Isaiah 41

Isaiah 2023  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  41:50
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Isaiah 41

Good evening church! We picked back up in the book of Isaiah last week with Isaiah chapter 40, which I love. A couple of you seemed to as well... and one of you actually suggested that we shift into low gear and go back through that chapter slowly, breaking it down over the next two weeks. Just a reminder to you all, we meet here tonight and next Wednesday night, and then we transition back to our growth groups for the month of May and June. So for May and June there won’t be a mid-week service here....and then starting July 5th, we will resume our Wednesday evening study throughout the summer until about the start of school.
We are going to keep going in the book because I think that there are some of the most profound, most exciting prophecies in the entire Bible still ahead of us in Isaiah, and I want to share them with you. Tonight however, we are revisiting some familiar ground in some ways as this prophetic book returns to the dangers, and really ignorance of Idolatry. We are familiar with the 10 commandments. They begin with this from Exodus 20:1-4
Exodus 20:1–4 NKJV
1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
Exodus 20:5–6 NKJV
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Isaiah 40 had that awesome introduction of the voice of the one crying in the wilderness prophesying about John the Baptist being the forerunner of Jesus. And then it really exhorts us to behold our God, to truly and deeply look at God and see how no thing and no one can compare to the greatness of God. Chapter 41 really continues that along with a reoccurring theme that is in the entirety of the Old Testament, that He alone is God and we are to have no idols that come before Him, nor compete with Him in any way.
So, let’s pray and we will get started in chapter 41.
Isaiah 41:1 NKJV
1 “Keep silence before Me, O coastlands, And let the people renew their strength! Let them come near, then let them speak; Let us come near together for judgment.
Remember we left off in chapter 40 verse 31 with But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, and chapter 41 begins with this statement of let the people renew their strength. Remember the theme of the book from chapter 40 on is comfort. Even though it has been prophesied that Jerusalem is going to fall, God will restore, and God will strengthen His people.
But notice who this verse is addressed to as well. Keep silence before Me, O coastlands. I didn’t put a map up on our screens, but if you have a map in your Bible that shows ancient Israel, or a layout of the tribes. You’ll see Judah to the south and then above that the city of Jerusalem, sometimes referred to here as Zion. But Jerusalem is not the coastlands, so this declaration is addressing the Pagan cities surrounding Jerusalem. This invitation is directed to the people, but we will see as we move forward through the chapter that this is like a courtroom scene comparing the peoples Idols to the One and only true and Living God.
It has to be the people because false gods are just that, false, they can’t do any battle with the Lord. But this is an invitation for judgement, not in the sense of say the Great White Throne Judgement where the non-Christians will be gathered to stand before the Lord, but judgement in the sense of a courtroom. I picture verse one as being very much like the entrance into a court room.
People gather into court for an assessment of gathered facts. What happens when the bailiff cries out, all rise? You be quiet right. That is not like a yellow light that some of you take as slow down and stop and others as a proceed with caution. “All rise” says the judge is entering the courtroom, keep silence before me, unless called upon. SO the Lord instructs them to come near for judgement and then in verse 2 begins to ask as series of what appears to be rhetorical questions...
Isaiah 41:2 NKJV
2 “Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to His feet? Who gave the nations before him, And made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, As driven stubble to his bow?
Isaiah 41:3 NKJV
3 Who pursued them, and passed safely By the way that he had not gone with his feet?
OK, let’s break this down a little bit and see if we can figure who this is talking about. Verse two asks who raised up one from the east? Any ideas about who did the raising up? God right. Now the rest of this is one of those places where the more Bible commentaries you read, probably the more confused you’ll get. What does that tell us? We probably don’t know. We do know later in the chapter and in the next few chapters but who is this referring to, the one who was raise up in righteousness.
Some say Jesus, He certainly was raised up, but that is not who this is talking about. The two leading contenders are Abraham and Cyrus the King of Persia
Isaiah 41:22 NKJV
22 “Let them bring forth and show us what will happen; Let them show the former things, what they were, That we may consider them, And know the latter end of them; Or declare to us things to come.
Isaiah 41:25 NKJV
25 “I have raised up one from the north, And he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; And he shall come against princes as though mortar, As the potter treads clay.
Isaiah 41:4 NKJV
4 Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He.’ ”
Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel —
Revelation 1:17 NKJV
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
Revelation 22:13 NKJV
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Isaiah 41:5–7 NKJV
5 The coastlands saw it and feared, The ends of the earth were afraid; They drew near and came. 6 Everyone helped his neighbor, And said to his brother, “Be of good courage!” 7 So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith; He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil, Saying, “It is ready for the soldering”; Then he fastened it with pegs, That it might not totter.
Isaiah 41:8–10 NKJV
8 “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Isaiah 41:11–13 NKJV
11 “Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them— Those who contended with you. Those who war against you Shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent thing. 13 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
Isaiah 41:14–16 NKJV
14 “Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 “Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, And make the hills like chaff. 16 You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, And the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the Lord, And glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Bil Galatin note...
Isaiah 41:17–20 NKJV
17 “The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers in desolate heights, And fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water. 19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, The myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine And the box tree together, 20 That they may see and know, And consider and understand together, That the hand of the Lord has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Isaiah 41:21–24 NKJV
21 “Present your case,” says the Lord. “Bring forth your strong reasons,” says the King of Jacob. 22 “Let them bring forth and show us what will happen; Let them show the former things, what they were, That we may consider them, And know the latter end of them; Or declare to us things to come. 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, That we may know that you are gods; Yes, do good or do evil, That we may be dismayed and see it together. 24 Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
Isaiah 41:25–27 NKJV
25 “I have raised up one from the north, And he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; And he shall come against princes as though mortar, As the potter treads clay. 26 Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’? Surely there is no one who shows, Surely there is no one who declares, Surely there is no one who hears your words. 27 The first time I said to Zion, ‘Look, there they are!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
Isaiah 41:28–29 NKJV
28 For I looked, and there was no man; I looked among them, but there was no counselor, Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word. 29 Indeed they are all worthless; Their works are nothing; Their molded images are wind and confusion.
Grace and Peace!
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