48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’ and are descended from Judah, who take oaths in the name of the Lord, and invoke the God of Israel— but not in an honest and just manner. 

 

Jehovah gave a message to the unbelieving Jews who would live in Babylon 150 years later during the end of the 70 year Babylonian Captivity. This message was written to "Jacob" meaning "heel" or "supplanter." However. Jacob called herself "Israel," meaning "prince with God." The Jewish population at the end of the Babylonian Captivity would behave and act like heels and supplanters, but they would call themselves princes of God. They would claim to be Israelites, but they would invoke the name of Jehovah. They would not boast in an honest and just manner. They would be fake believers who would use the name of Jehovah in order to fool themselves and others.

 

48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; they trust in the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord who commands armies. 

 

These fake Jewish believers would declare that they were citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem and claim that they trusted in Jehovah, but they did not.

 

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, I issued the decrees and made the predictions; suddenly I acted and they came to pass. 

 

Jehovah proved that He was the one true God by predicting the Babylonian captivity 150 years in advance.

 

48:4 I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze. 

 

Jehovah had to place these prophecies in writing, because these Jewish unbelievers were stubborn and hard-headed. These written prophecies proved that Jehovah was the one true God and that Israel was stubborn and rebellious.

 

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand; before they happened, I predicted them for you, so you could never say, ‘My image did these things, my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’ 

 

If Jehovah did not record these prophecies in writing, then Israel would have falsely claimed that their demonic idols made these prophecies.

 

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! Will you not admit that what I say is true? From this point on I am announcing to you new events that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. 

 

Jehovah asked Israel to admit that she had been given plenty of evidence to choose Jehovah over demonic idols. Jehovah would announce some new prophecies to Israel. Since the prophecies of the Babylonian Captivity would come to pass, then so would these new prophecies.

 

48:7 Now they come into being, not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, I know about them.’ 

 

Jehovah would have Isaiah write down these new prophecies so that Israel would not claim that they were unaware of them. This is one reason why the Oral Law was not accepted by Jesus. The Oral Law can be changed. The oral prophecies of the charismatics, cults, and isms can be changed. The written Law cannot be changed.

 

48:8 You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. For I know that you are very deceitful; you were labeled a rebel from birth. 

 

Israel’s problems with idolatry started with Abraham. Abraham was the Father of the Jewish nation. He gave birth to the nation. He worshiped the moon god in Ur. He allowed his own wife to go into foreign harems. Israel had been very deceitful since her conception. Therefore, Isaiah would write down these prophecies so that no one could deceive others on the content of this new message.

 

48:9 For the sake of my reputation I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige I restrain myself from destroying you. 

 

Israel was given more light than any nation in history, but she chose to worship demonic idols. Jehovah should have destroyed her, but He did not because of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic covenants. If Jehovah destroyed Israel or allowed other Gentile nations to destroy her, then God would be a liar. He would not have been able to accomplish what He promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.

 

48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery. 

 

Israel was an evil nation with a lot of filthy dross upon her. Jehovah had been cleaning her up for the last 2,000 years. He had been refining her with fire in order to turn her into the kind of nation that He wanted her to become. Silver is a metal which is cleaned of all of it impurities. Israel is not yet silver, because she still possesses a lot of impurities. She is still unclean, because she has rejected Jesus as her Messiah.

 

48:11 For my sake alone I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? I will not share my glory with anyone else! 

 

Because of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, God would not completely destroy Israel. He promised to make her a great nation and bring an eternal king from the line of David to her throne. Therefore, Jehovah must refine Israel. He must burn the filthy dross off of her.

 

48:12 Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I summoned! I am the one; I am present at the very beginning and at the very end. 

 

Jehovah summoned Israel to become His elite nation to bring in the Messiah. Jehovah asked Israel to listen to Him. Jehovah is the first and the last. The Lord Jesus Christ made this claim four times (Revelation 1:11,17; 2:8; 22:13), meaning that He is Jehovah in human flesh.

 

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth; my right hand spread out the sky. I summon them; they stand together.

 

The heavens and the earth were created and made directly and instantaneously by God’s divine omniscient and omnipotence. There were no evolutionary ages of trial-and-error where millions of creatures died to produce advanced species.

 

48:14 All of you, gather together and listen! Who among them announced these things? The Lord’s ally will carry out his desire against Babylon; he will exert his power against the Babylonians. 

 

Jehovah spoke to the nations who would exist 150 years into the future. He would remind them that He predicted all of these events in which they would later be experiencing. The Lord’s ally was Cyrus the Great from Persia. He would defeat the Babylonians and return Israel back into her land.

 

48:15 I, I have spoken— yes, I have summoned him; I lead him and he will succeed. 

 

Jehovah would summon Cyrus the Great to succeed against Babylon.

 

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there.” So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ was the speaker in this verse. He informed the future nations that they would need to approach Him and listen to Him. Jehovah had not spoken in secret about this coming event. Many of His prophets declared this news in advance. The Sovereign Lord is Jehovah the Father. The “me” is the speaker, the Messiah, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit is the Holy Spirit. The divine Trinity is seen in this passage. The Son is speaking. He is being sent by the God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

 

48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go. 

 

Jehovah is the protector of Israel. He is the one who has appointed Himself for this task. He is the One who teaches Israel how to succeed in life. He is the One who leads Israel down the correct paths of life.

 

48:18 If only you had obeyed my commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 

 

If Israel would have obeyed the Mosaic Law, then she would have been blessed tremendously. However, one who is totally depraved and evil cannot accomplish this task. The sin nature always avoids God and seeks evil. The sin nature always chooses Satan and his ways over God and His ways.

 

48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, and your children like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. 

 

The present population of Israel is presently at this writing around 14 million, but it should be much higher. It should be around hundreds of millions. The history of Israel has always been filled with anti-Semitism, genocide, and a reduction of Jewish population. If Israel would have followed the Mosaic Law, then she would have produced a population increase which would have filled the world.

 

48:20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! Say, ‘The Lord protects his servant Jacob. 

 

After Cyrus defeats the Babylonians, then Jehovah commanded all of the Israelites to leave Babylon and go back to Israel. They were to leave joyously. They were to proclaim this miraculous deliverance to the Gentle world. Only about 10% of the Jews obeyed this commandment. Most of them stayed in Babylon and developed Judaism. Judaism looked religious on the outside, but she was satanic to the core on the inside.

 

48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ 

 

When the future Israelites flee from Babylon, then Jehovah will miraculously provide her with water out of the rocks, just as He did during the Egyptian Exodus.

 

48:22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked,” says the Lord.

 

The righteous will enter into the Millennial Kingdom. The unrighteous will be thrown into Hell to await their fate at the Great White Throne Judgment. It may seem that the evil are prospering in this world, but it is only for a very short time. The life of man is just a drop in the bucket of eternity. Liberalism will come to an end. The Biblical conservatism of the Lord Jesus Christ will prevail.