““Listen to this, house of Jacob — those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and declare the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness… I will delay my anger for the sake of my name, and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise, so that you will not be destroyed. Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give my glory to another. “Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by me: I am he; I am the first, I am also the last… I — I have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission. Approach me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there.” And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit. This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from my presence. Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob! ”” (Isaiah 48:1, 9-12, 15-20 CSB)
“Are you going to listen to me?” It’s a simple question, but it implies so much more than just hearing what someone says. It implies not only hearing what is said, but acknowledging, believing and then acting in accordance with what is said. I can actually hear my mother’s voice asking that question. I know that look on her face. I know that sound in her voice. I can even hear her preface that question with my full name, “Gary Bradford, are you going to listen to me?” I’m a sixty-five year old man now, but the memories and sound of her voice are still very clear and vivid in my mind.
That’s the implication of this week’s focal passage, Isaiah 48. No, not your mother’s voice, but God’s voice. The idea of hearing, believing and then acting in accordance with what God says is the central focus of the entire chapter. If you don’t do what God says, then you haven’t really listened to Him, heard His word, believed it and then acted on it. That’s clearly God’s intent in the opening verse: “Listen to this, house of Jacob — those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by [allegiance to] the name of the LORD and declare the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness.”
They claim to be God’s people, but their actions don’t reflect that. They’re stubborn, with necks of iron and foreheads of bronze. They refuse to bow their necks in submission to God and their thoughts and desires to His will. They heard God’s word, but refused to listen to it, failed to believe it and then to act in accordance with it. This harkens back to God’s declaration, “And he replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10 CSB)
God has revealed to His people His prophecies and plans and then caused them to happen, but they still refused to believe and obey Him. So, now He’s going to do something new and unexpected – new things, hidden things that they have not previously known or been told about. These things may be new, but they are still consistent with His character. It is simply impossible for God to act in any manner that is contrary to His nature. His actions might be new, unexpected and surprising to us but they will always be in accordance with His will, consistent with His nature and never in contradiction to His word and promises.
This means that obedient faith is not necessarily predictable, but it’s always in accordance with God’s word and God’s will. If you look back at the history of faith, it has always been an adventure to walk with God. From Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Joshua, on up to Peter, Paul and Silas and then to our generation we find the path of faith is filled with unpredictable twists and adventurous turns when we walk with God. It is no less adventurous for you and I to walk the path of faith in obedience to God.
We’re not always faithful in walking that path though, are we? Like Israel, we are often “known as a rebel from birth (v. 8).” Be honest, you struggle with consistent, faithful obedience, too. Don’t you? I always feel a bit like the Apostle Paul, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/rom.7.15.CSB) I recognize that obedience is best and results in God’s blessings, yet I often choose disobedience. I know in my spirit that the character of Christ produces the will of God, but I often choose my will over His. The struggle is real, the results are obvious…
Why does God put up with us? Listen…
“I will delay my anger for the sake of my name, and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise, so that you will not be destroyed. Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give my glory to another.” (Isaiah 48:9-11 CSB) God’s anger is restrained for our benefit, for His praise and He will act for His own sake. He will NOT be defiled by our disobedience. He will not give His glory to another.
God is not surprised by our sin and He has not given up on the redemption of His people. We are rebels, we are disgraceful and disobedient and His righteousness demands justice. But He will not destroy us, He will restrain Himself for our benefit, He will do this for His own praise and for His own sake, for how can He be defiled? While His character demands justice, His justice will be satisfied but not in the expected way. He is going to do something new, something totally unexpected. Something that will require adventurous faith…
God now reminds them [and us] of His authority, His power, His character and His sovereignty. He calls for His people to listen to Him, again. Not just to hear His words, but to know that they convey truth, authority and power. Words that demand obedience: “Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also the last. My own hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together. All of you, assemble and listen!” God reminds them that His creation obeys when He commands, but will they assemble and listen? He then tells them that His plan for their redemption and for Jerusalem’s restoration will be achieved by His servant, Cyrus.
It is often easy to look back on the past and not question God’s ways of achieving His will. But it is harder to trust Him when we don’t understand what He’s doing, in the moment. It’s harder to step out in faith when you can’t see exactly where your foot is going to fall. God’s people find it hard to trust God when His will takes them on a faith journey that goes beyond their comfort zone. They find it hard to believe when He does things in ways they don’t expect and certainly don’t like. God’s going to use a gentile king to accomplish His will? What? That’s outrageous, absurd. God doesn’t do things that way. This can’t be God’s will…
God’s refining work in our lives is often more painful than it need be. In verse 10, God states that He was refining His people, but not like silver. Silver is refined through the smelting process as the ore is melted and the dross is skimmed off and removed. But God’s people appear to resist this purification process and God must use the furnace of affliction to purify them. Now, He tells them that if they would have listened to Him and obeyed His word, then their “peace would have been like a river”, and their “righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (v. 18)
So, God calls for His people to trust Him and His plan for their future. “Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, ‘The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!” As I stated above, the struggle to walk in faith is very real, especially when it takes us into uncomfortable circumstances and difficult places. The people had spent many years in exile, now they were being given the opportunity by this unexpected and untrusted servant of God – Cyrus, to return to their homeland and rebuild His temple.
Come out from among them and be separate…
We often grow comfortable living in a pagan land. We begin to adopt their culture and integrate their ways into our beliefs and practices. It happened to the Israelites in Babylon and it happens to us today, wherever we live and practice our faith. Faith is always integrated into culture wherever it grows, but culture is often too integrated into our faith. We are supposed to be influencing our culture through the daily practice of our faith but we are often more influenced by our culture in the practice of our faith. We get that backwards.
The Israelites were reluctant to leave Babylon and return home. They had grown comfortable and complacent in their faith. Most of them were unwilling to jump into adventurous faith and uncomfortable obedience to God’s will. We’re not called to live comfortable lives, we’re called to live obedient lives. We’re not called to travel a predefined and well worn path of faith, we’re called to step out into the unknown and uncharted.
If we will learn to trust God, to walk in faith with Him then we will find peace like a river, righteousness like the waves of the sea and water gushing out of rocks that He splits to quench our thirst. If we will walk in obedience to His word, we will find that His promises are fulfilled, His power is displayed and His people, the church, are His glory. But just how does God achieve this? It’s in there…
“Approach me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit.” (Isaiah 48:16 CSB)
There’s much debate as to who is speaking these words. Some scholars attribute them to the prophet, Isaiah, who is giving the oracle on God’s behalf. Others attribute them to Cyrus, the conquering king who is acting on God’s behalf. But the words don’t seem to fit either of them. To me, it is clear who is speaking…
I mentioned last week that the destruction of Babylon was both a historical fact that occurred in 538 BCE and also an archetype of the destruction God would achieve against every “Babylon” that stood against Him. In a similar way, Cyrus is also the redeemer of Israel that destroyed Babylon and enabled a remnant of Israel to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and temple. But he is also a shadow of the coming Righteous One, the true Redeemer and Servant of God that will be sent by God to achieve the eternal redemption of man and restoration of God’s good creation.
Listen to the words and tell me who else could speak but the eternal Word, the Son of God: “Approach me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret [or concealed my words]; from the time anything existed, I was there. And now the LORD God has sent me and his Spirit.”
God is doing a new thing, something totally unexpected. This walk of faith is taking us into uncharted territory and along paths that are obscured by the mists of eternal hope. It will be much clearer in the next chapter, but here we get a glimpse into God’s plan. The Word of God has been openly speaking the purpose and plan of God. From the beginning of time, when everything was created, He was there. And now, the LORD God is sending Him and His Spirit to achieve redemption. Not just the deliverance of Israel from Babylon, but the deliverance of ALL God’s people from their bondage to sin.
God is calling us to walk this same adventurous path of faith. He’s calling us to recognize that while He has done many amazing things in the past to invoke fear among His enemies and inspire hope among His people, He is doing something new and unexpected in our day. He’s gathering all His people, from every nation, tribe and people and He’s building a new temple out of them so that His glory can be on display for all men to see. The bride of Christ, the glory of God.
But, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that to hear His word is to heed His word and to walk in humble, obedient faith with Him. It is not enough for us to claim His name, to feign belief but then to walk in disobedience. We are also called to LISTEN! And to listen to His word means that we will do what He says. To do anything less is to deny Him, to refuse to listen and to be faithless.
Listen and let God’s glory be on display through your obedience…
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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