19; 21 -- "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; 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." . . . 'There is no peace,' says the LORD, 'for the wicked'."] One must consider soberly and deeply a place where peace finds no foothold.