Isaiah 48:22

But God’s promises are not for people who refuse to give up their wicked behaviour.

Lord ~ God’s personal name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s name ‘Lord’ means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
tribe ~ group of the later family of one father.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
idol ~ home-made image of a god.'human, human being ~ a person.
ancestor ~ original father of later families.

1. Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

God’s Servant Saves God’s People

Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55

Gordon Churchyard

The words in square brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. Words in round brackets, (…) are explanations.

Chapter 48

1. Run away from Babylon!

v1 ‘Listen to this, you [people] from the family of Jacob. Their name is Israel and they belong to the family of Judah. They [are people] that make promises in the name of the *LORD. Also, they appeal to the God of Israel. But they do not [do these things] honestly and fairly.

v2 They even call themselves [citizens] of the *holy city. And they depend on the God of Israel. His name is the *LORD of Everything.

v3 I declared [a] long [time] ago the first things [that would happen]. I myself announced them. And I made [everybody] know [about them]. Then, suddenly, I acted and they happened!

v4 I knew that you are hard to persuade. It is as if the muscles in your neck are iron! The front of your head is like *bronze (hard metal)!

v5 So I told you these things long ago. Before they happened, I announced them to you. Then you could not say, “My *idol did them. My wooden image and my metal god decided that they would happen.”

v6 You heard [these things]. Now look at them all. Agree that it is true! From now, I will tell you new things. They will be things that you do not know. [They are things that I] hid from you.

v7 [I] created them now, and not [a] long [time] ago. You did not hear about them before today. So you cannot say, “Yes. I knew about them.”

v8 You have not heard them and you have not understood them. From [a] long [time] ago, your ear has not listened to them. I know well that you are not loyal [to me]. [People] said that you fought against [me] from [your] birth.

v9 By reason of my own name, I will delay my anger. [So that people will] praise me, I will keep [my anger] away from you. Then [nobody] will cut you off.

v10 Look, I have made you pure, but not as [people make] silver [pure]. I have tested you by means of great trouble that seems like a hot fire.

v11 I do this on my own behalf, [yes], on my own behalf! In fact, I cannot let people say bad things about me. And [therefore], I will not give my honour to another [person or god].’

2. Notes

Verses 1-2 The three names are important. Jacob means the nation. Israel means the people that made the *covenant. Judah means the people that lived in the *holy city. The ‘*holy city’ is a name for Jerusalem. The ‘*covenant’ was an agreement between God and his people. The people expected God to do what he promised in the *covenant. That is what ‘depend’ means in verse 2. But the people did not do what they promised in the *covenant. That is what verse 1 means by ‘not honestly and fairly’.

Verse 3 What are ‘the first things’? They were good things, as verse 5 tells us. Not all Bible students agree what they were. They were probably what King Cyrus did. He defeated Babylon, then he sent the *Jews home from *exile. When Isaiah wrote this, Cyrus was still in the future. So we could translate the end of verse 3, ‘Suddenly, I will act, and they will happen.’ But God already knew that it would happen. And for that reason it is in the past tense! It is certain to happen.

Verse 4 The people are hard to persuade. So it is difficult to make them agree with God. Such people seem to have necks of iron and heads of *bronze (hard metal)! They will not move their heads to look another way. This is because their neck muscles are like iron. Ideas cannot get into their heads. This is because their heads are like *bronze. ‘*Bronze’ is a hard yellowish brown metal. It is a mixture of copper and tin. ‘Copper’ and ‘tin’ are metals.

Verse 5 An *idol is a false god. An image is like a picture of a false god. Nobody would try to give the honour to a false god if something bad had happened. So, clearly, the thing that God had brought about was something good! (See note on verse 3.)

Verse 6 God declares that he will do new things. The ‘new things’ are not the same as the ‘first things’ in verse 3. The ‘new things’ would happen when God’s servant came.

Verses 7-8 The people in Judah could not say that they knew about ‘the new things’. Other *prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah would also talk about these ‘new things’. But the people from Judah did not want to listen to God’s message when Ezekiel and Jeremiah spoke to them.

Verse 9 ‘My own name’ means ‘everything about me’. ‘Cut you off’ means ‘make you die’.

Verse 10 People made silver pure in a fire. But God makes his people pure when they have trouble. As fire burns the dirt out of silver, so trouble removes bad things from God’s people. Deuteronomy 4:20 says that, to the *Jews, their experiences in Egypt were like a fire. Perhaps Isaiah meant that their experiences in Babylon would be like another fire.

Verse 11 The fire in verse 10 will make God’s people into better people. But God does this mainly on his own behalf. He will make his people into better people for this reason. He does not want anyone else to receive honour for what he has done.

v12 ‘Listen to me, [you people from the family of] Jacob! [Listen to me, you people from] Israel, whom I have called. I am he. I am the first and [I am] the last.

v13 My own hand laid the base of the earth. And my right hand spread out the skies. When I call to them, they all stand [up] together.

v14 All of you, come together and listen [to me]. Which [of your *idols] said what would happen? The *LORD has chosen a friend [to help him]. [That friend] will carry out God’s purposes against Babylon. His arm [will be against] the people from Chaldea (Babylon).

v15 I, [yes,] I have spoken. Also, I have called him. I will bring him [to Babylon]. And he will succeed in what he has to do.

v16 Come near to me and listen to this. From the first time I spoke [about it], it was not in secret. When it happens, I will be there.’

‘And now the *LORD and Master has sent me with his Spirit.’

v17 This is what the *LORD says. He is your *Redeemer, the *Holy [God] of Israel. ‘I am the *LORD your God. I will teach you what is the best [thing] for you. I will direct you in the way that you should go.

v18 If only you had listened to my commands, then your *peace would be like a river. Also, your goodness would be like the waves of the sea.

v19 Your children, and your children’s children, would be as many as there are little bits of sand [at the seaside]. Nobody would ever forget their names. Nobody would *destroy them in front of me.

v20 Leave Babylon! Run from the people in Chaldea (Babylon)! Declare it with shouts of joy. Talk about it and send [the news] to the ends of the earth. Say that the *LORD has *redeemed Jacob, his servant.’

v21 They were not *thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split the rock and water rushed out.

v22 ‘There is no *peace for wicked people’, says the *LORD.

3. Notes

Verse 12 ‘Listen’ is not plural here, because there is only one nation called Jacob or Israel. But in verses 14 and 16 it is plural, because God is speaking to each person in the nation. God calls nations and people to follow him. The end of the verse means ‘I am the only God, from the beginning to the end.’

Verse 13 The earth and the skies do what God tells them to do. God’s people must do the same when he speaks to them. He spoke to them in the past. Now he will speak to them again, verses 14-22.

Verse 14. God speaks to each person in Israel. They have false gods. Which of them said what would happen in Babylon? The answer is, ‘None!’ But each *Jew must answer for himself or herself. That is why it is a question. We, too, must answer it! The friend is Cyrus, see Isaiah 45:1. ‘His arm’ means the arm that he fights with. ‘Chaldea’ is another name for ‘Babylon’.

Verse 15. ‘I’ comes twice to emphasise the importance of the speaker, that is, God. ‘Him’ and ‘he’ are both Cyrus.

Verse 16-17 God will be with his people when they leave Babylon. He will show them the way and what to do. Notice two things in these verses.

1) God’s servant suddenly says, ‘And now the *LORD and Master has sent me with his Spirit.’ Isaiah chapter 50 is about God’s servant. Isaiah chapter 50 refers to God as ‘*LORD and Master’. Bible students are not sure why God’s servant suddenly speaks here. The section ‘Something to do’ after Isaiah chapter 42 has a note about God’s servant. Read the note in number 3 of that section.

2) Verse 17 calls God ‘your *Redeemer’. There is a note on ‘*redeem’ at Isaiah 43:1.

Verse 18 ‘*Peace like a river’ means that there would always be *peace. A river always flows. The *Hebrew word for ‘*peace’ (shalom) does not just mean ‘no war’. It means many good things also. ‘The waves of the sea’ mean something that is always strong. Here it is the goodness of God’s people. People usually translate the *Hebrew word for ‘goodness’ (tsedek) as ‘*righteousness’. It means ‘the quality of someone who is very, very good’. Only God is really very good (‘*righteous’). However, he says that his people are good (‘*righteous’) also. His people must love and obey him.

Verse 19 Many children are a *blessing from God. So are many animals and many crops. Read Psalms 127:3-5 and Genesis 15:5. These *blessings are part of the ‘*Covenant’ (special serious agreement) between God and his people. In this agreement, two things must happen.

• God will give his *blessing to his people.

• God’s people will love him and they will obey him.

Verse 20 The ‘ends of the earth’ are places that are very far away. ‘*Redeemed’ here means that God has made his people free. See also the note at Isaiah 43:1.

Verse 21 Isaiah reminds the *Jews about what God did about 700 years before. He is a powerful God! *Thirsty means that a person desperately needs something to drink. But when God’s people lived in the desert, they were not *thirsty. God provided the water, even from the rocks!

Verse 22 Wicked people do not listen to God’s commands and they refuse to obey him. Therefore they have no *peace, verse 18.

4. Something to do

1. Read about God’s *blessings to his people: Psalms 127:3-5; Genesis 15:5 and Genesis 22:17.

2. Learn to say verse 18 ‘by heart’. (This means, ‘learn to say it from your memory’.)

3. Study again the note on God’s servant before the start of Isaiah chapter 41.

11. heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
    lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
    bronze ~ a hard yellowish brown metal. It is a mixture of two metals called copper and tin.
    idol ~ a false god that people made.
    covenant ~ the agreement between God and his people. In this agreement God agrees to help and to protect his people. His people agree to love and to serve God. Or, an agreement between nations.
    Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
    exile ~ a person whom enemies force to live away from his own home or country. Or, the place where that person has to live.
    bronze ~ a hard yellowish brown metal. It is a mixture of two metals called copper and tin.
    prophet ~ someone who says what God is saying.
    holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
    peace ~ a calm and content attitude. The word often means simply that there is no war. But ‘peace’ especially means the calm and content attitude of a person who has a right relationship with God.
    destroy ~ to punish severely, often by means of death.
    redeem ~ a member of your family buys you from an enemy.
    thirsty ~ the feeling when a person desperately needs something to drink.
    peace ~ a calm and content attitude. The word often means simply that there is no war. But ‘peace’ especially means the calm and content attitude of a person who has a right relationship with God.
    righteousness ~ great goodness.
    righteous ~ very, very good. Only God is really righteous (always right) but he calls his people righteous too.
    blessing ~ the good things that God does for his people.
    covenant ~ the agreement between God and his people. In this agreement God agrees to help and to protect his people. His people agree to love and to serve God. Or, an agreement between nations.
    redeem ~ a member of your family buys you from an enemy.
    thirsty ~ the feeling when a person desperately needs something to drink.