January 22, 2019: Day 52 – Isaiah 48

We see some references to very familiar imagery as Isaiah states that God is the first and the last (vs.12).  We see that Jesus is described as the alpha and the Omega which are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.  But, of course, we wouldn’t see that in Isaiah because it is written in Hebrew.  But the sense is that before the beginning of time, God was.  Once time is over and this world has come to an end, God will be.  God laid the foundations of the earth and spread out the heavens.  

As a result of this declaration then is it too much for God to choose to liberate the people of Israel as He sees fit?  In vs.6 we read that God will reveal new things.  These new things will include in vs.20ff the redemption of Israel as was seen when God led them out of Egypt and through the desert  by splitting open rocks to provide water.  

Not sure what this last verse represents.  It is a bit of a harbinger of things to come as we read something similar in Isaiah 57:21.  There is no peace for the wicked.  Oh, if that were true then we would see a whole lot of people having a hard time sleeping at night, but I’m afraid that even the wicked sleep peacefully while the righteous are a bit fitful because they recognize what is at stake.