Isaiah 45:20 - Meaning and Application

What is said here is meant, as before, first, to convict idolaters and show how foolish it is to worship gods that cannot help them, while they neglect the God who can. Let all who have escaped from the nations, not just the Jews, but also people from other nations who were set free from captivity in Babylon by Cyrus, come and hear what is said against idol worship. They were to be cured of this sin just like the Jews, so that Babylon, which had long been the birthplace of idolatry, might now become its grave.

Let the refugees gather and come together. God has something to say to them for their own good, and it is this: idolatry is foolish for two reasons. First, it sets up a false refuge for itself. They set up the wood of their carved image, because that is what it is made of. Even if they cover it with gold, dress it up, and treat it like a god, it is still only wood. They pray to a god that cannot save, because it cannot hear, cannot help, and cannot do anything.

How they dishonor themselves when they give divine honor to something that cannot give them any good in return. How they deceive themselves when they ask relief from something that has no power to give it. Surely those have no real understanding, or are like animals in their thinking, who spend so much effort and pain seeking the favor of a god that has no power at all.

Second, idolatry sets up a rival to God, the only living and true God (Isaiah 45:21). God says, in effect, “Bring them all together again. Let the great case be tried once more, the case between God and Baal. Let them come near and take counsel together about how to defend themselves and their idols.” The test is the same as before, let them point to any time when one of their gods clearly foretold future events, as the God of Israel has done. Then it could be admitted that they had some reason for their claims.

But none of them ever did this. Their prophets were false prophets. Yet the Lord said what would happen long before it came to pass. Therefore, they must admit that there is no other God besides him. No one else is fit to rule. He is a righteous God, and he governs with justice. He will right wrongs for those who are oppressed. No one else is able to save either. He is the righteous God, and he is also the Savior, who can save without help from anyone else, but without whom no one can be saved.

Those who set up any rival to him show no real sense of truth and falsehood, good and evil, or even of their own best interest. Second, this word is for the comfort and encouragement of all God’s faithful worshippers, whoever they are (Isaiah 45:22). People who worship idols pray to gods that cannot save. But the God of Israel says to all the ends of the earth, to his people even if they are scattered to the farthest places and seem lost and forgotten in their exile, “Only look to me by faith and prayer. Look above human help and secondary causes. Turn your eyes away from all false saviors and look to me, and you will be saved.”

This also points forward to the conversion of the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations, living at the ends of the earth, the farthest nations, when the gospel banner is raised. To it the Gentiles will come. When Christ is lifted up from the earth, like the bronze serpent lifted on the pole, he will draw the eyes of all people to himself. All are invited to look to him, as the bitten Israelites looked to the bronze serpent. The eye of faith is strong enough, by God’s grace, to reach the Savior and receive salvation through him even from the ends of the earth, because he is God, and there is no other.

Two things are promised here for the full joy of all who look to the Savior by faith. First, the glory of the God they serve will be greatly advanced, and this is good news for all the Lord’s people. No matter how much they and their names are lowered, God will be lifted up (Isaiah 45:23). This is confirmed by an oath, so that we may have strong comfort: “I have sworn by myself” (and God can swear by no one greater, Hebrews 6:13). The word has gone out from his mouth, and it will not be taken back or return empty. It has gone out in righteousness, because it is the most right and fair thing in the world that the one who made all things should be Lord over all things, and that all beings, since they come from him, should be devoted to him.

He has said it, and he will bring it to pass: “I will be exalted” (Psalm 46:10). He has assured us, first, that he will be obeyed everywhere, and that the kingdoms of the world will become his kingdom. They will honor him, “To me every knee will bow,” and they will bind themselves to him by an oath of loyalty, “To me every tongue will swear.” This is applied to the rule of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 14:10-11). We will all stand before Christ’s judgment seat and give an account to him, for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess to God.” It also seems to point to (Psalm 2:9-10).

If the heart is brought into obedience to Christ and made willing in the day of his power, then the knee will bow to him in humble worship and in willing obedience to his commands, with submission to what he appoints and agreement with his will in both. The tongue will swear to him too, placing a bond on the soul to hold it forever to him, because a sincere person does not shrink from making such commitments.

Second, he has assured us that he will be sought everywhere, and people will come to him from all parts of the world to ask for his favor. “To him shall men come from far away” to plead for his mercy. “To you shall all flesh come with their requests” (Psalm 65:2). And when Christ was lifted up from the earth, he drew all people to himself.

Third, resisting him will accomplish nothing. All who are angry with him, who rage against his bands and cords, the nations that are offended because he has taken his great power and begun to reign, who are angered by the strictness of his laws, the success of his gospel, and the spiritual nature of his kingdom, will be put to shame. Some will be brought to a shame that leads to repentance, and others to a shame that ends in ruin. One way or another, sooner or later, all who are uneasy under Christ’s rule and victories will be shamed for their folly and stubbornness. Praise God for this assurance: whatever happens to us and our interests, the Lord will reign forever.

Second, the well-being of the souls they care about will be fully secured. “Surely one will say,” and another will learn from that person to say the same, so that all the spiritual seed of Israel will say and stand by it, that God has enough for them, and that in Christ there is enough to meet every need. “In the Lord is all righteousness and strength,” as the margin reads. He is righteous and strong himself. He can do anything, yet he will do only what is perfectly just and fair.

He has everything needed to meet the needs of those who seek him and trust him, according to the fairness of his rule and the riches of his grace. We can even say more than, “He has it,” because he has promised to be our God, so in him we have it. For the captive Jews, the Lord was righteousness, meaning grace that both made their sufferings useful to them and prepared them for rescue. He was also strength for their support and for their escape.

In the Lord Jesus, we have righteousness to make us acceptable to God’s good will, and strength to begin and keep doing God’s work in us. He is the source of both, and we must depend on him for both. We must go forward in his strength and speak of his righteousness (Psalm 71:16).

This also means they will find rich joy and satisfaction in him. The Jews would be justified in the Lord before others and openly glory in their God. Their enemies had mocked them, spread false accusations, and acted as if they had a right to crush them because God had abandoned them. But when God brought about their rescue, that would clear them from those harsh charges, and they would glory in it.

All true Christians, those who depend on Christ for strength and righteousness, are justified in him and should glory in that. All believers are the seed of Israel, a sincere praying people. Their great privilege through Jesus Christ is that in him, and for his sake, they are made right with God, since Christ has been made for us righteousness. Everyone who is justified will admit that it is in Christ alone, and no one else, that they are justified, and all who are justified will be glorified.

So the great duty of believers toward Christ is to glory in him and boast in him. He has been made all things to us so that anyone who boasts may boast in the Lord. We should gladly fit ourselves to that purpose.