Calls You By Your Name – Isaiah 45-48

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #219 and today we’ll read Isaiah 45-48 together.   I am the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Isaiah Chapter 45

The Lord says this to Cyrus, his anointed,

whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him

and disarm kings,

to open doors before him,

and even city gates will not be shut:

“I will go before you

and level the uneven places;

I will shatter the bronze doors

and cut the iron bars in two.

I will give you the treasures of darkness

and riches from secret places,

so that you may know that I am the Lord.

I am the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

I call you by your name,

for the sake of my servant Jacob

and Israel my chosen one.

I give a name to you,

though you do not know me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other;

there is no God but me.

I will strengthen you,

though you do not know me,

so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting

that there is no one but me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness,

I make success and create disaster;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

He Created All Things

“Heavens, sprinkle from above,

and let the skies shower righteousness.

Let the earth open up

so that salvation will sprout

and righteousness will spring up with it.

I, the Lord, have created it.

“Woe to the one who argues with his Maker —

one clay pot among many.

Does clay say to the one forming it,

‘What are you making? ’

Or does your work say,

‘He has no hands’?

Woe to the one who says to his father,

‘What are you fathering?’

or to his mother,

‘What are you giving birth to? ’”

This is what the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says:

“Ask me what is to happen to my sons,

and instruct me about the work of my hands.

I made the earth,

and created humans on it.

It was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded everything in them.

I have stirred him up in righteousness,

and will level all roads for him.

He will rebuild my city,

and set my exiles free,

not for a price or a bribe,”

says the Lord of Armies.

God Alone Is the Savior

This is what the Lord says:

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush

and the Sabeans, men of stature,

will come over to you

and will be yours;

they will follow you,

they will come over in chains

and bow down to you.

They will confess to you,

‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other;

there is no other God.’”

Yes, you are a God who hides,

God of Israel, Savior.

All of them are put to shame, even humiliated;

the makers of idols go in humiliation together.

Israel will be saved by the Lord

with an everlasting salvation;

you will not be put to shame or humiliated

for all eternity.

For this is what the Lord says —

the Creator of the heavens,

the God who formed the earth and made it,

the one who established it

(he did not create it to be a wasteland,

but formed it to be inhabited) —

he says, “I am the Lord,

and there is no other.

Come, Gather Together

I have not spoken in secret,

somewhere in a land of darkness.

I did not say to the descendants of Jacob:

Seek me in a wasteland.

I am the Lord, who speaks righteously,

who declares what is right.

“Come, gather together,

and approach, you fugitives of the nations.

Those who carry their wooden idols

and pray to a god who cannot save

have no knowledge.

Speak up and present your case —

yes, let them consult each other.

Who predicted this long ago?

Who announced it from ancient times?

Was it not I, the Lord?

There is no other God but me,

a righteous God and Savior;

there is no one except me.

Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth.

For I am God,

and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn;

truth has gone from my mouth,

a word that will not be revoked:

Every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will swear allegiance.

It will be said about me, ‘Righteousness and strength

are found only in the Lord.’”

All who are enraged against him

will come to him and be put to shame.

All the descendants of Israel

will be justified and boast in the Lord.

Isaiah Chapter 46

There Is No One Like God

Bel crouches; Nebo cowers.

Idols depicting them are consigned to beasts and cattle.

The images you carry are loaded,

as a burden for the weary animal.

The gods cower; they crouch together;

they are not able to rescue the burden,

but they themselves go into captivity.

“Listen to me, house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been sustained from the womb,

carried along since birth.

I will be the same until your old age,

and I will bear you up when you turn gray.

I have made you, and I will carry you;

I will bear and rescue you.

“To whom will you compare me or make me equal?

Who will you measure me with,

so that we should be like each other?

Those who pour out their bags of gold

and weigh out silver on scales —

they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god.

Then they kneel and bow down to it.

They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;

they set it in its place, and there it stands;

it does not budge from its place.

They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;

it saves no one from his trouble.

“Remember this and be brave;

take it to heart, you transgressors!

Remember what happened long ago,

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and no one is like me.

Not Far Away

I declare the end from the beginning,

and from long ago what is not yet done,

saying: my plan will take place,

and I will do all my will.

I call a bird of prey from the east,

a man for my purpose from a far country.

Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about.

I have planned it; I will also do it.

Listen to me, you hardhearted,

far removed from justice:

I am bringing my justice near;

it is not far away,

and my salvation will not delay.

I will put salvation in Zion,

my splendor in Israel.

Isaiah Chapter 47

The Fall of Babylon

“Go down and sit in the dust,

Virgin Daughter Babylon.

Sit on the ground without a throne,

Daughter Chaldea!

For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.

Take millstones and grind flour;

remove your veil,

strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,

wade through the streams.

Your nakedness will be uncovered,

and your disgrace will be exposed.

I will take vengeance;

I will spare no one.”

The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer;

The Lord of Armies is his name.

“Daughter Chaldea,

sit in silence and go into darkness.

For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.

I was angry with my people;

I profaned my possession,

and I handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy;

you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.

You said, ‘I will be the queen forever.’

You did not take these things to heart

or think about their outcome.

There is No One Else

“So now hear this, lover of luxury,

who sits securely,

who says to herself,

‘I am, and there is no one else.

I will never be a widow

or know the loss of children.’

These two things will happen to you

suddenly, in one day:

loss of children and widowhood.

They will happen to you in their entirety,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the potency of your spells.

You were secure in your wickedness;

you said, ‘No one sees me.’

Your wisdom and knowledge

led you astray.

You said to yourself,

‘I am, and there is no one else.’

But disaster will happen to you;

you will not know how to avert it.

And it will fall on you,

but you will be unable to ward it off.

Devastation will happen to you suddenly

and unexpectedly.

So take your stand with your spells

and your many sorceries,

which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.

Perhaps you will be able to succeed;

perhaps you will inspire terror!

You are worn out with your many consultations.

So let the astrologers stand and save you —

those who observe the stars,

those who predict monthly

what will happen to you.

Look, they are like stubble;

fire burns them.

They cannot rescue themselves

from the power of the flame.

This is not a coal for warming themselves,

or a fire to sit beside!

This is what they are to you —

those who have wearied you

and have traded with you from your youth —

each wanders on his own way;

no one can save you.

Isaiah Chapter 48

Israel Must Leave Babylon

“Listen to this, house of Jacob —

those who are called by the name Israel

and have descended from Judah,

who swear by the name of the Lord

and declare the God of Israel,

but not in truth or righteousness.

For they are named after the holy city,

and lean on the God of Israel;

his name is the Lord of Armies.

I declared the past events long ago;

they came out of my mouth; I proclaimed them.

Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.

Because I know that you are stubborn,

and your neck is iron

and your forehead bronze,

therefore I declared to you long ago.

I announced it to you before it occurred,

so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;

my carved image and cast idol control them.’

You have heard it. Observe it all.

Will you not acknowledge it?

From now on I will announce new things to you,

hidden things that you have not known.

They have been created now, and not long ago;

you have not heard of them before today,

so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’

You have never heard; you have never known;

for a long time your ears have not been open.

For I knew that you were very treacherous,

and were known as a rebel from birth.

I will delay my anger for the sake of my name,

and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise,

so that you will not be destroyed.

Furnace of Affliction

Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own,

for how can I be defiled?

I will not give my glory to another.

“Listen to me, Jacob,

and Israel, the one called by me:

I am he; I am the first,

I am also the last.

My own hand founded the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I summoned them,

they stood up together.

All of you, assemble and listen!

Who among the idols has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

he will accomplish his will against Babylon,

and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.

I — I have spoken;

yes, I have called him;

I have brought him,

and he will succeed in his mission.

Approach me and listen to this.

From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;

from the time anything existed, I was there.”

And now the Lord God

has sent me and his Spirit.

Countless as the Sand

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you for your benefit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to my commands.

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,

and the offspring of your body like its grains;

their name would not be cut off

or eliminated from my presence.

Leave Babylon,

flee from the Chaldeans!

Declare with a shout of joy,

proclaim this,

let it go out to the end of the earth;

announce,

“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

They did not thirst

when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow from the rock for them;

he split the rock, and water gushed out.

“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Close

Okay, chapter 45 breaks right out of the gate with God’s word to Isaiah.  Just in the first two verses, there’s so much!  Isaiah had to be such an obedient guy.  Did he even know at that time who Cyrus was?  And if so, might he have asked the Lord…”Wait…you’re siding with – not siding with…anointing! – a Gentile to bring Israel back from an exile that hadn’t even happened yet?  The visions this man must have been given.  Mind-boggling how he kept it all organized without Microsoft Office.  

And is it weird that I get such a charge out of God’s clear and succinct declaration, “I am God…there is no other.”?  I know there are places in the Bible actually say ‘fear of the Lord’, but these chapters put legs to it.  The more He lists His spectacular credentials, the smaller I feel.  How about you?

Then chapters 47 & 48 circle back around to the work that Cyrus was anointed to do.  To put an end to the reign of terror in Babylon and by the Chaldean kings.  I know I said this back in 2 Chronicles when we touched on this for the first time, but I can’t wait to get to the book of Daniel.  The chronology of this time period from the exile to the return to Jerusalem will be so much clearer.  

How are you doing in Isaiah?  Enlightened?  Confused?  Drowning?  Be bold and share at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  And don’t worry…this isn’t a one-off.  You’ll understand more the second time you read it.  And the third.  And the fourth.  And the fifth…

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.