The Book of Isaiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God convenes a courtroom and calls the distant "islands" to "keep silence" and come to judgment. His opening question exposes who really governs history: "Who raised up the righteous man from the east... and made him rule over kings?" A conqueror sweeps across the world, and God asks who is behind it. The answer silences every rival: "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he." God alone directs the whole span of history. And how do the nations respond to the shaking? Not by turning to the true God, but in frightened idol-making: "the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith... saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved." It is a scene of pathetic panic, people encouraging one another as they hammer together a god and nail it down so it will not fall over. Against the God who calls up empires, they set a statue that has to be fastened so it will stand.

Gospel Focus

"I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he." This is one of the great self-declarations of God, and the New Testament places it on the lips of Jesus. To John on Patmos the risen Christ said, "Fear not; I am the first and the last" (Revelation 1:17), and "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Revelation 22:13). The LORD who spoke in Isaiah 41 is the same Lord Jesus who reigns over history; there is one God, and He came to us in Christ. What comfort this is: the One who holds you also holds all of history, calling "the generations from the beginning," raising and removing kings, working out His purpose across the ages. The empires that seem so mighty are moved by His hand. And notice the contrast the chapter draws, the God who governs history against the idol that must be "fastened with nails, that it should not be moved." Every false god is like that, propped up by human effort, unable even to stand on its own. But the true God needs no fastening; He is the First and the Last, and He is with us. When history is shaking, do not run to make idols; run to the God who is "I am he."

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Now God turns from the trembling idol-makers to His own people with words of pure grace: "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." He reminds them He chose them and has "not cast thee away." Then comes verse 10, one of the most beloved promises in Scripture, packed with assurance: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Five promises in a row: presence, deity, strength, help, and an upholding hand. He promises that their enemies "shall be as nothing," and repeats the assurance, "I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not." Then the tenderest touch of all: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob... I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer." God calls them a worm, and in the same breath promises to make that worm "a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth" that will thresh mountains to chaff. The weakest thing, in God's hand, becomes mighty, so that they "shall rejoice in the LORD."

Gospel Focus

Verse 10 has carried more trembling saints than perhaps any other in Isaiah, and it is worth taking to heart word by word. "Fear thou not", the command; "for I am with thee", His presence; "I am thy God", His covenant; "I will strengthen thee... help thee... uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness", His action. Notice that the antidote to fear is not a change in our circumstances but the presence and promise of God, "I am with thee." This is the same comfort Jesus gives, "lo, I am with you alway" (Matthew 28:20), and "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). And see how God meets us in our weakness. He does not scold Jacob for feeling like a worm; He names the weakness honestly and then supplies His own strength, promising to make the worm a threshing instrument. "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). The One who does this is named "thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel", the Redeemer who in the fullness of time came as Jesus, our Kinsman, and bought us back with His blood. If you feel like a worm today, small, crushable, afraid, this word is for you: fear not, for the Redeemer is with you, holding your right hand, and He can make even the weakest of His people strong for His glory.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God's care descends to the most vulnerable: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." He hears the cry of the thirsty and helpless, and He acts in extravagant grace: "I will open rivers in high places... I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." He even plants the barren desert with a forest of trees, cedar, myrtle, fir, pine, so that what was lifeless becomes lush. And the purpose is that all may recognize the Author: "That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." Such provision in such places cannot be explained by nature or luck; only God could do it, and He does it so that He will be known.

Gospel Focus

God hears the thirsty. "When the poor and needy seek water... I the LORD will hear them." This is the heart of the gospel, that God bends to the destitute, the ones with no resources, and gives them water in the desert. It points straight to Jesus, who cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37), and who promised the woman at the well "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). The rivers in the high places and the forest in the wilderness are pictures of the life God pours into dry and barren souls through His Spirit. And notice who receives it: "the poor and needy," those whose "tongue faileth for thirst." God's grace is not for the self-sufficient but for the empty, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst" (Matthew 5:6). If your soul is a wilderness today, thirsty, barren, at the end of yourself, you are exactly the one this promise is for. The God who opens rivers in high places has not forsaken you. Come to Him and drink, and watch Him make your desert a pool of water, "that they may see, and know... that the hand of the LORD hath done this."

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God resumes His courtroom challenge to the idols: "Produce your cause... bring forth your strong reasons." He sets them a test that only true deity could pass: "shew us what shall happen... declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." If they are gods, let them predict the future or explain the past, or do anything at all, good or evil. The silence is total, and the verdict is crushing: "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you." Meanwhile God points to His own proof, the conqueror He is raising up "from the north" who will trample princes "as the potter treadeth clay", and He notes that no idol foretold it: "there is none that declareth." Only God announced good tidings to Zion. And the chapter ends with the flat verdict on the whole idol-world: "Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion." The gods of the nations are exposed as empty air.

Gospel Focus

God stakes His claim to deity on something no idol and no false religion can produce: the power to declare the future and bring it to pass. "Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." The idols are struck dumb, but the true God has filled the Scriptures with prophecy fulfilled to the letter, above all the prophecies of Christ, His birth, His suffering, His resurrection, foretold centuries before and accomplished exactly. Fulfilled prophecy is God's own signature on His word, "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 46:9-10). This is why we can trust Him: the God who kept every word of the past will keep every word about the future. And notice the gospel gleam in verse 27: "I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings", a herald of good news, pointing to the gospel and its Author. Against that stands the emptiness of every false god, "wind and confusion." The world is still full of idols, images, philosophies, self, wealth, and every one of them, when the test comes, is exposed as wind. Do not build your life on what cannot foretell tomorrow and cannot save you. Build it on the LORD, the First and the Last, whose every word stands, and who has given us in Christ the true and living good tidings.