When God Forces Himself To Not Help (Isaiah 42:10-17) Series

Imagine today that the prophet of Isaiah 40-55 stands up in the midst of God's exiled people in Babylon, and he gives them a new word from God. He speaks out in a loud, clear voice. And this is what he says, verses 12-13:

(10) Sing to Yahweh a new song;

his praise from the end of the earth, O Ones going down to the sea, [=sailors; Ps. 107:23]

with the things filling it, [=sea creatures?]

the coastlands and their inhabitants.

(11) Lift up, O Desert with its cities;

the villages [that] Kedar inhabits. [Jer. 49:28-29; Ps. 120:5; Ezekiel 27:21; Neh. 2:19; =Arabs]

Shout for joy, inhabitants of Sela.

From the top of the mountains, may they cry out loudly.

(12) May they give to Yahweh glory,

while his praise, in the coastlands may they declare.

What we hear in these verses, is a call to worship. We hear these words, and they sound familiar. Not because, as far as I know, we've used these verses in church, as a call to worship. But because this is a normal part of church for us. The worship leader invites us, on a regular basis, to join him and the worship team in worshipping God. And he/she does so, usually, by speaking scripture. The Bible itself is filled with invitations to worship Yahweh, our God.

Here, the invitation opens with a call to sing a new song. What God desires here, is a new way to express our praise for Him. He wants new words. A new tune. Something different.

Now, we could stop, and ask ourselves why God wants this. Why is a new song necessary? What's wrong with the old ones? Our verses don't say. But God wants something new.

Now, WHO does God want this worship from?

This call to worship goes out very loud, and very clear, to people who are far away. It goes out to sailors who are far off shore, perhaps fishing, perhaps transporting goods on the oceans. The call also goes out to people dwelling in the desert, in the dry, bleak, hostile environments where you wonder how anyone survives. It goes out to some place called Sela, which no one even knows where it is (it's the Hebrew word for "rock," but apparently, the usual place name identified with this didn't even exist in the sixth century B.C.).

With this call to the oceans, and the deserts, we find ourselves thinking big. Of distant, remote places. And we find ourselves thinking about very different environments. As a rule, oceans are very wet. Deserts are very dry. In a unique way, I think the prophet is basically calling on the whole world-- not just God's people, but everyone-- to praise God by singing him a new song. God wants this, because He wants to be glorified.

In verse 13, the prophet tells us why it's time for all people to sing Yahweh our God a new song:

(13) Yahweh, like a warrior is going forth ["like a warrior" is focused].

Like a man of war (Exodus 15:3) he stirs up (2 Chr. 21:16) zeal.

He raises the war cry. [Joshua 6:16; 1 Samuel 17:52]

What's more, he roars. [Zephaniah 1:14]

Against his enemies he prevails ("prevails" from same stem as "warrior").

In times of war, every nation seeks out a champion who will rally them and give them hope of victory. People want to hear stories about a hero who rises from the ranks to do great exploits. We want an Achilles, or a Samson, or a Red Baron. Maybe that's a dude thing. Probably, it's a dude thing. But guys want someone to give them confidence that victory is in the bag. They want to be fighting with someone who they know will make sure everything's going to work out. And if a nation doesn't have someone like that, it will invent them. Early in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukraine built a legend about the Ghost of Khiv, a pilot flying in an old Soviet era fighter jet, who shot down multiple, advanced, Russian jets. None of it was true, but the legend gives people hope. People want a hero. And God, is ours.

So the picture verse 13 paints, is of our God rising up as a warrior. He, like a Samson, is going forth for battle. He's pumping himself up, stirring up zeal. He's loud, raising a battle cry. He roars.

Yahweh is readying himself for battle, and he's going to defeat his enemies.

Who are God's enemies? Our gut reaction might be to say, "the nations." But who is called to worship Yahweh? Who is all of this good news for?

The nations. They are the ones invited to sing a new song to Yahweh, and declare his praise from ocean to desert.