Isaiah 41
Notes
Transcript
The Lord is with Us
The Lord is with Us
So remember what has been happening, God has saved his people from the hand of the Assyrians. And He has blessed his people.
Even King Hezekiah can speak to God’s blessing in that his life was restored..
But Hezekiah became prideful, when ambassadors came out from Babylon, he showed them, bragging if you will about all that he had, armies, wealth, weapons etc....
God condemned his actions and told him that his children and grandchildren would suffer the consequences of his actions and his response is simple, well it will not happen in my life time..
So lets move forward.
1 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
Here God is inviting the parties to gather together so that he can lay out the evidence before everyone.
The call for silence prepares the people to hear what is going to be said to them.
The call is for them to “listen to me”… and while not everyone is mentioned here we see that God includes the smaller nations in the distant lands and coast lands to hear what God has to say.
Now moving to verses 2-4 Isa 41:2-4
2 Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
Looking at these verses, we see that God puts forward two challenging questions. the first focuses on who controls the political events that were happening at that time, namely the rising of a strong king.
This is the one from the east who is stirred up.... This is God directing some ruler to go to war, but the name of the king is not provided… And we know God using others to accomplish his will is not a new idea.
And if you look at verse 2, He (implying God) will give the nations to such a king.
The king that God empowers is unstoppable in his progress and so he moves on to conquer new territories.
So verse 4 asks who has done this… the answer is simple, I the Lord..YHWH is boldly proclaimed, the first and the last, I am he...
Boy does that sound familiar…the I AM as done this who is the first and the last..4
Listen to Rev 1:8
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
And then Rev 1:17-18
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
I AM, more than its me.. YHWH is the I AM… He has done this
WOW… What a proclamation.
Now verses 5-7...
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
Once the far away lands and the coastlands hear what God is doing through this powerful king, and how He is directing that King to defeat other nations. They response will be fear and trembling...
Sadly in response to this, instead of strength and courage to stand with God’s help. They chose to look to each other and try to gain help and courage from their neighbor. That is temporal help.
In response to the actions of the people, Isaiah says they trust is deluded, they build idols thinking they might help them.. idolatry never helps, it is sin.
Only God is good and they should look to him, they have nothing to fear if they trust and follow the Lord.
Now lets look at verses 8-9 Isa 41:8-9
8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
As we open this new section, the message turns from the distant nations to address Isaiah’s audience, to give them comfort in a time of war.
But you, this is a contrast, he was talking to the other nations a moment ago, and now he is speaking of his people.
The people of Israel are my servants, the people whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham and my friend or beloved.
Being a servant involves the active decision to the do the will of the Master. Being a chosen people is the gracious status of being selected by God and made the receipt of His blessings. And certainly they did not deserve the this action of being chosen, but they are the receiptant of God’s love
Listen to this passage from Deuteronomy.
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
And verse 9, repeats some of the themes of in verse 8. and it is done to emphasize the sureness of God’s relationship with his people.
Even Abraham was from a distant land, bu that didn’t stop God from acting for Abraham’s good, he was His servant and God chose him.’
Listen God loves and is committed to Israel, that is the cornerstone of their relationship
Verse 10 Isa 41:10
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Here the practical aspects of God’s salvatoin is given to us. God’s servants do not need to fear others, for God is with them. God will strengthen and help his servants in the midst of their trial. and then God will cause their enemies to be nothing..
God will strengthen, help and uphold his people. This is God’s firm promise to his people based in who He is!
But there again, everything is in His control and power. He has promised to be wit his people and that has not changed.
Verses 11-13 Isa 41:11-13
11 Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
God’s presence and strengthening will result in the defeat of Judah’s enemies. We can see this past and future as God works on behalf of his people.
Isaiah begins with “Behold” this draws attention to the announcement of deliverance, the enemy is the one who is enraged…They opposed God’s people and truly they oppose God himself. So what does the enemy do against Israel? They wage war against Israel, but they will not win.
And while the particular enemy is not told, but we are told something will happen to shame them and humiliate those who wage war against God and his people. And when God is done, there will be nothing left of them.
This might hint back to Sennacherib and is army, the angel of the Lord came and struck down 185,000 soldiers in one night, nothing was left except the corpses of the soldiers.
So the call is to fear not, the Lord is with you. but I love this last line.. I am the one who helps you.
How truthful is that statement.
Verse 14 Isa 41:14
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
So we see some of the earlier promises repeated here, ti give confidence and strength to the people.
But there is some extra words of hope here. the Holy One of Israel will transfer his weak people into something powerful enough to crush their enemies.
God’s people are called Jacob who would later be named Israel, but also God calls them the lowly “worm” But why call them a worm.
The image is one of a people who is powerless and insignificant. Ps 22:6
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
Israel was despised and as we see today they are still despised my friends.
But do not fear, the Lord is the one who helps, he will not only help but bring Salvation to his people.
Now lets look at verses 15-16 Isa 41:15-16
15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
Now something wonderful happened, the lowly worm has now been called the threshing sledge, this was a wooden platform with sharp stone of metal teeth on the bottom side that would be raised up and down to separate the grain form the stalk.
The mountains represent the problems that Israel has, and God will crush the mountains .
God says you will winnow them, making them like chaff which is worthless only good to blow away in the wind. it really suggests the complete defeat of God’s enemies.
Praise goes to the almighty for his salvation and deliverance over the enemy. The people shall rejoice in this..
Verse 17 Isa 41:17
17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
We start off looking at the poor and needy, they seek water but there is none. So here are a people that are truly dependent upon God, He knows their needs and will care for them.
Do you believe God cares for you?
I believe just as he did Israel so He does us as well. They were dependent upon him, they had no wealth, no power and no ability to do anything to make their life better.
Now, we do not know the reason for the lack of rain, they are looking for water. Now thirst can also be a picture of longing for anything that is needed for a healthy life including spiritual necessities.
for example Ps 42:2
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
or Amos 8:11
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
But the second part of that verse we see that the Lord promises to answer them.. God will intervene in the lives of his people. He will care for them, He will answer them and he will not forsake them.
Now verses 18-19 Isa 41:18-19
18 I will open rivers on the bare 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 put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
God will cause great rivers of water to flow wildly out of the mountains, wells in the wilderness plains will be full of water and God will cause the formerly dry area to have pools of water available for people to refresh themselves.
This abundant production of water is a vivid sign of the fulfillment of God’s blessings and his covenant promises
14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
But this will not happen everywhere, only in the land of God’s people, Israel.
Verse 20 Isa 41:20
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Why does all this happen, God explains it. He does this so that they may know, understand the hand of God is at work in their land.
While people might try to explain this way as quirks of nature, freak happenings… when this happens, no one will be able to deny that this could only be the Lord. His power and blessings has done this...
This will open the eyes of his people, where they once were blind , now they will see and know
Verse 21 Isa 41:21
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
Who is the divine power that controls the world, People might debate this… God challenges those who think they are gods themselves to come and share their proof
The King of Jacob, is a nod to Jacob who was changed to Israel, which refers to His people.
But God is challenging them to make their case...
Verses 22-23 Isa 41:22-23
22 Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
These so called gods and their supporters are invited to draw near and declare their case and prove that they are supernatural beings.
God challenges them to to declare the past as well the future so that we may consider them in v 22.
If these so called gods can do tis, then the listeners will know for certain what all the events of the past have meant… prove who you are...
It appears that none of these so called Gods said anything when God asked for predictions about the future, or to explain the things of the past.
This is like a mocking challenge,..God is ridiculing them in a sense, he calls for thier actions knowing they can do nothing…HA,
Verse 24 Isa 41:24
24 Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
God makes the declaration, you are nothing. and he says in a harder way, your work is less than nothing… They cannot do the things claimed of them… they are worthless idols and judgment will fall on those who choose them.
God hates idol worship.
15 “ ‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
Verse 25 Isa 41:25
25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
To support His case, God speaks and testified of his ability to act and control history and proves it by the evidence he brings forward.
The Kings God would raise up would do the task he called them for. he raised Babylon as chastisement upon his people. But later he raised Cyrus and Darius to release them .
He would later raise up others to do his will or tearing down or building up. Alexander the Great will be the great kingdom and then the Romans who could come at the time of the Messiahs entrance into the world.
What does all this tell us,…God is in control
Verse 26 Isa 41:26
26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
Who did these things, declaring what might come that we might know… God says none of the so called did these thing
Verse 27 Isa 41:27
27 I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
God did announce these things to his people in Zion (not those in Babylonian exile) beforehand, for he revealed what would happen. God also continually gave good news (40:9; 52:7) to his people in Jerusalem,
Verse 28 Isa 41:28
28 But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
Having proven his divine qualities and proven the powerlessness of the gods, God awaited “and repeatedly looked” (NIV, “I look”) for some response from the gods to defend themselves, but there was no response from among any of these supernatural beings.
God could find no wise “counselors, planners” (yāʿaṣ) who can defend the gods by showing that they have the wisdom to plan and predict the future
Verse 29 Isa 41:29
29 Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
Here God gives us the final conclusion of who they are… these false gods, idols are simply nothing…
These false gods provide an illusion of power, but they are not real. it is just hot air being spoken by people who chose to follow them.
The words are empty and meaningless
Therefore, the prophet’s audience does not need to fear these gods. There is only one God who controls Israel’s future.