In Isaiah, chapter forty-three, verses eighteen through twenty-one, “Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
God would judge the Babylonians and deliver His people. They would receive a “new thing,” a new time of forgiveness, blessing, restoration, and God’s presence; for this, they would praise their God. The deliverance from Babylon is foretold, but there is a reference to greater events. The redemption of sinners by Christ, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the recall of God’s people are described. All that is to be done to rescue sinners, and to bring the believer to glory, is little, compared with that wondrous work of love, the redemption of man. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion,” as in Psalms one hundred and thirty-seven, verse one.