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“Remember this, keep it in mind,
    take it to heart, you rebels.
⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago;
    I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.
¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’
¹¹ From the east I summon a bird of prey;
    from a far-off land, a man to fulfil my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
    what I have planned, that I will do.

If we are going to pray in faith, the second half of verse 11 must be deeply rooted in us. God says what He means and means what He says.

One proof of this (and here is another repeated theme in Isaiah) is fulfilled prophecy. The idols did not know the future and could not foretell it. But the one and only true God can and does. As we have already seen, long before he appeared on the stage of history, God made known the appearing of Cyrus. Here he is referred to here once again.

By the way, what emblem was on Cyrus’ shield? Yes, you’ve got it. I understand it was ”a bird of prey”.

‘The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. This same man, said Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13). Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile.’ Hugh Ross: ‘Reasons to believe’ website

“So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable?
    Can you picture me without reducing me?
People with a lot of money
    hire craftsmen to make them gods.
The artisan delivers the god,
    and they kneel and worship it!
They carry it around in holy parades,
    then take it home and put it on a shelf.
And there it sits, day in and day out,
    a dependable god, always right where you put it.
Say anything you want to it, it never talks back.
    Of course, it never does anything either! (The Message).

I heard about a Keswick Bible teacher who, one year, kept saying to the gathered crowd, ‘You know this, but I’m reminding you of it anyway! I believe he was speaking on 2 Peter (see, e.g. 1:12-15/3:1).

Much of pastoral ministry involves the tireless repetition of certain basic truths. In our fallenness and frailty we quickly and easily forget, or turn away from what we know, and we are in need of constant reminders. Hopefully we may be able to find fresh and creative ways to carry out this aspect of ministry, but it has to be done!

You may have noticed that there’s quite a lot of repetition in Isaiah. Today, we are back with one of his big themes: the absurdity of idolatry. It should be patently obvious that a man-made god, sitting on a shelf, isn’t likely to do anything – other than collect dust!!

 …Jesus is both True God and Real Life. Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles. (1 John 5:21: The Message).

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21 NIV).

PRAYER: Lord, I recognise the truth that the human heart is an ‘idol-making factory.’ Help me to have no other gods before you.

Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
    their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
The images that are carried about are burdensome,
    a burden for the weary.
² They stoop and bow down together;
    unable to rescue the burden,
    they themselves go off into captivity.

³ ‘Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,
    and have carried since you were born.
⁴ Even to your old age and grey hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

In verse 20 of the previous chapter we read:

‘Gather together and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.

The theme of carrying is now repeated; it is picked up and enlarged on. The question is: do we want gods who we have to carry, or the God who carries us? Do we want a religion that is a burden to us, or the Saviour who relieves us of our burdens? This is the choice between false and true religion. In fact it has been said that here, in a nutshell we have the difference between false and authentic faith: the false is built on works, but the genuine is based on grace (Eph.2:8,9).

I think there is a special word of encouragement here to elderly believers. As we get older, we are likely to feel our physical, mental, emotional (and spiritual) vulnerability and fragility increasingly. What a beautiful picture, then, of the Lord carrying us to the end of our days. Let’s take this to heart:

“Listen to me, family of Jacob,
    everyone that’s left of the family of Israel.
I’ve been carrying you on my back
    from the day you were born,
And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old.
    I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and grey.
I’ve done it and will keep on doing it,
    carrying you on my back, saving you (3,4: The Message).

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Is.33:27).

(NB also Ex.19:4; Dt.1:31;32:11; Is.63:9 for further references to the Lord carrying His people. It always has reference to the Exodus. That is the point at which Israel as a nation was conceived and brought to birth).