Isaiah 45:1-25
A God Who Hides
1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
2 I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
6 so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
8 “You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.
9 “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to his father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to his mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’
11 “This is what the LORD says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 It is I who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
13 I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
says the LORD Almighty.”
14 This is what the LORD says:
“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and those tall Sabeans—
they will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,
coming over to you in chains.
They will bow down before you
and plead with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
there is no other god.’”
15 Truly you are a God who hides himself,
O God and Savior of Israel.
16 All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;
they will go off into disgrace together.
17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD
with an everlasting salvation;
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,
to ages everlasting.
18 For this is what the LORD says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the LORD,
and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the LORD, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 “Gather together and come;
assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
24 They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone
are righteousness and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
25 But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel
will be found righteous and will exult.
Isaiah wrote the Book of Isaiah around 700 b.c...His book is prophetic...He writes about Cyrus, who was not even born yet...Cyrus would come approximate 200 years after Isaiah's book was written...Cyrus would come into prominence around the year 558 b.c...Cyrus would rule Persia from 558 b.c. to 530 b.c...Then all that Isaiah writes about Cyrus would come to fruition...Cyrus would be anointed, but he is not the Anointed One...Cyrus would be sympathetic towards the Jewish people...Cyrus is not our Messiah...This Persian King, King Cyrus, would help the exiled Jews...The Babylonians had earlier captured Israel...The Babylonians would exile most of the remaining Israeli's to Babylon...Years later Cyrus would capture Babylon...Cyrus would let the Jewish people return to Jerusalem and come out of exile...
In verse fifteen, the author tells us that truly our LORD is a God who hides...God does seem to hide...He seems to hide often...He may hide for different reasons at different times...The Great Prophet Isaiah throughout his book and life challenged the Jewish people, who were God's focus at this time before the Messiah came to earth...He challenged His people to do better, to love more, to love God with all their hearts...Isaiah understood that our God is a forgiving, merciful, and a Father full of grace...But Isaiah also understood judgment, justice, discipline, and exile...
But back to a God who hides...Isaiah knew that sin separates us from God...He writes about how sin separates us and how God hides His face (Isaiah 59:2)...Man sins...We, as man, must realize we are sinners...We must confess our sins to the Father and Son...We need to get closer to God...Faith is our connection with God...We must try to strengthen our faith...We must develop our faith, and continue to grow our faith...Like any skill, faith needs to have and get "practice."... Faith will develop stronger with practice...God often exercises our spiritual muscles with His discipline...
In Isaiah's time, the prophet seems to know that God is going to allow Babylon to conquer the Jews and exile a remnant to Babylon...He knows that Cyrus will allow his people to return home...He writes that God brings prosperity and creates disaster, I the LORD, do all these things...Our Loving Father, who is like a loving parent, also must disciple...The exile to Babylon would and should bring the Israeli people closer to God...The exile is an example of God's discipline...Cyrus and the Persian leader allow God's people to come home shows His forgiving grace...We need to keep our connection with Him strong, in both the times of prosperity and disaster, with a greater practicing faith...