Isaiah 48:18

God is speaking in Isaiah 48:18-22, and the Bible says in Isaiah 48:18-21, “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. 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. 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. 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. There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” This passage of scripture starts with the word “peace” in Isaiah 48:18 and ends with the word “peace” in verse 22. Verse 18 tells us how to obtain peace, and verse 22 tells us how to lose it.

Peace comes from obeying God’s commandments. A lack of peace comes from being “wicked.” Peace does not come from money or fame or acquiring material possessions. This passage of scripture tells us the truth concerning peace. You obtain peace about yourself and about the world around you by doing the right thing keeping God’s commandments. Human beings are spiritual creatures with a conscience. We become troubled when we know that we have sinned. We become disturbed when we realize that we have failed orally or ethically. The wicked are those who refuse God’s Word and God’s commandments. The wicked become tormented by the knowledge that they are not right with Christ. In Luke 16 Jesus tells us about a rich man who was in hell, and who lifted up his voice and said in Luke 16:12, “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Some people are tormented in their minds because of their sins. There are two solutions to this turmoil of mind. One solution is to avoid sin. The more that you avoid sin, the more turmoil and torment that you will avoid for yourself as a result of the sins. There are few things more unsettling than a troubled conscience. If you have sinned, then you can find peace by turning to Christ for forgiveness. The Bible says in First John 2:1-2, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

There are a couple of well-known Christian songs that are based upon this passage of scripture in Isaiah chapter 48. Horatio Spafford lived from 1828-1888, and he wrote:

“When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Also, it says in Isaiah 48:21, “he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.” Fanny Crosby who lived from 1820-1915 wrote the following based upon this spiritual truth:

“A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,

A wonderful Savior to me.

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,

Where rivers of pleasure I see.”

In the days of Isaiah the Lord said to the children of Israel in Isaiah 48:20, “Go ye forth of Babylon.” This statement that God made over 2500 years ago still applies today. God was telling them to leave Babylon because He was delivering them from being prisoners. God always has a plan to deliver His children. You might be in a difficult situation now, but Jesus is always watching out for each one of His believers. He is able to deliver you from “Babylon,” and He will deliver you. By the way, “Babylon” is symbolic of the worst elements of the world around us. God does not want us to be enslaved to Babylon, and He does not want us to be a part of Babylon. He wants us to learn how to separate ourselves from Babylon. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?” And it says in Second Corinthians 6:17, “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 49:1-3, “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” The writer of Isaiah 49:1 is presenting the fact of his own existence and where he came from. He thought of the fact that his life came from God, and therefore has a purpose to it. Jesus is the life-Giver, and each life that starts in the womb of each woman is a life planned by the infinite all-knowing God. To say that God “made mention of my name” means that God is uniquely interested in each individual. Everyone is important. Everyone has a purpose. Generally speaking, for everyone the purpose of life is to serve Christ. If we serve Him, then we will glorify His name. God says in Isaiah 49:3, “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” In one way or another every life will glorify the name of Christ. For some lives we may have to wait until the Judgment to see how that happens, but it will happen. It says in Philippians 2:10-11, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Evidently the purpose of God for each of us has a lot to do with what we say because Isaiah 49:2 emphasizes that fact. Isaiah understands that his words become powerful and effective when God gives Isaiah the words to say. It says in Isaiah 49:2, “he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.” The words that we say are so very important. Words can build up and words can destroy. With words we fight the battles of life. Use the right words and you will quiet storms, comfort hearts, spread the gospel of Christ, and defeat all enemies. Use the wrong words and you will ruin lives, shame yourself, and cause trouble on every hand. It says in James 3:6-8, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Once Isaiah was told that the purpose for his life was to serve God and to bring glory to God, evidently Isaiah thought about how much he had failed at doing that. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 49:4, “Then said I, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” It is very interesting to notice the answer that God gives to Isaiah at this point when Isaiah is thinking about his failure to serve the Lord as he should have. God responds by speaking about the Messiah. The Bible says in Isaiah 49:5-6, “And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

Isaiah did not do everything that he should have done as a servant of God, and we certainly did not do everything that we should have done as servants of God either. But the Lord is telling us in Isaiah 49:6 that He has a servant who will serve Him properly. That Servant whose name is Jesus Christ will be “salvation unto the ends of the earth.” Jesus is the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles. God loves the whole world. God did not create a plan of salvation that left some people out. He created a plan that included everyone. He made that clear in the book of Isaiah, He made it clear in the Old Testament, and He made it clear in the New Testament. The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Concerning the great salvation that God has created through Christ to offer to the earth, the Bible says in Isaiah 49:7, “Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee.” God calls Himself “the Redeemer.” Jesus is the Redeemer. He paid the price of His own precious blood so we could be saved from our sins and live forever in the bliss of heaven. Notice the words that are used to describe the attitudes of many people towards Jesus. The words “despiseth” and “abhorreth” are used. But that is not the end of the story. God will turn the tables. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And so it says in Isaiah 49:7, “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship.” Even though things may appear to be going badly now, God does not give up His plan to save as many people as He can. We may not always be faithful, but Jesus is always faithful. It says in Isaiah 49:7, “because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee.” God will choose you also, if you will bow before Jesus and trust in Him.

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