He Is God – part 1
Isaiah 44:24-45:25 (44:24 – 45:7)
April 7, 2024
This morning we return to our study of the book of Isaiah.
As you know, we are in the second segment of the book
In which Isaiah is speaking prophetically to the refugees in Babylon.
He is speaking of a time around 100 years after his ministry,
But the truths revealed are remarkable.
To begin this text, I would start by calling your mind back to an issue that God already announced earlier through Isaiah.
Isaiah 41:1-4 “Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us come together for judgment. “Who has aroused one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him And subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind-driven chaff with his bow. “He pursues them, passing on in safety, By a way he had not been traversing with his feet. “Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”
I hope you remember that.
• We said it was sort of a “Town Hall Meeting” that God called with all the
nations who were fugitives in Babylon.
• Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest saw him capture more than just Jews.
• He took prisoners from many nations.
God called them all together
Because news was spreading of a new conqueror on the horizon.
Currently in the world was a new leader named Cyrus.
• He had conquered the Medes and his sites were set on Babylon.
• Certainly there was unrest and anxiety as people awaited his arrival.
God revealed in ch. 41 that the conquest of Cyrus was His doing.
God revealed that He was the One who had aroused Cyrus.
God revealed that He had delivered nations up before him.
And then followed several chapters from God
About how despite this Israel should not fear for He had redeemed them.
AND WE REJOICED IN ALL THAT TRUTH.
Well now, at the end of chapter 44
Isaiah is returning to this announcement of Cyrus.
And here, something remarkable happens as Isaiah calls him by name.
• (28) “It is I who says of Cyrus…”
• (45:1) “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus…”
Isaiah’s ministry ended in 681BC
• Cyrus wouldn’t conquer Babylon until 538BC (143 years later)
• Cyrus wasn’t even born until 600BC (81 years later)
You have Isaiah here naming this guy
At least 80 years before he was even born.
That in and of itself is remarkable.
But that is NOT what is the most shocking about the naming of Cyrus.
THE SHOCKING THING is the TERMINOLOGY God uses for him.
• (44:28) “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’”
•
• (45:1) “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand…”
•
• (45:2) “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth…”
So in this segment we have God not only naming “Cyrus”,
• But calling him, “My shepherd”
• And “His anointed”
• And promising to “make the rough places smooth” before him.
Does any of that sound remotely familiar to you?
It should, that is MESSIANIC LANGUAGE.
Remember back in chapter 40?
Isaiah 40:3-4 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;”
• Remember that is what John the Baptist did for Jesus.
• The King is coming so you clean up the road before He travels down it.
And then the names “My shepherd” and “His anointed”?
Do you know what the Hebrew word for “anointed” there is?
(MA-SHEE-AH)
• Remind you of a word? “Messiah”
In the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament (the one the apostles read) that word for “anointed” is: KHRISTOS which is the word for “Christ”
So you’re telling me that God uses Messianic language to speak about this Cyrus who is coming?
That’s exactly what he does.
And that is BEYOND SHOCKING.
WHY?
Because Cyrus is a pagan.
Well didn’t he let Israel go home and pay to rebuild their temple?
Yes
So maybe he was a believer in God then?
Nope.
• Cyrus did that for every nation Babylon had captured.
• Cyrus did that for every religion represented in Babylon.
• He was trying to gain the favor of all the gods.
Beyond that God specifically says of Cyrus
In verse 45:4 and again in 45:5 “you have not known Me.”
SO LET’S GET THIS STRAIGHT.
We have God raising up a man named Cyrus.
A man who is a pagan pluralist who appeals to every would-be deity.
• God raised him up,
• Allowed him to conquer the world,
• And even calls him his messiah.
• GOD IS NOT JUST SENDING HIM, GOD SEEMS TO BE ENDORSING HIM.
And somewhere along the way the Jewish people have to be wondering:
WHAT IS GOD THINKING?
• This can’t be God’s will.
• This can’t be what God is doing.
• You can’t raise up a pagan and bring him to power.
• You certainly can’t treat him like a Messiah or a savior.
• That would be wrong, even blasphemous.
Can you see the dilemma it brings to the table?
LET ME ILLUSTRATE.
What if someone walked in this morning and spoke about Donald Trump being the “savior of America”?
• What if they called him “God’s anointed”?
• What if they used the term “Messiah” or “Christ” and applied it to him?
Would that shock and offend you?
IT SHOULD!
• Some would speak of his pagan past.
• Some would speak of his childish behavior.
• Some would say his religious claims are only to find favor with the Christian
community and gain their votes.
To call him a savior or a messiah or christ…
• We would rightly see that as blasphemous.
• We would rightly see that as sacrilegious.
And indeed, you cannot attribute titles like that to him.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND now why this was so shocking for God to say this about Cyrus?
Now look, DO NOT go reading this chapter and assume I’m talking about Trump being America’s Cyrus or anything like that.
• If you go home or get online and try to use Isaiah 45 as some sort of biblical
support for Trump being God’s savior of America you have abused the text
and missed the point.
I’m just trying to show you how shocking it is
That God would point to a man like Cyrus as a savior to Israel.
But here, Cyrus was a Messianic-Type
Here, Cyrus was a prophetic type of the coming Christ.
HOW?
Because Cyrus would set the captives free.
• He is not “The” Christ.
• He is not “The” Messiah.
• But he is a prophetic type of the Christ because God uses him to deliver his captive people out of their bondage into their promised home.
So what we see in Isaiah 44 & 45 then is a time in which we see
A pagan man, doing pagan things, conquering nations,
And God makes it perfectly clear that He is the One causing it.
AND YET SOME WOULD STILL BALK AT GOD DOING SUCH A THING.
And we are confronted with the overwhelming POINT OF THE CHAPTER.
Do you think God is wrong to use Cyrus?
Do you think God is wrong to anoint Cyrus?
Do you think God should not have done this?
If so, you have forgotten the very foundational bedrock of your theology
AND IT IS THIS:
HE – IS – GOD
• As God, He is sovereign over all things.
• As God, everything He does is right and good and true.
• As God, He is beyond our evaluation and judgments.
He is not presented before us for our evaluation.
• We are not called upon to measure the wisdom of His plans.
• We are called to submit to Him.
The reason God reveals that Cyrus is His chosen instrument
Is NOT so that anyone can give their opinion on the matter.
God reveals it to show that He alone is God
And He can do whatever He wants.
Take a quick walk through the chapter.
• 44:24 – “I, the LORD, and maker of all things…by Myself…all alone”
• 45:3 – “so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”
• 45:5 – “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God.”
• 45:6 – “there is no one besides Me, I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
• 45:7 – “I am the LORD who does all these.”
• 45:12 – “It is I who made…I stretched…My hands…I ordained…”
• 45:14 – “Surely, God is with you, and there I none else, No other God.”
• 45:18 – “I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
• 45:21 – “And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.”
• 45:22 – “For I am God and there is no other.”
• 45:23 – “to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.”
DO YOU GET THE POINT OF THE CHAPTER YET?
GOD IS SAVING ISRAEL.
• He is doing it in a way no one would expect.
• He is doing it in a way perhaps no one would approve.
And the reason is so that at the end of the day
Everyone will acknowledge that He alone is God
And He does whatever He wants.
CAN YOU DRIVE THAT POINT INTO YOUR MIND THIS MORNING?
HE IS GOD.
• He’s not asking for your approval.
• He’s not asking for your advice.
• He’s not surveying you or feeling you out.
• He doesn’t need your help.
HE IS GOD.
And His call is for you to LEARN THAT FIRST.
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
THAT IS FIRST.
• You had better learn your place.
• You had better learn that He is God and you are not.
• He does whatever He wishes because He is God.
NOW, HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS.
As the God who can do whatever He wants…He wants to save His people.
He is not obligated to.
He is not required to.
He has chosen to.
The God who can do whatever He pleases, is pleased to save His people.
That is good news.
And He is pleased to save them in a way
That they would never have conceived on their own
So that He alone is glorified for saving.
His salvation is unlike any other salvation.
It does not follow the thought of man.
And certainly this points ultimately to the cross.
We learned last week:
Acts 2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
• God’s ultimate plan of salvation was the crucifixion of His own Son.
• No one would have conceived of such a plan.
• No one can after the fact take credit for it.
God saved in a peculiar way.
1 Corinthians 1:21-22a “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
God saved in a way that was foolish to the world.
And it only highlights the fact that He alone is the Savior.
And that is the same thing He is doing here in Isaiah 44 and 45.
He is revealing His plan to save.
It is such a peculiar plan that when it occurs
The only fitting conclusion is that God did this, alone,
Without any input or help from any other person or god.
HE ALONE IS GOD
That is THE POINT of the passage we begin studying here this morning.
We are going to break it down into 4 main points.
Each of these 4 points are something you need to know if you are to rightly respond to the only true God.
Each of these 4 points are designed to set your mind right and to, in effect, “put you in your place” before the only true God of the universe.
So let’s start looking at them this morning.
#1 GOD’S MYSTERIOUS WAYS
Isaiah 44:24-45:8
This segment begins with some basic reminders about God.
(24-26a) “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone, Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to draw back And turning their knowledge into foolishness, Confirming the word of His servant And performing the purpose of His messengers.”
There are many titles and realities there to be remembered about God.
He is “the LORD” that is His covenantal name of Yahweh.
• He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• He is the God who chose Israel and entered into a covenant with them.
• He is the God who gave them their land and promised to bring them home to it.
He is “your Redeemer” and we have studied that recently.
• He is the One who purchased Israel.
• He bought her from Egypt, she is His.
He is “the one who formed you from the womb”
• He made a nation out of them.
• He took them from one old man and one barren woman and made them as numerous as the sand of the sea.
• He is intimately acquainted with them in every way.
He is “the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.”
• Obviously the Creator and One who needed no help doing it.
• He is alone at the beginning of all things with no one to advise Him, help Him, or correct Him.
All of that we are well-aware of regarding God.
BUT HE CONTINUES.
(25) “Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to draw back and Turning their knowledge into foolishness,”
That is an interesting reality about God.
Have you ever had someone make a prediction?
Have you ever heard them lay out the evidence of what was going to happen?
• Some do it scientifically…
• Some do it instinctively…
• Some claim to do it supernaturally…
Have you ever then heard their prediction be wrong?
ALL THE TIME.
Why is that?
• It is because God causes them to fail in their predictions.
• God makes them fools.
• God humiliates them in their prophecies.
God has set it that only He has the ability to predict and declare what is coming.
• He won’t let other men have that ability.
• He won’t let other deities have that ability.
• He holds that ability for Himself alone.
Isaiah 46:8-10 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;”
Only God is omniscient.
Only God is sovereign over the course of human history.
And God continually humiliates
The so-called wisdom of men and false deities.
AT THE SAME TIME:
(26a) “Conforming the word of His servant And performing the purpose of His messengers.”
Just as surely as God humiliates the predictions of men,
God upholds the message of His messengers.
Just as we see hoards of men who get their predictions wrong,
In Scripture we saw some who got it incredibly right.
• How did Isaiah know Cyrus?
• How did Isaiah know about a virgin birth or a substitutionary atonement?
• How did Jeremiah know about 70 years in Babylon?
• How did David know about the process of crucifixion or the resurrection?
• How did Ezekiel know about the pouring out of God’s Spirit?
• How did Daniel know about Greece or Rome or anti-Christ?
Those men were staggeringly accurate in their predictions, WHY?
Because God caused their predictions to succeed.
God told them what to say and then confirmed what they said.
And the simple point here is this:
GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL EVENTS
CAN YOU SEE THAT?
God causes to happen what He wants to happen.
And He tells who He wants about it before hand.
• Other men can make predictions…
• Other men can make plans…
• Other me can strive with great power…
• And God just stops them.
But God does what He wants, when He wants and He tells His servants about it ahead of time so that everyone will know that it is God who did it.
And so we know then that all of human history is God’s history.
All that has happened, is happening, and will happen,
Is by God’s sovereign decree and will.
EVERYTHING.
And you can just file that away in your theology bank.
That is what it means to be God.
• He is in control of all things.
• He determines the course of human history.
• He is sovereign.
• History will follow His plan
Well, that bring a question to the forefront of our minds:
WHAT IS HIS PLAN?
That is what we see in verses 26-28.
(26b-28) “It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’ And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’ And I will raise up her ruins again. “It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’ And I will make your rivers dry. “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
3 times you see the same statement:
“It is I who says…”
God is here outlining His plan.
You see 3 parts to it.
1) JUDAH WILL RETURN
(26b) “It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’ And of the cities of Judah, ‘The shall be built.’ And I will raise up her ruins again.”
Judah will be called to return to her home and rebuild her cities and Jerusalem and even the temple as you will see in verse 28.
And the reason this will happen is because God said it would happen.
• He determined to make it happen.
• He wants her to go home.
• He wants her to rebuild.
• So she will.
If any other deity wanted it, forget about it.
But the God of the universe wants it, so it will happen.
2) A WAY WILL BE REVEALED
(27) “It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up! And I will make your rivers dry.”
I’m sure Judah was going home was an encouraging promise,
But the “realist” in the crowd would have likely had some questions.
“It’s good and all that God wants to send us home, but I’ve been going over the logistics of what that would require, and I just don’t think it’s possible.”
• How is a nation of slaves going to just walk out of Babylon?
• How is a nation of slaves going to travel safely back to Israel?
• How is a nation of slaves going to dispossess the people who now live there?
• How is a nation of slaves going to be able to afford to rebuild?
It’s a nice thought and all, but I just don’t see that it is a feasible plan.
And to that God reminds:
• How do you think the slaves left Egypt and settled this land to begin with?
• How do you think they crossed the Red Sea?
• How do you think they crossed the Jordan?
• How do you think they dispossessed the nations?
• How do you think they built it the first time?
I am not only the all-wise God who declares what will happen,
But I am the all-powerful God who fulfills what I declare.
If I have to dry up the sea to make it happen, I will.
If I have to stop up rivers to make it happen, I will.
Don’t forget who you are dealing with.
I am NOT some phony man-invented deity carved out of a tree.
• I am the God of the universe.
• I am the God who ordains all things.
• I am the God who sits sovereign over all things.
I said you are going home to rebuild and that is what you will do
Even if I have to move heaven and earth to bring it about.
Well that is certainly encouraging!
3) A PAGAN WILL RISE
(28) “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
• I said you are going home.
• I said I will make it happen.
AND THE WAY I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN
Is by raising up a man named Cyrus who will issue an edict for you to go home, rebuild your city, and rebuild your temple.
• This is God at work through pagan men.
• This is God at work, on behalf of His people, through pagan governments.
Now this may not be that shocking.
We have seen God work through pagan governments before,
(Although mostly in a negative sense.)
• We saw God harden Pharaoh so that he would resist the plagues and God would be able to demonstrate His power.
• We saw God raise up Assyria as “the rod of My anger” to afflict and discipline Judah.
• We saw God raise up Nebuchadnezzar to come and destroy Judah and to burn the temple and exile them because of their idolatry.
• We will see God use Herod and Pilate and whomever the anti-Christ will be…
We are accustomed to God raising up evil men
And using them for the purposes of judgment.
BUT WHERE THIS STORY IS PECULIAR
Is because here God is using a pagan for salvation.
And then comes the really shocking part.
(45:1-3a) “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. “I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places,”
As we said at the beginning.
God actually calls him “His anointed” (literally His messiah or His christ)
• God promises to hold his hand.
• God promises to “subdue nations before him”
• God promises to “open doors before him”
• God promises to “go before” him
• God promises to “make the rough places smooth”
And this is where, as we said, WE BALK A LITTLE.
We know a thing or two about political leaders in our day,
And we have a tough time thinking
That God would honor any of them as a savior.
We might see them as agents of God’s judgment, but as agents of salvation?
WHY WOULD GO DO THIS?
In verse 3 He answers, “so that you [Cyrus] may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”
God says, the reason I am using Cyrus and naming him long before it happens is because I am showing Him that He didn’t do it, I did it.
God is putting Himself on display as the Savior.
The Savior who saves in a way that no one would have expected.
And that is not all.
(4-5) “For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me.”
I am also doing it for the benefit of My people so that they will know that it is Me.
• 140 years from now, when Cyrus tells My people they can go home, I don’t want them thinking it was Cyrus or some other phony god who did it.
• I want them to know that it was Me who did it.
• So I am announcing this long beforehand so that they will see it.
I am saving My people, by his hand, and I want them to know it is Me.
And not just them.
(6-7) “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
And now we hit the mother load!
• It’s not just so that Cyrus will know I am God…
• It’s not just so that Israel will know I am their God…
• It is so that the whole world will know that I am God.
God is going to do the unthinkable and the impossible.
He is declaring it beforehand
So that the only possible glory to be handed out will be for Him.
Now, as we said, this seems a little DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW.
Why wouldn’t God raise up a righteous warrior inside of Israel to overpower the Babylonians and lead his people home?
I mean we saw Him do that plenty of times in the book of the Judges.
• We saw God raise up Gideon and Barak and Jephthah and Samson and
Samuel and others.
• He raised up men of faith, to call the people to repentance, and then
empowered those men to victory over overwhelming odds.
So why not give Daniel extraordinary power inside Babylon?
• Why not let him organize an army?
• Why not let him lead a revolt and lead Israel home with a mighty hand?
THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE.
• But instead God chose to raise up a pagan to deliver Israel.
• He chose to operate in a way that does not make sense.
DO YOU SEE WHY?
(6-7) “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
NOW PAY ATTENTION HERE.
Often times in our lives we like to
Attribute earthly occurrences to different sources.
• Men like to say that everything good comes from God and everything bad
comes from the devil.
• And men like to see the two sort of pitted against one another in this cosmic
battle taking place.
• And sometimes good things happen and we say, “God wins! God is good!
God did good for me!”
• And then something bad or negative happens and we say, “That wasn’t God’s
will, Satan did that. God never intended for that to happen.”
And men say that because they’re trying to sort of save God’s reputation.
• We don’t want men to think that God causes bad things to happen.
• We don’t want men to think God would bring about pain and suffering.
• We want men to think God is good.
So everything we perceive as good we attribute to God
And everything we perceive as bad we try to ascribe to the devil.
We expect God to behave according to
Our logical assessment of right and wrong, good and evil.
The obvious flaw in such a theology
Is that if you’re paying attention to the world you’ll end up thinking Satan is more powerful than God because we see a lot of suffering in this world.
But what does God say about Himself here?
God says that He is “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
• I cause the light and the dark.
• I cause the well-being and calamity.
• The happy and comfortable and things you call “good” – that was Me!
• The hard and sad and tragic things you call “bad” – that was Me too!
• Who caused the flood? God
• Who rained fire on Sodom and Gomorrah? God
• Who confused the men at the tower of Babel? God
You say, yes, but those were acts of judgment on evil men.
How about these?
When Moses complained that he couldn’t go to Pharaoh because he stutters.
Exodus 4:10-11 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
When the disciples saw the man born blind:
John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Or who allowed Job’s sons and daughters to be killed or his livestock to be stollen or his body to be afflicted with sores?
Who predetermined the cross by His own foreknowledge?
CERTAINLY GOD IS NOT EVIL, nor is God influenced or affected by evil.
Nor does God approve of evil.
But God uses evil and allows evil
And sovereignly ordains the existence of evil
To His glorious purposes.
EVEN USING A PAGAN RULER AS A DELIVERER OF HIS PEOPLE.
Now we are running out of time this morning, and part of me wishes I could go on and perhaps sooth your curiosity and concerns a little.
But part of me is also happy to stop here with a little bit of tension.
See, one thing you are going to have to learn in this life is that
• God is God whether you like it or not.
• God is God whether you agree or not.
• God is God whether you understand or not.
You don’t get to sit in judgment of what God does.
You don’t get to tell Him if He is right or wrong to do something.
He doesn’t operate by your definition of good or love or just or holy.
• He is good by His definition – which is the right one.
• He is love by His definition – which is the accurate one.
• He is holy by His definition – which is the true one.
• He is just by His definition – which is the appropriate one.
This morning, I think it is good to just stop
And let you wrestle with the reality of who is God and who is not.
We’ll end without having to make it all make sense.
• He created the light and the dark.
• He caused the well-being and the calamity.
Now, you honor Him as God
Who has every right to do that which is well-pleasing in His sight.
