Isaiah 48:16 says, Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. In this verse, Isaiah calls on the people to listen to him, because God has called him and given him the message for them. Isaiah had not been speaking in secret but had spoken openly from the beginning of his ministry. We as Christians are commissioned to carry God’s word into the world and we cannot do that in secret and be effective. Preachers and teachers in particular should make sure that they are proclaiming God’s word, and the Holy Spirit will help them to do so.
Verse seventeen adds, Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. Isaiah said that God declared Himself to be their Lord and Redeemer, and that He was the Holy One of Israel. God said He taught them things that would be profitable for them spiritually and not just materially I believe. God will always lead us to an understanding of Who He is, and this will be profitable for us spiritually, no matter what is happening in our lives materially or physically.
Verse eighteen continues, O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: God said it was too bad that the people of Israel had stopped listening to His commandments and that if they had, they would have had peace like a river and righteousness as the waves of the sea. This was God’s plan for them had they lived up to their part of the covenant, but they didn’t. So instead of having years of peace and righteousness, they had lived in captivity and started to put their faith in idols, which made them anything but righteous. God calls everyone to a covenant relationship with Him, and until people accept that call to salvation, they will never live at peace spiritually. If a person does accept Jesus Christ and strays away from God’s word like the people of Israel had done in that day, they will never be at peace spiritually, and since we can only be made righteous by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we like Israel then will need to return to Him confessing our sins and asking His forgiveness if we want to become righteous once again.
Verse nineteen states, Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. Isaiah said that at one time the people of Israel had been as numerous as the sand of the sea and that this was because of God’s promise, so God’s name should not have been cut off before Him. The people of Israel should have never turned away from God, Who had made them a great nation. Instead, because of their disobedience to God, they were few in numbers and in captivity. We as followers of Christ need to obey the commandments of God and only give Him praise if we are to grow in numbers.
Verse twenty adds, Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. God said that He had freed them from their captivity in Babylon and that they were to flee from the Chaldeans while singing to the world that God had delivered them. As Christians, God has forever delivered us from the penalty of sin, and we should sing this out to the world.
Verse twenty-one continues, And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out. Isaiah reminded them that God had brought water out of a rock when they were thirsty in the desert or wilderness. God had always met their needs even when it seemed impossible, yet they had not continued to put their faith in Him. As followers of Christ, God supplies us with Living Water, and yet we too often let concerns about the world come between Him and us. Once we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord the spiritual battle is won for us, so all we need to do is to continue to be faithful to Him.
Verse twenty-two concludes, There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. God had said that if the people of Israel would put their faith in Him that they would have peace, but that the wicked, anyone who would not put their faith in Him, would never have peace. If you want to be at peace in the world today, spiritually if not materially and physically, you need to put your faith in God. Until you do, there will never be any spiritual peace in your life.
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