In our previous study, we saw that Cyrus was singled out by name two centuries before he was born. The Lord had decided to use this future king of Persia to deliver the Jews out of the Babylonian Captivity and send them back to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple and the city.
As we read through the next five or six verses, we'll get the idea that Isaiah's prophecy about Cyrus being the deliverer won't sit well with the Jews. You see, even when they didn't know who Cyrus would be specifically, they did know that Isaiah was claiming that God was going to raise up and empower as His shepherd a man who did not know God (Isa. 45:4).
So God basically says that He can produce what He wants from where He wants. Whether righteousness drips down from heaven or comes up from the earth, God can bring it forth.
So, if people want to argue with God about His plans, Isaiah simply says,
Is. 45:9 "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker..."
Realistically, we should be thankful that God tells us anything at all - because really, we're not entitled to know what He's doing, ever!
Paul made this same point in Romans nine. In that chapter, he was addressing the issue of man questioning God, and said...
Rom. 9:20-22 ...who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
God's allowed to raise up who He wants to, and put down whoever He wants. And we have no right to question the methods of a God who has managed to create the heavens without our help!
"So, as for Cyrus," God would say, "I'm righteous, and I'm calling him to deliver you when it's time. What he does for you guys, I will consider righteous."
And God points out that Cyrus will get no payment for releasing all the Jews. And so, God would reward Cyrus by empowering his son to conquer Egypt, Cush, and the Sabeans.
God hides Himself. It's not that He can't be found, for if...
Deut. 4:29 “...you will seek the LORD your God ... you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
But, God's eternal power and divine nature are invisible (Rom. 1:20). He is the invisible God (Col. 1:15; 1Tim. 1:17). That's why John said,
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Isaiah's book has mentioned several times that idolaters will be ashamed:
Is. 42:17 They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, who trust in idols, who say to molten images, “You are our gods."
Is. 44:9-11 Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame. Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.
Every time that word shame was mentioned, including here in verses 16 and 17, it is the Hebrew word "boosh," which means to be ashamed, or put to shame. But now we see the word "humiliation," which is "kaw-LAWM." This word is slightly different, for it carries with it the idea of being shamed through insult, dishonor, and humiliation.
When the Lord delivers Israel, the nations will look at their impotent and incompetent gods, and be humiliated. They will be especially dishonored when they see Jesus appearing in power and great glory, and they realize that their statues are just inanimate hunks of wood, metal, and stone.
God has established that He is the author of the creation. Since this section of Isaiah began in chapter 40, we've seen Him referred to as being the One...
Is. 40:26 ...who has created these stars,
Is. 40:28 ...the Creator of the ends of the earth...
Is. 42:5 ...Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it
Is. 45:7 The One forming light and creating darkness...
Now, a very interesting statement is made about the creation:
Is. 45:18 ...He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited...
"A waste place" is the word "tohu" in Hebrew, meaning "without form." This is interesting, because in Genesis 1,
Gen. 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void...
"Formless" is also the word "tohu." So, verse one: God created the heavens and the earth. Verse two: the earth was without form. But Isaiah says that God didn't create it to be without form. This gives rise to some speculation. That maybe between Genesis 1:1, when God created the heavens and the earth, and Genesis 1:2, when the earth was without form, some major stuff must have happened. And, since we're not told when the devil fell, maybe his rebellion happened during this "gap." That's why people call this "The Gap Theory." Many people believe that God created the earth, but it was destroyed through Satan's rebellion and became formless. Then, God started over again, re-creating the earth as described, and putting animals and humans on it.
There are some major theological problems with that. But regardless, we have His revelation to us through His Word, telling us everything we need to know. And God hasn't mentioned it.
So, the Gap Theory aside, what point is God making when He says that He did not create the earth to be formless? God is saying that He is the Creator, and in spite of the fact that He's invisible, He hasn't secretly told Israel, "find Me in some place without form, in some dark and uninhabited place." He's spoken righteously, declaring what is right. None of it is hidden or secretive.
God is the Creator of all the earth, and of everyone who lives on it, but the nations as a whole have rejected Him. It is as John wrote,
John 1:10-11 ...the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But there are some who will receive Him... fugitives from the nations, escapees from the "status quo."
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God...
The nations are idolaters, and don't realize the stupidity of idolatry. But God says that He alone can save, He alone is righteous, He alone is God. And so He says,
Is. 45:22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other."
And once again, we are confronted with the deity of Jesus Christ.
Because it is God who is saying, "there is no other, and to Me every knee will bow." But look at what Paul said: He told the Philippians that Jesus existed in the form of God, but didn't regard equality with God something to be held onto. Instead, He came to earth as a man, and died on a cross.
Phil. 2:9-11 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And he said to the Romans as well, that...
Rom. 14:10-12 ...we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
Jesus Christ is God, there can be no doubt. And if we want to be saved, we will turn to Him. If we want to be ashamed, we will be angry with Him. But God will always be glorified.