Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
It is probably note wise to take a single paragraph out of an entire essay to draw a conclusion. But if we did, the above paragraph would be a great one for this entire section of Isaiah’s prophecy (chapters 45-50). In the above lines of Isaiah’s words we read the essence of his message. God claims the following in these lines:
1. He is the Redeemer of Israel. Isaiah book outlines the failures of Israel as a result of their disobedience. The entire book outlines that God wants to redeem them from their sin. We are about to move into some of the greatest words of this redemptive story in chapters 51 and following.
2. God is the Lord who not only redeems them but also teaches them and guides them. Throughout the book we read how the nation of Israel listened to and followed false gods. Yahweh wants them to know, repeatedly in the book, that there is none beside Him. He is their guide and He is their teacher.
3. God wants them to know that they should have paid attention to His commandments. This entire book stresses what happens when God’s people disobey. God had brought in the Assyrians to correct the disobedience of Israel to the north. God brought in the Babylonians to correct the disobedience of Judah to the south. God will even bring in Persia to correct the arrogance and disobedience of the Babylonians. God disciplines those who disobey Him.
4. God rewards those who obey Him. Yes, there is discipline for disobedience but there is peace like a river and righteousness like waves of the sea for those who, by faith, embrace God’s ways. This might be the greatest theme of Isaiah’s work. God is sending a redeemer to provide for them great peace and great righteousness.
5. God provides security, posterity, legacy and testimony for those who follow Him in obedience. He tells them in the last lines of above paragraph that they will have offspring like the sands of the seas and dependents like the grain. He tells them that their name will never be cut off and will always be before Him.
These themes are the truths of Isaiah’s prophecy. God wants us to follow Him in obedience and will bless us for that faithful walk. But if we disobey and seek other gods and not Him, He will bring into our lives judgment and correction. One paragraph conveys Isaiah’s entire theme.
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