Isaiah 41:21-29

d. GOOD TIDINGS

TEXT: Isaiah 41:21-29

21

Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

22

Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.

23

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

24

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

25

I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

26

Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is right? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

27

I am the first that saith unto Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.

28

And when I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

29

Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.

QUERIES

a.

Who is Jehovah challenging to produce cause?

b.

Who is being raised up from the north?

c.

Who is the one that bringeth good tidings?

PARAPHRASE

All you who have put your trust in idols, I, Jehovah challenge you to demonstrate causes and reasons for such trust. Bring forth your idols and let them declare what is going to happen. I challenge them to tell what has occurred in years gone by and what it all means; and I challenge them to tell what is yet to comepredict the future. Indeed, your idols may prove they are deities if they are able to predict the future and do supernatural works of deliverance and judgment which will astound us. As a matter of fact, your idols are less than nothing and they can do nothing at all. Men and women who choose to worship idols are disgusting and detestable. I, the Lord, am going to raise up one (Cyrus) to deliver My people from their enemies. He will come from the east by way of the north and he will do My will. He will tear down rulers and kingdoms as easily as he does mortared walls. As the potter is able to trample upon the clay with which he works, so will this deliverer trample under foot his opposition. Which of the pagan deities have predicted this so that when it comes to pass we may know they are gods? Not a one! No other god known has said anything at all about it! I, Jehovah, was the first and only One to tell My covenant people, Look! Look! Your deliverers. Furthermore, I will give to Jerusalem a prophet to announce this good news of deliverance. But when I look among all the pagan deities there is not a single one who can give any kind of counselnot a one of them answers My challenge. You see? they are all foolish, worthless things; these idols are all as empty as the wind.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 41:21-24 CHALLENGE: Now Jehovah is going to prove His previous claims that His covenant people need not fear the threats of their enemies (Assyria and Babylon). There were many in Israel and Judah listening to the alleged prophecies of false prophets and the oracles of pagan gods. These false prophecies predicted the obliteration of the Jews and the downfall of the Jewish God, Jehovah. It seems astonishing that the Jews, with all their history of miraculous deliverances from the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, etc., could ever doubt Jehovah's power. They had become so engrossed in politics, economics, pagan philosophies and just plain sensuality, they had no time for God and His Word. As a result when it became apparent they were going to be invaded by the awesome, terrifying hordes of Assyria and Babylon, they could not turn to Jehovah. They did not know Him! Most of the Jews turned -to pagan soothsayers and idol-priests (cf. Isaiah 8:16-22, etc.). But God, through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing that He will deliver His people from these terrible enemies. Positive, empirical, proof that Jehovah is their only Deliverer is demonstrated once and for all in fulfillment of prophecy. When history is predicted before it happens it is a claim to omniscience and omnipotence. When that prediction comes to pass it demonstrates deity. The authority of a prophet was proved by the fulfillment of his predictions (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). Jehovah challenges all the pagan gods to give proof of their divine power by divulging the future. Jehovah challenges the idols and their priests to declare the former things which is a call to interpret past history. They cannot even do this! Then He calls them to show us things to come. God does not want credulous worshipers. Preaching without proof and evidence is scarcely preaching at all. It encourages naked credulity and shallow conviction. So, when God sent Isaiah to produce faith in His deliverance, He gave proof and evidence of His power. That proof was that Jehovah could foretell, through His prophet, the future. Pagan deities could not. This same confrontation (between God's prophets and pagan idols) recurs over and over again in history (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul). God does not shrink from the demand of authenticating credentials for His Word. What Jehovah predicts has already been recorded in Isaiah 41:2 ff in the one from the east. The prediction is repeated in Isaiah 41:25 ff. But for now, Jehovah's challenge goes unanswered and the conclusion is inevitableidols are not gods! As a matter of fact, idols are less than nothing. The verdict is: idols are a totally minus-quantity and so is their work. They cannot do good nor can they do evil. Missionaries have found in modern pagan tribes demonstrations of the power the mind has over the body when the mind is psyched or hypnotized by superstition and fear. But they have also found that once the idol-worshipper sees a demonstration that their idol is nothing he is at once healed of his physical malady. Abomination is from the Hebrew word tuaivah which means abhorrent, disgusting, detestable, repugnant. Those who deliberately choose to worship idols soon become like the thing they worship (cf. Hosea 9:10; Psalms 115:3-8).

Isaiah 41:25-29 CONFUTATION: The one from the north. from the rising of the sun is the same one from the east in Isaiah 41:2, Cyrus, king of Persia (cf. comments Isaiah 41:2 ff). The massive armies of the great Mesopotamian empires (Assyria, Babylon, Persia) all swooped down on Palestine from the north. One only has to look at a map of the Near East to see that ancient armies could not march west over the Arabian desert since they had to sustain themselves by daily forage for food and water. So they marched north and came across the fertile crescent and entered Palestine from the north. Cyrus will be irresistible. He will do with the enemies of God's people what a potter does with his clay. Now, says Jehovah, which pagan idol or pagan prophet foreknew any events to show they knew Israel's destiny or the future history of Mesopotamian empires? Have any of their words ever been fulfilled so that men were obliged to say, That idol was right? Not a one! Not one word about Israel's deliverance through the one from the east ever came from the heathen oracles. Jehovah, through His prophets, was first and only to make such a declaration. He announced that the Deliverer would come to Zion. Even in the midst of all His announcements of the future captivity He announces deliverance from it by the one from the east. This would be good news to Jerusalem. Of course, it would be good news only to those who believed. That was always a minority. The majority of the people never even recognized the promises of deliverance because they refused to believe the predictions of judgment in the first place. And when one looked toward the pagan gods and prophets one could find no intimation whatsoever of this great deliverance. There is only stupid silence. They do not know the future. So they are nothing. They are powerless. They are just wind. Finis! The contest is overGod is victor. Jehovah conquers all for His people.

QUIZ

1.

Why did the Jews listen to pagan prophets?

2.

Why does God give proof and evidence for His omniscience?

3.

Why are those who choose idols an abomination?

4.

Why did the Mesopotamian armies come from the north?

5.

How much did the pagan oracles say about Israel's deliverance?

6.

What is the conclusion of the contest between God and idols?