Isaiah — Chapter 48
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: The conclusion of the Cyrus-Babylon section — God's rebuke of Israel's hypocrisy (v.1-2), the prediction of new things (v.6-8), and the great invitation: 'Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea' (v.20). Key verse: v.10, 'Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction' — the theology of redemptive suffering. Verse 16 is remarkable: 'From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit' — Lapide reads this as the Son speaking and distinguishing Himself from the Father and Spirit.
Verse 16
Ab initio non in abscondito locutus sum: ex tempore antequam fieret, ibi eram
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me, with his Spirit. Lapide: this is the Eternal Word speaking — present 'from the beginning' (eternally with the Father), speaking through the prophets (not in secret), and now sent in the Incarnation with the Holy Spirit (Trinitarian mission). He cites Tertullian, Cyril, and Basil on the Trinitarian significance. The three persons are distinguished: the Father sends; the Son is sent; the Spirit accompanies the mission. Applied to the Church's mission: sent by the Father through the Son in the Spirit.