[:en]SCRIPTURE: ISAIAH 48
“For my own name’s sake iI delay my wrath;l for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. Howe can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another” (Isaiah 48:9-11)
“This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me” (Isaiah 48:17-19)
“There is no peace”, says the Lord, “for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22)
STUBBORN ISRAEL (vs. 14-11)
God had warned Israel that their sins will bring them judgment but they were stubborn. They hardened their hearts and closed their ears. So, God had to refine them through the furnace of affliction to purify and make them tender.
ISRAEL FREED (vs. 12-22)
God told the Israelites to look and listen. He wanted them to know that He is their Redeemer, their God who teaches what is best for them and directs in the way they should go. If they follow, they would have peace like a river, their righteousness like the waves of the sea, their descendants like the sand, their children like numberless grains and their names would never be cut off nor destroyed (vs. 18-19)[:]