The Triune Plan of Redemption

Isaiah 48:12-22 

12 "Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.

13 Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.

14 "All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

16 "Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit
Have sent Me."

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 by the way you should go.

18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19 Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me."

20 Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, "The LORD has redeemed
His servant Jacob!"

21 And they did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

This is an encouragement of the coming Messiah who is Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Spirit of God who sent Him in working with God our Father.  It continues the thoughts from the first half of this chapter in proclaiming God’s sovereign working and omnipotent omniscience at work throughout His people’s calling and history for His glory.  This work has not changed, but has brought in others from all nations whom He has chosen and called alongside Israel in the Christ.  He is the first and last (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 22:13).  This was not a complete secret as Isaiah 45:19, 21-22, 23-24 has already said and been validated in Philippians 2:10-11 as a testimony to the divinity of Christ Jesus.  He has come as promised and His Spirit took His place when He arose back to the Father (John 15:26, 16:7), both sent by the Father.  This almighty LORD God laid out the earth’s foundation and spread out the heavens above by His word of creation and sustains them still, and He is speaking again here to reveal more things to come which are only hidden to those with closed ears and shut eyes.  He is speaking of His Son and Spirit to come to us in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4-5).  Just as the LORD delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and of Babylon, so He will deliver His people from sin’s bondage forever in the Messiah as spoken of here.  The LORD God and His Spirit have sent the Son and the Son sent the Spirit when ascending back above from below (Ephesians 4:9-10).  He as our holy Lord and Redeemer is our God who teaches from His word what profits eternally and leads His people out of the darkness of bondage to sin and death into the marvelous light of deliverance from sin’s bondage and justly due penalty.  If it were possible to keep all the commandments we could all be saved without His work to deliver us, but we are all born in the evil of sin inherited from Adam and are completely unable to do so.  Thanks be to God for his saving grace!  We therefore shout to the whole world as Israel did when being set free from captivity in Babylon, “The LORD has redeemed us!”  and not we ourselves.  Just as Israel had been led for forty years through the desert wilderness after being led out of bondage, so we look back on God’s faithfulness to all His people and shout the salvation of the gospel of the Son in the power of the Spirit of God as the Father has planned for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10) by faith.  This good news is not effective for those who reject Him, however, as the final verse here tells us that they have no peace with God apart from trust in His word and work (Romans 5:1, John 6:29) and not their own works and imaginations.  Those who refuse to accept and acknowledge Him find no peace.  May we then tell them the good and encouraging news of the prophesied Christ of the triune God in the power and wisdom given us by the Holy Spirit of the living God as their only hope (Acts 4:12).  This is the triune plan of redemption told to us long before Christ walked among us.