God’s People Are Set
Free by Returning to The Lord
&
By Renewing Their Great Hope in The Promised Land
21Pay
attention, Israel, for you are my servant; I made you, and I will not forget to
help you. 22I’ve blotted out your sins; they are gone like morning
mist at noon! Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.
23Sing,
O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing. Shout, O earth; break
forth into song, O mountains and forests, yes, and every tree; for the Lord
redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel! 24The Lord, your Redeemer
who made you, says: All things were made by me; I alone stretched out the
heavens. By myself I made the earth and everything in it.
25I
am the one who shows what liars all false prophets are, by causing something
else to happen than the things they say. I make wise men give opposite advice
to what they should and make them into fools. 26But what my prophets
say, I do; when they say Jerusalem will be delivered and the cities of Judah
lived in once again—it shall be done! 27When I speak to the rivers
and say, “Be dry!” they shall be dry. 28When I say of Cyrus,c
“He is my shepherd,” he will certainly do as I say; and Jerusalem will be
rebuilt and the Temple restored, for I have spoken it.[1] (Isaiah 44:21–28)
God’s People Are Set
Free by Returning to The Lord
&
By Renewing Their Great Hope in The Promised Land
God’s people are set free by returning to the Lord and renewing their hope in the promised land. Isaiah now draws a sharp contrast between idolaters and God’s people. Remember that the prophet is looking ahead to the time when the Israelites will be a conquered people, deported and scattered all over the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians were an unbelieving, idolatrous people, as many of the Israelites themselves were. Only a few of the Jews were true believers in Isaiah’s day, and the same would be true during the Babylonian captivity. But God still loves His people, so He reaches out to them in compassion. Through His prophet, Isaiah He issues a strong charge to His people and gives them a wonderful promise.
A. God’s Strong Charge to His People Is Threefold.
First, They
Are to Remember That They Are God’s Servants; Therefore, He Will Not Forget
Them (Vv. 21–22). Even when they are in captivity, suffering horribly, they
will still be His servants, the people He has chosen to be His witnesses on
earth. Although they will forget and forsake Him, He will not forget or forsake
them. His offer of forgiveness will still stand. Their sins can still be
blotted out, as though washed away by the rain of a cloud or the moisture from
a morning mist.
Second, To
Be Forgiven Their Sins, They Must Repent. They must turn away from their
sins and turn back to the Lord. Once they have repented, the Lord will forgive
and redeem them. Redemption looks ahead to the coming of the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He alone has paid the ransom to set people free from the bondage
of sin and death.
Third, His People Must Join All Creation in Praising Him (V. 23). Redemption and forgiveness of sins are the greatest of gifts, gifts that should arouse people everywhere to praise God’s name. But even if every human being praised the Lord, their praise would not be enough. So, all nature is summoned to burst into song and sing for joy. The heavens above and the earth beneath—including all its mountains, forests, and trees—are to praise the Lord for His redemption.
B. God’s Wonderful Promise to His People Is That Those Who Are Truly Redeemed Will Return to The Promised Land (Vv. 24–28). Israel will be restored to its homeland; Jerusalem and other towns of Judah will be rebuilt. The Redeemer Himself will liberate the Jewish exiles from Babylon and return them to their homeland. And it is the Redeemer’s power that will set them free. God will use His power in five ways to guarantee the restoration of Israel:
1) Israel’s Restoration Is Guaranteed by God’s Power to Create Both the Human Race and the Universe (V. 24). He formed each individual Israelite in the womb, as well as the nation of Israel. The same Lord who created them also created all things, both in the heavens and the earth. God’s enormous creative power ensures the restoration of Israel. He who possesses such power can certainly free His people from any bondage or enslavement.
2) Israel’s Restoration Is Guaranteed by God’s Power to Expose the Errors of False Teachers. These include false prophets, diviners, and the wise of the world (v. 25). When occult practices deceive and enslave people, the Lord has the power to set them free. Whereas false prophets teach lies and diviners use deception and double-talk to secure followers, the Lord speaks only the truth. Through revealing the truth about people’s sinful nature, the Lord is able to arouse them to repent. And through revealing the truth of redemption, He gives them a way to be forgiven of their sins and set free from the penalty of sin, which is death. In dealing with those who are considered wise in this world, the Lord has the power to refute their so-called wisdom and expose its foolishness. He is able to exercise the same power to free His people from all the bondages of this world.
3) Israel’s
Restoration Is Guaranteed by God’s Power to Fulfill His Word and the
Predictions of His Messengers (V. 26). A sharp contrast is being drawn
between this verse and the previous one, between false teachers of the occult
and the messengers of God. False teachers of the occult are involved in
pseudoscience, whereas the messengers of God make predictions based upon God’s
Word. Consequently, the predictions of God’s messengers come true. Two
predictions in particular are mentioned:
Ø
the prediction that Israel will return to the
promised land
Ø
the prediction that Jerusalem and the other
cities of the nation will be rebuilt (58:12; 61:4; Je. 32:15).
But note this fact: it is God’s power that fulfills the predictions of His messengers. Because of God’s power, the wonderful restoration of His people and the rebuilding of the nation will take place in the future.
4) Israel’s Restoration Is Guaranteed by God’s Power to Work. Down through history, the Lord had performed miracle after miracle, spectacular events such as crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River (Ex. 14:1–21; Jos. 3:1–17). If the Lord is strong enough to perform such great miracles as those, He is bound to be strong enough to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of any earthly power or nation.
5) Israel’s Restoration Is Guaranteed by God’s Power to Raise Up King Cyrus of Persia to Set The Jewish Exiles Free (V. 28). He has the power to guarantee that they would rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (2 Chr. 36:22–23; Ezr. 1:1–11; 6:1–22). As history shows, King Cyrus liberated Israel, and this prediction was fulfilled exactly as God foretold.
Thought 1. God Gives the Same Strong Charges and Wonderful Promises to Believers
Today That He Gave to Believers In Isaiah’s Day. But remember, the Lord
commands us to repent of our sins and acknowledge that redemption can be
secured only through Him. He alone has paid the ransom to set us free from sin
and death. The ransom price for our sins was the death of His Son. If we trust
Christ to save us from the bondage of sin and death, God redeems us. He allows
the death of His Son to count as the payment for our sin. Thus, through Christ
and Christ alone we are set free from sin, counted righteous before God, and
made acceptable to Him.
Once we have trusted Christ and been redeemed, God promises to give us the promised land of heaven. When we have spent our last moment on earth, more quickly than the eye can blink, God will transfer us into His presence. We will immediately move from this natural world into the spiritual world. There we will live eternally with the Lord.
(1)
When We Trust Christ, God Forgives Our
Sins and Redeems Us. Redemption Is Through the Messiah, The Lord Jesus Christ.
V “For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus” (Ro. 3:23–24).
V “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Ga. 3:13).
V “In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ep. 1:7).
V “In whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins”
(Col. 1:14).
V “Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:13–14).
V “Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (He. 9:12–14).
V “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pe. 1:18–19).
V “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Re. 5:9).
(2)
Once We Have Accepted Jesus Christ as Our
Savior, We Are Redeemed and Forgiven of Our Sins. And God Gives Us the Most
Wonderful Assurance: We Will Inherit the Promised Land of Heaven.
V “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn.
14:1–3).
V “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have
a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Co. 5:1).
V “For our conversation [citizenship] is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself” (Ph. 3:20–21).
V “We give thanks to God and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you Since we heard of your faith in
Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye
have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:3–5).
V “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go
out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and
he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of
promise, as in a strange country,
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God” (He. 11:8–10).
V “These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country
from whence, they came out, they might have had an opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country,
that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for
he hath prepared for them a city” (He.
11:13–16).
V “Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pe. 1:3–4).
V “And the city [holy city, the capital of heaven] had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Re. 21:23–27).[2]
c 44:28 This was written many years
before Cyrus began his meteoric rise to power.
[1] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible, Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2005. Isaiah: Chapters
36–66. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible.
Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
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