Isaiah 45:5 - Meaning and Application

God here declares his own rule and power, and he does it to show the world what he meant to do for Cyrus and through Cyrus. The main truth is this, the Lord alone is God, and no other god exists beside him. If this truth were truly believed, idolatry would disappear. With great majesty, God announces, “I am the Lord, and there is no other. There is no God besides me” (Isaiah 45:5-6).

God said this to Cyrus not only to turn him from his ancestors’ idol worship, but also to keep him from another danger. Some rulers, once they gained victory and power over many nations, began to think of themselves as gods. Cyrus was to remember, even in greatness and wealth, that he was still only a man. There is one God, and no one can take his place.

God is also Lord over everything, and nothing happens apart from him. He says, “I form the light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity” (Isaiah 45:7). By “calamity,” the source means trouble and judgment, not sin, because God is not the author of sin. He orders all things as he sees fit.

This means that human life contains very different experiences. Light and darkness are opposites, yet in God’s providence, they often come mixed together, like dawn and dusk (Zechariah 14:6). Joy and sorrow can share the same cup. Sometimes they even change places quickly, as they did in Job’s life. The same wise God rules over both our comforts and our troubles.

Both come from the same hand. God, who first made natural light (Genesis 1:3), still gives the light of good providence. He who first brought peace into the world can also bring peace into human affairs. And when he sends darkness, meaning trouble and affliction, he does so by his own ordering. He directs both our blessings and our hardships.

God proves this truth by what he did for Cyrus: “I girded you, though you did not know me” (Isaiah 45:5). Cyrus’s own idol did not give him power or success. It was the Lord who strengthened and equipped him, even though Cyrus did not know him. This shows that the God of Israel is the only true God, because he uses even those who do not worship him to carry out his will.

The Lord also published this truth to the world through his word, through his providence, and through the witness of the suffering Jews in Babylon. People from east and west, from sunrise and sunset, could learn that the Lord is God and there is no other. Israel’s amazing rescue was meant to proclaim that no one is like the God of Jeshurun, the name for Israel’s God, who rides across the heavens to help his people.

This truth brings comfort to those who longed for Israel’s rescue and waited for it quietly. “Drop down, you heavens, from above” (Isaiah 45:8) is understood by some as the people’s prayer. The source takes it more as God’s command, since he is said to “command deliverance” (Psalm 44:4). Heaven and earth, and all their powers, are called to serve this great work, just as a king sends orders to all his officers. If people will not help, God can still bring it about without them, just as he sends dew from heaven and grass from the ground without human aid (Micah 5:7).

For Israel’s deliverance, righteousness must come first. They must repent, turn from idols, return to God, and change their lives. Only then will salvation come. We should not expect rescue without righteousness, because God joins them together. Christ saves us from our sins, not while we remain in them, and he becomes our redemption by first becoming our righteousness and holiness.

The means of this deliverance are also from God. When the appointed time comes, the heavens will pour down righteousness, and the earth will open to bring forth salvation. Heaven and earth will join together in God’s work of restoring his people. Righteousness comes from above, because every good gift comes from God. Since the Spirit has been poured out more fully, that heavenly gift now produces the fruit of righteousness and great salvation in open hearts.

This truth also warns those who oppose the church’s rescue, and those who doubt it. “Woe to him who strives with his Maker!” (Isaiah 45:9). God made all things, so he is our Maker, and that alone should teach us to submit to him. Proud oppressors must not fight against God’s purpose for his people, and they must not think they can keep them captive after God’s time for release has come. The insulting Babylonians should beware, like Pharaoh, who defied God and refused to let his people go.

At the same time, the afflicted should not grumble against God because their captivity seems long. They must not act as if he were unfair or cruel, or try to force their release before his time. Anyone who argues with his Maker will end in misery. No one ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. Human beings are quarrelsome by nature, but let potsherds quarrel with other potsherds of the earth.

People are like earthen pots, or even broken pieces of pottery. Much of their misery comes from their clashes with one another. They strike against each other and break each other apart. If people want to argue, let them argue with those on their own level, but let them not dare to fight against the One who is infinitely above them.

That is as foolish as clay complaining to the potter, “What are you making? Why did you shape me like this?” It is even more absurd if the clay acts as if the potter had no hands, or worked so poorly as to have none. Can clay claim to be wiser than the potter and tell him what to do? Can it be stronger than the potter and try to control him? The One who gave us life and shaped our very being has the right to plan and direct us as he sees fit. It is bold and proud for us to tell him what he should do.

Should we accuse God of lacking wisdom, or doubt his power, when we ourselves are so carefully and wonderfully made? Should we say that he has no hands, when his hands made us and we are in his hands? The truth that God is sovereign, meaning he rules over all things, is enough to quiet our complaints against the way he guides both his providence and his grace (Romans 9:20-21).

It is just as unnatural as a child blaming a parent, asking the father, “Why did you father me?” or the mother, “Why did you give birth to me?” Why was I not born an angel, free from human weakness and the troubles of human life? Those who are children of human beings should expect to share the common lot of humanity and to be treated as others are. If God is our Father, then where is the honor we owe him through humble submission to his will?