Isaiah 45
God’s Surprising Strategies
God’s Ways Are Higher vs. 1-8
Overcoming Our Arrogance vs. 9-13
God’s Invitation to vs. 14-25
Intro: Evil leaders God has used
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God has a history of using World Leaders to accomplish his will, especially with Israel
He used the Roman Empire’s occupation to build roads that would pave the way for the Gospel
He used British Empire to spread the Gospel to every corner of the earth
He used Hitler’s attempted annihilation of the Jews to bring about the reestablishment of the country of Israel
Proverbs 21:2 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Today we see him foretell the use of a Persian king Named Cyrus to bring Isreal back from Babylon
What makes this so unique is that God calls this guy by name 150 years before it happens
God can work in and through others in very unexpected ways.
As Christians we have to be open for how He wants to work in our lives
We need to realize that His ways are higher than our, Our arrogance can get in the way, and
Read Isaiah 45:1-5
Transition:
One of the criticisms against the Bible is the prophecy is too specific
First, God uses strategies that are surprising to us
Secondly, God warns us not to take offense at that.
Thirdly, God calls us to embrace him as God.
Isaiah wants to help us accept God not as the God we expect but as the God who does things his own way
God’s Ways Are Higher vs. 1-8
Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus:
His anointed means that Cyrus had a particular anointing from God for his work.
God poured out His Spirit on a pagan king, because God wanted to use that man to bless and deliver His people
Vs. 44:28 God calls this pagan politician “my shepherd” and speaks to him as an “anointed” messiah-figure.
Shepherd and Anointed One were titles of the royal line of David.
Now God is transferring those titles over to a Gentile conqueror
In his mastery of all things, God uses whatever persons and methods he wants to, whether we like them or not
As the Creator, God is free to interrupt the processes of history and bend events any way he wants them to go
God can hit rewind, fast-forward, whatever he wants, no matter what anyone else says
God plans to raise up Cyrus the Great, the Persian conqueror, to defeat Babylon, set the Jewish people free, and send them home to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple
Whatever God does, he is taking us more deeply into his love, and he asks us to trust him enough not to take offense but to follow him.
Cyrus didn’t even know the LORD, yet God could anoint him, guide him, bless him, and use him.
How much more should God be able to do through those who have at least a mustard seed’s worth of faith in Him!
Vs. 1d-2 To open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut . . . I will break in pieces the gates of bronze:
The armies of the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus, conquered the city of Babylon in a remarkable raid described in Daniel 5.
According to the ancient historian Herodotus, while King Belshazzar of Babylon held a reckless party, Cyrus conquered the city by diverting the flow of the Euphrates into a nearby swamp; thus lowering the level of the river so his troops could march through the water and under the river-gates.
But they still would not have been able to enter, had not the bronze gates of the inner walls been left inexplicably unlocked.
God opened the gates of the city of Babylon for Cyrus, and put it in writing 200 years before it happened!
On the night Babylon fell, Cyrus probably had no great sense of the LORD’s guidance or presence. He probably thought himself both brilliant and lucky.
Often we succeed in something only by the blessing and pleasure of God, and never see the miraculous hand of God behind it all.
Vs. 4 For Jacob My servant’s sake:
Cyrus would like to think that God picked him because he was the smartest or most talented or strongest man available. Really, God’s focus was on His people.
“Cyrus is preferred in order that Israel might be released. Cyrus shall have a kingdom, but only in order that God’s people may have their liberty.
The Lord raises up one, and He puts down another.
Behind all the drama of human events today there is a God who is planning for His church - through affliction and persecution, chastening and tribulation - to be perfected and prepared to inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Redpath)
“Undoubtedly the Lord is no representative of evil as such, but He does make use of evil so that it may bring forth good.”
When God does great, miraculous things, it is easy to believe that He is in control.
When times are hard and the trials heavy, we need to believe it all the more.
What is God accomplishing with his ever-expanding reach?
Vs. 5-6 He is proving that “I am the Lord, and there is no other”.
And in his perfect maturity, if I may put it that way, he accepts full responsibility for his actions.
But the strategies of God include within their scope everything that happens as God pursues his redemptive purpose in this world
The worst evil we have ever committed God turned into his fountain of salvation.
Let’s not relieve God of his responsibilities as King of the universe.
The very thing we perceive as a problem, God perceives as his glory, namely, God owns the dark moments of life
If you are in Christ, this is a picture of what God promises to do for you—fresh, new life springing up out of the natural deadness that you are without his sovereign grace.
Do not insist on what we call miracles.
God will use many methods to do great things.
And whatever his strategy may be at any given moment, he looks at what he’s doing and rejoices in it. You should too.
You can be happy that God is God, because he’s better qualified for it than you are.
The reason we chafe under God’s providences is not God; the reason is our arrogant demands of God.
Vs. 8 Rain down, you heavens:
The great God described in the previous passage can speak to the heavens and bring rain.
It is true in the literal, natural sense; but it is also true in a literal spiritual sense.
God can send a flood from heaven, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation: God can send His blessing from every direction. It comes down from the heavens, it comes up from the earth.
Let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together: It is important to see that salvation and righteousness always spring up together. When God brings salvation to a life, He also brings righteousness to that life. They spring up together.
I, the LORD, have created it: What is God speaking of here? That He created the natural, physical world? Or that He created the invisible, spiritual world? Both are true, so both may be in mind here.
Overcoming Our Arrogance vs. 9-13
Vs. 9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Knowing that God is the Creator of all things should make us hesitant to oppose Him in any way
We are good with God as long He is doing things the way we are familiar with
It is as foolish as for the clay to say to him who forms it, “What are you making?”
It is foolish to oppose our Creator because since He made us, He can break us.
If it foolish to oppose our Creator because since He made us, He knows what is best for us.
It is foolish to oppose our Creator, because we owe the greatest obligation to Him.
Or shall your handiwork say, “He has no hands”?
The only thing more foolish than the creature resisting and opposing the Creator is for the creature to believe there is no Creator!
Isaiah pictures a clay pot, the handiwork of the potter saying, “My potter has no hands. I have no Creator!”
Vs. 12 I have made the earth, and created man on it:
Repeatedly through this extended section of Isaiah, God emphasizes His place as Creator.
The importance put on this idea here shows us that knowing God as Creator isn’t an option
When we reject God as Creator, we reject the God of the Bible, and serve a God of our own imagination.
“In the Old Testament the Creator is not only the One who began everything, but also the One who maintains everything in existence, controls and guides everything.”
Vs. 13 I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city and let My exiles go free:
The God of all power and creation uses that power on behalf of His people.
He will direct the ways of the announced deliverer - Cyrus - and cause him to rebuild Jerusalem and release the people of God captive to a forced relocation.
And Cyrus will do it not for price or reward, but out of a conviction from God that he must do it!
Surprising us is just one of the things God does, and we have to come to terms with that
“Cyrus is not a threat to my plan. He is my plan, and it’s the right plan. I want you to share my enthusiasm with me.”
God’s Invitation vs. 14-25
Vs. 22 Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
This simple but powerful statement shows the plan of salvation.
It shows the simplicity of salvation: all we must do is look.
It shows the focus of salvation: we must look to God, and never to ourselves or to anything else of man.
Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
It shows the love behind salvation: God pleads with man, “Look to Me.”
It shows the assurance of salvation: and be saved.
It shows the extent of God’s saving love: all you ends of the earth!
Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
So it says here in Isaiah: Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
We might be willing to do a hundred things to earn our salvation, but God commands us to only trust in Him - to look to Him!
“Wherever I am, however far off, it just says ‘Look!’ It does not say I am to see; it only says ‘Look!’ If we look on a thing in the dark we cannot see it, but we have done what we were told. So if a sinner only looks to Jesus, he will save him; for Jesus in the dark is as good as Jesus in the light, and Jesus when you cannot see him is as good as Jesus when you can. It is only ‘look!’ ‘Ah!’ says one, ‘I have been trying to see Jesus this year, but I have not seen him.’ It does not say see him, but ‘look unto him!’” (Spurgeon)
Vs. 23a I have sworn by Myself: When God confirms an oath, who does He swear by?
He swears by Himself. There is no one greater, so He swears by His own holy name and character.
Heb 6:13 says, For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.
Vs. 23b That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath:
The LORD here declares there will come a day when every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue will swear by His greatness.
Paul obviously quoted this passage in Philippians 2:10-11.
Righteousness and strength are found in the LORD, not in ourselves or anywhere else. Indeed, in the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory!
His goal is one world, rid of all idols, enjoying his salvation in Chris
God hides his greatness in our commonness.
He hides his wisdom and power in the foolishness and weakness of the gospel
If you accept what is clear to you from the gospel, God will give you more understanding of what is unclear
No one has ever trusted God without benefiting from it.
There is no life, no salvation, no hope at all except in God alone.
Our part is to turn away from our worthless idols and turn to the living God
If you’ll look past his unimpressive followers now, if you’ll trust him enough to join him in the way of his cross, you will bow then in the deepest joy forever.
if you insist on sulking and having things your own way, you will bow unwillingly then, to your eternal exclusion and regret. And the saddest part will be, you will deserve it
Closing:
“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. “Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh, dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
