Our God is a God who makes streams flow in the desert. In situations where people are in lack, spiritually or physically, the Lord makes provision. The Israelites were in captivity in Babylon, they would be suffering both physically and spiritually. The Lord promises to answer them. "I will not forsake them". Often we think the Lord has forgotten us, but this is never true. The Lord has not forgotten you.
Notice that it is in the desert, in the wasteland, where the Lord will make flowers and trees bloom. Often we want the Lord to take us out of a situation. Sometimes He does this, but at others He makes us prosper within our circumstances. Situations that seemed to be nothing but torment and trouble can be transformed. He does this so that the world can see. We are on display to the world as examples of the Lord's handiwork.
Now the attention turns back to the nations. Having seen what the Lord has done for His people, He challenges them and their idols to match Him. The Bible repeatedly states that idols are utterly worthless.
The Lord predicts the coming of Cyrus to destroy the Babylonian kingdom and this would lead to the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. See that it is essential to the text that God is foretelling this in advance it happening. It makes perfect sense that Isaiah gave this prophecy, not some mythical "deutero-Isaiah".
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