Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
The verse belongs to the second part of Isaiah, which looks toward future events and joins deliverance from Babylonian exile with deliverance from sin and error through the Messiah. It is addressed to transgressors with the charge to remember, to bring the matter again to mind, to reflect and think deeply, and to take it seriously and to heart. What is to be remembered is what God has done, the former things, and His testimony. The command to show themselves men is a call to face this with mature and resolute manliness.
What they are to bring to mind is that God alone is God, with none else and none like Him, whom none can be likened to or made equal with. He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things not yet done, telling beforehand what has not yet happened. His counsel shall stand and He will do all His pleasure, bringing to pass what He has spoken and purposed and carrying out His counsel.
His purposed acts include calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of His counsel from a far country, and bringing near His righteousness so it shall not be far off and placing salvation in Zion for Israel His glory. This power to announce the future and bring His purposes to pass is His witness and evidence that He is the true God. It is shown to both believers and unbelievers that He knows what has not yet happened. Biblical prophecy therefore reliably reveals what lies ahead, giving accurate foreknowledge that makes the world's future knowable rather than dark and gives ground for confidence.
The verse belongs to the second part of Isaiah, which looks toward future events and joins deliverance from Babylonian exile with deliverance from sin and error through the Messiah.
It is addressed to transgressors with the charge to remember, to bring the matter again to mind, to reflect and think deeply, and to take it seriously and to heart. What is to be remembered is what God has done, the former things, and His testimony. The command to show themselves men is a call to face this with mature and resolute manliness.
What they are to bring to mind is that God alone is God, with none else and none like Him, whom none can be likened to or made equal with. He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things not yet done, telling beforehand what has not yet happened. His counsel shall stand and He will do all His pleasure, bringing to pass what He has spoken and purposed and carrying out His counsel.
His purposed acts include calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of His counsel from a far country, and bringing near His righteousness so it shall not be far off and placing salvation in Zion for Israel His glory. This power to announce the future and bring His purposes to pass is His witness and evidence that He is the true God. It is shown to both believers and unbelievers that He knows what has not yet happened.
Biblical prophecy therefore reliably reveals what lies ahead, giving accurate foreknowledge that makes the world's future knowable rather than dark and gives ground for confidence.