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Isaiah 41: 8-20

‘’But you, O Israel, my servant…’’ (8a). There is a sharp contrast drawn between God’s people and the other nations (1-7). Israel did not have to fear Cyrus or Babylon, for Cyrus was working for God and Babylon would be no more. God was going to deal with the enemies of His people. The nations being attacked by Cyrus did have cause to fear, but God’s chosen people had no reason to feel afraid or ‘’dismayed’’ for God would ‘’strengthen’’ and ‘’help’’ and ‘’uphold’’ them (8-10). (By the way, the reference in verse 9 is probably to the call Abraham received when he was in Ur. At that time it seemed like the ‘’farthest’’ corner of the earth.) This morning a friend of mine posted a prayer request on ‘Facebook’ for persecuted Christians in Baghdad. He expressed a desire that God would deliver them, just as He did for Israel at the Red Sea. I could only say a hearty ‘Amen’ to that! Here is another passage in the Bible in which God assures His people that He will defeat their enemies (11-16): ‘’I myself will help you’’ He says (14) See how God transforms people and places (14-20):

• God transforms people (14-16). Israel could be described as a ‘’worm’’ because of her lowly and depressed state in exile. But God will take His weak and helpless people and turn them into instruments of judgment against the nations who oppose them. (In the Bible, threshing and winnowing are pictures of judgment.) Warren Wiersnbe says that ‘’servant’’ defined what they were by God’s grace and calling, but ‘’worm’’ speaks of what they were in themselves. It was what they saw when they looked in the mirror: ‘’Imagine a worm getting teeth and threshing mountains into dust like chaff! As the nation marched ahead by faith, every mountain and hill would be brought low (40:4), and the Lord would turn mountains into molehills!’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (Old Testament), p.1186. God uses small things to accomplish great tasks (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).
• God transforms places (17-20): These verses call to mind God’s supernatural provision for Israel in the desert. We see God changing the desert into a place of overflowing fertility. This is a totally unexpected scenario. When God does things that people obviously could not do, the glory goes to Him (20).

God can still speak to us in personal ways through these ancient words. They are ‘ever new’. I remember sitting in a house in Bristol early one Sunday morning in 1978. I was in my last year at Bible cottage and had been sent as part of a small team to lead the service at one of my denomination’s largest and most renowned churches. It was my responsibility to speak at the morning service, to a bigger crowd than I had ever stood before previously. I rose early to finalise my preparations, and as I sat on that sofa in a home where I was a guest, I saw a ‘worm’ reflected in the mirror. But as I recall it the words in (13, 14) brought encouragement to me, and I truly did know God’s help.

‘’All this stands against a realistic background of an Israel cowed (e.g. vs 10-11) and puny (e.g. v 14), a fit starting point for God’s grace. A threshing-sledge, by contrast, was the most solid of objects, being made of heavy boards, flint-studded; it was dragged over the reaped corn to break open the ears, which were then winnowed by tossing them to allow the husks to be blown away (16). The huge scale of the metaphor must have seemed belied by the ‘day of small things’ that followed the return from Babylon, yet it does not exaggerate the importance of God’s people on the world, past and to come.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, pp.656, 657.

Prayer: Lord I need your help today. I am nothing without you. Make me your sharp instrument.

Isaiah 41:1-7

‘’Silence in court!’’

The chapter opens with God calling the ‘’nations’’ together at ‘’the place of judgment’’ (1). He summons them to an imaginary courtroom and challenges them to speak in their defence. These are the nations who are hostile to His people. They will need ‘’strength’’ because, as we will see, He is going to challenge them to display the power and knowledge that He Himself possesses (21-29). They will not be up to this encounter with the awesome God who dominates the chapter, and the book as a whole. It will be a formidable meeting. Who can stand before His Holy presence, apart from being clothed in the righteousness of Christ?

The ‘’one from the east’’ is Cyrus king of Persia (2-4). Isaiah later identifies him by name (44:28). It would be another hundred years before Cyrus’ birth. Yet God (and Isaiah, because of God) knew that this man would be called into God’s service to free the Jewish exiles from captivity and restore them to their land (Ezra 1:1-4). When it says that God called him ‘’in righteousness to his service’’ (2), it doesn’t mean that Cyrus was himself righteous, but that God would use him to fulfil a righteous purpose, namely the restoration of His people. God will be with Cyrus, just as He has been (and will be) with every generation in history (4), from ‘’first’’ to the ‘’last’’ (see Revelation 22:13). He is the Lord of history; the eternal God. It’s not surprising, then, that He could foretell the coming of Cyrus. ‘’Who did this? Who made it happen? Who always gets things started? I did. GOD. I’m first on the scene. I’m also the last to leave.’’ The Message. From a human perspective, Cyrus was a political giant; a great, and even terrifying, leader: ‘’…pulverizing nations into dust, leaving only stubble and chaff in his wake.’’ The Message. But we get to see the larger perspective that he was in fact an instrument in God’s Hand to get His work done.

The people of the world will see Cyrus coming and ‘’tremble’’ (5). They will attempt to form alliances against him, but all to no avail (6). Their leaders will try to strengthen morale, even while their craftsmen attempt to build better idols (7). But Cyrus will prove unstoppable. ‘’Far-flung ocean islands see it and panic. The ends of the earth are shaken. Fearfully they huddle together. They try to help each other out, making up stories in the dark. The godmakers in the workshops go into overtime production, crafting new models of no-gods, Urging one another on – ‘Good job!’ ‘Great design!’ – pounding nails in at the base so that the things won’t tip over.’’ The Message.

The reference to Cyrus being called ‘’to his service’’ (4) is literally ‘to his foot’, i.e. to follow at His heels (see Judges 4:10). The true Commander here is the great ‘’I am’’, the Lord of history (4; see 45:2, 4).

Perhaps, today, we need this reminder that no frighteningly powerful individuals are in control of the world. There may be those who are permitted to cause mayhem for a time. But the Sovereign Lord of history is in ultimate control. Ultimately, we all have a date booked to appear in His courtroom.

Prayer: Lord God Almighty, help me to lift my eyes to your throne, and know that you are in control of all things.

Isaiah 40:21-31

The exalted portrayal of the God of Israel continues. It includes the remarkable detail that ‘’He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…’’ (22). These words were written long before the scientific discovery that the world is round! Isaiah praises God the Creator. ‘’Don’t you understand the foundation of all things? God sits high above the round ball of earth. The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas – yes, like a tent canvas to live under.’’ The Message. But God is also the destroyer of the wicked (23, 24). Wherever earthly rulers are ‘’planted’’ or ‘’take root’’, God blows them away like chaff. The people of Judah needed to hear this, surrounded as they were by great and threatening emperors and empires. Knowing this will also bring perspective to our viewing of the news.

‘Deism’ is the belief that God created the universe, but He doesn’t control it. He ‘wound it up’ like a clock, and left it to run on its own. Deism presents a God who is an ‘absentee Landlord.’ But this is not the God of the Bible. This is not Isaiah’s understanding of the Almighty (25, 26). God not only made the Universe, He also preserves it, with every star in its own place. ‘’Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name – so magnificent! so powerful- and never overlooks a single one?’’ The Message. The New Testament brings to us an even fuller revelation. It says that the Lord Jesus Christ, being God Himself, is the Agent of creation, and in Him ‘’all things hold together.’’ (Colossians 1:16, 17). It is an awesome experience to be out in a dark place, where there are no street lights, and look up into the night sky. It causes you to wonder. It makes you feel so small. For a believer, it encourages your worship of the infinite God who knows every star by name. (See also Genesis 1:16b, and the almost throwaway line: ‘’He also made the stars.’’ ) I believe a major reason for the universe being there is to prompt us to ask the question of (26): ‘’Who created all these?’’ As someone said, the majestic procession of the stars shows the ‘precision’ of God’s control and not its absence.

Sometimes we need God to question us. Or we need to ask searching questions of ourselves. Don’t we know? Haven’t we heard? Hasn’t it been told to us, and have we not understood? (21, 28a). Then why do we speak so negatively and complain? (27). Have we lost sight of who God is? Perhaps we are not living in the light of the truth we have received? ‘’Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, ‘’GOD has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me’’? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? GOD doesn’t come and go. GOD lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.’’ The Message. This God, whose ‘’great power and mighty strength’’ upholds the universe, will also hold up His weary, discouraged people (29-31). He has not abandoned them, whatever they may feel. (Remember that feelings can tell big lies.) God will give them strength for seemingly impossible tasks; to be able to face challenges and surmount obstacles. ‘’The wrong inference from God’s transcendence is that he is too great to care; the right one is that he is too great to fail (28); there is no point at which things ‘get on top of’ him. But vs 29-31 make the big transition from power exercised to power imparted, to be experienced through the faith expressed in the word hope…’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.656. There is the idea in verse 31 of changing strength, as a person might change into fresh clothes, or exchange and old thing for a new.

Prayer: Lord, let me trade in my strength, which is weakness, for your strength, which is power.

 Isaiah 40: 12-20

There is an incredible, exalted picture of God throughout the second half of Isaiah.

‘’Returning to the land and rebuilding the nation seemed impossible tasks to the exiles, so Isaiah invited them to behold the greatness of God. God is greater than every burden you bear and every challenge you face. Babylon was but a drop in the bucket to God! The world’s false gods can do nothing to hinder the working of your great God, so trust Him to see you through.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.476.

‘’This superb poem rebukes our small ideas and flagging faith…by its presentation of God…and…of a universe dwarfed by his presence. The goal of the passage is v.31, where human imaginings (18) and doubts (27) give way to the humble expectancy that is urged on us throughout the book.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.656.

In the remainder of chapter 40 Isaiah speaks about this incomparable God who is coming to rescue His people. He poses a series of rhetorical questions, designed to help God’s people trust in Him and wait patiently for Him. They need to know that He is able to do what He has promised. The description of God in (12-31) is reminiscent of God’s own words about Himself in Job chapters 38-41. ‘’God is bigger, greater, and more awesome than any human can imagine. ‘’Who can understand Him?’’ Isaiah asks. ‘’Who can teach Him?’’ ‘’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1038. Who of us has come close to doing any of the things God has done? These words humble us, even as they encourage our faith. ‘’Who could ever have told GOD what to do or taught him his business? What expert would he have gone to for advice, what school would he attend to learn justice? What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows, showed him how things work? The Message. ‘’Such a Creator hardly needs our impatient advice or shares our impotence.’’ Derek Kidner: p.656.

‘’Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket, a mere smudge on a window. Watch him sweep up the islands like so much dust off the floor! There aren’t enough trees in Lebanon nor enough animals in those vast forests to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship. All the nations add up to simply nothing before him – less than nothing is more like it. A minus.’’ (15-17) The Message. Isaiah saw that no amount of sacrifices could do justice to the greatness of God, even if all the firewood and animals of Lebanon were available. We can never worship Him adequately.

When you recognise how infinitely great God is, it also helps you to see how utterly ridiculous idolatry is (18-20). What lifeless idol, even when covered in gold, can compare with the living God? There seems to be a certain irony; a sarcastic touch of humour in the reference to idols being so helpless, they have to be constructed with wide bases so that they don’t ‘’topple’’ over! (20). It is of the very essence of an idol to be unstable. Our idols may appear to offer stability, but they cannot give it. As someone has pointed out, the idolater’s pathetic efforts are studied at length in Isaiah (see also 44:9-20; 46:1-7), and the wilfulness that causes the spiritual blindness is exposed in Romans 1:18-23.

Prayer: Lord God, help me to see you more clearly with every passing day.