Isaiah Chapter 44

The opening verses (1-5) seem to be the proper conclusion of the foregoing chapter. The salvation of God is worthy of Himself, even as it springs from His own grace, and can have no end short of His own glory. Hence it is that not only God blots out His people's transgressions for His Son's sake, and will not remember their sins, but that He would banish their fear and fill them to overflowing with His blessing. "And now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, [who] helpeth thee, Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; r will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I [am] Jehovah's; and another shall call [himself] by the name of Jacob; and another shall inscribe [with] his hand, [I am] Jehovah's, and surname [himself] by the name of Israel" (vv. 1-5). There is not the slightest need, nay, nor even room, for diverting these exceeding precious promises from Israel to the Gentile. It is quite true of course that the wild olive graft enjoys now all this too; but the word of Jehovah is pledged and sure to Jacob His servant. The express object is to banish the dread of the conscience-stricken Jews after their long departure from the true God. Elsewhere express allusions to the call of the Gentiles during that interval appear, as notably in Isaiah 65:1; Romans 10:20, but the point here is the consolation of the ancient people when grace is at work on their behalf.

Some, like Fry, from whose general teaching better might have been expected, were led into this misconception by not understanding how the next sections could have any just bearing on the future ways or dangers of the Jew. But this is to overlook a large part of scripture, and a solemn portion of that people's wonderful destiny. For two thousand years idolatry has not been their snare, but other characters of evil, leading to and consequent on the rejection of their Messiah. This, as we shall find, has its place in our prophecy from Isa. 49 to Isa. 57; as the general picture of their moral condition is portrayed with signal precision in Hosea 3:4. But it is certain, both from the Old Testament and the New, that in the latter day they will fall once more into their old love of idols, along with the acceptance of the Antichrist, thus finally reproducing together the two sins of the past which had, each of them, brought on them such stern judgement providentially from God's vengeance. And "there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Cp. Matthew 24:15 with ver. 21) There is thus no ground for turning aside these plain predictions of Isaiah from the literal Israel, of whom he speaks so often and emphatically, to the apostate churches of Christendom. Idol-worship is here too, no doubt, and will surely not go unpunished; but the mass of the Jews in future days will fall for the last time into that besetment and worse. Hence, while the remonstrance of the prophet bore on the evil of his own days, there need be no question of its being requisite for the Jew up to the end.

And who can assert the glory of the true God, who expose the folly of false gods, like the Holy Ghost? "Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer Jehovah of hosts; I [am] the first, and I [am] the last; and besides me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear not, neither be afraid: have not I caused thee to hear long ago, and showed [it]? And ye [are] my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock: I know not [any]" (vv. 6-8).

Next follows a withering exposure of idolatry. If Israel were witnesses of the true God, Jehovah, the idols themselves bore witness by their powerlessness against their foolish devotees. "They that make a graven image [are] all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they [are] their own witnesses: they see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image [that] is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen [are] but men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together. The smith [hath] tongs (or axe), and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; but he is hungry and his strength faileth he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with chalk; he fitteth it with adzes, and he marketh it out with the compass (or, chisel), and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of man, to remain in the house. When he heweth him down cedars, he also taketh a holm-oak and a terebinth, and he maketh one strong for himself among the trees of the forest; he planteth a mountain-ash, and the rain nourisheth [it]. And it shall be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; he kindleth [it] also, and baketh bread; he maketh also a god, and worshippeth [it]; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth Himself], and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the light. And with the residue thereof he maketh a god, his graven image; he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth [it], and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou [art] my god. They have no knowledge and understand not: for he hath plaistered their eyes, that they see not; [and] their hearts that they understand not. And none taketh it to his heart, neither [is there] knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire, and also have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten [it]: and with the residue thereof shall I make an abomination? shall I bow down to a block of wood? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [Is there] not a lie in my right hand?" (vv. 9-20). The sarcastic shafts of classic poets are poor in comparison for beauty or power, not to speak of their worthlessness morally; for mere ridicule, which ends in leaving the satirist at the shrine of his despised divinities, is the mirth of a fool which ends in sorrow and shame without end.

Not so Isaiah: "Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel; for thou [art] my servant: I have formed thee; thou [art] my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done [it]; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, the forest, and every tree therein. For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I [am] Jehovah the maker of all [things]; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise [men] backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish: that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof; that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (vv. 21-28).

And how comes it to pass after so lofty and striking an assertion of Jehovah's glory and wisdom and power that men wonder He by His interpreter discloses to His people the conqueror of Babylon, and the restorer of the remnant? What more pertinent than to proclaim the name of Cyrus at this point? So did the man of God out of Judah name Josiah at Jeroboam's altar in Bethel (1 Kings 13:2) three centuries and more before the event. When will they be ashamed thus to belittle either God and His word, or His care for His people? Alas! if the night be far spent, the darkness is not less but more. And we know that the darkest hour is not yet come, though the day is at hand. But it will not be, except the falling away, the apostasy, come first, and "the man of sin" be revealed. Truly coming events cast their shadows before; which may sadly and satisfactorily account for the wave of incredulity, and against prophecy in particular, that now overspreads Christendom. But God does not leave Himself without witness; and He has wrought by His Spirit in many a land and tongue that there should be faithful men who have a Spirit-given confidence in the living oracles. These, not content with having learnt by grace what the church of God is in union with its glorified Head, are awaiting Him from the heavens and proclaim the coming of His universal kingdom over the earth. Hence they look with unwavering faith for a deep and gracious work in a remnant of the Jews first and of Israel afterwards, to be united at length as one people of Jehovah under the true Beloved, their Messiah once despised and crucified, their one Shepherd and Prince, yea withal the Lord Jehovah of Israel. All the earth in that day shall be filled with His glory, and with the knowledge of it and of Himself, when the heavens shall show it forth still more wondrously in the glorified saints, especially in the bride, the Lamb's wife.