Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 44:21-28
Consider these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 44:21-28:
1. The passage highlights the theme of redemption and God's power to forgive sins and bring His people back to Himself. How does the imagery of redemption, particularly the idea of sins being blotted out like a cloud, impact your understanding of God's grace and forgiveness?
2. God's sovereignty over creation is emphasized in the passage, showcasing His power to not only form His people but also to command the elements of nature. How does recognizing God's authority over creation strengthen your faith in His ability to intervene in your life and circumstances?
3. The passage mentions the use of a pagan king, Cyrus, to fulfill God's purposes, including the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. How does this demonstrate God's ability to work through unlikely means to accomplish His plans? What does this teach us about trusting in God's sovereignty, even when events seem unlikely or unfavorable?
Transcript:
This is a really cool passage to take a look at. We've seen all this language of exile and of judgment. Here we have a good reminder of what God is doing. What is amazing is we get to the end and God is doing an interesting thing, and we'll see what that is. But first, we need to remember this story that is told throughout scripture, this idea of God redeeming a people for himself, of him making a people for himself. It's all connected to his saving grace, to his redeeming power. We see here that Israel needs to remember and Jacob needs to remember. In other words, this all-encompassing, Hey, all the people who are my people, you need to remember something very important. I formed you. You're my servant. Hey, you're mine. I have made you my servant. I have bought you. And that's why this redemption language is so important here. This idea that they've been redeemed, that they've been bought. God has taken possession of them. He for lack of a better term, owns them because he has bought them. And so what was done to buy them? He's blotted out their transgressions like a cloud and their sins like a mist.
And so he's calling them to return to him. Hey, I have set you free from sin. I have bought you from that. And so there is praise that is to be done. And we see this in verse 23, Sing, 'Oh heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shout, 'Oh depths of the earth. In other words, there's this idea of praise to God from the highest of heights to the depths the sea. Everything, the mountains, the forests, everything is praising God. Why? It all goes back to this idea of redemption, of the sins being forgiven, of God buying his people back, of him bringing them to himself. We see that this was what was going on all along, right? This language here, Thus says the Lord, your redeemer who formed you from the womb, not only does that apply to you and I, that God forms us in the womb, and he knows us, and he knows that he is going to call us to himself from that point, but it also is imagery for the birthing of his people as a whole, that he knew who they were. He made them. He formed them from the beginning.
Before they were a people, he knew they would be a people. Then we have this connection here with the creation of all things. We've seen this throughout the Book of Isaiah, haven't we? This idea of God being sovereign, not only of Israel, but of all of creation. We're going to see some more of that further down here a little bit as well about the power of God over creation. But he says, I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself. He is the one who is doing all this. If he can do that, then he can bring us to himself. He can redeem us. He can save us. He can forgive our sins. He can do all of these things because he has this power. He is more than the gods of their neighbors. He is the one true God, the God who is over all things, the God who has made all things. We get some ideas here of what is happening, that the people are coming back, that Jerusalem is going to be restored, that the temple will be rebuilt.
God uses this idea of his power over all things by talking about things in creation. We see at the end of verse 26, She shall be inhabited the cities of Judah, they shall be built, and I will raise up the ruins. God's saying that he's going to do this. But who is it that's saying this? It's the one who says to the deep, 'Be dry, and I'll dry up the rivers. ' God has that power. They have seen the miracles in the stories of their people who have come before when God dried up the Jordan River, and he made it so that they could walk across in dry land. There's this imagery of God having power over something that we can't even father. To make a river dry is unfathomable to us, but God has the power to do it. So if God can do that miracle, he also has the power to say to Cyrus, Hey, this pagan king, he is my shepherd, and he's going to do my purposes. God has power over that. Even this pagan king is going to do something. And what is Cyrus going to do? He is going to tell them to rebuild Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple.
God is doing a miracle here. It is an amazing thing. God does this purpose through even a pagan king. How amazing is that? But because we know that he is God over all things, we understand that he is able to do this. And so as we look at this passage, we are reminded of what we're always reminded of, that there's this deep connection between the salvation that God gives us and then our servanthood to him. We understand that he is the only one that can do this. He's the only one with power over this. He's the only one who can buy us back because, well, he's the one we've offended in our sin. So may we remember this power that God has, and may we remember that he has taken this power that he has, and he has used it to redeem us, to buy us back, to make us his servants. In Christ, we have that freedom, and we are a part of that people that God has known and has formed from the womb. We are the people of God. So may we be his faithful servants today and every day, and may we spread this good news that others might hear and believe.
