Isaiah 40–55 is one of the most fascinating texts found in the Scriptures. In this section of Isaiah God both describes and promises redemption for his people. Upon doing so, he launches into a polemic against false gods created by man. Something else God does in this section on redemption is go into great detail about the fact that he alone can save. But we know this. Why is this important for Israel at this time?
In Isaiah 40–50 God is speaking directly to his people who have been exiled to Babylon. Being in exile was a tough reality for Israel. It was tough because it was confusing and so they didn’t know what to make of it. This is true in life isn’t it? Times are the hardest when we are confused because confustion leads to frustration, frustration to bitterness and contempt, and contempt to the loss of hope; and when hope is gone, we turn into dust.
This was a confusing time for Israel because they were taught, generation after generation, that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the One True God. It was in their DNA that Yahweh Elohim was the one creator God who exercised his authority over all (all gods, nations, people’s nature, absolutely everything). Then, as Babylon comes marching into Jerusualem to take God’s people off into exile in the names of Bel and Nebo (most prominent gods of the Babylonian pantheon), Israel knew that Babylon didn’t stand a chance because they had God on their side. They thought themselves to be untouchable because they were Yahweh’s people. It is just then that the Babylonians waltz right in, destroy the temple, take the ark of the covenant, and make God’s people slaves.
What’s happening!? We thought God was in control! We thought that he was more powerful than Neb and Bel! How could they just destroy the temple and crush his earthly throne like that?!
These are the questions of Israel as they serve as slaves in the exile, just like they were back in Egypt all over again.
There are explanations for Israel’s misunderstanding of what was happening. They didn’t end up as slaves in Babylon because God was less than what they thought; no, they ended up in exile because they were sinners who continually violated God’s regulations for their living. This happens a lot to people. We end up in circumstances that we don’t like and turn around and shake our finger at God as if this is some sort of evil scheme he’s plotting against us when really we ended up where we did because we simply disobeyed him somewhere along the way. He said, “Don’t go that way,” or “No, don’t do that,” and we did it anyway because it made us feel good and how something makes us feel is sadly the ultimate authority over our lives in this current day age. If it feels good, it must be right, after all, mother nature wouldn’t mislead us, would she?
But what about how God responds to their confusion, frustration, contempt, bitterness, and diminishing hope? God’s tells Israel that He Is and there is no other. In other words, God is, in fact, the only God and that he is the orchestrator of history. There is no god, no man, woman or child, no nation, no kingdom, no dynasty, no power in heaven, on earth, or under the earth that he shares his sovereignty with. He reminds them that He alone is God. He even speaks out against Babylon by saying, “You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ But evil shall come upon you…” (Is 47:10, ESV).
Israel was tempted to think that the reality was that everything was left to chance, and that God wasn’t in fact in control over everything. God steps in and reminds them that the unfolding of events in the world are under his command. That there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is outside of God’s immediate control. Nothing happens without God seeing it and permitting it. God is the great orchestrator of human events and history.
We see this in the story of Jesus’ birth. The great king Herod, who is the most powerful man in the area at the time, wants to kill Jesus but he just can’t pull it off. The same is true of the Pharaoh in the opening chapters of Exodus. He wants the Israelites killed, but a couple of nobody midwives stand in his way.
This should bring us comfort. Our lives aren’t left up to chance, they are left up to our personal creator who loves and cares of us. He guides and carries his people. Isaiah 46:3–4 says:
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the houes of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
This means that during the times in which we’re tirelessly swimming and fighting against the waves of the storm and we have no strength left to do anything to save ourselves God reaches into the waters with his strong hand and draws us out and places us on dry land. He Is and there is no other.
