Isaiah 44:1
August 11, 2010 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
In Isaiah 44–45, God calls His backslidden people by name, promises to pour His Spirit and blessing on the thirsty, exposes the foolishness of idolatry, and proves He alone is God by naming the deliverer Cyrus over 150 years before his birth. The teaching urges believers to recognize their spiritual thirst, return to the Lord rejoicing, and trust the one true God who fulfills His word for His glory and our salvation.
- God addresses His people as Jacob, Israel, and Jeshurun, reminding them He is their Creator, King, and Redeemer who will not forget them.
- The promise "I will pour water on him that is thirsty" requires us first to recognize our spiritual poverty, mourning, and thirst, as in the Beatitudes.
- The outpouring of God's Spirit, begun at Pentecost, produces the fruit of the Spirit and a bold identification as belonging to the Lord.
- Isaiah mocks idolatry: a man burns half a tree for warmth and bows to the rest, while the true God speaks and history obeys.
- God prophesied Cyrus by name over 150 years in advance, fulfilling His word so that Cyrus, Israel, and the whole world would know He alone is God.
- God created the world with purpose, calls all the ends of the earth to "look to me and be saved," and every knee will ultimately bow before Him.
Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help 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... One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
When God says "Thus saith the Lord," He is speaking — and He still speaks to His people today.
Thus Saith the Lord
Every time I read those words, "Thus saith the Lord," my heart jumps. God is speaking. It's important to recognize that God speaks not only to the children of Israel in the land 2,800 years ago — specifically to those in Judah and Jerusalem — but through His word to us as well. As we prayed, He desires that we would know Him more fully through His word.
We saw this in chapter 43 last week: "Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer" (v. 14) and again "Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea" (v. 16). Over and over in chapters 40–49 we see God speaking directly to His people, and we see it here in 44:2. He calls to those He had chosen, His servants, the ones He created.
My Servant, My Chosen, My Upright One
God calls them "Jeshurun," a name applied to Israel a few times in Scripture — three times in Deuteronomy and once here. It means "my upright one." So God says: You are my servant, my chosen, the ones I created and formed for a purpose, my upright ones.
It's interesting that He also calls them by the name Jacob, which means "heel-catcher" or "deceiver." That name was given to Isaac's son at birth as he held his twin brother's heel, and it proved fitting, for throughout his life he was a deceiver — until God transformed his heart and his name in , declaring, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel." The twelve tribes came from his sons. Here God uses both names: Listen up, Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. You are my upright one. Don't fear, for I am with you to help you (v. 2).
"Lord, You Have Forsaken Me"
Sadly, God had to remind Judah and Jerusalem who He was, because they had departed. Throughout Isaiah, God calls His people to return because they have turned their backs on Him, backslidden, and accused Him of forsaking and forgetting them. We'll see it in — "Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me."
Have you ever felt that way? In trial and difficulty, with everything mounted against you, you begin to question: Lord, are You even with me? Many of you are nodding. And yet God answers, as He does the next verse: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." You are always on My mind, God says. A woman may forget her newborn baby, but I will never forget you. That word is to us in the body of Christ as well.
Water for the Thirsty
Even though Israel had turned to foolish idolatry and had the gall to say God had forsaken them, God was still compassionate, gracious, and merciful. He says, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty." But often God has to bring us to the place where we recognize we are thirsty, because we try to quench our thirst in many other things.
Israel was guilty of this. In — about 150 years later — God says they committed two evils: they forsook the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. They said, "We can do it on our own." And God, who has given us free will, will graciously let us. Every one of us has at times exercised our free will to our own destruction. Israel cut out their own cisterns to sustain themselves, and only when they came to the place of dying and thirst did they cry out — and God says, "I will pour water on him that is thirsty."
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
This reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount. It's the first major discourse of Jesus in Matthew, and notice how He begins. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). We have to come to that honest recognition: this isn't working, I am destitute in spirit. Jesus says that person inherits the kingdom.
"Blessed are they that mourn" — the one who mourns over his own sinfulness shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek." J. Vernon McGee broke that word down to "me-ick" — when we look at ourselves and say, "That's really who I am." Then verse 6: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." We will never receive the grace and salvation of God until we come to that place where we hunger and thirst for Him. And God says, I will pour out not just a trickle, but floods upon the dry ground.
I Will Pour Out My Spirit
God's promise extends beyond physical thirst: "I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." We see the same in — "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh... your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Being children of Abraham by faith, we know this began to be fulfilled at Pentecost in , when 120 in the upper room heard a sound like a rushing mighty wind, the Spirit came, cloven tongues of fire appeared, and Peter declared, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel."
We are still recipients of that outpouring. Yet some may not have received it in full, or are so filled up with ourselves that we have trouble receiving the overflowing of the Holy Spirit. Are we experiencing that filling to overflowing of His presence and power? This is the mystery hidden in the Old Testament and revealed in the New: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians). We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Evidence of the Outpouring
What is the result? "They shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses" (v. 4). An abundant, fruitful life with evident, supernatural growth — the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22–23).
Another effect (v. 5): those filled with the Spirit identify themselves boldly with the Lord. "One shall say, I am the Lord's." Another inscribes his hand unto the Lord — in ancient Israel a bondservant might receive an earring or have his master's name inscribed on his hand. Paul speaks of bearing in himself the marks of the Lord Jesus. I'm not saying go get a tattoo — but can people see the Lord in the way you live, your speech, the overflowing fruit of the Spirit? Are we boldly declaring that we are the Lord's?
I Am the First and the Last
"Thus saith the Lord" a second time (v. 6) — perk up and listen. "The King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." Jesus identifies Himself the same way in and 22 — "the Alpha and the Omega." So God the Father is one with God the Son, Jehovah.
This whole section, chapters 40–49, reveals the foolishness of idolatry by contrasting God's power with the impotence of false gods. As the first, He does not derive His being from any other; He is self-existent. As He told Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." An idol can never be first, for it must be fashioned by men; nor last, for idols wear out and break. Deaf, dumb, and blind are the gods of this world, and the psalmist says those who make them become like them. But the one true God speaks, and it comes to pass. Therefore "fear not" (v. 8) — false gods' power is fake, but the true God is to be reverenced and worshipped.
The Folly of Making a God
"They that make a graven image are all of them vanity" (v. 9). — idols are "silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes... but they see not"... and "they that make them are like unto them." People invest their time, money, and entire lives into things that cannot speak, see, hear, or walk. How foolish — highly valued, but truly worthless.
Verse 12 describes the smith laboring at the coals, hammering, growing hungry and faint. Then the carpenter (vv. 13–17) stretches out his rule, measures with the compass, even plants and waters a tree so it grows strong. He takes part of the wood, kindles a fire, warms himself, bakes bread, roasts meat, eats, and says, "Aha, I am warm." And the residue he carves into a god, falls down, worships it, and prays, "Deliver me; for thou art my god."
The Most Comedic Passage in Isaiah
Honestly, this may be one of the most comedic passages in Isaiah. He mocks the idol-makers: use a little logic. You fell a good cypress, get cold, burn part of it for warmth, cook a meal on it, eat well — and then bow down to the leftover and thank it for feeding and warming you. It's foolishness.
Yet isn't that exactly what modern man does? He expends his energy to make money, puts it into a 401(k) and the stock market, and when it does well, devotes himself to the NASDAQ and Dow Jones — every morning his devotion poured into the stock portfolio and the Wall Street Journal. Or the person who pours all his time and treasure into education to gain power and intellect — education is wonderful, but if all your devotion and treasure go there, hasn't it become your god? Is it worthy of your worship? When you stand before the God who created the universe and say, "I had three PhDs," what will you do with that? "A deceived heart hath turned him aside." He feeds on ashes, left with a dry taste and a pit in his stomach.
Their Eyes Were Shut
Isaiah puts his finger on the foolishness of their idolatry: "Have you not even considered in your heart?" No — "he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see" (v. 18). Interestingly, it was God's own word through Isaiah that brought this darkness, as He warned at Isaiah's call: "Make the heart of this people fat... shut their eyes; lest they see... and convert, and be healed" ().
God had spoken repetitively — "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little" () — and they mocked Isaiah as a broken record fit only for the children's ministry, claiming more advanced understanding. As a result their eyes were shut and their hearts darkened.
Return Unto Me, for I Have Redeemed Thee
Then God calls out (v. 21): "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant... thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions... return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." Though they had forgotten Him and worshipped foolish things, He will not forget them. What other god can blot out a thick cloud of transgressions? These false gods couldn't deal with sin. But God says: You are guilty of rebellion and idolatry, yet return to me, and I will redeem you and remit your sins.
This is gospel. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (). The proper response is rejoicing: "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it... break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest... for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel" (v. 23). Israel deserved judgment, but God extends grace and mercy, and the only right response is to return rejoicing — "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion" ().
Creation Groaning for Glory
God's desire for lost man is to redeem him and then glorify Himself in and through him. Paul builds on this in : "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us... the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." We have been justified by Christ's work on the cross, we are being sanctified daily into His image, and we groan with creation looking forward to the day we are glorified. How many of you feel that groaning in your own bodies? I'm looking forward to it.
Cyrus Named Before His Birth
"Thus saith the Lord" a third time (v. 24). He reminds them He alone stretched forth the heavens and spread out the earth — for in ancient times there were supposed gods over mountains, seas, crops, and seasons, all false. The one true God "frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish."
I sense God almost takes humor in this. Just over a month ago I read a National Geographic article: scientists found the proton is smaller than they thought, and they may need to rewrite the laws of physics. How bummed Newton would be. Or in 2005, when NASA's Deep Impact mission smashed a copper probe into comet Tempel 1, a Russian astrologer filed a lawsuit in Moscow asking for $311 million, claiming it damaged her ability to provide accurate horoscopes and harmed her system of spiritual values. Or consider , when God moved the sundial back — imagine the stargazers of Babylon scratching their heads. God drives the diviners mad.
Then God makes three declarations: Jerusalem shall be inhabited and Judah rebuilt; He says to the deep, "Be dry" (as He did at the Red Sea and the Jordan); and — most astonishingly — "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" (v. 28). This was given 150–200 years before it came to pass.
The Prophecy Fulfilled
In , God prophesied to backslidden Hezekiah (around 700 BC) that Babylon would carry Judah captive. That came true in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. Then, after Jeremiah's prophesied 70 years, Cyrus, king of Persia, would deliver them. At the time this was given, Jerusalem still stood, Babylon was not yet a world power, and Assyria still led the world — yet God named the future deliverer: Cyrus.
In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great marched against Babylon, whose king Belshazzar thought the city impenetrable. Herodotus claimed the walls were 300 feet tall and wide enough to drive four chariots abreast (though that's disputed). So Belshazzar threw a party (), even using the gold and silver vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple. Then came the handwriting on the wall — "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" — his knees smote together and his bowels were loosed. Daniel declared: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting... thy kingdom is taken from thee." Meanwhile Cyrus had diverted the Tigris, allowing his army to walk in knee-high water under the walls. But bronze gates remained — someone had to open them.
"Whose Right Hand I Have Holden"
— "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him... to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut... I will break in pieces the gates of brass... I am the Lord, which call thee by name." Who opened the gates into Babylon that night? God did. "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight" — just as John the Baptist would go before Jesus (). And He gave Cyrus the treasures of darkness, even though Cyrus had not gone there for treasure.
Why? Three reasons. First (v. 3): "that thou mayest know that I, the Lord... am the God of Israel." Did it work? records: "The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia... Thus saith Cyrus... The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem." Cyrus likely met the aged prophet Daniel in Babylon's court, who showed him Isaiah's prophecy written 150 years before his birth.
Second (v. 4): "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect." God made a covenant, and though Israel broke it, God does not break His covenants; He will move mountains to keep His word. Third (v. 6): "that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me." God fulfills His word so the whole world will know He is God, and that He might be glorified.
Light and Calamity, Righteousness from Heaven
Verse 7 troubles many: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil." From the original, we could read it, "I create calamity." God would make peace for Israel through the calamity of Babylon — peace through the calamity of another. That makes perfect sense, for God made peace for us through the calamity brought upon His Son.
Verse 8 — "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness... let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation." Who came down from heaven to bring righteousness? Jesus. And who was laid in the earth, yet the earth opened and brought forth righteousness? Jesus.
Woe to Him Who Strives with His Maker
"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!" (v. 9). Let the potsherds strive with potsherds, the clay with clay — but not with the One who fashioned it. Man fighting man is one thing; man fighting God is destruction. At the end of the age comes the battle of Armageddon, where man gathers to fight against God. Is God in heaven worried about their tanks and nuclear weapons? No — says He laughs from heaven. "How terrible it would be for a newborn baby to say to his father, Why was I born?" — yet that is what man does, shaking his fist and asking how God dared to make the world as He has.
He Created It Not in Vain
"Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens... that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited" (v. 18). The same Hebrew word for "without form and void" in appears here as "in vain." Some hold the "gap theory" — that between and 1:2 a span of time passed in which Satan fell. Whether that's the case we'll find out in heaven; it has nothing to do with your salvation.
But a better reading is that God created the earth for a purpose, to be inhabited. Against those who say there's no purpose to creation — there is. And He does not speak in secret; He is not some deistic god at the edge of the universe. He has spoken clearly and openly: "Seek ye me." And He did not command His people to seek Him in vain. As Jesus says, those who seek shall find, and to those who knock it shall be opened.
Look Unto Me and Be Saved
"Assemble yourselves and come... there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (vv. 20–22). False gods can tell you nothing of the past or future — God alone declares them. This call is not for Israel only but for all the ends of the earth.
"I have sworn by myself" — for He can swear by none greater — "that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (v. 23), which Paul quotes in . Those who come willingly now find in Him righteousness and strength; those who stand against Him shall be ashamed. "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (v. 25). I hope tonight you are found in Him, for on that day all who are in the Lord are justified — and shall be glorified. I'm looking forward to that day.
Closing Prayer
Father, I thank You for Your word. Cause it, Lord, to be planted deep in our hearts, that we'd follow hard after You and not sin against You. Lord, we need Your grace day in and day out, every second of the day, to love, honor, and serve You in a way You are worthy of. So God, would You pour out Your grace once again, afresh and anew. We thank You that we cannot frustrate Your grace, that it's new every morning — and it's always morning somewhere. Thank You tonight for Your grace. Would You fill us with Your Spirit as we prepare to go from here, and give us boldness. Lord, would the fruit of the Spirit be evident in our lives as we share with those we come in contact with. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
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