Year 3, Day 28: Isaiah 44

God And His Promises

The first five verses of Isaiah 44 are like a breath of fresh air compared to what we normally hear from the prophets.  God will pour out His Spirit.  The faithful descendants will spring up among the grass!  They will claim their relationship with authority.  They will not be ashamed to wear their allegiance to God upon their skin.

Of course, this is followed by a very famous passage.  God says, “I am the first and I am the last.  Beside me there is no God.  Who is like me?  Let him proclaim it.  Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people.”  God continues, but I think I’ve quoted enough to understand the point.

Who can know the fullness of history except God?  Who can look into the future except God?  Who except God can plan out each of our lives, work through the high moments, reveal Himself in the low moments, and bring it all together in a way that actually makes sense in the end?  We have every reason to believe God when He says, “Fear not, nor be afraid.”  Who but God can make any sense out of life?

Isaiah’s Prose About Idols

Then Isaiah begins a long section of prose.  I don’t ever remember reading this section before – but I know I have since I’ve read through the Bible before.  But I can tell you one thing, this section of logic has got to be one of my new favorite gems.  Let’s take a look at the points that Isaiah makes.

First, we have the example of the craftsman.  The craftsman makes an idol for profit.  They are merely trying to sell you something.  Their idols can’t see anything, yet the craftsman would have you believe they can.

Next, we have the example of the blacksmith.  Here is a person who fashions one thing or the next.  But yet, if the blacksmith doesn’t eat or drink, he will become faint and be unable to continue working.  If the limit of the blacksmith’s strength is found in food we eat or the water we drink, how can anything we make with our hands have any more power than the feeble power within ourselves?

Third, we have the carpenter.  He goes into the forest and cuts down some wood.  Of some of the wood he chops it up and burns it in a fire so that he can feel the warmth and perhaps cook himself a meal.  Yet, out of the same bunch of wood the carpenter takes a piece and makes it into an idol.  What power could the wood have possibly contained if it was not able to even keep part of itself from being burned up in the fire?

Then Isaiah asks a really bold question.  What kind of a fool places belief and power into an idol?  Idols are made by human hands; how can they be any more perfect than our flawed nature?  How could they possess any more power than their creator?

Redemption Is At Hand

Then we turn to the wonderful ending of this chapter.  There are some key words that jumped out at me as I read.  The first one is redeemer.  Redeemer is such an awesome word.  It implies a time when the relationship wasn’t right.  But it also implies a time when the relationship is made right.  It is a word that is simply filled with truth about our relationship with God.

When you combine the word redeemer with the concept of saying to Jerusalem, “she shall be inhabited,” you get another neat image.  At one point, the people of Jerusalem were scattered among the Babylonians.  The city was desolate.  Foreigners were brought in to live among the lands of Judah.  At one point Jerusalem was discarded.  But now Jerusalem is redeemed.  It is to be inhabited again.  It is to be made new.  This same God who made the world out of nothing brings life to a place that was once declared desolate.

How great is God?  He disciplines us when we need it so that we might see the path back to Him.  After punishment, there is always forgiveness for the repentant.  With God, death is never the end.  There is always a Messiah to shepherd us back to Him.

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