16 " Come near to Me, listen to this : From the first I have not spoken in secret , From the time it took place , I was there . And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit ." 17 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 . 18 "If only you had paid attention to My commandments ! Then your well-being would have been like a river , And your righteousness like the waves of the sea . 19 "Your descendants would have been like the sand , And your offspring e like its grains ; Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence ." 20 Go forth from Babylon ! Flee from the Chaldeans ! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting , proclaim this , Send it out to the end of the earth ; Say , " The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob ." 21 They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts . He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth. 22 " There is no peace for the wicked ," says the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 48:16-22
Commentary on Isaiah 48:16-22
(Read Isaiah 48:16-22)
The Holy Spirit qualifies for service; and those may speak boldly, whom God and his Spirit send. This is to be applied to Christ. He was sent, and he had the Spirit without measure. Whom God redeems, he teaches; he teaches to profit by affliction, and then makes them partakers of his holiness. Also, by his grace he leads them in the way of duty; and by his providence he leads in the way of deliverance. God did not afflict them willingly. If their sins had not turned them away, their peace should have been always flowing and abundant. Spiritual enjoyments are ever joined with holiness of life and regard to God's will. It will make the misery of the disobedient the more painful, to think how happy they might have been. And here is assurance given of salvation out of captivity. Those whom God designs to bring home to himself, he will take care of, that they want not for their journey. This is applicable to the grace laid up for us in Jesus Christ, from whom all good flows to us, as the water to Israel out of the rock, for that Rock was Christ. The spiritual blessings of redemption, and the rescue of the church from antichristian tyranny, are here pointed to. But whatever changes take place, the Lord warned impenitent sinners that no good would come to them; that inward anguish and outward trouble, which spring from guilt and from the Divine wrath, must be their portion for ever.