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Isaiah, Prophet of Salvation, Book 6, part 9

After prophesying that the “water” of the Spirit will be poured out upon Israel while they are in the “wilderness” (i.e., outside the old land), God issues a challenge to His rivals. Isaiah 41:21-23 says,

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.

The challenge is for these false prophets and false gods to prophesy the future and to explain the past (“former events”). In other words, explain the fall of Samaria and the exile of Israel. How is it that the false gods that the Israelites had been worshiping could not protect them from the Assyrian army? Likewise, the false gods could not prophesy (through their prophets) the glorious future that the true God had decreed.

The NASB says in verse 23 above, “that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.” The KJV reads, “that we may be dismayed and behold it together.” The Commentary on the Whole Bible tells us on page 476,

Maurer translates, “That we (Jehovah and the idols) may look one another in the face… and ‘see’ our respective powers by a trial.”

Isaiah 41:24 predicts the outcome of this hypothetical contest,

²⁴ Behold, you are of no account [ayin, “to be nothing, not exist”], and your work amounts to nothing [ehfes, “cessation, end, nothing”]; he who chooses you is an abomination.

These false gods and their prophets are ayin, “non-existent,” and their work fails in the end.  Whoever chooses to follow them “is an abomination” (or “disgusting”).

The True God

Isaiah 41:25 says,

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.”

Who is this “aroused one from the north”? It is probably the same as the “aroused one from the east” in Isaiah 41:2. If so, it is a veiled reference to King Cyrus of Persia, which was both north and east of Jerusalem. The prophet will have further revelation about Cyrus later in Isaiah 44 and 45. There we find Cyrus to be prime example of the sovereignty of God.

Isaiah tells us that “he will call on My name.” So we read in Ezra 1:2,

² Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

Cyrus was to hear of the prophecies concerning himself and, as a result, would fulfill his destiny as God’s “servant” by rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. The prophecy in Isaiah 44:26 says,

²⁶ Confirming the word of His servant and performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, “She shall be inhabited!” And of the cities of Judah, “They shall be built.” And I will raise up her ruins again.

Cyrus is then identified by name in Isaiah 44:28 and again in Isaiah 45:1. Hence, he is the one that God was to arouse from the north and east. God empowered him to conquer Babylon and take for himself all the nations that Babylon had formerly ruled. Isaiah 41:25 puts it, “he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay.”

What was prophesied obscurely in Isaiah 41 is clarified in chapters 44 and 45. Cyrus is there called God’s “servant” (Isaiah 44:26) and “My shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28). Finally, in Isaiah 45:1 Cyrus is called “His anointed,” (literally, messiah). He was, of course, only a prophetic type and shadow of the true Messiah. His anointing, or calling, was as limited as his revelation of God. Nonetheless, even as Cyrus rebuilt the earthly Jerusalem, so also the true Messiah’s anointing is to build the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hence, when God prophesies through the prophet in Isaiah 41:23, it was a very significant prophecy, not only of Cyrus who was to come 150 years later, but also of Jesus Christ. So the showdown between God and His rivals proved to be an easy contest.

The Inability of False Gods

Isaiah 41:26 says,

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.

No false prophets had “declared this” since the beginning of time so that the people might know the future conqueror of Babylon. No one will ever be able to declare that a prophet, speaking the words of his idol, could say, “He is right!” None of them had foreseen the rise of Cyrus, and certainly, none of them knew the king by name 150 years before he was even born.

Isaiah 41:27 (NASB) says,

²⁷ “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’

Isaiah 41:27 KJV reads,

²⁷ The first shall say to Zion, “Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good news.”

According to The Commentary on the Whole Bible, it should read:

²⁷ “I first will give to Zion and to Jerusalem the messenger of good tidings, Behold, behold them!”

Who is this messenger of good tidings? This is a messianic prophecy, because the message that He brings is “good tidings” or “good news,” which in the New Testament is called “the gospel.” Isaiah’s word is basar, which, as we have already seen has a double meaning: flesh and gospel. Thus, Christ was born in the House of Bread (“Beth-lehem”) as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), so that all who believe His gospel may eat of His “flesh” (basar) and thereby become like Him.

So the prophet implies that before obliterating the false gods, the Messiah was to come first with the gospel, the good news, so that the idolaters would not be devastated without first having a solution—the alternative to the lies which they had believed formerly.

Isaiah 41:28, 29 concludes,

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 [aven, “empty words, lies”]; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind [ruach, “wind, breath, spirit”] and emptiness [tohu, “formless, void”].”

It is curious that the prophet said that “their molten images are ruach,” as this implies that molten images are more than just physical objects of worship. Most idolaters were aware that their physical images were just artistic representations of their spiritual gods who, perhaps, inhabited those images in the same way that demons may possess people.

So we see that Isaiah 41 focused attention on the superiority of Yahweh, the God of Israel. His power and ability are superior, and His gospel is superior. The people will eventually lose confidence in their idols and will come to believe the gospel of the Messenger-Messiah. In His first appearance, this gospel was presented to the people, but it is only at His second appearance that the gospel will begin to be believed by a greater number of people.

Ultimately, we know that His glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).