In a sense verses 12-22 are the second verse of the song of which verses 1-11 are the first verse. God was making much the same point though with a slightly different emphasis.
48:12 This segment opens like the first one (cf. v. 1). However here the emphasis is on who God is rather than on who the Israelites are. He is the eternal, self-existent God who called Israel to Himself for a special purpose. This is the basis for His claim to predict the future and to use whomever He will to carry out His will.
"As firstGod was not pressed by any external agency into what he initiated; as lasthe stands unchallenged by any force that may have tried to oppose; and he brings to triumphant conclusion what he started. At the start, there was his uninhibited freedom to do as he chose; at the end, the untarnished gold of his completed work."506
48:13 God is also the Creator who maintains control over His creation. As such He can create history as well as the cosmos.507
48:14 The Israelites needed to listen because only the Lord could reveal what He would do. Specifically, Yahweh revealed His love (choice, cf. Deut. 4:37; Mal. 1:2-3) of Cyrus who would fulfill God's will on Babylon by defeating the Chaldeans (cf. 44:28). The Israelites, in view of who their God is, should not resist His choice of Cyrus or reject the revelation about him. The idols, "them,"could not reveal this.
48:15 What God had decided and declared would stand. Cyrus would prosper in his assignment because God had called him to do it. As surely as God had called the host of heaven (v. 13), Israel (v. 12), and Assyria (cf. 10:6), He had called Cyrus.
48:16 God again urged His people to listen carefully (cf. vv. 1, 12, 14). From the beginning God's promises concerning the future had not been vague and ambiguous. They could be verified easily, and they evidenced Yahweh's imminence in human life. God was there when He made those predictions.
"When Jesus Christ incarnated God on earth, this was not some shocking new modality of revelation; it was the logical endpoint of all that God had been doing in and through Israel up to that point."508
The speaker of the last part of this verse is unclear. God appears to have been speaking in the first part of the verse, but now we read that God sent "Me."This may be Isaiah speaking.509If so, the point is that God and His Spirit had sent Isaiah to communicate and to confirm the truthfulness of what God had just said. Another view is that Messiah, the Servant, speaks.510The point then would be that the Messiah would testify to the truth of what God had just said empowered by the Spirit. I prefer the second view.511
The remaining verses in this chapter conclude this section (vv. 12-22) and this chapter of Isaiah, even the whole chapters 40-48 segment.
48:17 The titles of God give the reasons why the Israelites should listen to Him. They should listen because of who He is and what He had done for them. Additionally, God is essentially one who teaches His people how to make a net gain of their lives (not necessarily a profit in business). He is also the one who guides His people through dangers to safety and fulfillment.
48:18 Failure to listen and hear the Lord's instruction (cf. vv. 1, 4, 8) in the past had limited Israel's peace (Heb. shalom) and her right conduct (Heb. sedaqa). Things could have been far better if she had only listened and obeyed. She could have experienced a ceaseless, powerful flow of His blessings.
"Every sensitive teacher knows the pain of heart that comes when he pours himself out for students who prove to be unteachable. Israel proved to be like that (cf. v. 8); and God expresses his deep concern for them, because they are themselves the losers."512
48:19 Israel could also have enjoyed the blessings promised to Abraham more fully and sooner than she will. Israel's identity as a nation among other nations ceased because of her sin, but her identity as the chosen people of God did not. This verse does not teach that the fulfillmentof the promises to Abraham were contingent on Israel's obedience. God gave those promises unconditionally (cf. Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15:5; 22:17). It does reflect that the enjoymentof those benefits depended on her obedience (cf. Deut. 28-29).
48:20 In view of the new promises concerning Cyrus and return from exile, Isaiah called on the Israelites to depart from Babylon when they could (cf. Rev. 18:4-5) and to publicize the promise of the second Exodus. It was as good as accomplished.
This verse is, "A summons beforehand to Jews who would be captives in 539 B.C. not to tarry in the pagan soil of Babylon, but to take advantage of Cyrus' permissive edict and return to Judah."513
This "missionary challenge"to take good news to the nations fittingly climaxes the message of chapters 40-48.
48:21 In terms reminiscent of the first Exodus, Isaiah anticipated God's miraculous and abundant providential provision of refreshment for His people when they returned to the Promised Land from Babylonia (cf. 43:18-29).
48:22 God's final word that His people needed to hear was a word of warning (cf. 57:21). For the wicked there is no peace (Heb. shalom, the fullness of divine blessing cf. v. 18). The wonderful promise just summarized (vv. 20-21) was no guarantee that Israel would enjoy God's richest blessing if she continued to practice wickedness. The wicked Babylonians would not enjoy His shalom, and neither would they.
By way of application, God has similarly promised to build His church (Matt. 16:18). But that is no excuse for Christians to conclude that because our election is secure we can sin with impunity.
