God the Redeemer promised to Redeem Judah from Babylon
Background
God rebuked Judah for not being in truth and righteousness and stubborn. He called them rebel from birth. For His own glory, God would foretell the future to Judah. Even Judah was stubborn towards God, God would still redeem them from Babylon, just like He redeemed them from Egypt, so God Judah would know God is faithful to His promises to Abraham and David, and so that the nations would know God of Israel is the one and only true God. This chapter is the end of the 1st section of Isaiah 40-66. It ends with a prophesy of the Messiah, the chosen one of God will bring destruction to Babylon (Rev 18).
Division
- v1-6: God rebuked the stubborn Judah
- v7-12: God foretell for His glory
- v13-16: Cyrus would conquered Babylon
- v17-22: God promised to redeem Judah from Babylon
Exposition
- v7: [you have not heard of them before today]. From this point on, God is going to prophesy things He had not revealed before, which are end time prophesies.
- v12: [I am He; I am the first and I am the last]. When Jesus said in John 8:58 [Before Abraham, I am], and when in Revelation 2:17, Jesus is identifying Himself as God.
- v14-15: God chosen ally is Cyrus. But Cyrus is just a shadow for the Lord Jesus Christ. Cyrus would conquer the Babylonians, and Jesus would conquer the Babylonians, who is a symbol of the world. The last Babylon will be destroyed before the Millennium Kingdom as foretell in Rev 18.
- v16: The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking here: [the Sovereign Lord has sent me with His Spirit]. The trinity God is mentioned here.
- v18: Compare with v2, where Judah was not in righteousness. If they pay attention to God’s commands, their righteousness would be like waves of the sea!
- v22: [There is no peace for the wicked.] This verse signals the end of the 1st portion of Isaiah 40-66. The wicked is referring to Babylonians. Why were they wicked? Because they didn’t treat God’s people with mercy.