Isaiah 48:9-11 – God’s Mercy for the Unworthy
We see in these verses God’s mercy for the unworthy, for even those who were of the Israel of God, even those who were the remnant, and even the true church of Jesus Christ today must confess and have been brought by the Holy Spirit to see that they were unworthy both in Isaiah’s time, and that they are unworthy today.
In verse 9, we see God’s goal set forth here. We see why it is that God extends mercy. God’s love is not based on who we are or what we have. Good thing, isn’t it? For what we are is despicable sinners. And what do we have, spiritually speaking? We are bankrupt. It is because God is loving and merciful and gracious and kind that there is any hope at all. He says here that He does all for His name’s sake. He does all for His praise. It’s for this reason then, and this alone, that He restrains himself, and He deals not with us as we have offended. He has made covenant promises that all judicial punishment has been laid upon the Saviour Whom He has provided.
God says here in verse 9 that He restrains His anger. But a time has just been in the days of Isaiah where there was great affliction. Though God stopped the Assyrians, it was hard, and an even more powerful pagan power was coming. If God’s will restrain His anger, and if punishment has been put upon Jesus, why this affliction? That’s what God’s people said. And do not people say that today? Why does God allow this to happen? We see in verse 10 that God causes difficulty, pain, and affliction for His people. God says here that He’s refined us. He’s tested us in the furnace of affliction. Yet we have the assurance, friends, as God’s people did of old, that God is being glorified, and He has wise, holy, and good reasons for our affliction, and that we shall in and by His grace in Christ get less of the affliction than we deserve, more of blessing than we do not deserve, and more Christ-likeness.
In verse 11 we see again that God does this for His own sake, for the sake of His holy name. He will not, as He says here, allow His name to be polluted by the heathen, gloating over His supposed weakness. And so our affliction cannot, will not, go on forever. Nothing has ever been able to assail successfully the Church of Jesus Christ, nor will He allow anyone else to share His glory, be they people, angels, idols, or any other creature.
Questions
- What is God’s goal?
- Why does God bring affliction into the life of the believer?
Prayer Points
- Pray for those in the congregation who are afflicted will ill health.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.