ISAIAH 41: “Who Besides The Lord Can Bring Into Being What Does Not Exist And Foretell The Future?”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO

1.1. In our last study we began the second major section of the book of Isaiah where Isaiah begins to build theologically the Messianic hope for God’s people, and everything from this point on is prophetic and points forward for the people of Judea. All of the events pictured and addressed by Isaiah are in the future

1.1.1. We looked at how the Bible is different than any other scriptures of the world’s religions in that it has verifiable prophesies all throughout it. The Lord has sought to establish His credibility and the credibility of His word by providing in the Bible thousands of prophetic passages, each of which is very specific in it’s pronouncements. We know that at a minimum several hundreds of these prophesies can be verified in history past. There are still prophetic passages to be fulfilled in God’s timeline, however the 100% accuracy of all of the many prophesies which we can verify fulfillment give us more than ample evidence that God will fulfill every one of the remaining unfilled prophesies which deal with events before the end times

1.1.1.1.Statistically, the odds of even a small number of these prophesies being fulfilled is very low!

1.1.2. We saw in chapter 40 that Isaiah is now writing to a generation of people who were yet unborn and who would live at least 100+ years after the time of his writing, and as he looks forward with the prophetic eye to events that would be occurring in that time he begins to focus his writing on encouraging the people of the hope that they will have when their Messiah arrives

1.1.3. We saw that Isaiah wrote anticipating that the people will be in Babylonian captivity, and for the events of that time period he attempts to focus Judea upon the hope that they have as God’s people which is based upon the surety of God’s word, and His promises

1.1.3.1.We saw that though the people may not be able to see how the promise of their deliverance from captivity would be fulfilled, Isaiah assured them that though peoples and mighty nations will come and go that the word of God will stand forever, and thus God’s promise to return and restore them would be fulfilled

1.1.4. We saw that from verse 12 through the end of chapter 40, that Isaiah sought to encourage the Judeans by having them consider just how great and mighty their God really is.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 41 of Isaiah and how that Isaiah now begins to build upon his theme of focusing the eyes of a generation not yet born and living 100+ years future of him of the hope that they have in the Lord fulfilling His promises and providing deliverance from their captivity which they would be in, as he has already announced prophetically, in Babylon

1.2.1. The whole of chapter 41 unfolds as a court room scene in which the Lord as judge asks the nations and it’s leaders to come before His bench and present their case that they in fact have powers like the Lord to call things into being that did not exist and to declare the future before it happens

1.2.1.1.We see that the Lord stands alone among men and gods in His ability to do these things

1.2.2. We see also that in this chapter that Isaiah begins to point us to a world ruler who would come into power in the future and who would conquer the nations and return captive Judea from Babylon. In the next few chapters Isaiah refers again to this man and his being called by God, and even later in Isaiah he is spoken of by name. This is a verifiable prophesy that was fulfilled in history some 170+ years after Isaiah wrote this chapter when Cyrus the Persian conquered the nations, including Babylon, and freed all of the captive peoples in Babylon allowing them to return to their native lands

2. VS 41:1-4 - “1 “Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us come together for judgment. 2 “Who has aroused one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him, And subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind-driven chaff with his bow. 3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety, By a way he had not been traversing with his feet. 4 “Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”” - Isaiah calls out to God’s captive people to be strengthened and to realize that the Lord is going to raise up a ruler who will bring them out of Babylon

2.1. As was the case in the previous chapter, we see in this chapter also that Isaiah is speaking to a generation of people as yet unborn in Judea, and who would live 100+ years from the time of his writing, and he is writing words of consolation and encouragement to them as if they are in captivity to Babylon (which he has prophesied will happen to them).

2.2. In these verses we see that it is as if the Lord is convening court and asking the various parties to come forward to the bench and plead their case and hear what the judge has to say. The judge tells them, ‘Let us come together for judgment.’

2.2.1. God asks those nations who are farthest away, from the coastlands, to come and to present their case before Him. The Lord who is the judge tells them to be quiet, and then it is as if He asks them the question, “Can you prove that you are strong enough to thwart the Lord’s plans to deliver His people from Babylonian captivity?”

2.2.2. Then, the Lord who is the judge presents His argument. He asks first the question of, “Who among the nations has ‘aroused one from the east whom He calls in righteousness to His feet?” Then, the Lord argues His capabilities to carry out His prophetic word in delivering Israel from their captivity by showing that it is the Lord who:

2.2.2.1.Delivers up nations and subdues kings.

2.2.2.2.Makes kings and nations like dust with His sword.

2.2.2.3.Pursues nations but Himself passes on in safety by a way that non else can walk.

2.2.2.4.Calls for generations to be from before the foundation of the world

2.2.2.5.Is doing these things with the first generation of men who have lived all of the way to the last generation. He is outside of time and in all points of time at once.

2.3. This one who is from the east is the same one referred to in verse 25 who attacks from the north, and we see that later in Isaiah that he is revealed to us to be Cyrus the Persian, who did in fact live east of Judea.

2.3.1. In Isaiah 44:28-45:7, we read that the Lord tells them that the name of this man who would come be the world power and who would conquer the nations, including Babylon who would bring Judea to captivity, is Cyrus, “28 “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” 1 Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him, And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars. 3 “And I will give you the treasures of darkness, And hidden wealth of secret places, In order that you may know that it is I, The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. 4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me. 5 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.”

3. VS 41:5-7 - “5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; The ends of the earth tremble; They have drawn near and have come. 6 Each one helps his neighbor, And says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7 So the craftsman encourages the smelter, And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, Saying of the soldering, “It is good”; And he fastens it with nails, That it should not totter.” - The Lord argues further that the furthest nations (the coastlands) have seen what the Lord does in judging nations, and they are afraid of the God of Israel

3.1. All of the nations had heard of the many mighty deeds that the God of Israel had performed, going all of the way back to the point in time where Israel was mightily delivered from Egypt and slavery.

3.2. Though the nations may have feared the God of Israel, having seen and heard of His deeds, yet still their hearts were proud and so they continued on in their idolatry. Rather than to come to the God of Israel as proselytes and serve the true and living God, instead they encouraged one another to ‘be strong’ in the face of the threat of the God of Israel, and the one who made the worthless idol made extra sure that when he made his god of gold or silver that it will not totter and fall over, for as we saw in our study of the last chapter, it is a great embarrassment when a man’s god falls over and cannot get himself back up again.

3.2.1. People today do the same things. It is a sad thing today that many times when men and women are convicted in their hearts about the existence of God and His workings and the truth of His word, that instead of turning to Christ in repentence and receiving Him as their Lord and Savior and thus inheriting eternal life, instead they stiffen their necks and brace up and fortify their hearts to ward off that conviction of their conscience to the truth.

4. VS 41:8-10 - “8 “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. 10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” - The Lord reminds His people Israel that they are His servants and friends (since they are descended from His friend Abraham) and that He has chosen and called them, and He tells them not to fear

4.1. Last year I received a copy of the memoirs that my grandfather wrote the last year of his life in which he wrote all about his childhood and growing up years in Canada and then later in Utah. I was always very close to my grandfather during the years he was alive, and I suddenly regretted greatly after reading the memoirs that I hadn’t gone and visited the family homestead there in Monticello, Utah where he spent most of his childhood. I tried to plan a trip out to see firsthand where all of these very fascinating stories had occurred in the early part of the last century. However, I didn’t know where exactly the family homestead was located. Well, I decided that I would try to track down any members from the family who lived closest to them, and whose boys were my grandfathers best friends growing up. I finally contacted by phone a man who was the son of my grandfathers best friend, and he was now living in Cortez, CO. We had a very pleasant conversation, and he was very helpful in directing me to where I might find out where the homestead was located. But, it struck me that because my grandfather and his father were good friends growing up, that this man and I were immediately good friends also. He wanted us to drop by and see him in Cortez when we came to visit the family homestead. Abraham had been a friend of God, and now God was reminding Israel that though they might not have been the closest in their relationship with God at this point in time, God still considered them not only His servants but also His friends because of His friendship with Abraham.

4.2. Though the people had failed the Lord miserably and it was because of their great sin that they were now in Babylonian captivity, God reminds this future generation there in captivity that He has indeed chosen and called them to be His servants, and that He has not rejected them.

4.2.1. We Christians need to realize that when we fail the Lord and sin against Him and His law, that He does not now reject us and not want to have anything to do with us. His heart still burns in love for us just as much as when we were doing well in our spiritual walk. As the quintessential Father, His desire is just to show us even more greatly how much it is that He truly does love us. The Lord wants to pick us up and help us to get back on our feet if only we will let Him do so during those times.

4.3. The Lord tells this future generation of Judeans not to fear or to look anxiously around them.

4.3.1. In chapters 41-44, the Lord tells Israel seven different times not to fear.

4.3.2. Whenever we take our eyes off of the Lord and put them instead on our circumstances, then we become fearful and dismayed. We begin to question how the Lord could ever be able to come through for us, how He could ever deliver us from our difficulties and the dangers we face.

4.3.3. The Lord tries in this chapter to direct His people’s attention to Him and to cause them to remember His great deeds and the things that He has accomplished in raising up and bringing down nations, of calling that into existence which did not exist, of foretelling the future before it happened with 100% accuracy.

4.3.3.1.When our faith is wavering, we too need to place our eyes back upon the Lord. We need to think long and hard about His faithfulness, and the things that He shows us in His word that He has already done. We need to evaluate His track record. When we do these things we cannot help but have faith that He will yet work out our present circumstances according to His perfect will.

4.3.3.2.We Christians too need to realize that the Lord has called and chosen us and that we are His friend, a friend of God, and because of that confidence also realize that we need not fear what shall befall us for the Lord Himself shall go before us and be prepared to meet us and supply our needs wherever we may go.

4.4. The Lord promises that He will strengthen and uphold this future generation of Judeans. They will just need to look to Him to provide that strength, and turn their cares into prayers.

4.4.1. In Phil. 4:6-7 we are told to be anxious for nothing but rather to pray about everything in our lives, and when we turn our cares into prayers we will have that peace of God that defies man’s ability even to understand, “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

5. VS 41:11-13 - “11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish. 12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing, and non-existent. 13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’” - The Lord tells them not to worry about nations or rulers who may be angry at them or who contend with them

5.1. The mightiest of the mighty nations will be judged by the Lord, and here we see that the Lord says that the nations will be ‘shamed and dishonored,’ and that those who contend with Judea will perish and be brought to nothing. In fact, the Lord tells them that they will not even be able to find those nations with whom they had argued.

5.2. The Lord again reminds them that He is the Lord their God, that it is He who upholds their right hand (of power and honor), and that they are not to fear for He will help them.

5.3. The Lord requires faith of His people. In this life we cannot see God with our eyes, nor can we understand many times how the Lord is going to bring about fulfilling His promises and delivering us from our troubles, however the Lord tells us as He told the Judeans here that we can trust in Him, for He also is our God and He also has called us and plans to assist us in fulfilling His plans through our lives.

6. VS 41:14 - “14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.” - The Lord calls the men of Israel a worm, but tells them that He will help them

6.1. Contrary perhaps to popular thought, the Bible does not present man in a good light:

6.1.1. In Psalm 22:6, David was convicted to the depths of his sin, and thus he confessed his own ‘worminess’, “6 But I am a worm, and not a man, A reproach of men, and despised by the people.”

6.1.2. In Rom. 3:9-20, 23, Paul brings an indictment against the whole human race of their unrighteousness, “9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;10 as it is written,“There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” ;15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,17 And the path of peace have they not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God;…20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.””

6.2. Even though we are corrupt through and through because of the sin natures that we have, if we have come to know the Lord we have also been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and made partakers of the divine nature. Thus, we have a civil war that is being constantly fought within us between the old man or sin nature and our new man and spiritual nature.

6.3. God knows just how wormy each of us are in the corruption that we have because of the sin nature which remains within us, yet just as occurred with the Judeans, none-the-less we experience the grace of God. He loves us, considers us His servant and friend, He helps us in all of our difficulties, and He has called and chosen us to fulfill His plans and bring glory to His Name.

6.4. Notice in this verse the contrasts of how that Jacob is called wormy and the Lord calls Himself, ‘The Holy One.’

7. VS 41:15-16 - “15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains, and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff. 16 “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the Lord, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.” - The tells the Judeans that He will make them a threshing sledge

7.1. A threshing sledge is that which is used for harvesting a crop, and when we consider these verses as regarding the Judeans we have to ask ourselves in what sense could we consider the Judeans as being the instrument through which a crop would be harvested?

7.1.1. All throughout it’s history the nation of Israel really did almost nothing in the way of proselytizing the nations, although it would allow Gentile proselytes to worship in the temple.

7.1.2. The Messiah came through the nation of Israel, and He is the One who is bringing about the preaching of the Good News to all of the nations through His church. This may be a possible fulfillment.

7.1.3. In the book of Revelation, we read about 144,000 Jewish evangelists, 12,000 from each tribe, who go all over the world preaching the gospel, and who supernaturally cannot be harmed by anything. This may also be a fulfillment.

7.2. The Lord promises that they will be a ‘sharp’ threshing sledge, therefore they shall be very effective in their efforts to evangelize.

7.3. The Lord also promises that they will be a double-edged threshing sledge, and perhaps just like a double-edged sword, a double-edged threshing sledge will cut both ways and thus bring conviction and salvation both for those who are harvested as well as those doing the harvesting.

7.4. Some will accept the message of the gospel and some will reject it.

7.4.1. We see that when a harvest occurs that the wheat is winnowed, or thrown up in the air, that the chaff blows away. Chaff refers then to those who reject the gospel.

7.4.2. Here Isaiah tells us that the wind and the storm will scatter the chaff away. This reminds me a bit of the Parable of the Sower and how for some who initially believe the gospel in the soil that has no depth they believe for a while however when tribulation and trials occur, persecution for the gospel, that those in that soil will fall away.

7.5. Isaiah tells the people that in that day when they were being used in harvesting the souls of men for the Lord that though many would not receive their witness and be converted that none-the-less they would rejoice and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

8. VS 41:17-20 - “17 “The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. 18 “I will open rivers on the bare heights, And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land fountains of water. 19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia, and the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert, Together with the box tree and the cypress, 20 That they may see and recognize, And consider and gain insight as well, That the hand of the Lord has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it.” - The Lord promises that He will answer the request of the afflicted and needy for water

8.1. At all times and eras the Lord promises to meet the spiritual and physical needs of His people. When this future generation of Judeans are there in Babylonian captivity call upon the Lord He will meet them and water them satisfying their needs, for as He does with all of us, He knows what we need before we even ask of Him.

8.2. The afflicted and needy can also refer though to the “poor in spirit” whom Jesus referred to in His Sermon On The Mount. These are those who see their own neediness and also how unworthy that they truly are to receive anything from the Lord. To those who are “poor in spirit” Jesus said that they shall see God. God always comes to aid those who truly are “poor in spirit.”

8.2.1. Jesus taught also in the Sermon On the Mount that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be filled.

8.3. The Pulpit Commentary tells us that the trees mentioned here are the best in the land of Syria and Palestine, “The trees named are the choicest of Syria and Palestine, viz. the cedar (erez), the great glory of Libanus; the acacia (shittah), abundan in the Jordan valley; the myrtle (hadas), which grew on the hills about Jerusalem (Neh. 8:15); the olive, cultivated over the whole country; the fir (berosh), or junper, a product of Lebanon (2 Chron. 2:8); the plane (tidhar), a tree far from uncommon in Coele-syria, sometimes growing to a great size; and the sherbin (teasshur), a sort of cedar, remarkable for the upward tendency of its branches.”

8.3.1. By naming the choicest of the trees of the land of Palestine, the Lord is speaking to this yet unborn Judean generation about how that He knows what is of value to them and that they can trust that He will do what is best for them in all areas of their lives. Those things that bring the memories of their pre-captivity life in Judea will one day again be restored when they are returned to their land after the years of captivity.

8.3.2. Jeremiah who lived contemporary with the people when they were in captivity told them prophetically in chapter 29 of his book that their captivity would last a mere 70 years. We know of course that this turned out to be the exact length of the Judean captivity, which again verified the veracity of the word of God.

9. VS 41:21-24 - “21 “Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. 22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them, and know their outcome; Or announce to us what is coming. 23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. 24 Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.” - Isaiah taunts the nations to come and bring their case to the bar and make their argument for how they are going to be able to do the things that the Lord does in being prophetic and declaring what will happen before it happens

9.1. I shared the excellent quote in our last study from Dave Hunt’s new book, “A Urgent Call To A Serious Faith, “ where he states that in none of the rest of the scriptures of the world’s major religions are there found verifiable prophesies such as the thousands that are found in the Bible. Plus, time and time again the Bible has proven the skeptics wrong when they attempted to disprove it by saying that a people or a person mentioned in the Bible did not exist, and then an archeological dig or finding demonstrated that the Bible was accurate in it’s descriptions.

9.2. Here the Lord as the judge in the courtroom taunts the nations to present any kind of evidence that they have any track record in being able to foretell the future. The Lord tells the nations and it’s leaders that if they are able to do this, accurately foretell the future before it happens, then they can show that they are in fact gods and give man cause for looking anxiously about and fearing the future.

9.2.1. As we look back over history we see that all of the nations that were powerful during Isaiah’s day, and boasted of their glory, are either not in existence at all, such as Assyria and Babylon, or as in the case of Egypt and Syria they are a very meager player in the world’s events. However, the Lord’s promises to Israel are still sure and steadfast.

9.2.2. The Lord is always revealing the folly of man depending upon his fleshly wisdom.

9.2.2.1.This history of this world is really the history of the folly of man trusting in his own fleshly wisdom, for all throughout history ruler after ruler and nation after nation has come to greatness and power only to be brought down. Feeling as though they were invincible time has revealed their weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

9.2.2.2.In our own day, we see in our nation that our economists who are the prognosticators of the future of the economies of the world could never have foretold the failure of the Tech Industry that has occurred over the past two years. Two years ago everyone of them would have denied that the Tech Industry could ever be in the shape it is in today. The answer is none. Those experts in our country whose job is homeland security would have denied a year ago that today the two towers of the World Trade Center would have been destroyed by terrorists who hijacked four airliners within minutes of each other and then piloted them as fully fuel-laden bombs towards our nations most important institutional buildings. The answer again is none. If someone would have written a book with this plot I don’t think that it would have become popular because it’s plot would have been too far-fetched. Yet, that is what has happened this past year.

9.3. In verse 24, the Lord speaks to the nations of the world and their rulers saying that they are of no account and that their work amounts to nothing and that those who choose to put their trust and hope in them put their trust and hope in that which is an abomination to Him.

10. VS 41:25-26 - “25 “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My name; And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, Even as the potter treads clay.” 26 Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, Surely there was no one who proclaimed, Surely there was no one who heard your words.” - The Lord tells the future generation of Judeans about one whom He has aroused from the north and that this future king will come upon the rulers and tread upon them as clay

10.1. Cyrus the Persian is the one whom Isaiah prophesies of in these verses, the same one mentioned in verse 2. He is the king who would come upon Babylon and the other nations and conquer them. History records for us that in fact he did come upon Babylon from the north when he conquered Babylon.

10.2. Isaiah includes here that when these prophesied events have occurred that the people will then know that it was the Lord, and Him alone, who has declared from the beginning that these things would happen. Then, the Lord says that they can say that the Lord was right, and that only the Lord could have known these events that would occur.

11. VS 41:27-29 - “27 “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’ 28 “But when I look, there is no one, And there is no counselor among them Who, if I ask, can give an answer. 29 “Behold, all of them are false; Their works are worthless, Their molten images are wind and emptiness.” - Isaiah tells us that at the time of his writing that there were no messengers of good news, no one who could be counselor to the people and give them an answer

11.1. The prophets of Israel prior to Isaiah had been false prophets, and their counsel was worthless. They only told the king the things that they thought that he wanted to hear. They did not prophesy from the Lord, but rather they looked to ‘molten images’ that were empty and void of any goodness or virtue.

11.2. Now however, the Lord had told them of the things that He was planning to do. This prophesy of Isaiah told them of a future judgment that would result in a Babylonian captivity, but there was also good news in the fact that restoration had also been prophesied. A faithful remnant would come and rebuild the temple and the city, and the nation would again serve the Lord in her land.

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