THE GOD WHO SHAPES THE WORLD.
Isaiah 45:6-8, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:21-25.
ISAIAH 45:6-8.
1. “I the LORD and no one else” (Isaiah 45:6b).
The LORD desires that ‘they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that (there is) none beside me’ (cf. Isaiah 45:6a). Literally, “I the LORD, and no one else” (ISAIAH 45:6b). There are manifestations of God’s grace even to unbelievers, as Jesus indicated: ‘He makes His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (cf. Matthew 5:45).
2. The LORD declares His sovereignty over all eventualities (Isaiah 45:7).
First, “I form the light and create darkness.” All WAS darkness when the LORD said, ‘Let there be light’ (cf. Genesis 1:3). And it is only the light that shows up the darkness to be just that: darkness (cf. John 3:19).
Second, “I make peace, and create evil.” Peace and evil are set over against each other in the same way as light and darkness, so that instead of peace we have all sorts of calamities. This is not to make God the author of moral evil (cf. James 1:13), but there is the evil consequence of sin, which God allows (cf. Amos 3:6). Moses warned, ‘EVIL will befall you in the latter days; because you will DO EVIL in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger with the work of your hands’ (cf. Deuteronomy 31:29).
Third, "I the LORD do all these things." Job was resigned to this sovereignty: ‘What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’ (cf. Job 2:10). Evil in this context no doubt means adversity, as the word is sometimes translated (cf. Psalm 94:13; Ecclesiastes 7:14).
God is not the author of evil, but uses the evil that is in the world, always to His own ends, and for the good of His people (cf. Romans 8:28).
3. “I the LORD have created it” (Isaiah 45:8).
The LORD commands that ‘the heavens should pour forth righteousness, and the earth should sprout forth salvation, and let them both grow up together.’ Why? Because “I the LORD have created it.”
This is not unlike the first creation (cf. Genesis 1), but anticipates the new creation (cf. Isaiah 65:17-19).
ISAIAH 45:18.
Who “created the heavens and formed the earth” (Isaiah 45:18).
This chapter is addressed initially to Cyrus, the LORD’s ‘anointed’ (cf. Isaiah 45:1). The LORD introduces Himself as God who “created the heavens and formed the earth” and announces again, “I am the LORD: and there is none else” (ISAIAH 45:18).
ISAIAH 45:21-25.
1. “A Just God and a Saviour” (Isaiah 45:21).
The LORD declares that “there is no God beside me, a just God and a Saviour” (ISAIAH 45:21b).
2. A Divine altar call (Isaiah 45:22).
Now the LORD Himself makes His very own altar call to “all the ends of the earth”: “Look unto me and be ye saved” Why? Again, because “I am God, and there is none else” (ISAIAH 45:22).
3. “Every knee shall bow” (Isaiah 45:23).
The LORD has already determined that “unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (ISAIAH 45:23) – words applied to Jesus by the Apostle Paul in Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11.
4. “Righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:24).
Righteousness by faith is seen in ISAIAH 45:24, and worldwide mission is anticipated to the confounding of the LORD’s nay-sayers.
5. “Justification and glory” (Isaiah 45:25).
“In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel” (cf. Romans 11:25-26a; Galatians 6:16) “be justified” and “glory.” To His name be praise.
