Isaiah 44:21 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we first see the duty God called Jacob and Israel to while they were still in captivity, so they could be ready for the rescue he planned. Our first concern should be to gain good from our troubles, and then we may hope to be brought out of them. That duty is summed up in two words, remember and return, much like the warning to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5.

“Remember,” O Jacob, remember what you were taught about the foolishness of idols, and keep those convictions close when you are tempted again. Remember that you are my servant, and so you must not serve other masters. “Return to me” (Isaiah 44:22). Those who have drifted from God should hurry back to him. This is what he calls them to do in their suffering, and also when he is coming back to them in mercy.

Next, we see the blessings God promised Jacob and Israel while they were in captivity. What he says here to those who remember and return to him also applies spiritually to all who turn back to God in the same way. It is a very comforting word, because it says more than it states plainly: “O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me” (Isaiah 44:21). When we begin to remember God, he begins to remember us, though in truth he remembers us first.

God’s kind purpose toward his people rests on solid grounds, and that should shape their expectations from him. He will bring them out of captivity because they are his servants, and he has a rightful case against those who hold them. “Let my people go, so that they may serve me.” The servants of the King of kings are under his special care.

He also formed them into a people, forming them from the womb (Isaiah 44:24). From the first beginning of their growth into a nation, they were under his special care and rule more than any other people. Their national life was shaped by him, and his covenant with them was the charter by which they were made into one people. Since they are his, he will save them.

He has redeemed them before, often rescuing them from great distress, and he is still the same God in the same relation to them. “Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22). Where else could they go but to him? Since he has redeemed them, as well as formed them, he has a stronger claim on them, and this gives a good reason why they should return to him faithfully, and why he will graciously return to them. The Lord has redeemed Jacob, and he is about to do it again (Isaiah 44:23). He has planned to do it, for he is the Lord their Redeemer (Isaiah 44:24). The redemption God has worked for us through his Son gives us hope for every promised blessing. He who has paid such a great price to redeem us will not lose what he has bought.

God has also glorified himself in his people, and he will do so still (Isaiah 44:23; John 12:28). It comforts us to know that God’s own honor is tied to the deliverance of the church. He will surely redeem Jacob, because in doing so he will glorify himself. This also assures us that he will complete the redemption of his saints through Jesus Christ, because there is a set day when he will be glorified and admired in them all.

He has pardoned their sins, and those sins were the cause of their misery and the only barrier to their rescue (Isaiah 44:22). That is why he will break the yoke of captivity from their necks, because he has blotted out their sins like a thick cloud. Our sins are like a heavy cloud. They stand between heaven and earth, interrupting fellowship between God and us (Isaiah 59:2). They also threaten a storm of wrath, like dark clouds that bring rain of judgment (Psalm 11:6).

When God forgives sin, he scatters that cloud and clears the sky again. God looks down on the soul with favor, and the soul looks up to him with joy. The cloud is driven away by the light of the Sun of righteousness, that is, Christ. Only through Christ is sin forgiven. When sin is pardoned, it is gone like a cloud that has vanished. “The iniquity of Jacob shall be sought, and not found” (Jeremiah 50:20). The comfort that follows forgiveness is like the bright light that comes after clouds and rain.

The deliverance of God’s people should bring joy to all creation (Isaiah 44:23). “Sing, O heavens.” This means the whole creation has reason to rejoice in the redemption of God’s people. The world continues because of that redemption, since it was rescued from the curse brought on the ground by human sin. It is also being brought back toward the purpose for which it was made, and it will one day be freed from decay, though now it groans under burden.

The heavens are called to sing because the Lord has done it. The angels and the inhabitants of the upper world rejoice when God and human beings are reconciled (Luke 15:7). They also rejoice when Babylon falls (Revelation 18:20). Even those far away, the people of the Gentile world, are included in this joy and praise. The lower parts of the earth, with the forests and the trees, are also pictured as bringing thanksgiving for the redemption of Israel.

We also have strong reason to hope that, however great the obstacles to the church’s deliverance may seem, they will be overcome easily when God’s time comes. Thus says Israel’s Redeemer: “I am the Lord, who made all things.” He made them at the beginning, and he is still making and ordering them now, for providence is a continuing work of creation. All being, power, life, feeling, and excellence come from God.

He stretches out the heavens by himself. He has no helper and needs none. He spreads out the earth by his own power. No human was there when he did it (Job 38:4), and no creature advised or assisted him. Only his own eternal wisdom and Word were with him then, as one brought up with him (Proverbs 8:30). His stretching out the heavens by himself shows the boundless reach of his power. Even the strongest man needs help to stretch something out, but God stretched out the vast sky alone and still holds it up by his own power.

So Israel should not lose heart. Nothing is too hard for the one who made the world (Psalm 124:8). Since he made all things, he can use all things as he pleases and make them serve his purpose.

The overthrow of Babylon would expose its false prophecies and shame its oracles, as Isaiah had already said (Isaiah 44:25). When God brought his people out of Babylon, he would prove the lying prophets wrong, the ones who claimed the Babylonian empire still had many long years ahead of it. They said they had signs and tokens to support their predictions, as if their craft gave them real insight into the future.

That day would also frustrate Babylon’s trusted politicians and advisers. God would turn wise men back, because when their plans fail, they are forced to abandon them. He would make the judges look foolish and prove that their supposed wisdom was empty. People who come to know Christ see that all their former learning was foolish beside the knowledge of him. Those who oppose Christ will also find their plans ruined, like Ahithophel’s, and will be caught in their own cleverness (1 Corinthians 3:19).

This deliverance would also confirm the truth of God’s own word, which many Jews had doubted and their enemies had mocked. God would confirm the word of his servant by bringing it to pass in its time, and he would carry out the message his messengers had long delivered to his people (Isaiah 44:26). The exact fulfillment of Scripture’s prophecies is a strong proof that the whole Bible is true and comes from God.

God also promised specific good things for his people, who were then in captivity, as he spoke in Isaiah 44:26-28. These promises were given long before the exile, so the people could expect discipline, but not final ruin. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would lie in ruins for a while, emptied and burned, but they would be rebuilt and filled with people again. God had said to Jerusalem, “You will be inhabited,” and because God will always have a church in the world, he will also raise up those who can say, “You will be built” (Psalm 69:35-36).

The cities of Judah would also be restored. The Assyrian army under Sennacherib only captured them for a time, and after that army was defeated, the cities returned to their owners unharmed. But the Chaldeans demolished them and carried off the people, leaving the towns to decay. Even so, these ruins would not last forever, because God would raise up the waste places. He does not keep anger forever. A city that belongs to strangers may stay ruined, but the city of God’s own children is only set aside for a time (Isaiah 25:2).

The temple would also be destroyed and lie in ruins for a time, but its foundation would be laid again. For faithful Jews, the loss of the sanctuary was the saddest part of the destruction, so its restoration would be the happiest part of their return. Jerusalem would not truly be complete without the temple, since that was what made it holy and beautiful. That is why the returning Jews cared most about going back to rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel there (Ezra 1:3).

God also knew there would be great obstacles in the way of their release, obstacles they could never overcome by their own strength. Yet he promised to remove them all by his power (Isaiah 44:27). He says to the deep, “Be dry,” just as he did when he brought Israel out of Egypt. He can also move a great mountain out of the way, as he told Zerubbabel, the leader of the returning captives, that the mountain would become a plain before him (Zechariah 4:7). If a deep or a river seems to block the way, God can dry it up. When Cyrus later took Babylon by diverting the Euphrates into many channels, this promise was fulfilled. Whatever stands in the way of Israel’s rescue, God can remove it with a word.

None of the Jews could force their own way out of Babylon by strength or power, but God would raise up a stranger from far away to open the way for them. Here he even names Cyrus, many years before Cyrus was born or known (Isaiah 44:28). God says of him, “He is my shepherd.” Israel is God’s people, like sheep in his pasture, but now they are trapped among enemies. Cyrus would be God’s shepherd for them, sent to set them free and to lead them back to their own pasture. In doing this, Cyrus would carry out all of God’s purpose and do what pleased him.

This shows that even the most unexpected events are fully known to God ahead of time. He knew who would deliver his people and even what that man would be called. When God chooses, he can let his church know such things in advance, so that when a name begins to be heard, they may lift up their heads in hope, knowing their rescue is near. It is a great honor for even the greatest rulers to be used by God as tools of kindness to his people. Cyrus had a greater honor in being God’s shepherd than in being emperor of Persia.

God also uses people however he wills, even strong men who seem completely free to act as they choose. When they think they are serving only themselves, he is still carrying out his own plan through them and making them do all his pleasure.

Rich princes will do what poor prophets have foretold. The great and wealthy of the world will carry out what God had long before spoken through his humble messengers. What seemed weak and unlikely at the time will still prove true in the end.