For My Name S Sake Isaiah 48
For My Name’s Sake – Isaiah 48
Introduction – This section began in chapter 40, “Comfort my people” as Isaiah proclaimed a future exile but promised deliverance to Judah. Idols could not make such a prediction and idols would never be able to deliver. Isaiah 48 closes out this section, repeating the promises (vv14-15), echoing a warning to the nominal (v22), and pointing to a Servant-Deliverer who will be further described in the next section (v16).
As this section ends, the Lord reveals why He is doing these things. Why did He raise up Israel to begin with? Why has He given her special status? Why has He redeemed her, delivered her, instructed her, and shepherded her? Why does He tell her what He is going to do beforehand? He does it for His name’s sake, for His own glory, for the fame of His own name. God’s gracious glory (His own character) is the ground of the gospel and never the value of sinful people. And because this is true, sinful people can have great hope for their salvation.
Hear the Hard Words (vv1-5) – “Hear this, O house of Jacob” Oftentimes people who are in the covenant house of God are there, reciting all the right lines, giving all the right answers, vowing to serve the Lord, but “not in truth or in righteousness.” That is, they are liars – and they are not listening. They are obstinate, their necks are an iron sinew, and they trust their secret idols more than they do the Lord they are supposedly serving (vv4-5). These are the nominal Pharisees Jesus rebuked (Mark 7:6) and they are of the synagogue of Satan (Rev 3:9) all full of religion but no heart submission to Jesus. “Put bluntly, if you have the covenant of God, but you do not have God Himself, then what you actually have is Satan. Nominal Christians are not partial Christians, but rather devil-worshipers” – Wilson. Paul gives similar hard words to the circumcised Jews (Rom 2:28-29) and to baptized Christians (Rom 6).
You Have Heard, But You Did Not Hear (vv6-8) – God was going to do new things and declared them to Jacob, but Israel would not listen or believe. Of course this treachery is fulfilled particularly in the nation’s rejection of Jesus the Messiah. They heard but would not listen – and the heart of faith is listening to God (Rom 10:17). This reveals the nature of Israel of all mankind – “a transgressor from the womb” (v8). “…the human spirit is not a blank page, equally ready to be inscribed with good or evil. It is…already blotted with a well-nigh incurable insistence on our own way at all costs” – Oswalt.
The Gracious Glory of God (vv9-11) – So why is God going to deliver them? To proclaim His grace over all the earth (see also v20). God is intent on displaying His glory over all creation and He is more jealous for His glory than anything else. The world must know that He is utterly different than all the idols and they will as His gracious glory spreads. He defers His anger (v9) and does not refine as strong as silver (v10, since they are all dross – Isaiah 1:22). It is in passages like these that we realize that we are always being treated better than we deserve. “For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it” the Lord cries (v11) because He wants His glory revealed and that glory is gracious (Eph 1:6). Learn to pray not only in the Lord’s name, but for the glory of His name: “Reveal Your gracious glory!”
Hear the Good Words (vv12-17) – Again, the LORD calls Jacob to “Hear.” As the first and the last, He can speak of former things and of things yet to come (v12). And as the Creator of all He can remold the world as He wills (v13). He promises to stretch out His arm against Babylon and to bring forth Cyrus as a deliverer (vv14-15). But vv16-17 look far beyond this situation, where the LORD God, His Spirit, and the One they have sent (the Redeemer) are all mentioned. This One will be described in more detail in the coming chapters – and we know Him to be Jesus, who quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 as He begins His ministry.
If You Would Have Listened (vv18-19) – This One who will lead is the One who did lead, but you did not follow. If only you would have listened and followed. But there is a principle here to learn and always heed. God is a shepherd, a leader, a teacher, and He shows you the way to go (v17, Psalm 1) and it is a good way. How often do we find ourselves in trouble because we did not listen, we did not follow, we did not trust and obey? But God does not refine us as far as silver while testing us “in the furnace of affliction” (v10). His discipline is always efficacious if we are His children (Heb 12:3-11).
Go Forth From Babylon (vv20-22) – This is declared now to Jacob because it is to be obeyed now in principle and in the future in actuality. Babylon is the city of man, the way of selfish, self-centered, idolatrous rebellion against the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. Hear the Word of the LORD – I will do it. I will deliver you. I will save you. I will redeem you. The heart of faith that hears these words will flee darkness “with a voice of singing” and will declare “to the end of the earth – the LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob.” Another Exodus is coming (v21). And another, and another…why? God says Jesus has come for you and for this world to save it to bring glory to His name. “For My own sake, for My own sake” – He will do it. You may hear these Good Words and believe, or you will only hear hard words and have no peace (v22). Those are the only two ways.
Dave Hatcher – August 14, 2016