Isaiah 46 Visions of God’s Greatness WC
McCarter
I am God, and There
is No Other
Introduction
READ Scripture- This is the Word of God
They Could Not Deliver (1-2)
Bel
and Nebo are the most famous Babylonian gods. Those titles are versions of the
names for Marduk and his son, Nabu. These, of course, were fictitious gods that
the Babylonians had created. It is said that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, had a temple for Marduk near his great palace.
The
people of Judah had turned away from the Lord their God and began worshipping
the idols of the foreign nations. Their rebellion is what brought about their
captivity in Babylon. The Lord warned them through the prophets to repent from
their wicked ways and come back to the Lord, but they did not heed those
warnings. They trusted in the false gods, and, ultimately, the people were
taken into captivity along with their idols.
What
is the point of the first two verses? The point is exactly what we saw last
week in chapter 44. Idols are useless. They cannot save. They cannot deliver
anyone from their burdens but are in fact burdens themselves because they load
down the carriages and the animals. The message to Judah was that if they
wanted to follow their false gods, they could follow them all the way to
Babylonian captivity, and that is exactly what happened.
Listen to Me, O House of Jacob (3-5)
This
is the first of two times in the chapter that God says, “Listen to Me.” Here He
wants to speak to the remnant of Israel. From the beginning of their existence
the Lord had taken care of them. The Lord had carried along the people from
their conception as a nation and promised to do so even to their old age. Like
any good parent, the Lord says in essence, I
made you, so I am responsible for you. I will carry you, sustain you, and
deliver you.
For
this reason, among many more reasons, there is no one who compares to our God.
He has no equals. Even while the faithless people of Judah were carrying their
idols, God was carrying them from before they were a people until the present
day. He was going to send them into exile, but He would carry them back. He
tells them these things even before they happen so that when it did happen they
would know that He alone is God.
While
the idols of the people had to be carried by animals, God had been the one to
carry the people all along. The Lord wants them to see the irony in this fact.
Israel never had to carry their God but had instead been upheld by Him.
It Cannot Answer Nor Save (6-7)
In
verses six and seven, the Lord returns to the discussion of the uselessness of
idols. Folks would buy up some gold and silver, they would weigh it out and
determine what kind of god they would have the metal worker fashion. The people
would bow down and worship what was previously a hunk of metal without any
shape. A material that could be dug up from the ground was something to which
they prostrated themselves.
Idols
were something that people carried around because they could not move
themselves around. Once it was taken out of a back-pack, it would be stood
somewhere, and from that place it would not move. The absurdity of idols is
voiced once again because people would cry out to the idols for salvation, but
there would be no answer. There would be no salvation. They were lifeless,
statues of human imagination.
Remember This (8-11)
In
verse eight the Lord says, “Remember this” to draw the reader’s attention. The
phrase “show yourselves men” has a long history of disputed meaning. It could
mean “show yourselves men” or “stand firm.” It could also mean, “be ashamed” or
“be alarmed.” Either way, the Lord wants His people to remember who He is. It
is not so much about them, although they must admit that they were
transgressors, and so are we, but it is all about God. The Lord basically says,
Think back and remember all that I have
done for you. At this point, the Jews could think back to God’s creative
work; His promises of a remedy for the sin problem; His preserving a righteous
line; His choosing and blessing Abraham who would be the father of the nation
and the father of faith; His redeeming work in the Exodus; His conquering and
giving to them the Promised Land; and so much more. They needed to remember
things from long ago. If they would, they would realize that He is God and
there is no other, that there is none like Him, there is no comparison.
What
makes the Lord so unique? Well, many things declare God’s distinctiveness. For
example, in verse ten we are told that God declares the end from the beginning.
What idol can do that?
Another
more specific example of the Lord’s matchlessness, in verse eleven, is how he
raises up kings/empires for His good pleasure. We have already seen in chapter
44 that God called Cyrus by name, the king of the next world empire, Persia.
The “bird of prey from the east” and the “man” here in 46:11 is Cyrus the
Great. The Lord predicted and purposed his reign over the Persian Empire, and
the Lord brought it about. The Lord would bring a remnant of Israel back to the
Promised Land, and He would use Cyrus to accomplish that plan. Like a hawk
flying high in sky and swooping down on a helpless rabbit, Cyrus and the
Persian Army would come onto the world stage and quickly destroy the Babylonian
Empire. He would then decree that all captives return home.
Listen to Me, You
Stubborn-Hearted (12-13)
The
Lord has not been shy in calling the people for what they are. He has called
them weak in the sense that they needed to man up, He called them
transgressors, and now He calls them stubborn-hearted and far from
righteousness. What is “righteousness?” It is right-thinking. It is to be in
the will of God. It is to follow His standards. Sadly, there are many
Christians today who are also far from righteousness, although this is what we
have been called to in Christ. But, you see, Christ died for the ungodly. He
did not come to save the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance. Let us
draw close to Him because He has come close to us, even becoming a man, even
dying a substitutionary death on the cross.
Although
the Lord is harsh in telling them the bitter truth, He is also sure to make
promises that He will be their Helper. The people are far away from
righteousness, but the Lord promises to bring His righteousness near to them.
The point of verse 13 is that God will save them. Of course, there is no
clearer time in history for verse 13 to be fulfilled than in the crucifixion of
Jesus. It was then, at the time of His crucifixion, that God brought His
salvation near. It was there, at Zion (Jerusalem), that God placed His
salvation. That was how His glory was made known in Israel and for the whole
world.
Conclusion and Christian
Application
One
commentator has summed up nicely the point of C46, “Isaiah claims that the
evidence for the uniqueness of God . . . rests on his ability to predict novel
turns of history in advance, an ability the idols and their technicians do not
have. Specifically those predictions included Assyria’s all but total conquest
of Israel and Judah, Assyria’s failure to capture Jerusalem, the fall of
Assyria, the fall of Jerusalem and Judah to Babylon, the exile, the fall of
Babylon to Cyrus, Cyrus’s proclamation of freedom and encouragement to rebuild,
the return of a remnant, and the establishment of a messianic kingdom” (Oswalt,
192).
From
all of the information, we can confidently say that these predictions were made
long before the events so that when the events took place they served as
confirmation that the God of Israel is the only true and living God.
(1) If you are trusting in anything
other than the Lord, it cannot help/save you.
(2) God is the beginning and end, the
alpha and omega, the first and last, the author and finisher of our faith. He
redeemed you in the beginning of your Christian life in the new birth, He has
carried you all this time, and He will save you at the end of your life.
Continue to trust Him. Put Him in His proper place as God and King of your
life.
(3) Remember what God has done. God
calls on the Israelites to recall the things of old. If they would, then they
would remember His blessings, providential care, and saving works. You
can/should do the same.