Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we come to Yahweh’s closing argument in a case He brought on His own behalf.

He has summoned the nations to come before Him, and so that His people would know they are His, He is making His case that the idols of the nations are nothing, He is everything, and He will redeem His people for His own sake so that everyone will know that He is the only God in whom are salvation and righteousness.

And He will make His closing argument into an invitation:

Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)

“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

This is helpful in our pluralistic age.

There are many worldviews and belief systems available to us.

And they can’t all be right.

As Christians, we believe that there is only one God, and He is the God revealed to us in the Bible, in passages like the one we’re in today.

And we believe that at the end of everything, everyone will come face to face with God and have to reckon with Him.

And we believe this life is our opportunity to prepare for that reckoning.

Be reconciled to God or be ashamed forever.

But I hope we can also see in our passage today that this truth is both proclaimed in all its stark reality, but also presented to all people as an invitation to compare the God revealed in the Bible to the alternatives.

We should never be afraid of questioning and examining evidence and comparing our beliefs to those other worldviews.

In fact, God invites it.

Opens with

Isaiah 44:7 (ESV)

Who is like me?

Let him proclaim it.

Let him declare and set it before me,

since I appointed an ancient people.

Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.

Last section opens with

Isaiah 46:5 (ESV)

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?

Somewhere in the middle we see God’s missional purpose, the climax of His case.

Isaiah 45:5–6 (ESV)

I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

God wants us to know Him and make Him known.

In fact, He will even use people that do not know Him to make Himself known.

As we begin to compare God to other worldviews, we should consider Him fairly, consider who God is as He reveals Himself.

There are many people who have rejected the God of the Bible because they have some view of Him that isn’t true.

And they reject this god that isn’t really God anyway.

So, consider God as He reveals Himself.

There is so much to consider.

Look at attributes and actions God reveals just in this one section of scripture:

Isaiah 44:6 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

“I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.

Isaiah 44:8 (ESV)

Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Isaiah 44:24-28: The Potter who forms His people, Yahweh the Ever-Living One, Creator and Cosmic Master Architect, All-Wise, Sovereign

Isaiah 45:7 (ESV)

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being (shalom) and create calamity (rah);

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

The word shalom is hard to translate with one English word.

It is peace and well-being and prosperity and completeness.

The word ra is almost always translated “evil” (etz ha da'at tov v'rah, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

That one could verse alone could take all kinds of unpacking.

Suffice to say everything we experience in life comes from God, one way or another.

But we get to the marrow of the case in 45:14-25.

We have three statements from Yawheh.

The first two are “thus says the LORD” truths.

The third is the invitation.

What we will see is that we will all reckon with the reality of God.

Some of us will get angry about that to our eternal shame, but the alternative is to receive His invitation to turn to Him for your justification and words of eternal life.

You can have joy, freedom, and glory

Truth #1 - Our Salvation is God’s Demonstration to the World of His Reality

In chapter 45, God gives a message to Cyrus, King of Persia, 100 years before He is born, that He will use him as a shepherd to regather the people of Israel to the promised land and rebuild Jerusalem as their dwelling place.

Then, beginning in 45:14, our first “Thus says the LORD,”

Isaiah 45:14 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours;

they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.’

”

(1 Cor 14:24-25; Zech 8:23)

God is invisible, or as Isaiah says in verse 15, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.”

But when God acts to save His people, it is an everlasting salvation (v.

17), and is a visible sign that God is real.

God promises Israel that other peoples will see His reality at work in them and want to follow them and even serve them as long as they can experience what they are experiencing.

How does our salvation as Christians demonstrate the reality of God?

We haven’t been gathered from exile to one promised land or one city.

But we have been gathered from the exile of selfishness, hatred, fear, bitterness, hopelessness, and self-centered living.

And that salvation is visible to others.

How is your life as a redeemed person of God demonstrating the reality of God to others?

When you compare the life transformation that God brings to the Christian, it shames the transformation of any other religion.

Other religions may reform the behavior of their followers.

They may even bring them greater peace and happiness through their practices.

But only Jesus Christ saves us from sin, death, and self in a way that changes us down to the level of affections and desire.

Truth #2 - God Always Tells the Truth

45:18-21 - Yahweh reminds us that He created the world and filled it by His word.

As He says in verse 18,

Isaiah 45:18 (ESV)

For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it (he established it;

he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

He gives substance to all things.

How? verse 19,

Isaiah 45:19 (ESV)