Isaiah 45: 1 – 25
Listen, Do You Want To Know A Secret
“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, 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: 2 ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; 7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’ 8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it. 9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’” 11 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. 12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says the LORD of hosts. The LORD, the Only Savior 14 Thus says the LORD: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, 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. They will make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other; There is no other God.’” 15 Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior! 16 They shall be ashamed and also disgraced, all of them; They shall go in confusion together, who are makers of idols. 17 But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever. 18 For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 20 “Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. 21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me. 22 “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. 24 He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. 25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.’”
Many skeptics try to assault the accuracy of God’s Holy Word by saying that this chapter was later put into Isaiah’s book. Why you ask? Well, what you are reading here today, is an amazing work of our Precious Holy Spirit where He reveals why He Is such an Awesome, Living, and Holy God. Our God tells us what happens in the future. Just a few chapters back in chapter 42 the prophet Isaiah under the inspiration of our Wonderful Holy Creator established this fact. “8 I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” No other god can do that.
We are going to read about our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – picking Cyrus from Persia to set His people free from their Babylonian captivity. In fact, it is believed that Daniel, you know the one who was in the lion’s den, took out the scroll that had this prophecy and showed it to Cyrus. Pretty neat huh?
The point of raising the name of Cyrus before the attention of his readers is that the house of Cyrus is to inaugurate the new beginning. That is why God had ‘anointed’ him (set him apart for a sacred task). We will see that Cyrus is then outlined as carrying out God’s further purposes in the world, by conquering nations and subduing them so that he may experience Yahweh’s power and be aware of the supernatural power behind his success (He will know that God is Yahweh). He is to be rewarded with the treasures of the nations.
The importance of Cyrus for Israel cannot be overstated. Not only was he to make possible a new era in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, but he would also lay the foundation for the acceptance of God’s true message by men. For instead of forcing his own gods on people he encouraged them to worship their own gods, and revealed a tolerance in religion that changed the way that things were seen. Indeed he himself was willing to worship any god who was prominent in any of the conquered nations, and give it credit.
“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, 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:
God speaks of Cyrus as ‘His anointed’. That was a description usually reserved from a royal point of view for the Davidic house, but the idea of ‘anointing’ is regularly used for setting apart to service. It was not an indication of Cyrus’ submission, but of our Adoni Yahweh’s sovereignty.
One point of this stress on Cyrus as His ‘anointed’ is that the one who should have been His ‘anointed’, the scion of the house of David, had failed Him. Indeed we might see that as explaining why he is called the Anointed One. The insider had failed, and so God had to look to an outsider. Thus, until the coming of Immanuel, He had to look to other than Israel for His instrument. It was an indication that Immanuel was yet to come.
Take a look at the statement ‘Whose right hand I have held.’ The picture is not of a little child being led, but of a strong hand giving help and assistance in a difficult task. He is strengthening Cyrus’ strong right hand.
2 ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.
Cyrus’ rapid conquests are now depicted as being due to Yahweh. God subdues nations before him, and makes kings surrender as they put off their armor. He opens up every door, including those of king’s palaces, a sign of his being welcomed, and ensures that no gates are closed before him. When the gates banged shut it was a sign of the arrival of a hard siege, but Cyrus was to be spared that.
It is The Holy Yahweh Who gives Cyrus his wonderful victories. It is He Who goes before him, and makes the hard going easier, who breaks down the strong doors that guard the way, and destroys the locks and bolts that prevent access. He gives him the treasures hidden away in dark places, in inaccessible places, in hidden places, in underground vaults, in caves, and wherever men keep their treasures. And He does this so that Cyrus is made aware of the fact that Yahweh, Who has called him by name to do this work, is in action.
The statement ‘Knowing that God is Yahweh’ does not signify expectancy that Cyrus will be ‘converted’. This verbiage often signifies awareness that a divine power which is not understood is at work, while being ‘called by name’ signifies rather the authority of the caller over the person of the one who is called by name. Behind this thought is that because he is aware that behind his success is the power of more than just his own favorite gods he will support the worship of Yahweh, which in fact he did, although not exclusively.
The treasures he will obtain are clearly his reward for doing Yahweh’s will in restoring Jerusalem and the Temple and subduing the nations. A good point to remember is that God is debtor to no man.
4 For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
It is now made clear that Cyrus was not called for his own sake. He was called for the sake of Jacob, Yahweh’s servant, and Israel, Yahweh’s chosen. He was thus raised up to further the work of the chosen Servant of God. The reason for his anointing was not because he himself was ‘a chosen one’, but because God was setting him apart to act on behalf of those who were God’s chosen one.
Please look at the verse again, ‘I have called you by your name; I have surnamed you although you have not known me.’ Yahweh has called him by name so as to exercise His authority over him, and has surnamed him to show that he must do the will of Yahweh, even though he does not know Him. To surname means to give a name or title. It may refer directly to the fact the He has called him ‘My shepherd’ and ‘My anointed’.
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
Yahweh is not only the only God, He also controls all things. Forming the light and creating darkness is a reminder of the book of Genesis. Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High - Is the Creator of all that is, of the very basis of creation, and He continues to sustain that light and also to produce darkness. Without light and darkness life could not go on. He continues to maintain the world as a place full of contrasts, from one extreme to another, both good and ill, and He especially continues with His work of forming light and creating darkness in a spiritual sense, so that some respond to His light, and others turn away to darkness.
This next statement we all need to plant deeply in our mind, ‘I make peace and create disaster.’ I think we all have a turn at this condition. As with the previous phrase the contrast must be seen as that of opposites. He makes peace and creates, please take note - disaster. Harmony and wellbeing is what God desires for the world, and He seeks to ensure its continuance; disaster destroys that harmony, and yet He has created that too. For the one makes men seek God because of contentment and prosperity, the other through trial and suffering. And God takes responsibility for all because as the Creator He is finally responsible for all. He is the One Who does all these things.
8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.
We now have an illustration of how God forms the light and ‘makes peace’. He calls on the heavens to pour down righteousness, and the earth to open and result in deliverance. The first thought here is of a fruitful heaven and earth. The rains pour down at God’s command, the reward of righteousness, and the earth opens up, to produce abundant fruitfulness, bringing deliverance to man, and vindication to His people.
There is however, more to this verse. In the light of chapter 44 verses 3-5 it goes beyond that. It speaks of God’s transforming power in producing life and salvation in men’s hearts, of the pouring out of His Spirit, of the establishing of righteousness and the vindication of His people by them themselves being made righteousness. There can never be vindication without resulting righteousness. Those who are ‘saved’ are reborn from above. Here in full glory is His purpose for His Servant.
9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
Here is a verse that has cut me through the heart. I am guilty. The bible instructs us to confess our sins one to another. As a Pastor, I confess that I have sinned greatly. I have probably for all my life battled one way or the other with El Shaddai – God Almighty. The word ‘Woe’ means a significant pain as the result of misfortunes. I have served our Precious God for close to thirty years now. He has allowed me to be a part of bringing some forty thousand converts into His kingdom. Because of my sin of striving with my Maker though I am black and blue from His faithfulness in attempting to mold me into the one He wants of me. I do not mold easily. As a result, the One Who brings on disasters has allowed one after another to bring me to my knees. I am a man, but not a man. I am a Pastor, but not a Pastor. I am a husband but not a husband. I am a father but not a father. The result of serving others has resulted in my wife and kids abandoning me. I have served the Lord under a Senior Pastor has constantly insulted, mistreated, misused, and abused me daily. You may probably be asking yourself as to why I am so stupid to stick around for the abuse. My answer is that I have made so many mistakes and wrong choices in my life, is that I do not want to continue doing more. I need our Precious Holy God to do something for me. Please pray that He will.
10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’”
Parents receive what comes from the hand of God and it is no one else’s business, and it would be wrong for others to seek to interfere. So are His people to receive what comes from His hands without questioning it, leaving it in the hands of the Father. In the same way it not open to men, even to His people, to question His ways. He will work in His own way and make His children whom He will.
11 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. 12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.
The question is, how dare His people and for that matter, any of us, to question Him, the Maker of all things, about whom He will produce (as His sons) or about what He will do and make (as the potter)? They cannot. They have no right to. Thus we may paraphrase, ‘Go ahead. Go on asking me of things to come. Go on asking me about my future sons. Go on commanding me concerning the work of my hands. If you do I will take no notice! You are presumptuous. It is totally unacceptable. For I control both heaven and earth, I both created man and the earth, and I stretched out the heaven and command their entire host, both animate and inanimate. So I can do what I will with both.’
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says the LORD of hosts. The LORD, the Only Savior
Now remember, how Our Master and Great God selected a pagan to do His bidding. Can you now see the tie in about His right to rise up any son He so well chooses? He then confirms what He intends to do, and He will do it whatever questions may be asked, continuing to confirm his sovereignty. He has already in His mind raised Cyrus up ‘in righteousness’, (i.e. there is nothing wrong in what He is doing. It is perfectly valid. It is in fact in order to advance well and to fulfill God’s righteous purpose), and will go before him to straighten the way before him. And the reason for it is in order that he might rebuild Jerusalem and free all those of God’s people taken into captivity wherever they may be. It is in order that he might repair all damage that has been caused in the past. And he will do it without demanding payment.
So our Great God Yahweh is, through Cyrus, preparing the groundwork for His people’s restoration. Humanly speaking it will then be in their hands what they will do. But they will have no excuse. If the exiles wish to they will be able to return from wherever they are to the land of God’s inheritance, and there will be a Jerusalem to return to. That is Cyrus’ task, and why God has called him, and it was what Cyrus achieved from God’s point of view.
Please note that while Cyrus is ‘raised up in righteousness’ because God is using him righteously, he is not ‘called in righteousness’, a different concept. He may be ‘called by name’ but he is not ‘a called one.’ He is not one of the called of God. He is but a shadow of what the Servant Is.
After his brief moment of glory Cyrus is now left behind and Isaiah moves on to the final victory of God’s people through the work of the Servant. There is no limit as to time. Isaiah sees a patchwork of events that will occur, but is in no position to fit them together.
14 Thus says the LORD: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, 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. They will make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other; There is no other God.’”
Our Supreme Yahweh first promise to His Servant is that the North African nations, with all their wealth and vigor, the nations which were once given as their ransom as told in chapter 43 verse 3, will one day subject themselves to them, because they acknowledge their God. The labor of Egypt may represent their production, or it may signify that they will be bondmen (a suitable reversal of the bondage in Egypt), the merchandise of Cush is their riches, the tallness of the Sabeans may well indicate their usefulness as servants. They will follow after Israel in chains (taking Christ’s yoke on them) and will subject themselves to Israel’s God, recognizing that He alone is God.
The basic idea is of their total subjection to Israel’s God. The chains are symbolic of being in submission, of being made captive, in the end of being under Christ’s yoke. Those who sought to enchain Israel will themselves be voluntarily chained. This was partially through the Dispersion when God’s word and Law was taken into these areas and responded to, bringing them ‘under the yoke of the Law’, it was fulfilled in the triumph of the Gospel when the ‘soldiers’ of Christ went out to North Africa with the sword of the word in their hands and captured their hearts and received their obedience to Yahweh. It has continued in the missionary activity of the church. And it will reach its final fulfillment when all the redeemed from these nations enter the Holy City in eternity in total submission to Yahweh as we read in Revelation 21, “24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.”
15 Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior!
This sudden revelation of a switch in fortunes brings an expression of praise from Isaiah. This is something new, he says. Clearly God has been hiding from His people and the world much of what He is going to do. Our Great Master has His purposes in His Own version of ‘Hide and Seek’ His salvation is going to be greater than anyone has comprehended.
16 They shall be ashamed and also disgraced all of them; they shall go in confusion together, who are makers of idols.
Such activities of God will spell the death knell of idols. In the light of the worldwide spread of the truth idolatry will be put to shame. Those who make them will be ashamed of them; they will all be filled with confusion together. No one will want to have anything to do with them.
17 But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever.
But for God’s true people there will not be shame, but an everlasting deliverance. Never again through all eternity will they be ashamed and confounded. Note the strong emphasis on everlasting. It will be true forever and ever and ever
Our Magnificent God then points out that He did not create the world to be empty, but to be inhabited. It was not just Jerusalem that He wanted to be inhabited with His own, it is the world. Nor did He proclaim His word in secret, as in a secret society. His words were not empty of meaning, like stilted phrases of a cult. His world was intended for all, and so were His words, that all might live in it and know righteousness, and what is right. Thus He calls on such inhabitants of the world as have turned from their useless idols, to come together to consider things. Was it not He Who had told them about these happenings from the beginning? So let those at the ends of the earth turn to Yahweh, and let them recognize His sovereignty. For He alone provides strength and reality.
18 For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
The rather complicated structure of the verse is in order to stress Yahweh’s design and purpose in creation. He ‘created’, then He ‘fashioned’, then He ‘made’ it what it became, then He established it. Thus His purpose was not to leave it empty and a waste. He wanted it to be designed and inhabited and established. It was not created in order to be a ‘waste’; it was created for a specific purpose resulting from what God would do with the ‘waste’. Indeed He made it for man to live in, He made it for all men, and He wanted them to live in it as His people. And who did this? It was Yahweh, the One Who is God as taught to us in Psalm 96. “5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.” It was Yahweh and no other. The implication therefore is that all should look to Him.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
In the same way that the world was made in order to be inhabited, so were Yahweh’s words spoken in order to have effect. He has not spoken in secret, or in some place in a land of darkness where nothing can be seen and men can meet in secret. It was not to some secret society. Nor did He tell His people, the seed of Jacob, to seek Him in what was empty and barren, in the kind of empty words which often accompany rituals, or even in an empty land. Rather He speaks righteousness, and declares the things that are right. His message is not empty or turgid but positive and demanding and full of content. And it is all about righteousness and goodness and truth, that which all men in their inner heart all men long for.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save.
Those who have escaped of the nations are invited to, as it were, assemble themselves and to come and draw near to consider a verdict. The impression given is that these escapees have escaped from idolatry, for they are contrasted with those who have no knowledge, being idolaters. Idolatrous people are derided, for they look to a god who cannot save. Alternately they may be being called on to now recognize and face up to the folly of idolatry.
They are contrasted with those who carry around wooden graven images at their religious festivals, who are without sense and spiritual awareness, praying to a god who cannot save, and they are called to a positive response, to consider the facts. The gods who cannot save are in striking contrast with the One Who calls on the whole world to be saved if they will but look.
21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.
The appeal continues to those who are disillusioned with idolatry. They are to declare and bring forth what they now think. Then he calls on them to gather in solemn court and speak to each other and discuss matters together and to recognize Who has shown ‘this’ from ancient time, and declared it of old. And Who has shown it from ancient times? Why, none other than Yahweh of course, the One beside Whom there is no other (repeated twice). The One Who is righteous and Who can deliver. Note again the stress on righteousness. This is central to the appeal. And it is further stressed that not only is He righteous but also a Savior. He does not leave those who seek Him in unrighteousness.
We should note that God is righteous because He is the source and arbiter of righteousness. All is measured by His standards, and He is holy. He is the perfect standard of what right is. And His righteousness is revealed in the salvation which He brings to His repentant people through the blood of offerings. And because He is righteous He expects righteousness from all who would worship Him.
22 “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
So the call goes out to the ends of the earth to look to the only God for deliverance. All these wondering people must now turn to Him. In Him is salvation.
23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. 24 He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. 25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.’”
A mighty word which will accomplish its purpose has now gone out from Yahweh, and He has guaranteed its fulfillment by an oath. Please take notice with the continued emphasis on righteousness. It lies at the root of this whole section. God is calling the nations to righteousness. And that righteousness can only result in every knee bowing to Him, and every tongue swearing their loyalty to His name. The fact that they can be ‘saved’ signifies that righteousness can be made available to them through forgiveness. It proclaims that they can both be ‘put in the right’ and then ‘made right’. Righteousness became almost parallel in meaning with deliverance and salvation precisely because Israel came to recognize that God’s salvation would produce righteousness, and a people acceptable to God. It would be a righteous deliverance. Full deliverance must involve righteousness, for before Yahweh, the righteous One, there can be no true deliverance without it. To walk rightly is to have been freed from all unrighteousness.
We have had the opportunity of taking a good look at this wonderful chapter in Isaiah. We have seen how important it is to our Wonderful Creator God that we walk in His Righteousness. Those accounted righteous will submit in order to serve, the unrighteous in order to fear the consequences. Those who refuse His righteousness will be ashamed. On your own you cannot meet this expectation of our Lord but as we read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19 teaches us, “25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
