Isaiah 45:20-25

d. OUTREACH

TEXT: Isaiah 45:20-25

20

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

21

Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me.

22

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

23

By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

24

Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all they that were incensed against him shall be put to shame.

25

In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

QUERIES

a.

Why direct the escaped of the nations to gather?

b.

When shall every knee bow, etc.?

c.

Who is incensed against Jehovah?

PARAPHRASE

When this work, begun by Cyrus, resulting in a new Israel shall have culminated, all you Gentiles who wish to escape the judgment of Jehovah gather yourselves together and draw near. Those who worship idols are ignorant and lost; they pray to gods that are unable to save. Let all idol-worshippers who wish to contest My sovereignty combine all their wisdom and power and try to keep My predictions from coming to pass! After all, who has made such prophecies and had them come to pass-one of your idol-gods? No! Only Jehovah knows the future with certainty. I am the Only God there is! I am absolutely just and faithful to keep My word and I am the only Saviour there is; Let all the world turn to Me and be saved, for I am the only God there is; there is no other Savior! Since I am the only Absolute, I have sworn by My absolute sovereignty. I have spoken in these prophecies on the basis of My absolute faithfulness; they will come to pass! Indeed, every human being will ultimately acknowledge My sovereignty; every knee will bow and every tongue will confess some day that I am Lord. Some, who say, Only in Jehovah may we have real righteousness and strength, will come to Me and be saved. Those who continue to hate Jehovah will eventually acknowledge His sovereignty, but in disgrace. Through Jehovah's grace and power all the spiritual offspring of true Israel will be vindicated and justified because they have put their trust in Him, and Jehovah will give them of His glory.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 45:20-21 INDICTMENT: These verses continue and amplify the train of thought that has gone before concerning the long-range, culminating result of Jehovah's redemptive work begun with Cyrus-' freeing of the Jewish exiles. This redemptive work of God will have a world-wide outreach. All those Gentiles who repent of their idolatry and acknowledge, in faith, the sovereignty of Jehovah will be saved. The Hebrew word hikavetzu, translated assemble yourselves, is stronger than merely assemble. It means form yourselves into a specific group. Those that are escaped among the goiyim (Gentiles) are the future people from all nations who will have seen the culmination of the work begun in the return from the captivities (the institution of the messianic kingdom through Jesus Christ), recognize the sovereignty of the God of Israel, wish to escape His judgment and choose to accept His offer of salvation. In other words, it is the church of the New Testament. Isaiah is affirming (in predictive-present) that a specific group of goiyim will thus choose to escape the judgment upon all religions except that of Jehovah which will be made apparent to honest-minded believers through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12) and this will be confirmed and affirmed centuries after Isaiah predicts it here. Many of the Gentiles would, when the new Israel (the church) began to proclaim its gospel, acknowledge the futility of their pagan religions and their own lostness (cf. Acts 19:11-20). The indictment of Jehovah is that idols cannot save and those who worship them are without knowledge of the truth.

Many of the goiyim would challenge that last statement! Even some of the Jews of Isaiah's day would find it objectionable. Through the centuries from Isaiah until Christ, the whole Gentile world remained in ignorance and superstition and idolatry. Even after the resurrection of Christ men continued to cling to their idols and human philosophies (cf. Acts 17:16-33). Hundreds of millions of people today worship gods of wood and stone that cannot save them. But the sovereignty of God is demonstrated, as Isaiah 45:21 states, through the fulfillment of God's prophetic word (cf. 2 Peter 1:16-21). Jehovah offers the goiyim an opportunity to state their case and even invites them to pool their counsel and see if they can gainsay the predictions of Jehovah through His prophets. Jehovah alone knows the future and He has demonstrated it from the beginning of time by predicting events great and small in minute detail, thousands of years before their fulfillment. Much of this was prior to Isaiah's time! There was plenty of evidence even in Isaiah's day that Jehovah's word always came to pass. Isaiah himself was able to believe in the Christ as the culminating work of Jehovah (cf. John 12:36-43); Abraham saw the day of Christ by faith and rejoiced (John 8:56-59). But most certainly, when the prophecies Jehovah made by Isaiah gained their fulfillment, the Gentiles would have every possible proof that Jehovah is God and there is no other!

Isaiah 45:22-25 INVITATION: The Hebrew word peneu means turn, thus Isaiah 45:22 should read, Turn unto me, and be ye saved. There are two other Hebrew words also used to mean turnshuv and nacham. Peneu means more literally, turn to or towards; follow; turn to face something or someone. Peneu is the imperative of panah, so it is Jehovah's command that all the world turn to Him for salvation. The word translated be ye saved is heuashe-'u, the imperative of yasha-', and so the Lord is here expressing His deep desire that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:3; 2 Peter 3:9). It is really Jehovah's tender insistance that all the world face up to the fact that He is the only God and Savior of mankind there is! Isaiah is truly the spokesman of the Old Testament for the universality of the gospel. God's outreach is to the ends of the earth. The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save (cf. Isaiah 59:1-3), it is man's sin (rebellion) that keeps him from being saved. In other words, man's salvation is complete and readily available but in the final analysis, it is up to man. He must choose. He must accept the covenant terms.

The salvation of all mankind. is of great significance. It is what all of history functions for; it is that for which God has stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to return the exiles. Man's redemption and regeneration is that for which God longs, plans, works and sacrifices (even His own Son). It is His total goal. So He supports His invitation to all the world with an oath. He swears by Himself. There is nothing greater to swear by (cf. Hebrews 6:13-20) He swears on His eternality (cf. Genesis 22:16; Romans 14:11). The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was the greatest, most specific and thoroughly confirmed oath of God ever made. It was there, in history, God validated the certainty of all His promises and the faithfulness of His own nature (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:19-21; Hebrews 6:17 f) when He interposed Himself with an oath. God, in the flesh, dying and coming to life again by His own power! Once and for all God proved through the empty tomb that He is the resurrection and the life. He proved that no one comes to the Father but by Jesus Christ. With absolute historic certainty God proved there that every word of His comes to pass in righteousness. He also proved that eventually every knee must bow and every tongue confess that He is God (cf. Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10 f.). While time lasts, men are free to acknowledge His sovereignty or deny it. But when time ceases to be and men inhabit the eternal destinies they have freely chosen, they will all acknowledge His sovereignty. Eventually every thing created must acknowledge His Lordship. Some, as Isaiah 45:24 points out, will confess His righteousness and strength and come to Him (for salvation). Others, incensed, hateful and rebellious to the end will know and acknowledge His sovereignty but will be put to shame.

Jehovah will justify (vindicate) all the seed of Israel and glorify them. In our context (the work of God, begun with Cyrus, culminating in redemption for the whole world) this seed must refer to the spiritual Israel (cf. Romans 2:28-29; Romans 4:13-25; Galatians 3:6-9; Galatians 3:27-29; Galatians 6:14-16). All, both Jew and Gentile, who turn to Jehovah for salvation by faith will have that faith vindicated when God, bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10), finishes His work at the consummation of it all. Right now we are being changed, by faith, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). One day, when time ceases to be, we shall have all the glory our Great God has prepared for usthen our faith will be vindicated! God is sovereign in salvation!

QUIZ

1.

What is the nature of the assembly the nations are to make?

2.

Who are the escaped?

3.

What is God's challenge to the Gentiles who will not accept His sovereignty?

4.

How insistent is God that the whole world look to Him for salvation?

5.

What demonstration do we have that God's good news was universally intended?

6.

What was God's greatest oath to the world of His faithfulness to keep His promises?

7.

Who are the seed of Israel?