WWUTT 2084 Yahweh Will Save for His Glory (Isaiah 48:1-22)

Yahweh was going to send his people Israel into affliction because they had rebelled against God.

But God was not going to annihilate them. He would lift them up out of their afflictions that they would glorify

His name. When we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a

Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe. Thank you,

Becky, and greetings, everyone. In our Old Testament study, we've been in the book of Isaiah, and we're coming to the close of a section that's gone from chapters 40 to 48.

We're looking at chapter 48 today. This chapter is 22 verses long, and I'm going to begin by reading the first 11 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear this,

O house of Jacob, who are called by the name Israel and who came forth from the loins of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and bring to remembrance the

God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness. For they call themselves after the holy city and are supported by the

God of Israel. Yahweh of hosts is His name. I declared the former things long ago, and they went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to be heard.

Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Because I know that you are stiff, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze, therefore

I declared them to you long ago. Before they happened, I caused them to be heard by you, lest you say,

My idol has done them, and My graven image and My molten image have commanded them. You have heard.

Look at all this. And you, will you not declare it? I caused you to hear new things, from this time even hidden things which you have not known.

They are created now and not long ago, and before today you have not heard them, lest you say,

Behold, I knew them. Indeed you have not heard. Indeed you have not known.

Indeed even from long ago your ear has not been open, because I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and you have been called a transgressor from the womb.

For the sake of My name, I delay My anger, and for My praise,

I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver,

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake,

I will act. For how can My name be profaned? And My glory

I will not give to another. So as I mentioned at the beginning, this particular chapter brings to a conclusion that section that we've been reading from chapters 40 to 48, where God is dealing with His people

Israel with affliction. Now once again, all of these things are being prophesied a hundred years before they happen.

So it's being talked about here, that they're going to be sent into Babylonian captivity later on in the chapter.

God talks about releasing them from the captivity of the Chaldeans, and they will go forth with singing. Those that humble themselves and learn from God's reproof, they will be delivered and they will dwell with Him in safety forever.

But those who do not, there is no peace for the wicked. That's the very last line of this particular chapter.

So God has been confronting Israel in their wickedness, because they have worshipped false gods instead of the one true

God. He is revealing those things that are going to come to pass so that they would know that God has done this, not their false gods.

And throughout this whole section, 40 to 48, I think in every chapter there has been some sort of indictment against the false gods, you know, saying something to the effect even of if your idols can tell you what it is that's going to come to pass, then let them take counsel together and tell you.

But no, it is God who is the one that says what is going to happen, because He is the one who has ordained that these things are going to take place.

So as we read this together, let us learn that God will afflict us and test us, that we would be convicted over our sin and turn from sin to the

Lord God, knowing that He saves for His name's sake, that we may give glory to the

Lord and not boast in ourselves. So coming back to the start of the chapter here, chapter 48, hear this,

O house of Jacob, who are called by the name Israel and who came forth from the loins of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and bring to remembrance the

God of Israel. So this people, they say to themselves, nothing will happen to us because we are of Jacob.

Yahweh is our God. So no, no bad thing will ever befall us.

They claim the name of God, but remember what we read at the start of Isaiah, they acknowledge God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.

Consider the last line of verse one, but not in truth or in righteousness.

So they say, we are called by the name Israel, Yahweh is our God. They bring to remembrance the

God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness. They do it in vain. They do it for themselves.

They boast in themselves. Then they turn around and worship false gods instead of the true God, whose name they say they bear.

Verse two, for they call themselves after the holy city and are supported by the God of Israel.

Yahweh of hosts is his name. So it is true that God upholds this people just because they say the name of God vainly doesn't mean that he is not in their midst.

He is the one who sustains them. He's the one that's going to send them into affliction and bring them out of that affliction again after they have been tested.

Verse three, I declared the former things long ago, and they went forth from my mouth and I caused them to be heard.

Suddenly I acted and they came to pass because I know that you are stiff and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze.

Therefore I declared them to you long ago before they happen. I caused them to be heard by you, lest you say my idol has done them and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.

So this is God saying, I have brought these things to your attention long before they take place so that you would know that it is

God who does this and God does this for their benefit. So they don't turn back to their false gods who declared them nothing there, declared to them nothing.

Their false gods are mute. They can't say anything. There's nothing to them. They made these false gods.

They were made by man and then man bows down and worships them. How absurd these false gods didn't tell you anything.

They have no intimacy with you whatsoever. They don't care about you. God is the one who has spoken to you so that you may know

Yahweh. You won't turn to your false gods. You will turn to the one true God who has spoke these things and has brought them to pass.

You know, in Romans 15, four, I think this was a verse I read. Was it yesterday or the day before for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope here.

God is saying to Israel, I've spoken these things to you decades before they happen so that you would know who

I am. And it is God who has brought this to pass. And as I have brought you into affliction, so I am the one that is going to bring you out of affliction.

If you humble yourselves and turn to the Lord. And so the same thing can be said to us that the words of God have been given to us in the

Bible and these things written down for our instruction so that through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope we too are going to go through afflictions.

You're going to go through afflictions. You may be going through afflictions now. And God is testing you in the midst of these things that you would turn and cling to Christ that you would hold on to him in the midst of all of this and not despair and trust in those promises where it is said that God will deliver his people.

If you are in Christ, you are his people. He will sustain you. He will lift you up.

He will deliver you. The worst test that anyone ever has to face, the most dreaded test that any of us ever face is death.

And do you trust God that he is going to deliver you out of the midst of even that trial?

He raised his son from the dead so that all who believe in Jesus will likewise be risen from the dead.

Do you trust in him to deliver you? These things are written for us that we might have encouragement in the scriptures.

We might have hope, though we will go through afflictions. We have the promise of God that he will deliver us from those afflictions.

Even the greatest affliction that will come upon us, which is death. I declared them to you long ago.

God says to Israel and he says them to us before they happen. I caused them to be heard by you so that we would not trust in anything else.

We would not trust in good health care to make my life happy. We would not trust in a good housing market for me to feel satisfied.

We don't trust in long life. We don't trust in a good job or good relationships or trust in the passions of our flesh even that I get my flesh satisfied every once in a while.

We don't put our trust in those things for happiness or joy or sustainment and certainly not for eternity because all of these things around us, even the things that we enjoy that God gave us to be enjoyed like food, even those things are going to perish.

They're going to pass away. But these things have been told to us so that we would turn to God and we would cling to him.

He who is eternal. We would turn from our sin and our wicked ways and we would walk in righteousness before him.

The righteousness of Christ that has been given to all who believe in him, lest we give our praise to man or things that are made by man.

Let us not do that. Let us give praise and glory to the God who made us, who put us in this situation for his purposes.

We continue on verse six. God says, you have heard, look at all this and you, will you not declare it?

I caused you to hear new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

They are created now and not long ago. And before today, you have not heard them lest you say, behold,

I knew them. So God putting it upon the Israelites here.

Do not boast in yourself. God showed you what he was going to do, how he was going to deal with you, how he was going to bring these things to pass.

God has said and done this. He is. He has said it ahead of time so that men would not boast in themselves, lest Israel go through this trial and and they do come out of that affliction.

You know, they endure the captivity of the Babylonians and then later into the hands of the Medes and the Persians and they come out of that and they go, oh boy, we survived that.

Look how well we did. Look at how we managed to take care of ourselves and sustain ourselves.

No, God has spoken this in advance so that you will not boast in yourself. You won't say it is me who has done this.

But that you would turn to God and say, Yahweh is the one that has lifted me out of my affliction.

So we go on in verse eight. Indeed, you have not heard. Indeed, you have not known.

Indeed, even from long ago, your ear has not been open because I knew that you would deal very treacherously and you have been called a transgressor from the womb.

That's a reference back to original sin. That we are all born in sinfulness.

We're all conceived in sin. We are wicked from our births. There is nothing good in man, nothing that a man can boast in himself.

Look, I have done this. Look at the good and the righteousness that I have done. No, you were treacherous from the womb.

You were in rebellion against God by your very nature. It is in your nature to rebel against God.

So these things have been spoken to you that you would know your current worship of the

Lord. If you love the Lord, your God, and you desire to obey his commandments and you worship

God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, this is only because of God's grace towards you.

It's not because you have done this. It's because he has done this, that you would give him glory. These things have been written down in the word of God that you may know it was not you.

It is him. First John 2 .12, I am writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven you for his namesake.

God does this for his namesake. He forgives you, calls you to himself that you would give glory to his name.

Verse nine, for the sake of my name, I delay my anger and for my praise,

I restrain it for you in order not to cut you off. Now, remember, God is preserving the

Jewish people because it's from this people is going to come the savior. And so that we who would worship

Jesus Christ, we would worship him for his namesake. God is doing this for the praise of his glorious grace.

But he does do this out of love for his people. It's not that, you know,

God does these things for his namesake so he doesn't care about us. He just cares about himself. That's not it at all.

He does show love and affection for his people, but he shows them love that he may be glorified.

Consider verse nine again. For the sake of my name, I delay my anger and for my praise,

I restrain it for you in order not to cut you off. So there is a love and an affection for his people that is expressed there.

Consider second Corinthians 521. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

The father put forth his son to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus laid down his own life for our sins for our sake.

He did it on our behalf. But it's ultimately to the praise of his glorious grace, the phrase that's used in Ephesians chapter one, that we would praise his name, that he receives glory and honor.

It is it is not our glory. We have no glory to boast in. If left to ourselves, since we deal treacherously from the womb, we would be destroyed.

But God has shown his mercy and his grace toward us that we might be saved and that he would be glorified for the goodness that he shows.

For as we go on here to read verses 10 and 11, behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake, for my own sake,

I will act for how can my name be profaned and my glory

I will not give to another. So again, not that we would boast in ourselves, but we would give glory to God who was merciful and gracious to those whom he redeems.

And we read about that redemption in the next half of the chapter, verses 12 to 22.

Hear me, O Jacob, even Israel, whom I called, I am he. I am the first.

I am also the last. This is the same title that Jesus uses of himself in the in the book of Revelation.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Verse 13, also, my hand founded the earth and my right hand spread out the heavens.

When I call to them, they stand together. Assemble all of you and hear who among them has declared these things.

Yahweh loves him. He will carry out his good pleasure on Babylon and his arm will be against the

Chaldeans. So once again, these things being spoken to the Jews that they would know it is God who has done this.

They are going to be sent into exile, but God will deliver them from the hands of the Chaldeans. His arm will be against the

Chaldeans. Though they will have their way with God's people, God will have his way with them.

Verse 15, I, even I have spoken, indeed, I have called him,

I have brought him and he will make his ways successful. Draw near to me, hear this, from the first I have not spoken in secret.

From the time it took place, I was there. So now Lord Yahweh has sent me and his spirit.

And that is a truly curious phrase, an interesting sentence. Lord Yahweh has sent me and his spirit.

Who could that possibly be in reference to? Yahweh has sent me and his spirit.

That's in reference to Christ. God sends Christ. Ultimately all of these things, even this prophecy that's being spoken to the

Jews about how they're going to be sent into Babylonian captivity. Ultimately this prophecy is pointing them toward the true savior who is to come.

The one who will be filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. And those who will turn to Christ will become partakers in his holiness.

They will walk in the way of duty. They will be in obedience to the Lord, their God. We consider that further as we go on.

Verse 17, thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, I am

Yahweh your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.

If only 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 seed would have been like the sand and the offspring from your loins like its grains.

Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from my presence because that was the covenant that God made with his people, right?

We read about that in the book of Deuteronomy. If you will keep my statutes, if you will obey the rules that I have given to you, you will live long in the land that the

Lord your God is giving to you. But they did not obey him. They turned to false gods. And so he drove them off the land.

If they had been obedient to the commandments, your peace would have been like a river.

And my friends, there's something in that for us to be applied. When we are obedient to God and his commandments, there's peace, peace like a river that we have in Christ Jesus.

We have a confirmation that we know God and love him when we obey his commandments.

I'm going back to 1 John 2 again, verses 3 and 4. And by this, we know that we have come to know him.

If we keep his commandments, we know that we've come to know

God. If we keep his commandments, the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

Verse 5, but whoever keeps his word truly in him, the love of God has been perfected.

By this, we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as Jesus walked.

And so an assurance, a confirmation of our salvation can be when we look at our lives, we see that we are obedient to God's commandments.

And then there is a peace in our hearts in that there is a contentment because we know that God is for us and not against us.

If we would continue in sin and rebellion, if you continue in disobedience, contrary to what

God has commanded, well, you're not going to have assurance. You cannot have assurance and disobedience at the same time.

If you're going to be disobedient against God, it's going to cause you to doubt.

To doubt your own salvation, to not have that peace, to wonder if God's anger is against me because of the sins that I am committing.

Be convicted of your sins, turn from those sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll have peace like a river in your soul.

Your righteousness like the waves of the sea. I go back again to 2 Corinthians 5 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

If you have Jesus Christ, you will live in righteousness. You will be obedient to his commands.

It doesn't mean you'll never sin, but your orientation is not towards sin. You desire, you desire holiness.

You want to live in holiness. You'll turn from those wicked things and live in the righteousness of Christ that you've been clothed in.

Let's finish up the chapter here. Isaiah 48 20 to 22. Go forth from Babylon, flee from the

Chaldeans, declare with the sound of joyful shouting, cause this to be heard.

Bring it forth to the end of the earth. Say, Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob. And they did not thirst when he led them through the waste places.

He made the water flow out of the rock for them. He split the rock and the water gushed forth.

And now here's the last line of chapter 48. There is no peace for the wicked, says

Yahweh. If you persist in wickedness, you will have no peace.

But those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and turn from sin, turn from their wicked ways and walk in holiness and uprightness before him, there's a peace that surpasses all understanding, guarding your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

That very line Paul says in Philippians chapter four. What a wonderful truth we can glean from this passage of scripture that was written 2 ,700 years ago.

And yet we continue to see the goodness of God in the way that he dealt with his people, testing them through affliction, delivering them out of that, bringing them to a place where water flowed from the rock, peace like a river.

We can see how God has dealt this way with his people in the past. And we know that he will deal with us this way even now.

He afflicts us to draw us close to him. And if we turn from our sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ, we will have peace and we will have it forevermore.

Let me finish there with prayer. Heavenly father, I thank you for what we've read here. And I pray that it would be convicting and that those who are listening, that they would turn from their sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ, seek out our hidden faults as David prayed in Psalm 139.

Test me and try me and know my thoughts. If there is, there's any pride in me, God, if there is anything in me that I need to lay before you, convict my heart of it, that I may know it.

I may know what the sin is that might keep me from clinging to the

Lord or coming closer to the Lord all the more. Help me to find that sin and lay it at your feet.

And God forgive me, cleanse me, purge me with hyssop as said in Psalm 51, make me white as snow and help me to walk in your ways to draw closer to Christ.

And as I come out of my afflictions, as I am able to rejoice in God who has shown such abundant mercy to me,

I would go forth with singing. I would say Yahweh has redeemed his servant and become a testimony to others of the goodness of God for your name's sake.

May your name be glorified in my life. May the name of God be glorified in the lives of those who are listening and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake as said in Psalm 23.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. This has been When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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