6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
Comment: Does this mean that the things which are about to be uttered by God are somehow absolutely new things which God has never before revealed? Or does it mean things which God has kept revealing but they have never been listening? They haven’t heard the words of God?
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
This passage hinges on the fact that God knows the end from the beginning! He says here ‘ I knew that you would surely deal treacherously‘. So why did He make the covenant with them if He knew that they would be treacherous? I can’t say that I understand it all but ‘the end’ is going to be wonderful if the book of Revelation is true! Of course, unless the writers of the Bible have led us into error! (Some of course do think like that!) Remember that man was given the choice and our first forbears blew it! God wants us to be ‘real’ men and women and that depends on our choosing aright! There is an error in thinking that God doesn’t know already what we are going to choose, but there is also error in thinking that our choices aren’t very significant!
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Your suffering hasn’t been meaningless but refining when you’ve been conquered! I want you to be pure silver not riddled with rubbish!
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
The LORD’S Call to Israel
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them has declared these things?
Questions: a) Are they/we to listen to what God says about Himself above? Knowing that God is the Almighty, the Creator, the All-powerful is fundamentally important! b) Or does this mean ‘listen to what follows’ when God says that He loves ‘him’ who is about to ‘perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.’ History showed that that the ‘name’ of that ‘him’ was Cyrus!
The LORD loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit. – Do you think that it is the ‘him’, whom God says above that He loves, who speaks this very last sentence? Cyrus conquered Babylon and the Chaldeans!
Isaiah 46:9b-10: I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
Prayer: Help me to choose correctly as I live in this ‘tempting’ world!