Isaiah 48:1-11
Isa 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.
Now God addresses the tribe of Judah.
He begins by giving them a short history that are of the house of Jacob
as many in Judah were saved. As you
recall Jacob’s name was changed to Israel which means “Prince with God.”
This would represent all the true believers in ancient Israel who were
saved because God being a great king would have children through Christ and they
would be princes and princesses.
The house of Jacob came through the waters or the tribe of Judah.
Christ came through the tribe of Judah.
Judah had sworn by the name of the LORD in covenant relationship with do
that they would serve and obey him.
They were to make mention of the name of the LORD because of his relationship
with them and his guiding hand. They did
not mention or even invoke the name of the LORD in truth nor were they acting in
righteous manners because they had abandoned the LORD and went to false gospels
with their visible idols. They had
become hypocritical in their dealings with God.
Isa 48:2
For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay
themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
Then those people who dwelt in the city of Jerusalem
would claim themselves as citizens of the holy city putting on a false religious
façade and pretending that they were still serving the true God of Israel.
They would proclaim to others that the LORD of hosts was the name of the
God they served but they did that only with the lips and not the hearts.
And the Lord said, Forasmuch as
this people draw nigh unto me,
and with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their
heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been
taught them; (Isaiah 29:13)
Isa 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.
Then the LORD states that he had given tremendous
prophecies to Judah and Israel from the time they were formed and they were not
only words but the LORD performed whatever he had declared.
Then the LORD declared that those things which he prophesied he performed
suddenly, that is, he brought them to pass at the time he stated he would.
Isa 48:4
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy
neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
God knew how hard hearted they were plus they were very
stubborn people. They were
stiffnecked people who would not bow to the will of God instead they abandoned
God and went to idolatry. Their
brow was as brass which meant they sinned but they could not even blush about it
or even feel remorse for their sins even when the LORD would declare that they
would be under his judging hand if they did not repent and return.
Isa 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.
Then the LORD declares to them the reality that he is the
true God who had prophesied to them whether it be bad or good before something
came to pass he openly showed them and he did this because they would attribute
these events to their false idols but God is stating that these false idols did
not have the ability to make any prophecies and therefore God showed the
difference between himself and false idols.
None of them could prophesy anything because the deities they represented
did not exist. God showed them the
difference between him being truth and the idols being dead and false.
Isa 48:6
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.
God then declares that the people would have known their
own history how God had prophesied something and brought it to pass.
Now God is bringing them up to the present time when he is prophesying
new things to them through the present prophets he has chosen.
The same situation exists as Judah did not remember the events of old but
now it seems they do not even know what is about to happen in the present
because they have turned a deaf ear to the things of God, especially his
warnings. It seems nothing has
changed from then to today as the warnings of judgment go out and they fall on
deaf ears.
Isa 48:7
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.
These are new decrees coming forth from God and they are
not the same ones which had been decreed in the past and came to pass as God
revealed them even before they were revealed as they were still in the private
counsels of God that the people should not say that they already knew of them.
They were not privy to the private counsel of God until the time they
were revealed to them such as the coming of the Messiah in his timing.
Isa 48:8
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.
The people of Israel were not open to the truth of God
and as a result they did not know the things that God had decreed toward them
even after it was revealed to them.
The spiritual blindness and deafness they experienced was self-imposed because
they kept on turning to the false idols.
Since they were a very obstinate people, God knew they would deal
treacherously with both the people and God himself.
The word “treacherously” carries with it the meaning of “deceitfully and
unfaithfully.” God knew from the
time that he formed them they would be a nation of transgressors, yet he chose
them and brought the Messiah through them.
Before we condemn ancient Israel, every nation on earth is nation of
transgressors. It is an absolute
miracle that God did not destroy this world already and start all over.
Isa 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.
Not for them but for the sake of the name of God that he
will defer or postpone his anger until the appropriate time when the prophecy of
the removal of Judah to Babylon will occur.
God will refrain bringing a final judgment upon this nation and will not
cut them off. Cutting off means a
full end and that could not happen yet until the Lord Jesus Christ is born and
completes his earthly mission and then goes back to Heaven.
The praise and the deferring of anger was for the sake of the elect
within Israel as the wrath of God is not against them but for those in unbelief.
Ancient Israel was cut off in 70 A.D., 37 years after the end of the
Mosaic system of sacrifices completed in Christ.
Isa 48:10
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Instead of cutting his people off, God declares that he
has refined his people but not with the same method that silver is purified
until all the dross is removed but he has chosen them in the furnace of
affliction.
Take away the dross from the silver, and
there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. (Proverbs 25:4)
The furnace of affliction in this case was when they were in Egypt.
Egypt is referred to as a furnace.
But the LORD hath taken you, and
brought you forth out of the iron furnace,
even out of Egypt, to be unto
him a people of inheritance, as ye are
this day. (Deuteronomy 4:20)
This is also how the true believer is refined as we walk in this world and
attempt to refrain from being spotted by the world’s sinful systems.
And others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire; hating
even the garment spotted by the flesh. (Jude 23)
Isa 48:11
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.