Isaiah 41
McGeeCHAPTER 41THEME: God overrules individuals; God invites Israel to trust Him; God overturns idolsThis chapter continues the thought of chapter 40 in setting forth the greatness of God. The emphasis here is not upon God as Creator so much as upon His dealings with man. The greatness of God is revealed in both creation and human history. There are also some things in this chapter that are rather enigmatic. It seems that there is a bare profile of prophecy in the background, but the theme is that God will protect and lead His children through the world which is fraught with pitfalls and dangers. Therefore, comfort is here for the child of God.
Isaiah 41:1
GOD OVERRULES INDIVIDUALSThe whole world of individuals is moving toward judgment. The showdown is coming between light and darkness, between God and mammon, between faith and unbelief. God is now calling upon individuals to turn to Him and accept the salvation He has to offer. God is propitious. He is not demanding anything of you. He is simply asking you to accept the grace and salvation that He has to offer.
Isaiah 41:2
“Righteous man from the east” is a strong expression. There are those who feel that this is a veiled suggestion of Cyrus. Cyrus will be mentioned by name shortly, but this is not the place. I believe that the word actually refers to a qualityrighteousnessrather than to a person. It could be a reference to the rule of righteousness which Christ will establish at His return to earth. We find this thought developed in this section.
Isaiah 41:6
Since God is coming to right the wrongs and relieve injustices, individuals who are right with God can be of good courage. There is hope for the little man who trusts God. He doesn’t have to worry about the future.
Isaiah 41:7
GOD INVITES ISRAEL TO TRUST HIMHere again we have a reference to idolatry. In an emergency some folk hammered themselves out a god, that is, a temporary idol. But now God says:
Isaiah 41:8
God now turns to Israel to comfort them in their distress. God says, “Instead of hammering out an idol, why not turn to Me?” After all, He knows they are sinners. He still calls them Jacob, and Jacob was the crooked one. It is God who made him Israel, a prince with God. And God wants to do that for the sons of Jacob. Abraham is called the “friend” of God, and God wants to bring these people into a right relationship with Himself.
Isaiah 41:10
This verse has been a real pillar of strength and a source of comfort to God’s children of every age. As he moves on, he says that if they oppose God it will be the very height of folly because they are moving toward the day when all these adjustments will have to be made. Now note this remarkable verse:
Isaiah 41:13
Here is God’s gracious overture to trust Himwhat comfort! God wants to take us into His confidence. He wants to enable us to walk with Him, have fellowship with Him, and know Him. My, what mankind is missing today! Some people can even get so involved in church work that they miss all this.
Isaiah 41:14
You may think you are something, but you are a “worm"a nobody. It is only God who can make any of us important. Only God can make man a somebody. Little man frets and struts across the stage of life, as Shakespeare put it. He huffs and puffs like the old wolf around the little pigs’ houses. Where is man going, and exactly what is he getting out of what he is doing? Some people see the futility of it all and take their own lives. Where else can they turn? The only place man can turn is to God. Oh, what man is missing! God’s fellowship, His salvation, His goodness, His graceall of these are yours if you but turn to Him. Then He talks to them about the material blessings of the Millenniumthey will be there. And God would like to talk to you and me about the spiritual blessings which are available to us now and those we will have in eternity.
Isaiah 41:21
GOD OVERTURNS IDOLSThis is a challenge to idolatry. Now who is an idolater? Have you ever considered the possibility that you may be? Anything you put between your soul and God is your idolregardless of what it is. It is anything to which you are giving your time and your energy; it could actually be your religion. Anything that you allow to take the place of a personal relationship with God is your idol. What can idols do? Can they explain the origin of the universe? Are you satisfied today with the explanations that evolution has given? Of course there have been several explanations, but God says, “Bring them all out.”
Isaiah 41:22
Man doesn’t know his beginning or the origin of the universe. He simply doesn’t knowI don’t care what theory he is following. I predict that the evolutionist will be embarrassed in the next fifty years or so because evolution will be just one of the many theories which will be left along the highway of time with the other wreckage. There have been many explanations of the origin of the universe which were called scientific at one time but are exploded today. Evolution will be exploded in time. Then man will turn to another theory. Man doesn’t know his origin, and he doesn’t know the future. Man is a very ignorant creature. Have you ever stopped to think how little you know? There are many Ph.D.’s who don’t know very much either. I heard of a man working on his Ph.D. who was studying the eye of the mosquito. Now there is an unusual subject! One day as he was doing his research, it suddenly occurred to him that he did not want to spend the rest of his life looking a mosquito in the eye. And I can understand thatI wouldn’t mind taking one or two looks, but after that I think it would become monotonous! This man came to the conclusion that he should do something else. He found the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, was granted his degree, and he decided to dedicate his life to something worthwhile. Today he is a minister of the gospel. It is quite interesting that man can be very well-educated, even have his doctor’s degree, and still know very little. He knows nothing about his origin or where he is going, and no idol can give him that information. So it is well to turn to the One who does have the answers. This doesn’t mean He will give you all the answers, but it is nice to know Him who knows the answers. I have never learned much about science, but I did learn a motto that was posted in the science building of the college I attended, which read: “Next to knowing is knowing where to find out.” Now there are many things I don’t know, but I know the One who knows everything. If there is something I need to know, God will tell me.
Isaiah 41:24
Man cannot explain his past, and he does not know his future apart from God. That makes all of man’s effort apart from God a very vain thing, an empty thing. During my first pastorate a man came to me and said, “If you can’t give me a good reason for living, I am going to solve all of my problems by taking my life.” What do you do with a man like that? He had an old, rusty .45; it was a big old gun. I said to him, “Now look, if you can show me you can solve your problems by taking your life, I will get you a better gun than the one you have so you can do it right. Candidly, if you are not going to turn to Christif you are not going to bring Him into your lifeyou might as well use your gun.
I see no reason why you shouldn’t.” Well, he was really taken aback. He expected me to give him arguments on reasons for living. That fellow put down his gun and left. Although he didn’t turn to Christ at that time, he did later on. And he found that Christ had the answer to his problems.
Isaiah 41:29
“Confusion” is the end result of idolatry or any philosophy which is anti-God or atheistic. It does not have the answers to the problems of life. These man-made systems cannot satisfy the human heart. The answer is found in the One who brings good tidings of great joy.