Isaiah 44-45

Introduction

Some of the questions from uh previous lesson, lesson 17 on page 102 and 103. Hopefully you’ve had time to read the uh the questions and answer them. To whom would God elect bring forth judgment? Gentiles. Okay, the Gentiles, that’s right. And we notice that this very statement that he would bring forth judgment is the key to understanding that it’s not Jacob, it’s not Israel. Israel’s not the judge. And we looked through all those verses and we saw over and over again this is Messiah he’s talking about. What did God do in relation to the heavens and the earth and to the people? Created and stretched out the earth. Created the heavens, spread forth the earth, and gave life to man, gave breath literally in my translation.

When does God declare new things? Verse 9.

And that’s a key. You see that repeated over and over again in the text. Who is going to be turned back and made greatly ashamed? Those who trust those who trust in idols.

Okay. And that’s that stubborn refusal. You notice in the T there that he doesn’t say, well, Israel just wasn’t good enough. Israel just wasn’t perfect enough. They refused to walk in his ways. And I know people today, some that uh are concerned, you know, I’m I’m just not good enough to be a Christian. Well, God hasn’t called us to be perfect. He didn’t call Israel to be perfect, but he did call on them to walk in his ways. And when they refused and rebelled, that’s when they really faced the judgment, when they rejected him. We need to avoid that uh defeating that history. To whom did Israel and Jacob belong in chapter 43? It kind of turns a little bit. He talks about Israel and Jacob.

They belong to God the Lord. And why? He created them to form them the deemed and protected them. Okay. The key is he redeemed them. They might have looked on him as though they had been cast aside. But God says, no, I purchased you, you’re mine.

I can’t hear you. What should Israel know since God chose them as his servant and witnesses? From chapter 43 and verse 10. To know and believe that he’s the Lord God, both Lord and God. Okay. And there is no other thing. Quite a different message from what you see on the billboards. Many paths lead to heaven. God says, I’m the only one. Well, wasn’t verse 10 also it was none before or after. That’s right. I mean, I think that that’s what Bob was making a point in his book about the Jehovah’s Witness and how Jesus was a created as a God, or esteemed or got to Godhood type of thing. Okay, that’s a that’s a good point. I really hadn’t talked about that, but if you look on page 102, application for today, modern Jehovah’s Witnesses of the Watchtower sect often use this verse as a proof text for their name and work, but does not fit.

The text is referring to the Israels, Israelites, not Christians. Furthermore, the apostles were sent out to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ is to be confessed as Lord. The New World Translation remembers the Greek word curios. As Jehovah in every other New Testament reference, except Philippians 2.11. Why are they not consistent? Well, a lot of ways they aren’t consistent. Another error of Jehovah’s Witnesses is their claim that Jesus was created first as an angel who later became a God. One thing we didn’t really point out, but it’s kind of interesting when you when you go into this uh Jehovah’s Witness doctrine that Jesus was created. God said earlier in Isaiah, I alone am God, and I will not give my glory to another.

Right. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the glory of God. The New Testament quotes that and says, He saw the glory of Christ. Well, if he alone is God, and he will not give his glory to another, and the New Testament plainly says Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus Christ, and it was the glory of God. Jesus Christ is not another. There is only one God, not a plurality of gods, not a created God, not a lesser God. There’s only one. David, how does how did the Jehovah’s Witnesses use verse 10 as a proof text?

Well, it says, You are my witnesses, it says the Lord and my servant whom I’ve chosen, they may know and believe me, and understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall be there be after me. And so I believe their argument is that Jesus Christ cannot be God because He would be another God. Is that have I summarized it? Basically, and they don’t like to read the last half that verse anyway.

Okay, unless you’re unless you have a Bible with it. Okay. That’s a verse for their name. Jehovah’s Witness. Well, it is, and I have no problem with the name. Uh in essence, we should be witnesses for Jehovah. And then in Isaiah 62, it says that we’ll be given a new name, which is probably referring to Christians. It’s uh commonly viewed that way. Um, but that doesn’t mean that the old names aren’t valid either. I think we can still be called the saints of God, the holy ones of God, uh, followers of God, and be called his witnesses. Uh those are still valid. Just because there’s a new name doesn’t mean some of the old ones aren’t valid as well. And just a little later in section 262, about verse 4 and 5, you should be called Hepsibah.

And there’s another Nadu, I believe the other thing. So there’s another name even in that context. So a lot of the names are descriptures. Hepsibah is descriptive. Beula’s descriptive, it’s not a proper name. So let’s move on into chapter 44 and 45.

Okay. Quick review. Under chapter 42 and 43, did you notice how good the chapter divisions were? Sometimes chapter divisions are quite unfortunate. But here they were quite good because in 42, he starts off talking about the future glory under the unnamed servant that we showed was Messiah. And so he looks to that and prays for his plans. And then he talks about the current situation is far different. Jacob is plundered.

God had great things planned for them, but they were not following him. They weren’t paying attention. They were not listening to the chastisement. And so chapter 43, we see the same pattern repeated. But the future glory is not times of Messiah. It’s talking about when Jacob is redeemed from Babylonian captivity. And again, you see the same thing a challenge to idols. What can who can do what I’ve done? That is a praise for God, a contrast with the idols. And then God’s prediction of a new thing the highway, followed by a current look at where’s Jacob today. And talks about his judgment that’s coming because of his current situation of rejecting God. So then we get into chapter 44. And you notice this whole thing is a continuous narrative.

In the earlier part of the book, we saw sections that were like short directions, uh, a burden against this nation, a burden against that nation. It’s very much confined and contained. Here we’re going into a continuous narrative for many chapters. And you can see that in some of the arguments that he’s making.

After talking about his people were going to be comforted, he then challenged them.

1. I Will Pour My Spirit on Your Descendants

And then a little bit later, in chapter 43, he says, put me in remembrance. Let us contend together. State your case that you may be acquitted. In other words, this ongoing interchange between Jacob feeling that God had wronged them, and God saying, State your case, and he does this over and over again, and he’ll do it in these chapters as well. So he starts off with this term jeshuran, which is a term of endurement as I understand it. Literally has the meaning of upright one. Septuagent translates it equivalent of beloved one. You’ll find that term of endearment in Deuteronomy three times, and here in Isaiah. And he says, uh, starting in chapter 44, yet hear now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I’ve chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, and who will help you.

Did you notice that? Formed you from the womb. You saw a similar description when talking about Messiah. Back in the earlier chapters.

Lost track of exactly where it was right now. Chapter 40. I thought I had it marked, but I haven’t. The one that created you, formed you, or what? Yeah. Formed you from the womb. Chosen you from the womb. He says a similar thing about Messiah, and he says a similar thing about Jacob here. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and you, Joshua, whom I’ve chosen, for I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dire ground, and I will pour my spirit on your descendants. Of course, the first thing we think of is the Holy Spirit poured out during New Testament times when they spoke in tongues. That’s not the only method of God pouring out his spirit. To pour out his spirit is simply to provide blessings for his people.

And he shows that in this parallel where he says, I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. Not necessarily literally to supply water like he did in the wilderness, but to provide sustenance for his people, to provide nourishment for his people, to provide for them, to care for them. God says, I will do this. And that’s equivalent, I believe, to saying, I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessings on your offspring. So the blessings of God. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses, and one will say, I am the Lord’s, another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write with his hand, the Lord’s, and name himself by the name of Israel.

2. Besides Me There Is No God

In other words, they will identify with God, and they will identify with their heritage. Whereas right now they are rejecting their heritage. They are rejecting the faith of Abraham. They’re rejecting God. So there will be a turn of affairs. Thus says the Lord, verse 6, the Lord of the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. And we see that statement over and over again. And who can proclaim as I do? Let him declare it. Set it in order for me. Since I appointed the ancient people and things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it?

You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one. It’s the one place in scripture that I know of where we probably get the wording for that song, know not one. It’s not exactly what he has in context here, but I know not one. Similar to saying there’s no not one. It’s a good song, one we don’t sing very often.

So, verses six throughout eight, he says plainly, There is no other God. We get down to verses, and he says his evidence, no one can proclaim as I do. Does anybody know of anything that can proclaim like God does? The atheist would claim Nostradamus. Anybody ever read Nestradamas?

3. Idolatry Is Foolish

It is so vague. You can forge about any meaning you want to, and they do to try to prove it. But he doesn’t really predict events. Is there anyone that can proclaim in advance like God can? These passages that we’re talking about right now, especially the conquering of Babylon, are primary evidence. And as God states it. This is primary evidence because I am naming the person. A hundred and fifty years before it happens, I’m going to tell you who it is. So you’re my witnesses. Idolatry is foolish. Verses 9 through 19. Those who make a graven image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit. Well, God, what’s your evidence of saying the idols are useless? Well, first of all, they don’t profit.

Just look at them. They’re their own witnesses. They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. They can’t move on their own. I think of when the Ark of the Covenant came to uh was it Ashdown? And the idol and the and the temple fell over and broke in pieces. Can’t move itself. Who would form a God or cast a graven image that profits him nothing? Who would do such a thing? Surely all his companions will be ashamed, and the workmen, they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. Yet they shall fear and they shall be ashamed together. Well, I’ll tell you one reason why they made idols. There’s money in it. The goldsmiths and the silversmiths, they made lots of money by making idols.

But did they profit them? Only with the money they could get by selling them. The blacksmith with his tongues works one in the coals, fashions it with the hammers, and works it with his strength of his arms. Even so he’s hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water in his faint. In other words, he gains nothing by the idol. He becomes weary, he becomes tired. The idol doesn’t help him. The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks it out one with chalk and fashions it with a plane. He marks it out with a compass and makes it like the figure of a man according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house. He used down cedars for himself and takes the cypress and the oak.

He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine in the rain, nourishes it. And then he takes this tree, and it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and makes bakes bread. Indeed, he makes a god and worships it. He makes a carved image and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire. With this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast and is satisfied, even warms himself and says, Ah, I am worn, I have seen the fire. The carved image, and he falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my God. His argument is there is nothing inherent in the making of an idol that gives it any power.

It is lifeless. And his primary argument, he says, Look at the tree. Half of it he burns as though it has no value. The other half he bows down to it. Does that make any sense? Yeah, and when it gets dustier, it wears out. He’s just throw it in the fire for a while. What kind of guidance that? And in contrast, what had the Israelites seen? Well, when God gave them the land, they saw the pillar of fire moving before them. They saw God go into battle where the enemy was killed, more from the hailstones than from their own swords. They saw visible proof of God’s power. But an idol, where’s the evidence? Where’s the proof? It can’t move by itself, it can’t do anything. So he says, they do not know nor understand, for he has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their heart so that they cannot understand.

There is no one that considers in his heart, nor is there a knowledge and understanding to say, I’ve burned half of it in the fire. Yes, I’ve baked bread on its coals, I’ve roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside, and he cannot deliver his soul, nor can he say, Is there not a lie in my right hand that is a deception? Of course, the hard part in that is they do not know nor understand, for he has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their hearts so they cannot understand.

He has allowed them to believe this lie.

Doesn’t do that today. God allows man to make a choice.

Oh well no. My thought went to uh Thessalonians, where those who refuse to believe, God allows them to believe a lie in the place of truth. In fact, it says he sends them strong delusion. They should believe a lie. What does that mean? I think it simply means that. I think the nation’s already there. People that want to believe a lie will find a reason.

Okay. So remember these, O Jacob. Idolatry is foolish, and he turns from that to uh to himself. Now this chart’s in your book. I hope you looked at it, page 97. In contrast, uh tonight chart up there, but you’ve got it in your book, and you can see that God created all things, and there’s several passages from chapter 40 through 48 of Isaiah. There is no other God. We’ve seen that over and over again in the last uh four chapters. He tells things beforehand, chapters 41 through 48 repeatedly says that. He’s the first and the last, and what does he mean by that? He’s eternal. Simply, there’s none before me, there’s none after me. They can do what I do. He’s eternal. And there is no other.

Chapter 42, the source of his strength. Uh he’s God. He will help and uphold those who believe in him. He’s everlasting, he’s gentle. He declares right things, he brings to pass his purpose, he prevails, and he has uh fury of anger, that is, he ex executes judgment. In contrast, the characters of an idol. Chosen first is a tree, the other end burned, the other end worshipped. Made it has to be made by a carpenter. He’s fashioned by man, which means inherently man’s more powerful, right?

He can predict nothing, he cannot see anything, and knows nothing, it must be carried. Their God is a burden to them.

4. I Have Blotted Out Your Transgressions

So if we look through these verses, uh verse 21, remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you, you are my servant, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions, and like a cloud your sin return to me, for I have redeemed you. Talk about comfort. That’s comforting. You notice back in uh chapter 43 and verse 25, he said something similarly. I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. The people in Babylon would easily think, we will never live this down. We turn to idols, we are greatly ashamed, our nation has been destroyed, our city has been burned. We will never live this down.

We have failed, and we can never regain what we had. And God says, I redeemed you, I blotted out your sins, and I will not remember them. Pretty strong statement. Strong statement of comfort. Same comfort we have today. God says to us, turn to me. I will forgive your sins, and I will remember them no more. That’s pretty powerful. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shake and shout, you lower parts of the earth, break forth into singing, you mountains of forest, and every tree in it. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. Thus says the Lord your redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers.

Now that’s interesting, isn’t it? The babblers might actually get something right. No. God will see that they don’t. He frustrates their purposes. Drives diviners mad. The diviner is the one who would seek to know God’s will, but not according to God’s will. And he turns wise men backwards. So the end result is who alone has wisdom? Who alone has the power to fortail? There is none other. God frustrates and turns away these that would seek to provide knowledge. He makes their knowledge foolishness, confirms the word of his servant, performs the counsel of his messengers. Who says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited, to the cities of Judah you shall be built, and I will raise up your waste places, who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers.

Think of the picture of where they had been in chapter 10 with Assyria. God said, Assyria is coming like an overwhelming flood, and they it will overflow all of its banks and come up to your neck. So in that figure, the river stands for the nation. God says, I will dry up that river. I have power over the nations, I control them. And the nation that seeks to prevent me from accomplishing my purpose of redeeming my nation, I will dry them up. Who says, Osiris, he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built, and to the temple, your foundation shall be laid. And so in these verses, Jacob is redeemed, and that’s a key verse. I’ve blotted out like a thick cloud your transgression.

5. Cyrus the Anointed

I, even I, have done this. Judah will be restored. The creator declares it, he frustrates the pretenders, he confirms his words, and he overcomes all obstacles. And he declares it beforehand. Well, Cyrus the anointed is an interesting thing. In chapter 45 and verse 2, thus says the Lord to his anointed. And by the way, that word anointed is similar to the word Christ. Christ means literally the anointed one. And so, in a sense, you could say that Cyrus was his Messiah only because Messiah means anointed one. Hebrew. And Cyrus was anointed. There were many anointed ones. The king was the anointed one. David was the anointed one. God had chosen Cyrus for a particular purpose, and therefore he is considered anointed, as appointed to provide this deliverance.

Whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut. I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. We see that same language back in chapter 40, verses 1 through 6. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the barns of bars of iron. Not necessarily literally, but whatever it took to overcome these gates that would prevent Cyrus from accomplishing his purpose. Now we know the history. Cyrus diverted the river, walked in on the riverbed and gained access to the city, and the gates, some of them were just open. So they didn’t need to be broken, but God saw to it that those gates, those bars would not be a barrier to overcoming his purpose.

And so the hidden riches of secret places, that is, the riches the kings had stored up, I will give you the treasures of darkness. That you may know that I, the Lord who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant’s sake, and Israel, my elect, I have called you by the name. I’ve named you though you’ve not known me. I am the Lord, there is no other, there’s no God besides me. It’s uh it’s interesting. The situation there. Uh he says, I am the creator, the judge, and the expected result would be that righteousness should spring up in verse 8. He says, Um, well, back up to last half of verse 5. I will gird you though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting, there is none beside me.

I am the Lord, there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and I create calamity. That is, I bless and I judge. I the Lord do all these things. So rain down you heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. Let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord have created it. The expected result would be a praise of God. Uh let righteousness spring up, let people turn to God. Why? Because He’s the only one. He’s the only true God. And do not rebel. Starting in verse 9, woe to him who strives with his Maker. Let the potsher strive with the potshoodshots of the earth. Shall the clay say to him who forms it, What are you making?

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Clay is nothing compared to the one that forms it. Or shall your handiwork say he has no hands? That is, deny the maker. Woe to whom that says to his father, What are you begetting? Or to the woman, what have you brought forth? And other words, woe to those that are disobedient to parents, disrespectful of parents. This is in line with these claims that have been made, starting in verse chapter 40, verse 27, where Israel is pictured as saying, My just claim has been overlooked. And then again in chapter 43, where he’s pictured as saying, God says, State your case that you may be acquitted. Your first father sinned, and your mediators have transgressed against me. The same arguments you see carried along.

This is all one section. Jacob here is pictured as striving with his maker, denying his power, denying who he is. And God says, That’s like the clay saying to the potter, You didn’t form me. Not a good case, in other words. Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and His Maker, ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands you command me. I have made the earth, I created man on it. It was I, my hands that stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts I have commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways.

And so he’s presenting Cyrus as a fulfillment of his commands, as evidence that the potter clay has no right to say to the potter, You’ve not made me. He says, Look, I will accomplish my purpose. You can trust in me, I am the creator, and I am in control. Not for price or reward. Interesting, isn’t it? When Cyrus comes into Babylon, what does he state as his reason for taking over Babylon? Wasn’t that the God, their God calling out to him? He says, I came at the behest of your God. Your God called me because you have rejected your own gods. So he didn’t do it for price or reward. He claimed a divine purpose. Now, we believe that God had a hand in causing him to do that.

But does that mean that he has to acknowledge him? No more than the king of Assyria acknowledged God. God said Assyria is a rod of my anger. Cathy? Going back to verse 8, the expected result is that righteousness spring up. You’re bringing up the point that I wanted to ask later on, which was the righteousness springing up would be for the remnant for Israel, not necessarily for the nations.

Probably best case. Yeah, okay.

And let’s praise him, for he truly is the only one that could do this. And so we’ll get down to the story. I wanted to talk a little bit about the story. If you want to know the history, you can look up on Wikipedia the name up there in the upper left, Harpagus. It’s really an interesting story how Cyrus came to take over Babylon. If you read the history, what you’re going to find out is that Cyrus was born of the daughter of King Astygius. King Astyus had a dream, he said, that his daughter would have a son and that he would depose him from being king. And so he ordered the son, which is really his grandson, to be killed. And he gave him into the hand of this man, Harpagus, who was his general.

He led the troops. Take care of this for me. Harpagus couldn’t bring himself to kill the royal sea. And so he gave him to a couple who lived in a rural area to raise as their own. A number of years went by.

Because fairy tales were built upon things like this. About ten years’ time or so, the king learned of the existence, and he became angry at Harpagus. And so he had Harpagus’ only son killed. Well, that kind of changed things for Harpagus. He now felt that there needed to be a change. This was not the right behavior for a king. The king allowed the son to live, sent him off and banished him. But Harpagus began to send him presents on a regular basis, keep up communication. And eventually, when he became of age, he sent him a message saying, essentially, if you stand for the throne, the troops will rebel against the king and turn to you. So here’s a man who, by all rights, was probably going to be dead, but he was preserved, and sure enough, he turns, goes for the throne, and Harpagus turns the troops, and they followed him.

That’s how Cyrus came to be in charge. You can look in Herodotus’ book one, verse 124. All was done as he wished, and Cyrus, on cutting the hair open, and the uh the myth is that the message was sent to Cyrus in the belly of a rabbit, lest it be intercepted. Cyrus intercepted the hare, cut him open, found the letter inside, and read. And this is the statement as Herodotus records it of what Harpacus had to say about Cyrus. Son of Cambyses, the gods surely watch over you, or you never would have passed through all of this. Well, there’s a witness of history, there’s a witness of the Bible, uh, Ezra. Ezra records a statement made by Cyrus, king of Persia. The Lord the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

So you’ve got this evidence, you’ve got the evidence from secular literature that Cyrus really had a unique position. Uh and others viewed it as being from the gods, but certainly not just an average person. Now, Josephus in his book, Book 11, uh, talks about Cyrus and says the prophecies concerning Cyrus. He says, This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of the prophecies. For this prophet had said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision My will is that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many great nations, send back my people to their own land and build my temple. This was foretold by Isaiah 140 years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written.

So he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon and said to them that he gave them leave to go back to their own country and to reveal their city Jerusalem and of course the temple and so forth. So, when this chapter says, I have chosen Cyrus, I will hold him by his right hand. I will make the crooked places straight. History records that there was some of that that happened in order for Cyrus to accomplish this. Cyrus didn’t just inherit the kingdom and just go out and do these things. It was a long and twisted path that brought Cyrus to this fulfillment.

6. Look to Me and Be Saved

As we try to get to the end of the chapter, he talks about Egypt. He says, The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and of the Subhians, men of stature, shall come over to you. Now he’s talking about Israel in future times. The real question is exactly when this happens. I’ll tell you right up front that a lot of commentators say this is during Messianic times. The laborer of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They shall walk behind you, they shall come over in chains, and they shall bow down to you, and they will make supplication to you, saying, Surely God is in you. There is no other. There is no other God. Truly you are God who hide yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

They shall be dishamed and disgraced, all of them, and go into confusion, who are makers of idols. But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Well, in history, when you look at history, we don’t see Egypt in this position toward the literal remnant that came back from Babylon and existed there. But we do see in history a significant uh situation in Egypt with regard to the Copts. They’re the native Christians of Egypt. They were a major ethno religious group in Egypt and the largest Christian group there. Christianity was the majority religion during the fourth to the sixth centuries. So did Egypt come over to God? In a large way, they did. There was a tremendous uh religious group there, and they were the majority of religion until the Muslim conquest of Egypt.

But there’s still 10% there that are Christian and a Muslim nation, the largest Christian population in any Middle Eastern country. So at least under Christianity or Messianic times, we could say this seems to be a faithful statement. So in verse 18, he says, Thus says the Lord who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it. Um lost my place. Who did not create it in vain? Who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none other. I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I did not say the seed of Jacob, seek me in vain. Isn’t that interesting? I didn’t say seek me in vain. That’s what Israel would have said.

Lord, we sought you and you didn’t help us. Well, no, they rejected him, and he didn’t help them. He rejected them. Or they rejected him and he turned his face away from them. Did you notice back in verse 15, truly you are God who hide yourself? What do you think of when you read that? God hides himself? That’s a characteristic of God? Yes. He hides himself from those that reject him. God’s hand is not short that he cannot save, his ears not deaf that he cannot hear, but your sins have separated you between you and your God. We’ll say in Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2. Yes, God hides himself from those who reject him. But he didn’t say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain.

In other words, there’s profit in following God. Those that come to God must have faith that he is and that he rewards those that seek him. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come together. In other words, call the witnesses together. Those who have escaped from the nations, those that have escaped from the nations, they know the gods of all these nations, but been among them. Bear witness that they, that is the idols, have no knowledge. Those who carry the wood of their carved image and pray to a God that cannot save, tell and bring forth your case. Yes, let them counsel together. Who has declared this manchent time? In other words, yes, state your case, and by the way, call the witnesses out of the nations.

They’re experts in idolatry. They’ll say the same thing I’ve been telling you. The idols are useless. Who has told it from that time? Have not I? There’s no other gods beside there’s no other God besides me, a just God and a savior. There is none beside me. Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that every knee shall bow. Is God the God of the Israel only? Absolutely not. You see that over and over again in the text here. Every tongue shall take an oath and shall say, Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.

To him men will come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. And the Lord, all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.

Conclusion

Those that serve the idols will come to nothing. That’s the message.

Works out that way sometimes. For Sunday, chapters 46, 47, and