Isaiah 46-48

Isaiah 46

- The relationship of the Babylonians and their false gods are “burdensome, a burden for the weary,” because these idols cannot rescue them from the burdens of their lives, and as prophesied, these idols “go off into captivity” because of their inability to save anyone, even themselves. “Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.”

In contrast, the relationship between Israel and God is encouraging and everlasting, because as God said, “I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs. I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

One, idols and false gods have never uttered such powerful promises. Two, God’s promises have been kept throughout time, which is why the Israelites can be certain that the words above aren’t just words. They are promises that God will fulfill. That is, God will sustain and rescue the Israelites.

- God admonishes Israel for being stubborn-hearted and for being far away from righteousness. However, God promises Israel the return of righteousness and salvation.

- The truth about God is that God is the one and only, “There is none like me.” God has revealed what is to come right from the start, and His purpose will be as He has decided. God will bring about righteousness and salvation to Israel.

Isaiah 47

- The people of Babylon will fall and be without a ruler. Their evil deeds will be exposed, and God will not spare any one of them.

- God will bring vengeance upon Babylon because the Babylonians showed God’s people no mercy. God punished the Israelites for their disobedience by delivering them into the hands of the Babylonians. Babylonians took advantage of it and spared no one, not even the aged. Furthermore, instead of recognizing the power of the Lord, the Babylonians declared that it will rule the earth for eternity. They boasted without giving any thought to the consequences of such prideful behavior.

- Babylon claimed that “I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children. No one sees me.” However, God sees them and punished them for their pride, and Babylon lost children and experienced widowhood all in a day.

- God foretold the Babylonians that “Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom.” Hence, when God’s judgment comes, no one can escape it, and there is nothing they can do to escape it. It is thus better to heed God’s warnings and never forget that God made us, God can also destroy us.

- According to Daniel 5, the vision revealed to Daniel by God was that God gave Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty, greatness, glory, and splendor. However, instead of remaining a humble servant of the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar became arrogant, and his heart hardened with pride. And so, such greatness was stripped from him by the Lord until he confessed that his success was built upon the glory of the Lord. Once he acknowledged the glory of God, Nebuchadnezzar once again returned to greatness.

Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son and king of the Babylonians, did not learn from his father’s mistake. Despite knowing about what his father had lived through and the lessons he learned, Belshazzar continued on proudly and marched forward, opposing God. He disrespected all things of the Lord and chose to worship idols of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. And as prophesized by Daniel (Daniel 5:25-30), Belshazzar was killed and lost his kingdom.

Isaiah 48:1–11

- The Israelites come from a noble blood line, from Abraham to Jacob to David. And though they proclaim themselves citizens of Jerusalem, the holy city, they remained stubborn and could not see that they have strayed far away from the Lord, as it has been said, the Israelites “take oaths in the name of the Lord… but not in truth or righteousness.”

- God knew how stubborn the Israelites are for He prophesied about these events long before they happened. And when the Israelites continued down the wrong path despite warnings from God, God therefore chose to tell them about things that were not previously foretold.

- God has chosen to delay His wrath on the Israelites because He has promised a covenant with Israel and will not break such a promise. He therefore has delayed His wrath so that in the end, 144,000 Israelites can be saved (Revelation), along with the covenant.

Isaiah 48:12–22

- God often says, “I am the first and I am the last.” God made the Earth and Heaven and all the living creatures. He repeats this often especially to the Israelites to remind them that human pride measures up to nothing when compared to the greatness of God. That is, all the greatness that the Israelites are so proud of would amount to nothing if God hadn’t been there at the beginning to help them. God is also at the end to judge, and so if the Israelites continue stubbornly to discredit God, then all the success they have accumulated would also be diminished to nothing when they meet God on Judgment Day.

- God clearly tells Israel that the Lord is her God, a God who has always been open about His plans and has never spoken in secret. He is a God who teaches what is best, who directs where she should go. If Israel had listened to God’s Word, her peace would have flowed continuously like a river, her righteousness as strong and powerful as the waves of the sea. If Israel had followed God’s Way, no descendant would have been cut off, no descendant would have been destroyed; her children would have grown infinitely.

The Israelites should rejoice in how the Lord has redeemed Jacob and his descendents and remember that God quenched their thirst while they were being led through the deserts. Despite the hardships the people have had to endure to reach safety, God has always been there to provide for them, to provide food and water for not just the body but for the spirit as well.

-  In Isaiah 48, the most important verse for me is, “‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.’” This stresses that until we return to God’s side, we will never be at peace.

It is important to remember that Hell is the absence of God. Wicked thus means straying away from God and becoming easier to be seduced by Satan.

We may fret about things in life, from what clothes/cars/houses/boats/stocks/etc to buy to how to increase one’s own social status. Such are the earthly things that Jesus warned us not to get attached to, for becoming attached to such materialistic things is following the master of money/power (one of the forms of Satan’s seducing ploys). For it has been said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

Peace, therefore, has at least two levels of meaning.

In terms of the battle for human souls between God and Satan, God will bring peace to the souls who chose to return to Him because God has made a promise to protect all those who willingly live in the glory of God. Satan, on the other will never bring peace. By definition, he fell from Heaven because he chose to rage war against God. Satan stands for exactly the opposite of God’s will, and to those who side with Satan, they will thus share the fate of war and hate.

In terms of peace in the sense of peace for our internal soul, following God’s Way will allow us to realize that there is no need to fret over materialistic means of our earthly world. The two most important commandments are 1) to love God, our Lord, and 2) to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:28-31). And as long as we try to follow these two commandments to the best of our abilities, we will be walking the Way of the Lord, and there will be a sense of peace settling in our souls. Even if we lived on the streets with no shelter over our heads, we could still feel like the richest people in the world, because we would be blessed with God’s promise of a great Kingdom to come (Matthew 19:16-30).

Hence, “There is no peace for the wicked.”

If we fall away from God, we inch closer to Satan, and there will be no peace for our souls. If we hold on to earthly values and things, we stray away from God, and there will also be no peace for our souls. Only when our mind, body, and soul all are one with God would we then be in perfect harmony with God’s will. And when we are one with the Lord, we need not worry about simple things such as food, clothes, and shelters—For God is all powerful, has He not fed thousands of men with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish? And when we are one with the Lord, we need not worry about humanly power and social status—For God is the beginning and the end, how does humanly power and social status even compare to the glory that God has planned for us as heirs to His Kingdom?