Isaiah 45:8-25
So as we prepare to read Isaiah
45, 8 to 25, remember Israel’s got two really big problems,
or I should say Judah and Jerusalem. Israel, the northern tribes have
been hauled off a while by Assyria into exile. But Jerusalem and
Judah, they have two big problems. One is a spiritual problem. And only Jesus, the coming suffering
servant, can save them from the spiritual problem, that’s sin.
But they also have a geographical problem, and that’s what we’ll
get covered tonight. The geographical problem is they’re 1,000 miles
away with all their stuff and all the treasury of the temple,
and that has to get back. And so remember, God is going
to raise up Cyrus, the new king of Persia, to help get them home. And so if we were just to read
this cold, probably be very confused, so let me just point out a thing
or two. The people aren’t gonna be happy with this, and so verse
eight is a little bit, verse eight is the ones who say, yes,
let’s do it. Verses nine through 12, verse
13, maybe, are the people that say, no, let’s don’t do that.
And that’s where the Potter thing comes in. Oh, God says, you don’t
want me to save you from Babylon? Who do you think you’re talking
to here? And then when you get to verses
14 to 17, it’s going to say something like, Hey, you think the Davidic
covenant where Israel is a nation with a Davidic King is over.
It’s actually not. In fact, it’s going to get bigger
and better. It’s going to be different, but bigger and better.
And then when you get to the rest of the chapter, God is going
to say, look, I’m the creator. I can do what I want to do. This
is what I’m going to do. So get over it. Right? That’s kind of how it goes. So
that helps, I think, us pick our way through. So, hear God’s
word, beginning at verse 8 of chapter 45. So this is the pro-Eucirus. 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.
Now the winers. 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.
Or woe to him who says to a father, what are you begetting? or to
a woman with what are you in labor? 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? I made the earth and created
man on it. It was my hands that stretched
out the heavens and I commanded all their host. 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 a price
or reward, says the Lord of hosts. Thus says the Lord, the wealth
of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabians, 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. Truly, you are a God who hides
himself, a God of Israel, the Savior. Oh, God of Israel, the
Savior. All of them are put to shame
and confounded. The makers of idols go into confusion
together. But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation. You shall not be put to shame
or confounded to all eternity. 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. I did not speak in secret
in the land of darkness. I did not say to the offspring
of Jacob, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak truth. I declare
what is right. 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. 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 beside me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none
besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all
the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no
other. 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. Only in the
Lord it shall be said of me our righteousness and strength. To
him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against
him. In the Lord, all the offspring of Israel shall be justified
and shall glory, amen, God’s great and gracious word. All
right, so when I went off to school, we had to take Old Testament
survey, New Testament survey, went to a Presbyterian school,
very liberal, didn’t know what that was at the time, grew up
conservative, our family had left the mainline denomination,
get into Old Testament survey, and they said creation is a myth,
It’s just kind of a poetic mythological telling of creation. That’s not
really how it happened. It’s how it, I don’t know. It’s just kind
of a thematic thing. And then they go on to say, Adam
wasn’t real. What? And then, you know, Noah, the
big boat, eh, I don’t know, not so much. And systematically,
all the big stories of redemption, eh, they didn’t really happen.
These are just mythological stories. And then they said, and look
at the Babylonians, they got their stories just like this.
Look at the Sumerians, they got theirs. Still got a book on my
shelf called Ancient Near Eastern Parallels. It’s just a bunch
of Neanderthalic people coming up with stories that they tell
their children and grandchildren. That’s what I heard. Okay, so
Sunday night, required nine o’clock. Be by the phone in your dorm
room. Phone calls, how you doing, where’d you go to church, you
been eating? You know, being nice to everybody, studying,
making good grades, that kind of thing. Got any questions?
Yeah, what’s all this, the Bible’s not real stuff? Oh yeah, just
get through it. Why’d you send me here? You know,
that kind of conversation. It was rather interesting. Basically,
the gist I got from it, I didn’t believe it, never affirmed it
or held to it, is this. The Bible is a really neat book
and it contains really neat things, but the God of it And the truth
behind it, eh, not so much. And so you come to a passage
like Isaiah, and first of all, they would have all these crazy
theories, source theories about how Isaiah got written. You know,
there’s first Isaiah, second Isaiah, and there’s all these
different ways that the book came about. So they pick it apart
before they even get to it. And then once they get to it,
they pick it apart some more. So how do they approach a book
like this, where God says, look, this is what I’m going to do.
This is when I’m going to do it. This is how I’m going to
do it. And this is why I’m going to do it. And by the way, it’s
going to happen. Now, we’re fine with it, right?
We love saying in the creed that Jesus was crucified under Pontius
Pilate. We go to the history books and
there really was a Pontius Pilate who put to death an insurrectionist. We love that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem because a Caesar decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that each should return to his hometown to be counted in the
Roman census. We love all that. We believe
all that. We, in fact, probably our error is we read it and say,
yeah, that happened, whatever. And what this passage tonight
I hope will do is make us stand amazed that God is the God of
human history. And he uses real people like
Cyrus. He uses real people like Cyrus to accomplish his works
of redemption. And maybe that doesn’t sit too
well with us. Well, it didn’t sit too well with Israel. In
fact, as I mentioned in verses 8 through 13 or so, you got one
verse of, yeah, let’s do it. And the other set of verses 9
through 13, they’re trying to have contract negotiations with
God. You know, we’re not going to
work. It’s like a labor strike. We’re not going to be Israelites
if you do it this way, because we don’t approve. That’s kind
of the way it goes. So that’s the first thing we
want to think about, the comparing contrast. Verse 8, they’re cool
with Cyrus being the savior, not the salvation savior, but
the deliverer out of the thousand mile away from Jerusalem, land
of Babylon. And so their prayer is, shower,
oh, heavens from above. Let it rain. Let it happen. Let
the clouds rain down righteousness. Let the earth open up. Has a
little bit of a flood motif, doesn’t it? The floods come up
and the rain comes down and there’s a flood of righteousness. so
that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit. Let the earth
cause them both to sprout for I, the Lord, have created it.”
Okay, this is the right response. Okay, God, this is how you’re
going to do it? We’re all for it. We second the motion as if
it matters, and we voted unanimously as if that matters. But isn’t
it good when we know the will and the works and the ways of
God and our heart sings in tune with God’s ways? You know, so
much of the American church is all about health and wealth and
prosperity and nothing bad, all good things, including political.
And that’s just not how God works. But we have made, we have fashioned
a God unto ourselves. And so when we do that, we begin
to fight against God and say, you know, God, I think if you
had asked me, you know, if you’d brought this to committee, we
would have had a different discussion. And so God says, Cyrus will be
your savior. Verse eight, they say, okay,
let’s have a prayer and say amen and get to work, God. But the
protest comes in verses nine through 13. And why do they protest? Well, one is Cyrus is a Gentile.
How could a Gentile king help Israel out? It’s bad, right? We don’t like Gentiles. Get a
couple hundred years later, Jesus is answering the question, who
is my neighbor? And it ends up being the person who’s in need.
And who’s the helper? Is it the priest? Is it the Levite?
No, it’s the Samaritan. And what is he called? The good
Samaritan. And in a sense, you could say
Cyrus is the good Gentile. God is going to use him and use
him mightily. And so they don’t like him being
a Gentile. They don’t like being a puppet
kingdom. They want a Davidic king on a Davidic throne in the
Davidic city. And they want things to be back
the way they were in David and Solomon’s day. They do not want
to be subordinate to a foreign power, but that’s going to be
the way it is for the rest. The Davidic line will simply
be governors under Greeks and Persians and Romans and Egyptians
and other invading and occupying nations. And so Israel, and they’re
right to fuss about this. They’re wrong about the situation,
but they’re right to fuss. Israel will no longer be a unique
nation, a theocracy. Your plan, oh Lord, is not acceptable,
they say. The collective bargaining. Who
do you think you are, God, to do this? And that comes up beginning
in verse nine. Woe to him who strives with him
who formed him. a pot among earthen pots. Y’all
know what earthen pots are. Those are what we call potties
these days. Does the clay say to him who
forms it, what are you making? Your work has no handles. Woe to him who says to a father,
what are you begetting? Or to a woman, what are you, with what
are you in labor? Thus says the Lord, the holy
one of Israel and the one who formed him, ask of me of things
to come. Will you command me concerning my children and the
work of my hands? All right. Okay. That’s a big one. This
is a, this is like Job. Remember Job, the terrible story
chapters one and two, and then there’s like 38 painful chapters
of divine browbeating. Who do you think you are, Job?
Okay. Ask me of things to come. Will
you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
Maybe you’ve had that conversation with your own children. Who do
you think you are? Right? That’s what God is saying. Will you command me concerning
my children? And just in case a little resume is needed, I
made the earth. God says, I created man on it. That’s you. It was
my hands that stretched out the heavens and I commanded all their
hosts. Doesn’t this sound like a miniature book of Job? Who
do you think you are, you little pipsqueak? God says to Job, 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.” So God has stirred
up a righteous thing in Cyrus. He’s not righteous, and nor is
he saved. He’s a pretty bad dude, but God
is going to make his ways level. He’s going to build the city.
That’s the whole Ezra and Nehemiah story. And it’s not for price
or reward, but it’s because of God’s will, God’s decree, God’s
ways, the exiles are set free. And so God’s chosen Cyrus. What are you going to do about
it? The answer is not a thing. I’m going to say thank you. We’re
blessed. You know, we live in a world
where mom is a short order cook. You know, I don’t like what you
cook for supper. So, well, let me cook you something you’ll
eat. I remember in my house growing up, it was you eat or else, right? Did y’all grow up that way? You
eat or else. Eat or you don’t eat, right? And you’re gonna
eat, right? That’s how it goes. That’s the
way it is with the Lord. He does his work. He does his
will. He does his ways. Who are we to say a thing? We
just rejoice because we have a great changed heart by the
Holy Spirit. All right. So now the question
is in their mind. All right. So if we’re going
to go back to Judah and Jerusalem, we’re going to rebuild the city,
rebuild the walls, rebuild the temple, rebuild our houses. We’re
going to go back and habitate it and live in worship for God. How is it that we can get by
with Cyrus? is like a puppet. I mean, we’re
like a little puppet country. We’re just under Cyrus. Whatever he decrees, we got to
do. Where’s David? Where’s the throne? Where’s Zion?
Where’s, you know, all the good Psalms of, you know, isn’t it
great? We’re a little bitty country,
but everybody’s coming to look at us like the queen of Sheba.
Okay. God is going to give them a little help here in verses
14 through 17. The world is going to come to
Jerusalem. The wealth of Egypt, verse 14
says, the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature.
Don’t the Sabeans pop up in the story of Job? They come and do
something to his children. They shall come over to you and
be yours. They shall follow you. So all
of a sudden, big nations, big people, wealth is coming and
submitting to little bitty, teeny tiny returned exile due to Jerusalem. I mean, they’re pipsqueaks when
they go back and rebuild. It’s a day of very small things. And God is saying, the wealth
of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabaeans, men of
stature, shall come over. They shall be yours. They shall
follow you. And it says, they’ll even come over in chains. They’ll
come over and they’ll bow to you. They will plead with you
saying, surely God is in you. And there is no other, no other
God besides him. So do we need all the worldly
pomp? Do we need all the stuff that makes nations seem big and
bad and scary and hairy? Or do we simply need God to dwell
in our midst? And people say, oh my, something’s
up, something’s different. Wasn’t that true for Abraham?
Remember when Abimelech looked at Abraham and said, this God
you serve, I don’t know him, but he seems to like you. And
whatever your hand does prospers. And so let’s make a treaty because
I want whatever you’re having. And so how did Abraham influence
of Imalek? Just by simply being godly. And that’s how Israel again will
influence the world. But they don’t need to worry
about being a puppet nation. Again, the nations will come
and again, the nations will submit themselves to Yahweh. And it
says in verse 16, all of them will be put to shame. All of
them will be confounded. The maker of idols go in confusion
together. So if you read Psalm 89, Psalm
89 is kind of the big David Psalm. David’s going to be king. David’s
going to have a throne forever on his throne. The throne of
the little M Messiah will sit the big Messiah, capital M Messiah,
King. And so God promised David, you’re
going to have a throne. It’s going to last forever. You
will always have an offspring on that throne. Well, that seems
to be in jeopardy because the throne is just going to be a
little governorship of puny little Judah in the burnt out district
of Judah and Jerusalem. But God is saying people will
come and people will submit and they will acknowledge God, the
true King. Verse 17 says, Israel is saved
by the Lord with everlasting salvation. And guess what? You shall not be put to shame.
You shall not be confounded to all eternity. So we think sometimes,
Oh, we’re a little bitty dinky church, right? We’re just a ragtag bunch of
people in Alamance County who love the Lord. And what’s everybody
else up to? Well, God says, I’ll never put
you to shame. The church is a place of God’s throne, God’s glory,
God’s goodness. And we should never be ashamed
of small things. Now, you live in today’s American
world and, you know, since the Billy Graham days and, oh, look,
he could draw a crowd. Therefore, what’s a successful
pastor? He draws a crowd, right? And so we built auditoriums.
We built these grand big places. You drive by a lot of churches
today and they look more like a shopping center place for consumerism
than they do for worship. But that’s how we begun to measure
it. And God says, no, you’re saved
by the Lord. You’re saved by Yahweh. So if
there’s two of you in Timbuktu, right? Is that a real place? I guess it is. The glory of God
is there. The beauty and everlasting salvation
is there. So how do you know God’s plan
is right? Well, first of all, he said so.
Don’t be yelling at the potter. How do you know God’s plan is
true? He can hit straight licks with crooked sticks. He can use
Cyrus any old way he wants to. But how do you know these two
things are going to work out, the will of God and the way of
God? Well, verse 18. God gives a quick little reminder. Thus says the Lord, and he uses
a thousand creation words here. Thus says Yahweh, who created
the heavens. And notice the parentheses. He
is God. Who formed the earth and made
it. He established it. He did not create it empty. Remember
formless and void, formed and filled. He formed it to be inhabited. Remember, these are people who
know Genesis. These are people who know their whole scriptures. And so God is reminding them,
yes, from beginning to end, I make. From beginning to end, I sustain.
And from beginning to end, I’m the one that works this thing
out. And so, remember our little faith, repentance, and obedience
life cycle? You know, you’re bumping along
in life, things aren’t so great, woe to me. Is there any meaning
to it all? You know, I’m just sad. I shouldn’t,
you know, what’s the reason for living? Uh, there’s a creator
and he’s God and he didn’t just He doesn’t just exist, He formed
and filled this world, and He’s put you here for purpose. And
so our faith is built back up, and so we feel good about ourselves
because we’ve thought about God and His purposes. And then we
say, okay, I repent of my faithlessness, I repent of my weakness, I repent
of my whininess, and Lord, what will you have me do? Well, okay,
one of the things will always be to trust Him and remember
what He is, what He’s done. but then it’s to get about his
work. You know, anytime you get the
Eeyore syndrome, uh, woe to me, you know, everything’s bad and
we do get it or the chicken little, we stick our head in the ground.
The sky is falling. We just don’t need to remember
God, the creator of God, the King. All right. So verse 18
is kind of a pop on the right side of the head. Quit your,
quit your belly aching. Remember who I am. And then,
uh, verse, 19 is another pop in the head. You
know, he knocks you on the right hand side of the head and says,
listen up. Now here’s a pop on the other side of the head. I
am Yahweh and there is no other. I did not speak in secret. I
did not speak in a land of darkness. I did not say to the offspring
of Jacob, seek me in vain. You know, the accusation could
come, you know, God, you’ve just brought us out of Egypt to let
us die in the wilderness. And can’t you feel that way as
a Christian? Lord, I’ve given up everything to follow you and
what do I have to show for it? I know you’ve thought of that,
I have. Lord, you’ve done all this and
here I am. Well, God makes himself known
as the creator. He makes himself known as the
savior and he doesn’t say, seek me in vain. He speaks truth.
He declares what is right. His word is good. And so he says
in verse 20, okay, you got something to say, well, present yourself
before my bench. Present yourself before the throne. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, you survivors of the nations. So he’s speaking
to the exiles who’ve made it the 70 years in Babylon and have
the opportunity to go back. Remember, not all come back,
many do. Some will stay and they will
prosper in Babylon. But he says, you survivors of
the nations, symbol draw near And he speaks of the others they
have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols and They keep
praying to a God that cannot save so here. There’s the the
continued contrast. I’m God. I’m maker I’m former
and filler creation stuff I didn’t save you and tell you to seek
me in vain like I’m gonna pull the rug out from under you and
now You’re still whining, he says. Draw near, survivors. The people that worship idols,
they’re bad, no good. Declare and present your case,
verse 21. Let them take counsel together. Who told you this long
ago? Who declared it of old? You get to the will of God here.
We say sometimes on Sunday morning, you’ve bumped into God and now
it’s time to confess your sins. Or how about you, you’re striving
in life, doing it your way, doing it your way, just busy, busy,
busy, nonstop to do list. Cause that’s just the way life
goes. And you bump into God’s will and he says, not going to
happen this way anymore. Right? You’ve been working yourself
feverishly. And God says, who told you this
long ago, who declared it of old? Remember there’s a God and
he creates. And he decrees, was it not I
the Lord, there is no other God besides me, a righteous God,
righteous Savior. And so these are all very exclusive
statements about creator, about redeemer, about sustainer, about
decreeer. What else does God have left
in his arsenal to show you? I am God and you are not. He’s talked about the galaxies.
He’s done the divine browbeating like he did Job. And so he says,
turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. Everybody
again is going to flock to Judah and to Jerusalem to see God.
They’re going to flock now to the church and see that there
is a God and there is no other. He’s going to speak of his decree.
By myself, I’ve sworn. Don’t we understand that language? We’re good covenant minded people.
By myself, I have sworn. That’s what God says to Abraham.
From my mouth has gone out in righteousness, a word that shall
not return. To me, every knee will bow. To
me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Or in the case of Philippians,
New Testament, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And then verse
24, only in the Lord it shall be said of me, a righteousness
and strength to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed
against him. So should you fill out a complaint
form against Yahweh? No. What happens if you do? He’ll thump you in the head.
How often do we do it? Very often we preface our prayers,
Lord, no, I’m not supposed to say this, which should be the
next, so I won’t. But Lord, I know I’m not supposed
to say this. A little bit of complaining is in the Psalms.
There’s the imprecatory stuff, make my enemies get the hemorrhoids,
that kind of thing. There’s real reality in the prayers
of the Bible, but we need to be careful. not to stand before
God and say, you know, if you had asked me, because God will do his will
and he will do it according to his word and he will do it according
to his ways. And notice verse 25, it gets
the great last word, in Yahweh, all the offspring of Israel shall
be justified and shall glory. You know, we forget the end goal. We think the end is in the nitty
gritty. But we forget the end is in the end. The nitty gritty
is just the bumps and the path along the way. And so we have
to keep our eyes on heaven. We have to keep our eyes on Christ.
We have to keep our eyes on the end. It’s to glorify God and
to enjoy him forever. So if you go back to the beginning
of the passage, would you be verse eight? Yay, let’s do this. Or would you be verses nine through
13? I don’t know, God. Something to think about. Don’t
lie. Let’s do pray. Lord, we give
you thanks for a perspective on your word, your ways, your
will, your works. You don’t need our advice. We
happily offer it. We pray that we would be like
children who are content in their arms of their mother and who
rest in you and completely trust what you provide for us. Help
us, we pray in Christ’s great and mighty and gracious name.
Amen.