Isaiah 41 GOD IS IN TOTAL CONTROL In this prophecy, there is a call from God to the whole earth as He challenges the idols of Babylon to the test, and tells the Jews in captivity that they are proof that He only is God. There is no other God. He is over the nations and reasons with them by the moral law He has placed in every person. Intelligence and conscience enable us to respond in faith to His grace no matter where a person may live or what their cultural background is. God’s ability and man’s futility are obvious in contrast in this unfolding challenge of the Lord God to the idols of man’s making in which so many then, and now, trust.
Great leaders like Cyrus the Persian, were under the control of divine authority even to showing favor to the small exiled group of captives – the Jews in Babylon. God uses even pagan power to protect and defend His people. He also can use them to correct and punish His people for their sins. He is in control of empires and governments, and uses them with His eternal purposes in view. It was with His controlled power He used the Medes and Persians to bring down Babylon. The idols of Babylon were designed to give some sense of security to those people in the face of things that were supposed to have more power than humans. But an idol is an empty carnal device that is useless when it comes to answering the need of the human soul and spirit. The idol/gods of Babylon were helpless to protect them. All an idol is, is a form of human imagination often made to look like a powerful animal, person or thing. A money bill is only paper even though it has a human picture, name, amount etc. and is only useful to give a sense of value. It is valueless in itself.
Even though Israel was in captivity and exile because of the sins of the people, God did not abandon them. He had established a relationship with them long before and was committed to it. His care did not allow them to be exterminated because they are a unique people. Israel was chosen by God and is called God’s servant in contrast to unbelieving Gentiles. Abraham, the friend of God, and the father of the Jews, made his descendants heirs of the promises made in a covenant between him and the Lord. He left “the ends of the earth,” Ur of the Chaldees, in a response of faith to the call of God.
No other exiled, captive nation in history has ever been brought back to their homeland to start life over again as a recognizable nation. But God had promised to do this, and it will be done. Other nations have become great earthly powers, but have only been comparatively short-lived with a temporary influence on the nations around them. The feeble “worm Jacob,” has been despised and stepped on all over the world. It will finally triumph under the authority of the Lord when all the rest of the world is in ruins. Without any “self-help” capacity, God promised to give the Jews the needed strength in times of anxiety and trouble, and will help them regain and maintain their identity. In view of the coming kingdom, Israel is still the tool God will use to prepare the way of the Lord. God will save His people even though at present, all seems hopeless and defeated.
God has promised to bring spiritual Israel a whole new life. In times of stress and peril, He will provide what they need to survive as an identity. It can be theirs when they take it for themselves because God’s provision by grace can be personally claimed by faith. Joy follows when one realizes God is faithful to all to whom He has made promises. Idols of any kind can do nothing of lasting value for anyone. The Babylonian idols couldn’t do anything for the people of Babylon because they were nothing. They are only forms of the imagination. People today make idols of sports and entertainment figure hoping to get some vicarious pleasure or satisfaction from winning a game or making a lot of money. That produces nothing because it is nothing but only a fleeting vision of the imagination.
In the prophecy to the idol worshippers, the Lord challenges them to prove the reality and power of their false gods. False gods cannot predict through false prophets what will happen in the future, nor can they make it happen. The prophecy of Isaiah made plain that there will be an eastern power that will come from the north and would carry out the purpose for which God intended. The Medes and the Persians did just that and conquered Babylon years later, just as Isaiah had said. “Behold them!” Those predictions have been fulfilled and Jerusalem had a prophetic messenger come with good news. The false prophets of false gods who promoted a false religion could do nothing like it.
The nations around Israel had idol/gods for planting, rain, harvest, war and pretty much every vain imagination of the human mind. We can learn from those failures of the past, that idolatry still doesn’t meet or satisfy human need. Money, military might, success, family and governments all fail to bring lasting hope, satisfaction and peace. Worthless idols with no intelligence are as deceptive today as they were in the past. Each generation is uniquely different, but the plans of God include all generations. God has worked personally through our forebearers and He will do the same through us and those who come after us.
Hopefully, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and those following them will have learned from us the value of grace, faith, the Bible, prayer, Christian fellowship and the Gospel, to have something to pass on to those who follow them. How sad life is, if there is nothing of value left to others when we move to our eternal home. It is only in the light of truth and righteousness that any of them will find meaning and happiness in life. It is only when their faith in God is real, that they will produce anything of lasting worth through all their years of living.
All believers have the privilege and responsibility of representing God to the world in our generation. God will bring those people of faith together in the future, and we will find we all had in common, the assurance that God is with us; God has given us eternal life and the lasting relationship with Him through faith. We will all know that God has helped us all the way by strengthening us in times of need. He has given us victory over sin and death. He has never abandoned us even though we have experienced suffering and persecution. Our God is Great, Good, Faithful and personal to us even though He is infinite in every way.