Isaiah 44:6-46:13, Case Closed

Isaiah  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  49:03
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Today we come to Yahweh’s closing argument in a case He brought on His own behalf. He has summoned the nations to come before Him, and so that His people would know they are His, He is making His case that the idols of the nations are nothing, He is everything, and He will redeem His people for His own sake so that everyone will know that He is the only God in whom are salvation and righteousness. And He will make His closing argument into an invitation:
Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)
“Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
This is helpful in our pluralistic age. There are many worldviews and belief systems available to us. And they can’t all be right. As Christians, we believe that there is only one God, and He is the God revealed to us in the Bible, in passages like the one we’re in today. And we believe that at the end of everything, everyone will come face to face with God and have to reckon with Him. And we believe this life is our opportunity to prepare for that reckoning. Be reconciled to God or be ashamed forever.
But I hope we can also see in our passage today that this truth is both proclaimed in all its stark reality, but also presented to all people as an invitation to compare the God revealed in the Bible to the alternatives. We should never be afraid of questioning and examining evidence and comparing our beliefs to those other worldviews. In fact, God invites it.
Opens with
Isaiah 44:7 (ESV)
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Last section opens with
Isaiah 46:5 (ESV)
“To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
Somewhere in the middle we see God’s missional purpose, the climax of His case.
Isaiah 45:5–6 (ESV)
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me, 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.
God wants us to know Him and make Him known. In fact, He will even use people that do not know Him to make Himself known.
As we begin to compare God to other worldviews, we should consider Him fairly, consider who God is as He reveals Himself. There are many people who have rejected the God of the Bible because they have some view of Him that isn’t true. And they reject this god that isn’t really God anyway. So, consider God as He reveals Himself. There is so much to consider. Look at attributes and actions God reveals just in this one section of scripture:
Isaiah 44:6 (ESV)
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Isaiah 44:8 (ESV)
Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
Isaiah 44:24-28: The Potter who forms His people, Yahweh the Ever-Living One, Creator and Cosmic Master Architect, All-Wise, Sovereign
Isaiah 45:7 (ESV)
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being (shalom) and create calamity (rah);
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
The word shalom is hard to translate with one English word. It is peace and well-being and prosperity and completeness. The word ra is almost always translated “evil” (etz ha da'at tov v'rah, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). That one could verse alone could take all kinds of unpacking. Suffice to say everything we experience in life comes from God, one way or another.
But we get to the marrow of the case in 45:14-25. We have three statements from Yawheh. The first two are “thus says the LORD” truths. The third is the invitation. What we will see is that we will all reckon with the reality of God. Some of us will get angry about that to our eternal shame, but the alternative is to receive His invitation to turn to Him for your justification and words of eternal life. You can have joy, freedom, and glory

Truth #1 - Our Salvation is God’s Demonstration to the World of His Reality

In chapter 45, God gives a message to Cyrus, King of Persia, 100 years before He is born, that He will use him as a shepherd to regather the people of Israel to the promised land and rebuild Jerusalem as their dwelling place. Then, beginning in 45:14, our first “Thus says the LORD,”
Isaiah 45:14 (ESV)
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.’ ”
(1 Cor 14:24-25; Zech 8:23)
God is invisible, or as Isaiah says in verse 15, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” But when God acts to save His people, it is an everlasting salvation (v. 17), and is a visible sign that God is real. God promises Israel that other peoples will see His reality at work in them and want to follow them and even serve them as long as they can experience what they are experiencing.
How does our salvation as Christians demonstrate the reality of God? We haven’t been gathered from exile to one promised land or one city. But we have been gathered from the exile of selfishness, hatred, fear, bitterness, hopelessness, and self-centered living. And that salvation is visible to others.
How is your life as a redeemed person of God demonstrating the reality of God to others?
When you compare the life transformation that God brings to the Christian, it shames the transformation of any other religion. Other religions may reform the behavior of their followers. They may even bring them greater peace and happiness through their practices. But only Jesus Christ saves us from sin, death, and self in a way that changes us down to the level of affections and desire.

Truth #2 - God Always Tells the Truth

45:18-21 - Yahweh reminds us that He created the world and filled it by His word. As He says in verse 18,
Isaiah 45:18 (ESV)
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.
He gives substance to all things. How? verse 19,
Isaiah 45:19 (ESV)
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.
God doesn’t hide behind cryptic oracles and He doesn’t just like to hear Himself talk. He speaks on purpose, to establish reality and to reveal truth. Imagine a world created by someone you couldn’t trust. Or a world run by a god who changed His mind or couldn’t make up his mind. Islam, for example, has a doctrine of abrogation, stating that Allah may command something that contradicts a previous commandment because times and circumstances change. They would say there is not contradiction, only abrogation. (I encourage you, if you are ever in dialogue with a Muslim, to understand the development of the Quran and understand the history behind it. I commend to you Dr. Timothy Tennent’s online class “Essentials of Islam” on biblicaltraining.org or read articles from an Islamic perspective.) But even if you give them the benefit of the doubt, if God can abrogate His commandments, how could you ever grow in understanding Him or be certain of His will?
As Christians, we believe in progressive revelation. God can always reveal more than He has in the past. And in Jesus Christ, He has revealed a greater fullness to the revelations in the Hebrew Bible. But there is never a contradiction or even an abrogation. As Jesus said,
Matthew 5:17 (ESV)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Getting back to Isaiah 45, Yahweh makes His point by looking back to His saving acts for Israel and asks, which other god predicted that any of those would happen? In verse 20, He calls to the bench the nations who have been praying to gods that cannot save and says they have no knowledge.
By contrast, Yahweh consistently spoke through prophets, and then followed through on His words with His actions: making Abraham and Sarah into a nation, delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt and settling them in the Promised Land, overthrowing mighty nations, setting David on his throne, exile and return from Assyria and Babylon, etc.
Not only can you trust God to tell you the truth about life and how it works, you can trust Him to fulfill every promise.
Verse 20, What idols have we been looking to for knowledge that cannot save? News, pundits, financial experts…test their words against God’s words for reliability and power to transform your life.
How are you learning to trust in God by letting His word form you?

Truth #3 - The Invitation

Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Since God cannot swear by any higher authority, He swears by Himself a truth that everyone needs to reckon with:
Isaiah 45:23 (ESV)
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.’
You can get angry about this, or you can trust in Him for your justification, to paraphrase verses 24 and 25. Everyone will come to Him in the end. Not everyone will be justified. Many will be ashamed because they have competing allegiances that keep them from enjoying this truth. But the truth remains, Yahweh is God, and there is no other, He is the only Savior and Lord, and He is inviting you to turn to Him.
And this invitation is not just for unbelievers. In Isaiah 44:22
Isaiah 44:22 (ESV)
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
we see that even the redeemed people sometimes need to return to God. Our hearts go astray after other idols. Our minds are tempted to think according to the ideologies of our times. In fact, we can get so caught up in listening to all the other voices out there that are much more demanding of your attention than the Spirit of God.
Are you listening to this invitation from God, turn to Him or return to Him and you will be saved? He is inviting you to come away with Him, refresh yourself in His words, because He alone has the words of eternal life.
…which brings us to Jesus.
The closing words of Yahweh’s case are in
Isaiah 46:12–13 (ESV)
“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”
Without preaching the whole book of Hebrews all over again, the message of that book is that God acted to save Israel, but not all Israel was saved because they did not believe God. The true test of salvation is not whether you somehow belong to a community that God has delivered. It’s not the Red Sea, it’s Mount Sinai. The true test of salvation is whether or not you are listening to obey God’s words by faith and learn righteousness. And when God wanted to confirm all the words that He had spoken, all the promises He had made, including this one, to bring righteousness near, He sent Jesus. And if God is now speaking to us in Jesus Christ, do not harden your hearts.
Jesus was God’s sign that all the promises to Abraham were for them, to bless them through one faithful Israelite, who would fulfill righteousness, and bring it near. He lived a perfect life. He died on a cross, and His blood sealed a covenant that reconciles sinners to God. And He rose from the dead to vindicate His identity as God’s beloved and approved Son. And Jesus has now ascended to receive all authority in heaven and on earth, and just as Yahweh says about Himself,
Isaiah 45:23 (ESV)
‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
So we can see of Jesus,
Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV)
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The question for us is, in what ways are you reckoning with the reality of God revealed in Jesus? In what ways is your salvation demonstrating to others the reality of God? Is He real in your life? In what ways is His word forming you? When faced with the reality that God has established salvation and righteousness in Jesus Christ, and there is no other way, do you get angry about this, or do you trust in this for your justification? How are you glorying in the LORD God more than the gods of the nations of this world that cannot save?
There is a long list of reasons that I believe God is real, and the God revealed in the Bible is truly God. But the most convincing proof to me is that the God who made this world, and created us in His image, would act to redeem us from our bondage to idolatry and rebellion and sin by coming near to us and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves in Jesus Christ. The gospel makes sense of everything. The question I ask myself these days is, how am I living out the gospel in ways that would make others
Isaiah 45:14 (ESV)
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.’ ”
come to me in their chains and follow me and plead with me saying, “Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.” Am I being formed by God’s words to become more free in my security in my identity as His child? Am I demonstrating the reality of His power to conform me to His righteousness? Am I bowing my knee and swearing allegiance to Jesus Christ, God the Son, the King of Israel, and the King of the Universe in ways that demonstrate His character of self-sacrifice, loving grace, and trust in God?
Questions for Discussion
What is something from the recent past that has given you confidence in the reality of God? What are some things that can shake our confidence in God or cause us to doubt?
What are some questions you have about God that you haven’t been able to answer yet?
When you come across other worldviews that argue against the reality of the God of the Bible, what are some helpful truths that you use to assure yourself or others of the reality of God?
What are some ways the community of faith in the church has helped convince you that God is real because you can see Him in them (Isaiah 45:14)?
In what ways has God demonstrated the truth of His words to you?
In what ways are those words forming you and helping you know God better?
In what ways has God demonstrated His reality and truth of His word in Jesus Christ?
How does the gospel of God in Jesus Christ help us understand God? In what ways does believing and obeying the gospel form us into living demonstrations of His reality?
How will you respond to this passage this week?
Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?
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