Notes from Isaiah 48

God, having in the foregoing chapter reckoned with the Babylonians, and shown them their sins and the desolation that was coming upon them for their sins, to show that he hates sin wherever he finds it and will not connive at it in his own people, comes, in this chapter, to show the house of Jacob their sins, but, withal, the mercy God had in store for them notwithstanding; and he therefore sets their sins in order before them, that by their repentance and reformation they might be prepared for that mercy.

I. He charges them with hypocrisy in that which is good and obstinacy in that which is evil, especially in their idolatry, notwithstanding the many convincing proofs God had given them that he is God alone, (v. 1-8).

II. He assures them that their deliverance would be wrought purely for the sake of God’s own name and not for any merit of theirs (v. 9-11).

III. He encourages them to depend purely upon God’s power and promise for this deliverance (v. 12-15).

IV. He shows them that, as it was by their own sin that they brought themselves into captivity, so it would be only by the grace of God that they would obtain the necessary preparatives for their enlargement (v. 16-19).

V. He proclaims their release, yet with a proviso that the wicked shall have no benefit by it (v. 20-22).

Notes from Isaiah 47

Infinite Wisdom could have ordered things so that Israel might have been released and yet Babylon unhurt; but if they will harden their hearts, and will not let the people go, they must thank themselves that their ruin is made to pave the way to Israel’s release. That ruin is here, in this chapter, largely foretold, not to gratify a spirit of revenge in the people of God, who had been used barbarously by them, but to encourage their faith and hope concerning their own deliverance, and to be a type of the downfall of that great enemy of the New-Testament church which, in the Revelation, goes under the name of "Babylon.’’

In this chapter we have,

I. The greatness of the ruin threatened, that Babylon should be brought down to the dust, and made completely miserable, should fall from the height of prosperity into the depth of adversity (v. 1-5).

II. The sins that provoked God to bring this ruin upon them. 1.
Their cruelty to the people of God (v. 6).
Their pride and carnal security (v. 7-9).
Their confidence in themselves and contempt of God (v. 10).
Their use of magic arts and their dependence upon enchantments and sorceries, which should be so far from standing them in any stead that they should but hasten their ruin (v. 11-15).

Notes from Isaiah 46

God, by the prophet here, designing shortly to deliver them out of their captivity, prepared them for that deliverance by possessing them with a detestation of idols and with a believing confidence in God, even their own God.

I. Let them not be afraid of the idols of Babylon, as if they could in any way obstruct their deliverance, for they should be defaced (v. 1, v. 2); but let them trust in that God who had often delivered them to do it still, to do it now (v. 3, v. 4).

II. Let them not think to make idols of their own, images of the God of Israel, by them to worship him, as the Babylonians worship their gods (v. 5-7).
 Let them not be so sottish (v. 8),
but have an eye to God in his word, not in an image; let them depend upon that, and upon the promises and predictions of it, and God’s power to accomplish them all (v. 9-11).
And let them know that the unbelief of man shall not make the word of God of no effect (v. 12, v. 13).

Notes from Isaiah 45

Cyrus was nominated, in the foregoing chapter, to be God’s shepherd; more is said to him and more of him in this chapter, not only because he was to be instrumental in the release of the Jews out of their captivity, but because he was to be therein a type of the great Redeemer, and that release was to be typical of the great redemption from sin and death; for that was the salvation of which all the prophets witnessed.

We have here,

I. The great things which God would do for Cyrus, that he might be put into a capacity to release God’s people (v. 1-4).

II. The proof God would hereby give of his eternal power and godhead, and his universal, incontestable, sovereignty (v. 5-7).

III. A prayer for the hastening of this deliverance (v. 8).

IV. A check to the unbelieving Jews, who quarrelled with God for the lengthening out of their captivity (v. 9, v. 10).

V. Encouragement given to the believing Jews, who trusted in God and continued instant in prayer, assuring them that God would in due time accomplish this work by the hand of Cyrus (v. 11-15).

VI. A challenge given to the worshippers of idols and their doom read, and satisfaction given to the worshippers of the true God and their comfort secured, with an eye to the Mediator, who is made of God to us both righteousness and sanctification (v. 16-25). And here, as in many other parts of this prophecy, there is much of Christ and of gospel grace.

Notes from Isaiah 44

God, by the prophet, goes on in this chapter, as before,

 I. To encourage his people with the assurance of great blessings he had in store for them at their return out of captivity, and those typical of much greater which the gospel church, his spiritual Israel, should partake of in the days of the Messiah; and hereby he proves himself to be God alone against all pretenders (v. 1-8).

II. To expose the sottishness and amazing folly of idol-makers and idol-worshippers (v. 9-20).

 III. To ratify and confirm the assurances he had given to his people of those great blessings, and to raise their joyful and believing expectations of them (v. 21-28).

Notes from Isaiah 43

The contents of this chapter are much the same with those of the foregoing chapter, looking at the release of the Jews out of their captivity, but looking through that, and beyond that, to the great work of man’s redemption by Jesus Christ, and the grace of the gospel, which through him believers partake of.

Here are,

I. Precious promises made to God’s people in their affliction, of his presence with them, for their support under it, and their deliverance out of it (v. 1-7).

II. A challenge to idols to vie with the omniscience and omnipotence of God (v. 8-13).

III. Encouragement given to the people of God to hope for their deliverance out of Babylon, from the consideration of what God did for their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt (v. 14-21).

IV. A method taken to prepare the people for their deliverance, by putting them in mind of their sins, by which they had provoked God to send them into captivity and continue them there, that they might repent and seek to God for pardoning mercy (v. 22-28).

Notes from Isaiah 42

The prophet seems here to launch out yet further into the prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom under the type of Cyrus; and, having the great work of man’s salvation by him yet more in view, he almost forgets the occasion that led him into it and drops the return out of Babylon; for indeed the prospect of this would be a greater comfort and support to the believing pious Jews, in their captivity, than the hope of that. And in this and similar prophecies of Christ, that are couched in types, as of David and Solomon, some passages agree to the type and not to the truth, other to the truth and not to the type, and many to the type in one sense and the truth in another.

Here is,

I. A prophecy of the Messiah’s coming with meekness, and yet with power, to do the Redeemer’s work (v. 1-4).

II. His commission opened, which he received from the Father (v. 5-9).

III. The joy and rejoicing with which the glad tidings of this should be received (v. 10-12).

IV. The wonderful success of the gospel, for the overthrow of the devil’s kingdom (v. 13-17).

V. The rejection and ruin of the Jews for their unbelief (v. 18-25).