Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Recently the boys finished cleaning out our neighbor’s barn to stock up with animals in the future. First, of course, the wild gophers had to go, plus a decade of dust and dirt. In the cleaning process they discovered that the four and a half foot high cement base for the barn was sitting on top of the ground with no foundation. Thus, the whole structure of this barn from the twenties is held together by the nuts and bolts of the frame above, instead of a firm foundation underneath. Should the upper wood works rot or burn there will be nothing to keep the cement base in place. How very modern is this barn of the twentieth century; it has no roots and is left to stand on its own!
It is very much like our new age social structures and the humanist standards which guide our leaders and institutions. A few years ago government leaders decided that school administrators should be held accountable to a program called outcome based education. The premise was not necessarily flawed. However, there was no firm foundation for the concept, and those administrators charged with instituting outcome based education were the very ones who had already fabricated their own system which had caused the concern for measurement in the first place.
Should we be surprised? After all, we are coming to the end of a century where mankind has come of age, where the leading humanists have chosen to build their own human systems without any reference to the past, or even the God who founded Western Civilization through the work and witness of His elect. Every year, the social, educational and governmental institutions of our time are propped up by another round of taxes, like an old barn on its last legs with posts and branches braced against the sides to hold it steady against the elements.
Our own barn is very much like that. It is at least a hundred and fifty years old, like the antique axe I jokingly tried to sell a friend. I told him the axe was exceptionally old and that in its time it had had three new heads and five new handles! Well, our barn has been moved once, roofed twice and sided three or four times. But at this point, the frame is beyond repair and I have several braces propped against the foundation just to keep it up for another year or so. Now, why have I spent so much time to discuss these manmade structures and systems?
My purpose is to demonstrate the inherent weaknesses of those things crafted by the hand and mind of man. This is a lesson we need to take to heart as we consider the message of this forty-sixth chapter of Isaiah.. Isaiah begins with the gods of Babylon in verse one and goes on to describe how the graven images are moved from place to place. The scene that unfolds is one in which even these gods can be carried away as so much plunder with the captives when Babylon will one day be destroyed.
By contrast, Isaiah establishes the firm Godly foundation which upholds the elect people from the house of Jacob. Will we listen to this revelation that the God who exists before time and creation upholds the individuals who he has created and called? Providentially the real God of heaven bears the burdens of His people. How unfortunate are all of the pagan peoples who bear the burdens of the gods and goddesses that they have created?
This Creator God of Isaiah upholds us from conception through old age. See the promise of His sustaining in verse four. God declares through His prophet “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” This is the revealed fact that we ought to accept and depend upon. Yet, how often do we, like the pagans around us, sometimes doubt this fact? Israel certainly did and God speaks directly to them in verse five. “To whom will you compare me or count me equal? to whom will you liken me, that we may be compared?”
Pity the poor human who pours out his treasures of gold and silver to craft his own god. These are but mere products of man’s imagination and craftsmanship. What eternal good are they really? God would have us know that the work of our hands cannot save us from trouble. Yet we still desperately try. Very much of our combined efforts in this century have been aimed at making war illegal and economic hardships impossible. And yet, the more our social and economic experts fabricate the idolatrous systems to accomplish those aims, the less likely we will be protected from them. Like the Judeans of Isaiah’s time we need a strong dose of revelation. Look at verse eight where God speaks directly through Isaiah. “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.”
In the next verse God affirms the ability of His prophets to prophesy His truth and warns us that He is indeed in control. “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please”, he affirms. Just as a bird of prey finds its victim, He will call Cyrus from the east to fulfill His divine purpose. The downfall of Babylon and its gods will be accomplished by this man in God’s own time.
In verse twelve any who would resist the God of this power are addressed. Would we listen to Him we will find the blessings of verse thirteen. His salvation is near, we are told and all of those who are indeed true Israel will hear His voice. But wait, there is more; in this last verse we hear the affirmation that the Lord is coming near to Zion. In Isaiah’s time this coming was still some centuries away. But in God’s sense outside of time, it was not far away. And He promised through Isaiah that His salvation would not be delayed. He will grant His salvation and splendor to His elect, the true Israel. Will we listen to this wonderful plan of the God of history? Will we understand that in the final order of things that God was and is and will be?
Can we know that He is not an invention of the human imagination? Can we affirm that this God who exists before and apart from His creation does indeed keep us in mind? Will we believe that these words were written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit long before the events came to be? Will we worship and adore Him who in drawing near has called us to Himself? May the Spirit empower us to do so this day and always. Amen.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
18 September 1994
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.