Refined for God's Glory

Isaiah 48:1-11 

1 "Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the LORD,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth or in righteousness;

2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The LORD of hosts is His name:

3 "I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that you were obstinate,
And your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, 'My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.'

6 "You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.

7 They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, 'Of course I knew them.'

8 Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called a transgressor from the womb.

9 "For My name's sake I will defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.

The LORD refined His chosen people Israel in spite of their continued disobedience and sin, just as He promises to sanctify all in Christ even when we fail and fall because our fallen nature is so frail which we battle against.  God’s people of Judah had taken pride in calling themselves after the holy city where God met with man, yet they did not associate with His name truthfully or in living righteously as they ought.  This is a type of warning to us as well that we do not let our religious affiliation become more important than our identity in and as Christ’s redeemed ones (1 Corinthians 3:4-6).  Instead we are called as Judah of Israel to heed God’s word which has been proven over and over through fulfilled prophecy of events before they occurred, bearing witness that we did not predict the future as He had predetermined and revealed to us through the scriptures.  Like Israel before us, we also have been told and He caused us to be able to hear it by opening our deaf ears and giving us sight to use spiritual vision to see and hear all He does and wants us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  God knew His people were obstinate, hard of heart and stiff-necked, and therefore told them what would happen to prove their false gods and human reasoning and wisdom was unable to reveal what the Sovereign Lord alone could do.  The odd were completely against them even guessing one of the myriad of events He revealed ahead of time to them.  Prophetic words were proof of who God is and revealed their need of Him, as well as validating the truth of His word in all things.  He had prepared hidden things to bring them out in due times to prove this as we see ultimately in revealing the Messiah who is Christ when He had planned from the beginning of time (Galatians 4:4-5, 1 Timothy 2:6, Luke 24:25-27).  God knew that His people would harden their hearts and disbelieve Him as they continued in sin against Him and dealt treacherously with faithless deceit, having been born in sin after their father Adam (as we all are according to Romans 5:12 as a witness to us all that none is righteous in himself.  God chose to show mercy and grace with His people for His glory and for His won sake before our own, and so refines His own with tests and trials to include affliction (1 Peter 1:6-7, James 1:2-4).  He does these things for His glory as well as our good as He refines us for His sake and the honor due to His name.  May we endure and learn well from adversity and not think ourselves wiser than God by predicting what He has not said by adding our assumptions to His word (Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:6, Revelation 22:18-19).  Like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), we who are His chosen choose to base our understanding on the scriptures alone as He refines us for his glory.