Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 112th episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapter 45. This chapter tells us more about Cyrus the Great. Cyrus was the Persian King whom God would use to release Israel from the grip of Babylon. God spoke of Cyrus as His instrument and He made clear that Cyrus did not know Him. God used Cyrus as a shepherd to redeem His people from Babylon – this idea looks ahead to Christ as the Good Shepherd who redeems us from sin and death. This chapter shows how God did great things for Cyrus and elevated him into such power that he could conquer Babylon and help Israel. As I mentioned before, the coincidental likelihood of Cyrus ascending to power was so low that no one could have predicted it. God used the power of Cyrus to make a point about His own unmatched and divine omnipotence.
This chapter includes a prayer that God might hasten Israel’s deliverance. I view this as God acknowledging the distressed state of mind among His people. But He also rebuked some of them for questioning His timing. These were the people who doubted God. The faithful among Israel continued in constant prayer for God’s salvation – and so He gave them encouragement by assuring them that in due course He would accomplish His work through Cyrus. The chapter finishes with God challenging idolaters that they should wake up see their doom. But for the people who belong to God there is comfort and encouragement as Isaiah looks ahead to the Savior Jesus Christ and the grace of His gospel. Let’s open with verses 1-4:
Isa 45:1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
Isa 45:2 “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron,
Isa 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
Isa 45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.
Cyrus was a Mede but the extra-biblical accounts of his origin vary widely. Some say he was a descendant of Astyages king of Media. Others say that as a baby he was left exposed to die and was rescued by a herdsman’s wife. His history prior to his meteoric rise to power is not clear. But we do know that he was something like a military and diplomatic genius. His first notable victory occurred when Croesus king of Lydia attacked his country. Cyrus repelled the attack and then chased Croesus back into Lydia and captured the city of Sardis. It wasn’t long before Croesus and his army collapsed, making Cyrus king of Lydia and all the provinces that belonged to it. Lydia was a major center of wealth and commerce so conquering it turned Cyrus and the Persians into a world power.
About 10 years later Cyrus and his uncle Darius attacked and conquered Babylon – a victory once believed to be impossible. Babylon was extraordinarily rich and powerful. At a conservative estimate, the city itself was 200 square miles – so about the size of Chicago today. The Greek historian Herodotus said its walls were 80 feet thick and 320 feet tall. It really was the crown jewel of human enterprise. Cyrus was drawn to Babylon and wanted to make himself master of it. No doubt he spent years imagining it and preparing for it. The prophet Isaiah predicted it – this chapter was written 210 years before it actually happened.
Isaiah predicted what great things God would do for Cyrus to empower him to release Israel from Babylonian captivity. God made him a mighty conqueror and a wealthy monarch, seeing that many nations paid tribute to him by giving him military and financial support. It’s true that God could have given this power to one of His own people, but He rarely entrusts them with worldly prowess because of the temptations and traps that come along with it. But Cyrus didn’t know God even though God knew Cyrus. God purposed Cyrus to leverage worldly power in order to rescue the Jews and send them home to rebuild Jerusalem. Cyrus was called God’s anointed because he was designed specifically to be qualified for this great service. God held the right hand of Cyrus to strengthen him, sustain him, and direct his movements.
Under this divine providence Cyrus extended his conquests far and wide, making ease of any opposition that stood in his way. Remember how I said it took him about 10 years to develop an attack on Babylon? Babylon was far too strong for Cyrus to pursue as a young king. He needed to add more territory and more people to his regime. So God subdued many nations for him. During the height of his power it seemed as nothing when an entire nation would give itself over to Cyrus and the Persians. Populous kingdoms yielded to him and strong leaders buckled before him. Magnificent cities surrendered themselves to him without any trouble or resistance.
His open invitation to assume control over most places was a consequence of his sheer power and God-given wisdom. The Persians were so powerful that it didn’t make sense for other kingdoms to try and contend with them. If Cyrus wanted you under his umbrella, you just quietly submitted. But in addition to his power, Cyrus was quite good at diplomacy and making friends. He was successful in convincing other kingdoms that life wouldn’t be so bad under his sovereignty. This made Cyrus distinct from other conquerors like Assyria’s Sennacherib who relied on traumatizing nations into submission.
Marches that would have been long and dangerous were made easy for Cyrus and his army. This is because God went ahead of them to straighten the crooked paths, to clear the way of obstacles, and to conduct the Persians in their travel. The same is true for us today. If we do our best to follow the path laid out by God we will find it much more straight and certain than the treachery that awaits us on our own. That’s not to say that you won’t have problems, but you’ll be anchored to the truth so you’ll always have something solid to stand on. With God on his side, no opposition could stand against Cyrus. God opened all the gates that were shut against him. Herodotus reports that Babylon had 100 gates of all brass and fastened with metal. Even these gates would not hold against the Persians.
These massive military movements and conquests would have been very expensive. But God had already taken that into account as well. He promised to replenish the wealth of Cyrus with treasures of silver and gold that had long been hidden from the light of day. These were assets kept under lock and key or buried in the ground by inhabitants of cities when they heard the Persians were coming. And that doesn’t even consider the riches of Babylon itself. Babylon had collected the wealth of many conquered nations and Cyrus would seize it all together. Hidden riches belonging to the crown or to private persons would be handed over to Cyrus. So you can see that God paid him very richly for his service to the church. Cyrus was humble enough to understand that these successes came from some form of God. He expressed gratitude for God’s reward when he resolved to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem.
It’s true that Cyrus probably had his own motives for conquest. All of humanity are bent toward a lust for power and wealth. While Cyrus’s dreams were not unlike the dreams of conquerors before him, God’s purpose was far more nuanced. The first part of God’s purpose was to glorify Israel. If Cyrus had access to the prophecies of Isaiah, he would have found his own name written along with detailed accounts of his conquests. No doubt this would have impacted Cyrus and convinced him of the veracity of a higher power. Though Israel was in captivity, God continued to be sovereign over them, even against a power as mighty as Babylon. Making these connections between Israel and God helped prevent the prosperity from totally corrupting Cyrus. He might have been the world’s foremost superpower, but deep inside he had the fear and understanding that a greater hand than his had brought him here.
In addition to glorifying Israel and therefore glorifying Himself, the second part of God’s purpose with Cyrus was to release Israel from captivity. Cyrus didn’t know God. Cyrus was trained in the traditions of many pagan gods – he likely considered this education as an asset to his diplomacy. The god that Cyrus feared was an unknown god. Sort of similar to the deists of today – they say they believe in a god but they claim we cannot know him. God knew Cyrus long before Cyrus was born and He issued prophecies regarding his life long before it started. When you think about this special position God set aside for Cyrus, it’s tempting to think that God did it for Cyrus’s own sake. But that’s a misunderstanding. When evaluating Cyrus, it’s accurate to observe his unusual greatness and power but it’s important to remember that this was God’s greatness and power flowing through Cyrus. And whatever reason God chose Cyrus, we can be certain He did it to achieve His own purposes and to bring glory to Himself – not Cyrus.
Apart from his military and diplomatic acumen, we don’t know a whole lot about Cyrus’s character. Some historical accounts suggest he was virtuous, heroic, and excellent. Others claim he was haughty, bloodthirsty, and cruel. I suppose the version of Cyrus you got to see depended on whether or not you challenged him. I tend to think of Cyrus as more virtuous and noble than other dictators because he appeared to have humility enough to acknowledge power greater than his own. Whatever the nature of Cyrus, we can be sure that God is sovereign over history and that all revolutions of states and kingdoms are designed to work for the ultimate good of the church.
Understanding this, it becomes wise for all leaders to use their God-given power and wealth to glorify and honor God by showing kindness to His people. God gave Cyrus a kingdom in exchange for liberating Israel. Cyrus was granted victory over principalities and powers and entrusted with vast wealth – all for the use and benefit of God’s people. Cyrus foreshadowed Christ in the sense that he not only liberated captive Israel, but he defeated captivity itself. This historical salvation of Israel points to the eternal salvation offered by Christ. Christ has defeated the captivity of sin and death, thereby opening our prison doors and releasing us from our bondage. Let’s read verses 5-10:
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
Isa 45:6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Isa 45:7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Isa 45:8 “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it.
Isa 45:9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?
Isa 45:10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
This passage opens with God’s assertion of unparalleled power and sovereign dominion over all things. This sovereignty is what God planned to show to the world through the great things He did for Cyrus and through Cyrus. This passage explains God’s sovereignty in two ways. First is the claim that He is God alone and there are no other gods besides Him. This is just a basic reality that, once firmly believed, essentially eliminates the problem of idolatry. God didn’t mince words here either: He said there is no one else but Him. Only God is self-existent and only God is self-sufficient. Nothing and no one else is infinite and eternal. Life that extends into eternity only does so because He provides for it. Every idol and every false god that is brought up to contend with Jesus is built on deception. Vanity and lies are the foundation of idolatry.
It’s not uncommon to see idolatry spring from the deification of actual leaders. So if you have a monarch who does incredible things, his or her followers tend to idolize them. We still do this with human beings today. We remember them as greater than they were and we erect images of them in their honor. God knew Cyrus was going to accomplish unprecedented feats of leadership, so He wanted to prevent Cyrus from viewing himself as a god. Cyrus’s ancestors, as well as his imperial predecessors, were guilty of deifying themselves. God’s warning to Cyrus is for him to remember that despite his greatness – he is only human.
The second way that God described His sovereignty was to explain that He is Lord of all and nothing is done without Him. God forms the light and the darkness. He forms that which is grateful and pleasing as well as that which is grievous and unpleasing. God is the One behind your well-being and God is the One behind your calamity. We have to be careful here to make the distinction between calamity and sin. God is not the author of sin – He never sins and He never causes you to sin. But sometimes bad things happen that aren’t associated with sin and God’s will is behind those things. That can be difficult to think about but in my estimation the alternative is worse. To believe that some people are hurt or killed because of sheer dumb luck devoid of purpose or meaning is worse than understanding that all of it is under God’s control. The reason it’s worse is because God has promised to work all things out for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. That means even if we can’t understand how, we can have faith that God will use your tragedy to bring ultimate good. That’s a far better framework for looking at tragedy than to erase a person’s life because they were a pointless victim who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It’s better to believe that the Lord God your Father is in control even when you are at a low point. God is the author of both light and darkness and that’s why we see these elements intermixed throughout a person’s life. We all experience joy and we all experience sorrow. Imagine the terror if during your moments of sorrow God was not with you. Imagine if the source of grief and sorrow was something or someone outside of God’s control – and you could be devoured as its victim without a moments notice. No, it’s far better to see things truthfully and understand that God stays with us and cries with us when He must take us through the hard parts. God is the fountain of all being and power in this world, He is the first cause of everything that is. God is the One who gives us all of our comforts, God is One who gives us all of our crosses to bear, and God is the One who resurrects us from death.
Another element of God’s sovereignty is that it extends beyond those who believe in Him. God equipped and directed Cyrus despite the fact that Cyrus didn’t know God and Cyrus worshiped idols. You’ll often hear modern people speak of God as if His form and His character change based on the beliefs of each people group. The idea that the nature of God changes to suit the culture or beliefs of His worshipers is the essence of relativism and is fully antithetical to Scripture. God is who He is whether you believe in Him or not. He is the most fundamental reality and everything else must define it’s existence in relation to Him. So even people who actively disbelieve in God or who spend their lives worshiping other gods are still under the providence and control of Jesus. He will use them as He pleases and direct them to accomplish His purposes.
The truth of God’s sovereignty is published to all the world by the Word of God. It’s also published by His providence for those who have faith in Him as well as His prevenient grace for those who don’t. During the time this chapter describes, God’s sovereignty was published by the testimony of the Jews who suffered under the boot of Babylon. Their salvation from exile was a shout to the whole world that the God of Israel is the true and living God. It was a proclamation that there is none other like God because He was among them and He delivered them.
During the time of Israel’s exile, they longed for comfort and relief from their struggles. The less faithful may have even questioned God’s timing or His benevolence. God’s response to their longing was to give a royal precept commanding deliverance. All creatures were commanded to contribute to the carrying on of this great work when the time was right. But if humanity failed to assist in the divine plan, God would go ahead and do it Himself. The dew of heaven that covers the grass of the earth waits not for humanity. This essentially means God’s will be done whether you’re involved or not – the train is leaving even if you fail to get on it. But as far as God’s timing was concerned, by His own grace He elected to wait until Israel repented of their sins, renounced their idolatry, and returned to walk in righteousness.
Salvation and righteousness are of a piece – they seem to spring up together and so we should not expect salvation without righteousness. I want to be careful here. I’m not saying you won’t struggle with sin – I struggle with sin – but I think the fact that you struggle with it is an indication that you desire to be with God. Malevolent people do not struggle with sin, they identify with it and embrace it. Christ died to save us from our sins by reconciling us to God so that we might be sanctified (or made holy) by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God desired to sanctify Israel and He desires to sanctify you. Sanctification basically means making you pure, clean, and holy. Every grace and every good gift comes from the heavens above – from the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit was poured down on the world after Christ ascended so now anyone whose heart is open to Him will experience the fruits of righteousness and salvation.
The passage goes on to rebuke those who opposed God’s salvation. These would have been enemies of God as well as any Jews who despaired of God’s design for salvation. The thrust of God’s argument hinges on the fact that He is the Creator of all things and therefore the Creator of us. It’s illogical for us to contend with our Creator rather than submit to Him. This was a particular problem for Israel’s captors because they arrogantly overestimated themselves. God warned them against allowing their heightened confidence to deceive them into challenging His design for salvation. He also warned them against trying to detain Israel any longer than His appointed time. But the insulting Babylonians set God at defiance the same way Pharaoh did during the Exodus – they would not voluntarily let Israel go.
The other rebuke was aimed at God’s own dejected people – not necessarily His enemies. He warned them not to quarrel and murmur against Him over the prolonging of their captivity. He didn’t want them to think He dealt unjustly or unkindly with them. He also didn’t want them to attempt forcing their way out of captivity before His appointed time. I think the main reason God didn’t want His people to quarrel with Him is because He knew they’d lose and He didn’t want to hurt them unnecessarily. People who harden their hearts against God have little left inside of them but resentment and bitterness – it’s no way to live.
We should observe that quarrels with God or hardening your heart against God are not the same as wrestling with God or interceding with God. Wrestling with God is more like your attempt to make sense of something God has done because you desire to love Him at the end of it. Intercession is you pleading with God on behalf of someone else. To quarrel with God or to harden your heart against Him is to put yourself on the throne and challenge God’s authority. It’s a very bad idea because it causes you to turn yourself away from God. God likens this process to the clay pot challenging the potter. It’s so backwards as to make no sense. God gave you life. God gave you everything. God designed you. God knows you far better than you know yourself.
If there’s something about yourself or your life that you don’t like – blaming God and challenging His authority is guaranteed to make it all worse. You can’t be so pretentious as to use the brain God designed for you to argue with God about His design of you. Another analogy is for a child to find fault with his or her parents because they were born one thing and not another. If it weren’t for your parents you wouldn’t be born at all. And that’s one of the keys to living a good life. You must understand how blessed you are to exist what a treasure life is. God did not have to create you, but He personally planned you because He wants to know you and adopt you into His Kingdom. Let’s read verses 11-19:
Isa 45:11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: “Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
Isa 45:12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Isa 45:13 I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the LORD of hosts.
The Lord, the Only Savior
Isa 45:14 Thus says the LORD: “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.’”
Isa 45:15 Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
Isa 45:16 All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.
Isa 45:17 But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.
Isa 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Isa 45:19 I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.
Not all of the Israelites who were held captive by Babylon questioned God’s judgment. Some of them reconciled themselves to the will of God in their affliction and were content to wait for His divine appointment. This passage is an assurance to those people that they should not wait in vain. This is where we really see the difference between wrestling with God and seeking Him as opposed to challenging God and turning from Him. God actually invited His people to ask Him about their state of affairs and their future.
The first part of the invitation was for them to consult His word by recourse to the prophets. God sent prophets like Isaiah so that His people would know about His plan for them. This is analogous to us reading Scripture today. How often do you consider the fact that God has not left us in the dark? Modern people ask all the time why God doesn’t just reveal Himself to us if He is real. I suggest that He already has in the person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, He’s given us special revelation of Himself in Scripture. If we believe the Bible, then we’re not flying blind when it comes to the future or what happens to us after we die. Scripture claims to tell us about where we’re from, Who made us, why we’re here, and where we’re going. It answers all of the big questions. God wants us to seek this wisdom and seek these answers in His word.
The second part of the invitation was for them to seek God out in prayer. This two part invitation actually makes up the anatomy of what it means to love God. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor. Loving God means seeking Him out in His word, keeping His commandments, and praying to Him. God wants us to give Him our requests and our petitions so long as these are grounded in the truth of Scripture. This is what it means to wrestle with God. Jesus did it best in the Garden of Gethsemane when He asked the Father if this cup of suffering (the crucifixion) could pass from Him. But He finished His request with the addendum not my will be done but your will be done. Christ was showing us the right attitude for prayer. We should be bold and confident in our inquisition of God, we should also have high expectations of Him, but we should always remember that He knows better than we do. Your future is far safer in His hands and at the mercy of His will then it is in your own hands and determined by your own clouded judgment.
The people who waited patiently on the Lord were encouraged to draw their strength from Him during times of total helplessness. Have you ever been through something where you look back and wonder how on earth you survived it? The truth is that it’s likely you weren’t surviving on your own strength but that strength was given to you by God. God reminded Israel that He is the one who created the heavens and the earth and so He remains sovereign over both. This reminder was not only meant to glorify God but to bring comfort to His people. It means that God is fully able to use the heavens and the earth to deliver His church if He pleases. He created both so both are at His beck and call.
Part of God’s encouragement for His people was to tell them specifically what He would do for them. He wanted them to have some idea of the future they could depend on. This allowed them to look forward to their salvation from Babylonian captivity at the hands of Cyrus. But it also gave them a vision of a more glorious Redeemer in the form of Christ and His redeeming work. Concerning their immediate struggles, liberty would be proclaimed to them and Cyrus was the man to proclaim it. Cyrus would function as a representative to plead the cause of Israel against Babylon. God would empower Cyrus so that all of his enterprises would be successful – particularly his conquest of Babylon. When God decides to use you as an instrument to carry out His purpose, God is the One who clears the way for you and makes your paths straight.
As part of all this success and power, God gave Cyrus the responsibility to carry out two jobs. The first was to release Israel freely and generously from Babylonian captivity. Cyrus had to do this without demanding any sort of ransom or payment for his services. The second job was to rebuild God’s city – Jerusalem – as well as the Temple there. The Jews needed Cyrus’s permission and they needed his financial support to make that project work. Cyrus opened the prison doors and cut the bonds away from Israel when he conquered Babylon. Christ opened our own prison doors and liberated us from the bondage to decay and sin when He sacrificed Himself on the cross.
It’s important for us to note God’s providence here. God empowered Cyrus to conquer many nations, incorporate their wealth, and then use that wealth to re-establish Israel. God doesn’t command us to do things without providing the means by which to do it. When the Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus, God led the Egyptian people to enrich them with valuable gifts on their way out. The Jews didn’t walk out of Babylon empty handed anymore than when they left Egypt. For us today, those who are redeemed by Christ are not only provided for – but we are enriched. If you answer God’s call on your life, He will provide the means you need to accomplish His plan for you.
After Cyrus took Babylon and the Jews walked away in triumph, many of the surrounding people wanted to join the Jews. It’s possible that many Chaldeans repented of their sins and acknowledged that the God of Israel is the true and living God. This is kind of like how you wait to pick a team until you can tell which team is going to win. It’s not the most honorable thing to do – but it’s certainly pragmatic and far better than siding against God. The promise of outsiders joining the movement was manifested fully with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gentiles joined the Christian Jews in becoming obedient by word and deed to the faith of Christ. They were glad to take up the cross of Christ because like Jesus said, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The alternative to Christ is never freedom – it’s servitude under brute totalitarians and enslavement to sin. So even if fidelity to God lands you in chains, it’s better to be in chains with those who have God than spiritually dead with those who don’t.
Part of God’s encouragement to His people was to teach them to trust Him further than they could see Him. God never leaves you, but sometimes He hides His face from you. This happens in particular when He is wrathful against some sin. God hid His face in displeasure when He brought Israel into captivity. For God to hide His face from you is something like Him suspending His blessings and His favor upon you. When this happens, we are instructed to wait and to hope in God by having faith that He will not look unfavorably on us for long. He also hid himself throughout the process of saving Israel from Babylon. I think this is an allusion to the mystery of God’s salvation in the church. The Spirit of God works on human spirits in order to sanctify them. God also uses weak and unlikely instruments, as well as small (and seemingly accidental) occurrences. To some degree, God is always hidden from us, He hides Himself just enough so that we cannot come to Him except by faith.
Israel was told that they would be victorious over idolaters and worshipers of false gods. This included the craftsmen of idols as well as individuals who turned the idols into false gods by praying to them. Many of the people who surrounded Israel were pagan idolaters who had invested their faith in objects. They actually believed these objects would protect them from all manner of evil. God said the idolaters would be ashamed and disappointed when they figured out their mistakes. Their idolatry would lead them all together into confusion. This paints the picture of idolaters remaining unified in an effort to support each other in their deceptions. Kind of like cults who create echo-chambers to reinforce their own confirmation bias. So all of them would descend into chaos together, possibly pushing the issue so far as to be unable to return to the right path.
Unlike the idolaters, those who trust in God will never be ashamed of their confidence in Him. He will deliver in all the ways the idols cannot. God was about to deliver Israel out of Babylon and so He wanted to make sure they were looking at Him as the author of their salvation. Not Cyrus and not false Gods. Israel needed to keep their eyes on God because their salvation was brought on by His power alone. Their salvation was secured to them by His grace and His promise. Furthermore, they were to be saved in God, so God Himself was like an impenetrable fortress into which they could run for safety.
The same is true for you today. It’s a dangerous world out there and it’s changing all the time. You have the freedom and the choice to rest in God and make Him your impenetrable fortress of safety. You do this by studying Scripture, praying to God, and loving your neighbor. That’s it – it’s as simple as that. God wanted His people to look beyond the temporal salvation of Cyrus and onto the eternal salvation of Jesus Christ. That’s where we look today. We can rest in confidence that our souls are saved into everlasting assurance and bliss. Heaven will be so wonderful that there will be no tears nor shame for the sins we did and the sins we suffered from. All is forgiven under Christ Jesus.
The meaning of God’s grace deeply impacts you the more you understand your own sinful nature. God’s people Israel owned up to the fact that they deserved to be as confused and confounded as the idolaters – for they had sinned against God. That’s the same sort of thing that washes over you when you are able to look at yourself compared to the perfect holiness of God. Our actions deserve chaos, confusion, and death. But because of God’s immense love for us and because of His immeasurable grace, those who die in Jesus Christ will experience none of those things.
Israel was entreated to cling to God forever and forego deserting Him or distrusting Him. Again God reminded them that He alone is God and there is no other. God has spelled out His power and His divinity through both general and special revelation. General revelation being the beauty, magnificence, and awe-inspiring experience of the natural world. Special revelation being His divinely inspired word given to us in Scripture. Modern people wonder why Scripture lays more emphasis on nature here on Earth than it does on outer space. I think this is because we are more conversant with what we see and experience here on Earth.
We can see that God, in His infinite wisdom, created and formed our planet to the infinitesimally exact specifications necessary to sustain life. Scripture says that God stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth upon nothing – that it’s poised by it’s own weight. That’s a very accurate and poetic description of gravity. Scripture says that God covered the planet with the waters and at His rebuke they fled to expose dry land. Again, that could be an accurate and poetic description of a concluding ice age. Contrary to the nihilistic viewpoint, the Christian viewpoint suggests that God made you and everything else with a purpose in mind. Even the planet itself was designed with the purpose of sustaining life. So if a human being fails to find purpose in life, the fault lays at the feet of that person and not the structure of reality.
In addition to God’s fingerprint on nature, He also reveals Himself to us through His word. There is no other religious text that makes such bold prophetic predictions about the future. And Scripture has never gotten it wrong. Another characteristic that makes Scripture distinct from other religious texts is that it has been laid open in plain language for all to see from the beginning. Pagan deities often issued edicts from dark places like caves and they did so in cryptic garbled language. This sort of thing was unintelligible to those who didn’t share a familiar spirit with the false god. Contrast that with how God delivered His message to Israel – He shouted it from atop Mount Sinai in language all could understand.
Proverbs says that wisdom cries aloud in the street, in markets she raises her voice. The idea here is that if the truth is on your side then you don’t have to obscure your worldview. You don’t have to censor and silence entire groups of people to prevent the truth from being criticized because the truth will withstand all challengers. God’s word is truth and God’s word is righteous. Listen to what Psalm 19 says about Scripture:
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
Psa 19:8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
Psa 19:9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
Psa 19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Reading those verses always reminds me that Scripture is sufficient for guiding us to walk in the ways of God and showing us how to live a good life. Scripture and prayer are the necessary nutrients for a healthy and stable spirit. But let’s think about the people who prayed to false gods. Those who sought idols sought in vain. They searched for the living in the dead. In contrast to the emptiness of idols, the true God spoke to His people ahead of time in the form of His prophetic word. He also guided and comforted those who sought Him out in prayer. God promises that He will never turn away from a faithful prayer. That doesn’t mean that He will give you exactly what you ask for like Santa Claus, but it means that He will listen to you and provide you with exactly what you need. A healthy prayer life is what gives you the satisfaction of soul that many keep trying to get from advances on the material world. Let’s finish with verses 20-25:
Isa 45:20 “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
Isa 45:21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.
Isa 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Isa 45:23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
Isa 45:24 “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
Isa 45:25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”
This passage is made up of yet another indictment against idolaters and further encouragement for those who are faithful. God was especially constant in exposing the folly of idolatry because He wanted to deter His own people from falling into it and rescue those who were already captivated by it. God challenged the other nations that were released from Babylon by Cyrus to come forward and hear about the futility and uselessness of idolatry.
God outlined the foolishness of idolatry in two ways. First was to show that all idolatry is founded on lies. For example, craftsmen of idols would carve out a block of wood and then overlay it with gold and all manner of expensive ornaments. But underneath the gaudy surface it was still just cheap wood. Not to mention the fact that idols are inanimate objects. It’s utterly insane to pray to these things with the anticipation of answered prayers. Idols cannot hear, they cannot see, they cannot move, they literally sit there and do nothing. What must people think of themselves to honor a plain object as they would a god? Have they no knowledge at all? Are they so deeply confused as to believe their own deceptions? Or are their hearts malevolent and their ascribed worldviews intentionally deceptive? Maybe all of these things. Whatever idolatry is – it’s certainly foolish.
The second way that God outlined the foolishness of idolatry was to show that its practice was setting up a rival with the true and living God. As before, God simply challenged the idolaters to show even one time where their false gods accurately predicted the future – but none of them proved equal to the task. History proved their prophets to be liars. But God’s prophets heralded the future without making even one mistake. God is the source of justice and so only God is fit to rule. God is the Savior, He is able to save without the help of anyone or anything – and without Him no one can be saved. So for someone to set up an idol in competition with God is to lose your moorings on truth and falsehood, good and evil, and even your own spiritual well-being. We live in a culture of idolatry today which is why we’ve been immersed in moral relativism and plagued with an uptick in mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and psychosis.
In addition to convicting the idolaters, this passage brings encouragement and comfort to those who are faithful to God. The idols can do nothing to save, but God can save even the faithful who are scattered and lost to the far corners of the world. No matter where you are in the vast universe God is with you by your faith. God encourages you to look past the things of this world, look past those who feign godless wisdom, look past the second causes and go all the way back to the source. God said those who turn to Me and those who look to Me will be saved.
There’s a scene in the Old Testament where the Israelites are stung by fiery serpents in the wilderness. God instructed Moses to fashion a serpent out of bronze and mount it on a pole. All who were stung became healed once they looked upon the bronze serpent. God sketched this scene as precursor to foreshadow Christ mounted on the cross – because all who look upon Him are released from their bondage to sin in the same way the Israelites were healed from the serpent. From the moment Christ was lifted up from the earth all the eyes of the world have been fixed on Him. Those who peer onto Him by the eyes of faith will gather in for themselves eternal salvation.
Two things are promised for your abundant satisfaction when you look upon the Savior. The first is that you will bring glory to God. The second is that welfare of your soul is effectually secured. The arrival of Christ to establish His Kingdom will be a time of great joy for you. So even if you are persecuted and spat upon for your faith, you can rest assured that God will be exalted. God swore an oath by Himself that His word will not be recalled nor will it return void. His word has gone out in righteousness because He is the Creator of all things and so it is righteous that all things be devoted to Him. Since all beings derive their existence from God we can be certain that in due time all beings will submit to Him as Lord. All of the kingdoms of the world will be made His Kingdom and all life will bind itself by an oath of allegiance to Him.
This idea looks ahead to the dominion of Jesus Christ. All of us will stand before Christ and give account to Him. Those of us who have obedient hearts will look upon this day with great joy. Our knees will bow in humble adoration and cheerful obedience to His commands. Our tongues will make an oath to Him as our Lord that binds our souls to Him forever. This speaks of a time when God will be universally sought by all life from all parts of the world. And at the arrival of Christ’s dominion it will be of no purpose to make opposition to Him. Those who are enraged by the limitations set by God or by the power He justly reserves for Himself will be put to shame. For some this shame will represent a moment of repentance but for others it is the ruinous end. The overarching promise being made here is that eventually – as friend or enemy – all will submit to Jesus as King.
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