"If only...."

"Listen to Me," is one of the ways the Lord draws attention to His message to the Children of Israel in Isaiah. *(How Many Firsts?) Today's verse follows a different tack. Isaiah 48:17
    This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.

He is assuming that His identity is sufficient to elicit the proper attention and response. There are three aspects to the introduction: LORD, Redeemer, and Holy One. When LORD is in all caps, it refers to the Name of God. We might even read this into the second phrase, "I am...." (YHWH) Then we find Redeemer. How often in the Old Testament do we find this name? Twice in Job, twice in Psalms, once in Proverbs, 13 times in Isaiah, and once in Jeremiah. Seems like Isaiah, by the direction of the Spirit, was enamored with the concept of redemption.

Incidentally, it shows up once in Ruth and helps to explain the concept. The redeemer bought the widow out of her situation. Isaiah employs this same metaphor as a name. And finally, Holy One. Two concepts that accompany the mention of the Lord all through the Old Testament are the Creator, and Holy. God's holiness is the driving force in the rituals of Leviticus. His role as creator is likewise emphasized in nearly every book. (That would be a good thing to check out.)

He created us and made us in His image. Thus we are creative. Or we should be in our work, our relationships, and our culture. We should also be pure as He is pure. (Holy suffuses the Scripture by appearing nearly 300 times. "Be ye holy, for I am holy."  1 Peter 1:16 and five times in Leviticus.) Our society is characterized by a denial of creation and holiness. Where are we going?

Holiness and creation naturally complement each other. Remember the seven times in Genesis 1 when God said, "It is good?" (Genesis 1:4, 11, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) Good is perfect, without flaw. Another word we could use is "holy." He is the "Holy One of Israel." Let's go on.

"I am the LORD your God." I won't even try to count how many times that is repeated in Isaiah, alone. The Redeemer, the Holy One, was declaring that He was the God of Israel. (He included us later.) Then He gives the message to which they were to listen. (I like Holman here.) The LORD teaches us. He teaches us "for our benefit." Realize that the entire first five books were written, not to bug, badger, and burden us, but to benefit us. Since He is holy, it is good to know how to behave. It is our benefit to correctly interact with this Yahweh.

Then look at the next phrase. "Who leads you where you should go." Notice again, the subject: you. If we are "going somewhere," it is good to know that the "somewhere" is where we "should be."

Then the next verse drops the bomb. We will not explore that in detail, but listen: "If only you had paid attention...." They did not listen. What if they had?  Recall that Isaiah is writing this 150 years ahead of time. If they had "listened" they might have avoided the tragedy of Babylon. Notice again, "If only...."

With all of the chances to understand and obey the Lord, Israel and Judah completely failed. They were told ahead of time, and still persisted in their own way. They persisted in learning things that were not to their profit and going the way they should not go.

A little ditty I learned as a grade school student goes like this:
    "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'"
                                (John Greenleaf Whittier )

Listen, learn, and go. "If only...."