44. Isaiah Chapter Forty-Four

Isaiah Chapter 44 The unbounded grace of God is marvelously demonstrated in the opening part of this chapter. Reproof and remonstrance in chapter 43 are immediately followed by assurance and promise, based upon His predetermined counsel and creative acts regarding the nation. In wrath He remembers mercy. The Lord recalled His gracious utterances at the beginning of chapter 43, with the added fact that Israel is His “chosen.” In the two passages He uses the same three words as in the record of His creation of man, “created” (Genesis 1:27), “made” (“make,” Genesis 1:16), “formed” (Genesis 2:7), but now with reference to the birth of the nation. All this makes His purpose and His pledge to Jacob unalterable, despite the gross apostasy of His people. He even calls them “Jeshurun” (a Hebrew word meaning “upright”; the Sept. translates it “beloved”), an appellation previously assigned through Moses (Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 33:5, Deuteronomy 33:26), and anticipative of Israel’s future condition of righteousness (Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:3).

Divine delight breathes through the promises that follow: the thirsty are to be satisfied, the seed of Jacob to be blessed by the outpouring of the Spirit, with resulting national and spiritual fertility (Isaiah 44:3-4). The time is near. Grace will triumph. This was written for our present comfort too. Let us walk as God’s Jeshurun and “be filled with the Spirit.”

Isaiah 44:5 is a prediction of the effects upon Gentiles of Israel’s restoration. The threefold statement is to be read in the light of Psalms 87:4-5, where Rahab (i.e., Egypt), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia are mentioned as coming in for the privilege of knowing God, and one and another are to be noted as having been born in Zion.

Among the Gentiles in Millennial blessing one will declare himself as belonging to Jehovah; another will “call himself by” (or rather, “will solemnly name”) the name of Jacob, i.e., will make it the object of a solemn exclamation; another will declare in handwriting (not, as in the margin, “write on his hand”) “unto Jehovah,” witnessing that he belongs to Jehovah alone; he will add the name of Israel as a name of high honor, a twofold joyous attestation. As Romans 11:12 says, “the fullness of Israel” will be still more “the riches of the Gentiles,” than even is the case with the present effects of the gospel.

There is a striking parallel between this verse in Isaiah and the results of the gospel we preach. Just as in the coming day a Gentile will own that he belongs to Jehovah, so the convert today learns to acknowledge that he is the Lord’s possession (1 Corinthians 3:23; Galatians 3:29); so also does he name “the Name of the Lord” (2 Timothy 2:19, r.v.: cp. 1 Peter 4:16, r.v.). In Isaiah 44:6 the Lord renews for the third time His pledge of redemption, by His title of Redeemer (see Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:14), and introduces another remonstrance against the evil and folly of idolatry by a series of further declarations concerning Himself: He says “I am the first, and I am the last.” This title, claimed by God three times in Isaiah, here, in Isaiah 41:4 and Isaiah 48:12, and by Christ three times, in Revelation 1:17; Revelation 2:8; Revelation 22:13, indicates Their oneness in the Godhead, Their eternal preexistence and Their absolute supremacy. It predicates that all creatures animate and inanimate owe their existence to Them, and that the beginning, course and issue of all circumstances are under Their supreme control. Israel may therefore rest assured that all the divine promises and pledges will be fulfilled by Him who is their “King,” their “Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts.”

He who has redeemed us by His blood is “the First and the Last” in all our circumstances and experiences. He who gave us being, who was the Beginner of our new life in Christ, will be with us as the Fulfiller of His purposes in and through us now and forever. In the commencement, the course and the completion of any circumstance in our life, as, for instance, in the case of our special service for Him, He is “the First and the Last.” He was the Beginner of our service, as the One who called us to it, and, when it is finished, the completion will be His by His Holy Spirit. Has He not said “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”? Well may we rely upon His grace and power and love. In Isaiah 44:7-8 the Lord repeats to a large extent what He said in Isaiah 41:22-23 and Isaiah 43:9-10. Here again He issues His challenge as to who can proclaim (that is the meaning of the word “call,” see the r.v. margin) and declare things as He does, setting them all in order. This He Himself has done since He appointed “the ancient people.” He has raised up prophets among them, making known “the things that are coming.” Note the two predictive phrases, (1) “the things that are coming,” that is, future things, (2) things “that shall come to pass,” that is, things that are approaching, which are more immediately at hand. What other nation could produce prophets like that? What other nation had been so dealt with by God? Let the gods and the prophets of Gentile peoples declare such things. The prophecies uttered by Jehovah reach back to the beginning of human history. In the two preceding passages the challenge was as to the possibility of declaring or unfolding former things (what scorn this pours upon the philosophies of skeptics and propagandists of mere scientific theories!). Here stress is upon matters of the future, not upon former things.

Seeing that none of the heathen gods could answer such challenges, well might Israel be freed from fear and be confident that God, beside whom there is no other (Isaiah 44:6), would, and will, certainly accomplish what He has foretold; and since this is made good in the history of His people, they, in contrast to the prognosticators of the nations, are His witnesses. The utmost ferocity and antagonism of Satan and his hosts, and of all human foes, can never prevent Israel from being His witnesses, witnesses to His own Being and the unthwartable character of His counsels. “Is there a God beside Me?” He says, “yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.” The r.v. rightly has “Rock” (see the a.v. margin), and this is appropriate to the comforting exhortation, “Fear ye not, neither be afraid,” appropriate also to the declaration of His own character. The Rock is representative of immovability, strength and protection. Let us whom He has raised up to be His witnesses take comfort in this. Things around us are in a state of upheaval and uncertainty. The earth (i.e., its inhabitants) is changing, and the mountains of many governments are falling into the seas of revolution and disturbance. Let us, therefore, renew our confidence in our God and take courage to bear witness boldly and steadfastly for Him.

Isaiah 44:9-20 contain the most striking of all the divine remonstrances against the makers of idols. In contrast to Israel as God’s witnesses, the idols are “their own witnesses” (Isaiah 44:9, r.v.). From that point onward withering scorn is poured upon the blindness and grotesque folly of the framers thereof. All this was a remonstrance against Israel, who had turned from their own Maker to fall into the degradation of the heathen about them. In Isaiah 44:21 the Lord calls upon His people to bear these things in mind, basing His admonition upon the facts that they owed their very existence as a nation to His supernatural operation, and that as His people they were His “servant”—a direct contrast to the idolatrous slaves to the stock of a tree. And now the yearning heart of the Lord breaks forth in accents of infinite grace. His people would not be forgotten of Him. He had blotted out as a thick cloud their transgressions and as a cloud their sins. Let them return to Him, in view of the fact that He had redeemed them (Isaiah 44:22).

There is a striking element of gospel grace in this, grace that manifests itself even before conversion. But what is set immediately before us is God’s gracious desire toward us as His servants, in order that fellowship with Him may be constantly maintained, for the joy of His own heart, and for the efficiency of our witness for Him and of the service we render. In the assurance of Isaiah 44:22, the word rendered “I have blotted out” is used of blotting out (a) a name, whether from a book or otherwise, Exodus 32:32-33; Deuteronomy 9:14; Deuteronomy 29:20; 2 Kings 14:27; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 109:13; (b) curses, with the water of bitterness, Numbers 5:23; (c) the remembrance of a people, Deuteronomy 25:19; (d) sin or sins, Nehemiah 4:5; Psalms 51:1, Psalms 51:9; Psalms 109:14; Jeremiah 18:23; Isaiah 43:25, and here. As to (d), whatever the particular metaphor may be, whether of a stain or a debt from a ledger, or, as in this verse, accompanied by the simile of the removal of a dense mist (“a thick cloud”) or any such element (“a cloud”), transgression and sin are vividly depicted as separating man from God and preventing that holy and blessed intercourse which delights His heart and that of His redeemed. Only the cleansing of His wind (Job 37:21) and the sunshine of His grace can dispel the cloud. All removal of guilt has been made possible actually and only by the blood of Christ, whose sacrifice underlies the descriptive language of the assurance here given.

Here the subject is that of restoration, the renewal of communion: “return unto Me.” Here the reason assigned is that of His redeeming mercy; in Isaiah 43:25 the reason for the blotting out was “for Mine own sake,” the vindication of His attributes and character.

Isaiah 44:21-22 contain most cheering assurances of past redemption, a promise of remembrance in the future, and an invitation to return to fellowship with God in the present. And now, in view of the glorious and assured issues of all this, the whole creation is called upon to exult and “break forth into singing” (Isaiah 44:23). “The creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21, r.v.); i.e., liberty will be characteristic of the glory, and creation will have full scope for the exercise of the powers imparted to it by God.

Here the essence of the glory to be enjoyed by the nations lies in this, that Jehovah “will glorify Himself” in Israel (r.v.). For Israel’s Redeemer, who formed His earthly people from their earliest existence, is He “that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth (or “extendeth,” the same word as in Isaiah 40:22, where the figure is that of stretching a curtain) the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad [the same word as in Psalms 136:6, “spread forth,” r.v., and Isaiah 42:5] the earth by Himself (Isaiah 44:24).

Isaiah 44:25 refers to the Chaldean soothsayers (cp. Isaiah 47:9). It reminds us, too, of 1 Corinthians 1:20. Isaiah 44:26 is strikingly paralleled in 1 Corinthians 1:21-22. God turns worldly wisdom into foolishness, and “confirmeth the word of His servant and performeth the counsel of His messengers.”

Let us, to whom is committed the message of the gospel, take fresh courage in this. Amidst religious superstition and varied antagonism, we know that “His word will not return unto Him void.” Be it ours to preach “Christ, and Him crucified” faithfully, perseveringly and devotedly. He will confirm the word “with signs following.” As to the primary application of the phrase “His servant” (Isaiah 44:26), that Israel is in view seems clear from Isaiah 44:21, but now as represented (according to the confirmatory statement which follows) by “His messengers.” That is to say, Israel here stands for the faithful prophets, the Lord’s spokesmen in the nation. His promises given through them would be fulfilled, of the restoration from captivity, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, under the decree of Cyrus, and of the drying up of “the deep” and “the rivers” of Babylon (literally accomplished by Cyrus, in respect of the Euphrates, and figuratively portending the destruction of the power of Babylon), Isaiah 44:27.

Rightly we who are messengers of the Gospel may apply to ourselves and our ministry the truth of the words “that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers.” So it was with the first heralds of the Gospel, “the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed” (Mark 16:20). Our work is essentially the Lord’s; it is ours only in a secondary sense. The word spoken is to be derived from Him. His servant is His mouthpiece. The counsel we take is imparted by Him if our fellowship is really with Him and with His Son Jesus Christ. “It is God which worketh in you both to will (according to His “counsel”) and to work (according to His “word”) for His good pleasure” (Php 2:13, r.v.).