Reading

• Isa. 43:8-45:13

Devotional

In today’s reading, GOD imparts some especially insightful wisdom for the Israelites of Isaiah’s day (and us as well). Among the most interesting “nuggets” is that a king by the name of Cyrus will be used as GOD’s instrument to rebuild Jerusalem and restore Israel to glory. More on this later.

GOD makes it clear that He is the one God and there is none other:

⁸ Bring out the blind people who have eyes, And the deaf who have ears. ⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together, And let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this, And show us former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.” ¹⁰ “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. ¹¹ I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior. ¹² I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses,” Says the LORD, “that I am God. ¹³ Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”
(Isa. 43:8-13 NKJV)

GOD forgives Israel for her sins:

²² “But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; And you have been weary of Me, O Israel. ²³ You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings, Nor wearied you with incense. ²⁴ You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; But you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities. ²⁵ “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.
(Isa. 43:22-26 NKJV)

GOD promises to give His Spirit to His people:

³ For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; ⁴ They will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses.’ ⁵ One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s’; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ And name himself by the name of Israel.
(Isa. 44:3-5 NKJV)

GOD points out the stupidity of idols:

¹⁴ [A man] cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵ Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. ¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.”

¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” ¹⁸ They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ²⁰ He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
(Isa. 44:14-20 NKJV)

GOD names a future king who will rebuild Jerusalem and help restore the land:

²⁴ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; ²⁵ Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness; ²⁶ Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ And I will raise up her waste places; ²⁷ Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’; ²⁸ Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’
(Isa. 44:24-28 NKJV)

¹ “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: ² ‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. ³ I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. ⁴ For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. ⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, ⁶ That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; ⁷ I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
(Isa. 45:1-7 NKJV)

GOD points out that any person may be used for His purpose and has no right to argue with his Maker:

⁹ “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd [broken piece of pottery] strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? ¹⁰ Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’”
(Isa. 45:9-10 NKJV)