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45. The Lord, Not Idols

¹ “This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
   to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
   and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
   so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you
   and will level the mountains Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain.;
I will break down gates of bronze
   and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
   riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
   the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
⁴ For the sake of Jacob my servant,
   of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
   and bestow on you a title of honor,
   though you do not acknowledge me.
⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other;
   apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
   though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
   to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
   I am the LORD, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
   I bring prosperity and create disaster;
   I, the LORD, do all these things.

    ⁸ “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
   let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
   let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
   I, the LORD, have created it.

    ⁹ “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
   those who are nothing but potsherds
   among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
   ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
   ‘The potter has no hands’?
¹⁰ Woe to the one who says to a father,
   ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
   ‘What have you brought to birth?’

    ¹¹ “This is what the LORD says—
   the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
   do you question me about my children,
   or give me orders about the work of my hands?
¹² It is I who made the earth
   and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
   I marshaled their starry hosts.
¹³ I will raise up Cyrus Hebrew him in my righteousness:
   I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
   and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
   says the LORD Almighty.”

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says:

   “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, That is, the upper Nile region
   and those tall Sabeans—
they will come over to you
   and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,
   coming over to you in chains.
They will bow down before you
   and plead with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
   there is no other god.’”

    ¹⁵ Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself,
   the God and Savior of Israel.
¹⁶ All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;
   they will go off into disgrace together.
¹⁷ But Israel will be saved by the LORD
   with an everlasting salvation;
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,
   to ages everlasting.

    ¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says—
he who created the heavens,
   he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
   he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
   but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the LORD,
   and there is no other.
¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret,
   from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
   ‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the LORD, speak the truth;
   I declare what is right.

    ²⁰ “Gather together and come;
   assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
   who pray to gods that cannot save.
²¹ Declare what is to be, present it—
   let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
   who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD?
   And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
   there is none but me.

    ²² “Turn to me and be saved,
   all you ends of the earth;
   for I am God, and there is no other.
²³ By myself I have sworn,
   my mouth has uttered in all integrity
   a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
   by me every tongue will swear.
²⁴ They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone
   are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
   will come to him and be put to shame.
²⁵ But all the descendants of Israel
   will find deliverance in the LORD
   and will make their boast in him.

24. Surely in Jehovah. He shews what is the nature of true faith and of the true worship of God; that is, when we not only acknowledge, or perceive by the understanding, that there is a God, but likewise feel what he wishes to be towards us. Whoever shall be satisfied with a bare knowledge departs very widely from faith, which must invite us to God in such a manner that we shall feel him to be in us. In like manner Paul wishes that

“Christ should dwell in the hearts of believers through faith.” (Ephesians 3:17.)

He who imagines that God sits unemployed in heaven either will not humble himself sincerely before him, or will not make an open and sincere profession.

Righteousness and strength. As these are the two principal parts of our salvation, when believers acknowledge that they receive both of them from God, they ascribe to him the undivided praise of a happy life, and testify that by nature they do not possess that which they acknowledge that they owe to his grace. Thus they own that in themselves they have nothing either of “righteousness” or of “strength,” but seek them in God alone, that he may not be defrauded of his right.

To him shall he come. Here commentators differ; but, for my own part, I take a simple view of this passage as relating to believers who submit themselves to God, so as to enable us to perceive the nature of the contrast between them and rebels, who do not cease obstinately to resist God. I explain it thus: “They who shall confess that their righteousness is placed in God will approach to him.” He means that we obtain access to God through faith, so that they who perceive that their righteousness is placed in him, feel that he is present; and indeed no man, if he be not reconciled to God, will ever approach to him willingly, but, on the contrary, all who dread his majesty will fly to the greatest possible distance from him. Thus the Prophet applauds the very delightful result of grace, because it will unite to God those men who were formerly driven away from him by their wickedness; and to this corresponds what is said by the Psalmist,

“Thou art the God that heareth prayer; to thee shall all flesh come.” (Psalm 65:2.)

But all who defy him shall be ashamed. After having testified that God wishes to gather strangers from their dispersion, that he may bring them into a state of intimate friendship with himself, he threatens vengeance against despisers, who, being without God, and despising God, give the reins to their wicked passions, and wallow in the enjoyments of the world. As it is only by faith that we obey God, so it is by unbelief alone that Isaiah declares his anger to be provoked; while he distinguishes all unbelievers by this mark, that they are disobedient to God, and even challenge him to a contest. Although they now use the language of triumph, the Prophet declares that they shall be clothed with shame and disgrace.