Isaiah 45:11 - Meaning and Application

God’s people were now in captivity. They had accepted his will in their suffering and waited for his time to rescue them. They are told here that they would not wait in vain.

They are invited to ask about the outcome of their trouble (Isaiah 45:11). The Holy One of Israel, their Creator, does not allow them to argue with him, yet he still invites them to seek his word. They should ask about what is coming, turn to the prophets, and listen to what God has said through them. They should ask the watchmen, “What time is it in the night? How much longer?” What God has revealed about the future belongs to us and our children, so we should not be ignorant of it.

They are also invited to seek God in prayer. “Concerning my sons and the work of my hands,” God says in effect, “bring them to me and leave them with me.” They must submit as children to their Father, and as clay to the potter. They may not give God orders, but they may bring earnest requests, with confidence based on his promise. We must not fight with our Maker by angry complaints, but we may wrestle with him in faithful and fervent prayer.

Some understand the words as a rebuke: “Do you question me about things to come? Do you think I must answer to you? Will you command me about my children and the work of my hands?” No one can teach God wisdom or set rules for him. Those who complain against God are, in effect, claiming authority over him.

They are also encouraged to trust God’s power when they are brought very low and cannot help themselves (Isaiah 45:12). Their help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. That is said here for God’s glory, but also for their comfort. The one who made heaven and earth can use both for the rescue of his church, if he chooses, because he made them and rules them.

He made the earth and created mankind upon it, for the earth was meant to be a home for people (Psalm 115:16). So he has both the right and the wisdom and power to govern human life here. His hands also stretched out the heavens, and he commanded their armies into being at the start. He still directs their movements and influences. It is good news for God’s people that their God is the Creator and ruler of the world.

They are then told more clearly what God will do for them, so they will know what to expect. This also points beyond Cyrus, the Persian ruler, to a greater Redeemer and a greater rescue. Cyrus and the deliverance through him were pictures of Christ and the salvation he would bring.

Liberty will be announced to them (Isaiah 45:13). Cyrus is the man who will proclaim it, and God will give him the power to do so. “I have raised him up in righteousness” means that God has raised him up according to his promise and to defend his people’s just cause. God will guide all his ways and give him success, especially in the conquest of Babylon. Those whom God leads will prosper in the work he appoints for them.

Cyrus must do two things for God. Jerusalem is God’s city, but it lies in ruins, so Cyrus must order it rebuilt and supply what is needed. Israel is God’s people, but they are captive, so Cyrus must let them go freely, without asking for payment or ransom. Christ is appointed to do for poor captive souls what Cyrus would do for the captive Jews, to proclaim freedom to prisoners bound in a worse slavery than Babylon (Isaiah 61:1).

Provision will also be made for them (Isaiah 45:14). They will leave in poverty, unable to pay the cost of the journey and the work of settling again. So God promises that the wealth of Egypt and other nations will come to them. Cyrus, after conquering those lands, used their riches to supply the returning Jews, and he ordered his subjects to give them what they needed (Ezra 1:4). So they did not leave Babylon empty-handed, any more than Israel had left Egypt empty-handed.

Those redeemed by Christ will also be provided for, and more than that, enriched. Those whose hearts God stirs to go to the heavenly Zion can trust him to meet their needs. The world belongs to them as far as it is good for them.

People from other nations will come over to them. Men of stature will come after them in chains. They will bow down and say, “Surely God is in you.” This was partly fulfilled when many people in the land became Jews (Esther 8:17), and when others said, “We will go with you,” because they had heard that God was with them (Zechariah 8:23). The restoration would lead many to see the truth, and some to turn to God.

Perhaps many Chaldeans, after being conquered by Cyrus, saw the Jews return in triumph and came to ask pardon for how they had treated them. They would admit that God was among the Jews and that he alone is God, and then want to join them. But the promise reaches its fullest meaning in the gospel church, when Gentiles become obedient to the faith of Christ in word and deed (Romans 15:18), coming as willing captives who are glad to belong to the church (Psalm 110:3). It is also fulfilled when unbelievers, seeing Christian worship, are convinced that God is truly among them (1 Corinthians 14:24, 1 Corinthians 14:25), and when those who once opposed the church come and worship before her feet, knowing that God has loved her (Revelation 3:9). The kings of the earth and the nations will bring their glory into the gospel Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24).

It is better to be with those, even in chains, who have God with them.

Finally, they are taught to trust God beyond what they can see. The prophet puts these words in their mouths and says them before them: “Truly, you are a God who hides yourself” (Isaiah 45:15). God hid himself when he brought them into trouble, and he hid himself while he was angry (Isaiah 57:17). When his people provoke him, he may withdraw his favor and let them feel his displeasure. Still, they must wait for the Lord who hides his face (Isaiah 8:17). He also hid himself while he was bringing them out of their trouble.

When God acts as Israel’s God and Savior, his way is often hidden, like his path through the sea (Psalm 77:19). The salvation of the church often goes forward in a mysterious way, through the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working on human hearts (Zechariah 4:6), through weak and unlikely means, through small and even accidental events, and often only when things have reached the last possible moment. Yet this is our comfort, even when God seems hidden: we can be sure he is still the God of Israel, the Savior. See (Job 35:14).

They are also taught to triumph over idolaters and all who worship other gods (Isaiah 45:16). Those who make idols, not only by shaping them with their hands but also by treating them as gods and praying to them, will be ashamed and put to shame. They will see their mistake, be forced to admit that the God of Israel is the only true God, and be disappointed in the help they expected from their idols, the false protectors they trusted. They will be brought to ruin when they find that they cannot excuse their sin or escape its punishment (Psalm 97:7). It will not be only a few more timid ones who give way and abandon the false cause. All of them will fail, even if they stand together and support one another. They will all go down together. Bind them in bundles, to be burned.

They are also assured that those who trust in God will never be put to shame for their confidence in him (Isaiah 45:17). Now that God was about to deliver them from Babylon, he told them through his prophet to look to him as the source of their salvation. Israel will be saved in the Lord. Their rescue would not only be worked out by his power, it would also be secured in his grace and promise. So they would be safe in him. His name would be their strong tower, a place where they could run and be protected.

They were also to look beyond this temporary rescue to a spiritual salvation that reaches into the world to come. They were to think about the salvation through the Messiah, the eternal rescue of the soul from endless misery and the gift of endless blessing. They should work to make that sure, because it can be made sure, so sure that they will never be ashamed or put to shame forever and ever. They will not only be rescued from the everlasting shame and contempt that will belong to idolaters (Daniel 12:2), but they will receive everlasting honor and glory. There is a world without end, and our condition there will decide whether all is well or ill with us. Those who are saved with this everlasting salvation will never regret what they did or suffered while hoping for it, because the reward will far exceed their expectations.

The returning captives rightly admitted that shame belonged to them because of their sin (Daniel 9:7, Daniel 9:8). Yet God tells them that they will not be put to shame, but will have lasting assurance. Those who are ashamed as repentant sinners for their own sin will not be ashamed as believers in God’s promise and power.

They are also bound forever to hold fast to God and never leave him, never distrust him. What had been taught again and again is repeated here for the encouragement of his people, so they would keep being faithful to him and keep hoping he would be faithful to them: “I am the Lord, and there is no one else.” That the Lord we serve and trust is God alone is shown by the two great lights, nature and revelation.

First, nature shows it, because he made the world and has the right to demand its honor (Isaiah 45:18). “This is what the Lord says, who created the heavens and formed the earth: I am the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, and there is no one else.” The gods of the nations did not do this, and they did not even claim to. The text mentions the heavens, but it speaks more fully about the earth, because that is the part of creation we can see most closely and know best. He formed it, so it is not a rough and formless mass, but a work shaped by infinite wisdom. He fixed it, for after making it he established it, founded it on the seas (Psalm 24:2), and hung it on nothing (Job 26:7), just as he had first made it from nothing, yet made it firm and steady. He also fitted it for use, and for the service of human beings, for whom he intended it. He did not create it in vain, just to show his power, but shaped it to be inhabited by the children of men. For that purpose he drew the waters off it, since it was first covered with them, and made the dry land appear (Psalm 104:6, Psalm 104:7). This honors God’s wisdom, because he made nothing useless, but planned every thing for a purpose and fitted it to serve that purpose. If any person has been made in vain, that is his own fault. It also honors God’s goodness toward mankind, because he counted as not made in vain whatever serves our use and good, giving us a place to live and what we need to live.

Second, revelation shows it. Just as God’s works prove that he alone is God, so does his word, and the way he has made himself and his will known through it. His messages are far better than those of the pagan gods, just as his works are better (Isaiah 45:19). This is shown in three ways. Everything God has said is clear, satisfying, and right.

In the way it was given, it is clear and open: “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.” The pagan gods gave their oracles from caves and holes, in low and hollow voices, and in unclear sayings. Those who claimed to have familiar spirits whispered and muttered (Isaiah 8:19). But God gave his law from Mount Sinai before all the thousands of Israel, in distinct, audible, and understandable words. Wisdom calls out in the busiest places (Proverbs 1:20, Proverbs 1:21; Proverbs 8:1-3). The vision is written plainly, so that the one who runs may read it. If it seems unclear to anyone, they must blame themselves. Christ used this same point in his own defense: “In secret I have said nothing” (John 18:20).

In the use and benefit of it, God’s word is fully satisfying: “I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain.” The false gods did that to their worshipers, who sought the living among the dead (Isaiah 8:19). This includes every gracious answer God gave to those who came to him, for his word is a faithful guide to them, and to those who prayed to him. The seed of Jacob are a praying people, the generation that seeks him (Psalm 24:6). And just as he invited them in his word to seek him, so he never turned away their believing prayers or disappointed their believing hopes.

He never said to any of them, “Seek me in vain.” If he did not see fit to give them the exact thing they asked for, he still gave them enough grace, comfort, and peace in their souls to make up for it.

What we often say about winter is true of prayer: it never rots in the sky. God does not only give a kind answer to those who seek him earnestly, he also rewards them generously. In this matter, his way is completely just, and there is no wrong in it. “I, the Lord, speak what is right; I make known what is true and good,” words that fit with the eternal rules and reasons behind good and evil.

The false gods of the nations told their worshipers to do things that shamed human nature and destroyed virtue. But God speaks righteousness. He gives commands that are right in themselves and that lead people to become righteous. For that reason, he is God, and there is no other.