All right, Isaiah chapter 45,
we're gonna talk about Christ, God's way of justification. This chapter, especially beginning
around verse 21 to the end, has always been so special to me
because I believe this is the first portion of God's word. as I was listening to the gospel
even before I was converted, that I say the Lord really got
my attention. I've joked around a little bit
and called it my to-before message, you know, where they say that
you got to hit the mule in the head with the to-before just
to get his attention. Well, that's what happened. The
Lord hit this mule in the head with the to-before and got my
attention. And especially the phrase that you find in verse
21, a just God and a savior. Because in all of my studies
and all of my research up to that point, in religion, other
religions, and what I called Christianity, which was not Christianity,
it was false Christianity, I had never heard that concept of how
could God be just and justify the ungodly. I never even saw
the need for God to be both a just God as well as a savior. And so I didn't know the true
and living God. I remember telling my mother, I said, I need to
learn more. I need to get a little more into that to find out what's
going on there and what it means. And That's where the Lord led
me to the reality of salvation by his grace through Christ. But let's look at this chapter,
and I'm gonna go through the whole thing, but just start off
in verse one. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed
to Cyrus. Now that sounds strange, doesn't
it? Who is Cyrus? Cyrus was a future king of the
Medo-Persian Empire. But God revealed these things
to Isaiah before Cyrus came on the scene historically. And he
was the king who led the Medes and the Persians against the
Babylonians when Israel, when Judah and Jerusalem, when they
were in captivity in Babylon. Remember Jeremiah said they'd
be there for 70 years? Well, at the end of 70 years,
God sent this heathen king named Cyrus to deliver them from that
Babylonian captivity, and Cyrus allowed them to go back into
Jerusalem and Judah and rebuild the temple. And so this Cyrus,
he said, whose right hand I have holden. In other words, I have
strengthened, you might see that in your concordance, to subdue
nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open
before him the two-leaved gates. That's the two-leaved gates of
Babylon. See how specific it is. This is what caused some
unbelieving scholars to conclude that this portion of Isaiah was
written after the Babylonian captivity, but it wasn't. And
so he says, Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Christ. And then Jeremiah, about 500
years. So there's a couple of 150, 200
years between this. And he says, the leave gates
and the gates shall not be shut against Cyrus. He says, I will
go before thee and make the crooked places straight. In other words,
I'm going to set things in order. That's what he means by that.
I will break in pieces the gates of brass, the gates of Babylon,
and cut in sundry the bars of iron. Nothing's going to stop.
God's purpose and God's will that's enacted through this man
named Cyrus. Verse three, I will give thee
the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by
thy name, am the God of Israel. And I believe this is a portion
you might see at the end of Jeremiah and the beginning of Ezra, I
think it is. where they read this portion
to Cyrus after he conquered Babylon. And he gave an acknowledgement
of Israel's God. Now that doesn't mean he was
saved, because he still worshiped the gods of the Medes and the
Persians. But he says, well, your God's pretty good too. Your
God's pretty strong too. And he says in verse four, now
here's the reason God's doing all this. For Jacob, my servant's
sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy
name, that's Cyrus. This is the reason God's using
this heathen king for his people, for his elect. Now there's a
limited application to the actual nation of Judah, Israel, Jacob
and Israel in Babylon. But the ultimate reason is for
God's elect out of the whole world. Jew and Gentile, he says,
I have surnamed thee thou hast not known me. That is Cyrus. Even though you don't know me,
Cyrus, not as a God of redemption, a God of salvation, I've surnamed
you, I've pointed you out and named you and picked you for
this task. Think about that. That's amazing. He says in verse five, I am the
Lord, there's none else. There's no God beside me. I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the
rising of the sun from the west that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord, and there's none else. This is the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the God of salvation. I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil,
and evil there is in the sense of disasters, you know, what
we would call destructions here upon the earth, just like him
sending Cyrus to destroy the Babylonian Empire. Not sin, you
know, God doesn't sin. He controls it. He's sovereign
over it. He's not a sinner, and he says,
I, the Lord, do all these things. So though Cyrus was an idolatrous
king, God used him for this purpose, and in this sense, Cyrus is a
type of Christ. Just as Cyrus was sent by God
to deliver God's people out of Babylon, The Lord Jesus Christ
is our Cyrus. He was sent by the father to
deliver God's elect out of the bondage of sin and Satan and
the law. And he did so with a mighty hand
in his death on the cross to establish, to put away our sins
and establish the only righteousness by which God distinguishes himself
as both a just God and a savior. Now these next two verses, verses
eight through 10, is a declaration made of the Messiah as the author
of salvation, the author of righteousness. He says in verse eight, drop
down ye heavens from above, let the skies pour down righteousness.
How's that gonna happen? Well, God's justice was exacted
against Babylon. And in that sense, righteousness
was poured down. That was righteousness against
their sin and their dealings with God's people. But the ultimate
sense of righteousness dropping down from heavens, dropping down
from the skies, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, let the earth open
and let them bring forth salvation and let the righteousness spring
up together. I, the Lord, have created. You
see an established picture there. of the Lord Jesus Christ who
came from heaven, the Son of God, God manifest, and then coming
out of the earth, that's his humanity, his sinless humanity,
coming out in verse nine, woe unto him that striveth with his
maker. Now, verses nine and 10 describe the rebellion of the
people of Israel against Christ. God sent righteousness, he sent
his son into the world, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law, but his own people received
him not. Woe to him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth, broken pots. That's what we are by nature. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth what makest thou or thy work, he hath no hands? Woe
unto him that saith unto his father, what begettest thou?
Or to the woman, what hast thou brought forth? So that's the
complaining, the contentious complaining of unbelievers against
God's way. Now in verses 11 through 14,
we see Christ as the anti-type of Cyrus, the fulfillment. He
says in verse 11, thus saith the Lord, the holy one of Israel
and his maker, and it says, his maker, ask me of things to come
concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command
ye me. I've made the earth and created man upon it. I, even
my hands, have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts
have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness. Now when he says that concerning
Cyrus, he's talking about how he raised this heathen king up,
who is not righteous in himself, but he's raised up and used of
God to exact justice against the Babylonians. Well, as it
refers to Christ, it's obvious what it means. raised Him up
in righteousness. Christ, God manifest in the flesh,
He kept the law perfectly. He had our sins imputed to Him.
He went to the cross and He worked justice on that cross by drinking
damnation dry in our place. And righteousness was established.
He said, I will direct all His ways. That's the God of the Bible. Just as He directed all of Cyrus'
ways, In the Medo-Persian Empire, conquering Babylon, the Lord
directed all of his son's ways. On earth, he shall build my city,
and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith
the Lord of hosts. See, this is God's doings. This
is not man bargaining with God. This is not man saying, God,
if you'll give me this, I'll do this. It's not for price or
for reward. Why did Christ come to earth
and do his work? For the glory of his father.
And he did earn a reward. Christ did earn a reward. But
look, he says, he shall build my city. Well, Cyrus allowed
them to build Jerusalem and the temple. And Christ built his
church. Upon this rock, I'll build my
church. You see how all this fits together? In verse 14 he
says, thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt, the merchandise
of Ethiopia, and of the Sabians, men of stature shall come over
unto thee, and they shall be thine, they shall come after
thee, in chains shall they come over, and they shall fall down
unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, surely God
is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God, no God
like him. Now, in that verse, it's a prophecy
of the salvation and the conversion of Gentiles. In other words,
other nations are going to be impressed, and they're going
to see this, and they will come to Judah and Jerusalem, and they
did. And he says here that they're going to drop down, they're going
to come in chains. That's the way every sinner comes
to the Lord. In chains, the chains of sin,
saying, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. And we drop down
and we bow to him by his grace. Well, verse 15 and 16 shows how
God is sovereign in mercy and he'll reveal himself as a savior
when and to whom he will. Verily, verse 15, verily, thou
art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the savior. God must reveal himself. if we're
gonna know it. They shall be ashamed and confounded,
all of them, they shall go to confusion, together that are
makers of idols. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, and he's going to, he hides himself,
but he's gonna reveal himself to his people. He's gonna show
himself and how does he do it? Through the preaching of the
gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit to show us the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And all who refuse to believe
shall be confounded. But look at verse 17, but Israel
shall be saved in the Lord. And then he says with an everlasting
salvation, you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without
end. Now, national Israel, in essence, was saved from that
Babylonian captivity, set free, and brought back to Jerusalem.
Now, they were still under the Medo-Persian Empire. But how
does this everlasting salvation apply? Well, you know and I know,
that applies only to God's elect, spiritually, the spiritual Israel. Israel here in the nation they
were saved for a time, but they were conquered again And when
the and when they were conquered by the Greeks Alexander the great
and then they were conquered by Rome and when the Lord arrived
on the scene they were still under the Roman boot and So that's
not an everlasting salvation. So how should this apply? It
applies to spiritual Israel. That's the everlasting salvation
that's freely given to us by God, which cannot be taken away. We cannot be held captive again
by sin, or by Satan, or by the law. And how did all this happen? He says, I am the Lord, there's
none else. All of this, everlasting salvation. That's what he's talking
about. Spiritual Israel. Look at verse
18. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it, he hath established it, he created it, not in vain, he formed
it to be inhabited. I'm the Lord and there's none
else. God created this world. And this world, we fell in Adam. This world's a mess, isn't it?
We often use that phrase, the world's going to hell in a handbasket.
You've heard that. Well, did God create this world
only to let it perish? The answer is no. He had a purpose. That purpose will not be fulfilled
in this physical world that we live in now. But it will be fulfilled
ultimately in the second coming of Christ when he comes again
to destroy this earth and to do what? To create a new heavens
and a new earth. So God's saying, I didn't do
this in vain. I think about this when I read that. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not die for any person in vain. I've heard preachers
say that, especially during these invitations that they give. trying to get people to accept
Jesus as their personal Savior. And I've heard preachers of the
past say, did he die for you in vain? The answer is no. He didn't die for anybody in
vain. All that the Father giveth him shall come to him, and him
that cometh to him, he will in no wise cast out. He'll raise
him up at the last day. Every sinner for whom Christ
died shall be saved. Verse 19, now this Israel that
shall be saved in verse 17, Paul quotes that in the book of Romans
chapter 11, and he's referring to God's elect out of every tribe
and nation, Jew and Gentile. Justified in Christ, redeemed
by the Lord. Look at verse 18, or verse 19. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not into the seat of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. This is no idle promise. This
is real salvation for sinners through the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And so he says in verse 20, this is a call and
command to the people of God. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot say. You see, that's the essence
of false religion, ignorance. They don't have the knowledge.
They don't have the knowledge of God as both a just God and
a savior. How God can justify the ungodly? They don't know Christ. Remember
Christ told his disciples that they would be thrown out of the
synagogues in John 16. He said they'll do this thinking
they're doing God's work. He said they do it because they
neither know me nor my father. Ignorant of righteousness. Romans
10, Paul said, I pray for my physical brothers, the Jews,
Because they don't know God, they don't know righteousness.
They're ignorant of the righteousness of God because Christ is the
righteous end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth. Verse 21, tell ye and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Now this is kind of like a call and a command for people to get
together and listen up He says, who hath declared this from ancient
time? This is no new story. This is
the old story, the old, old story. Who hath told it from that time?
This has been the way of God's salvation all along. These dispensationalists
who talk about the age of grace and the age of the law and all,
no, salvation has always been by God's grace through Christ.
Never any other way and never will be. So who have told it
from that time? Have not I the Lord and there's
no God else beside me? And here's the message, here's
the key, a just God and a Savior. Just and save. Save us from what? Save us from sin. Now how can
he do justice and still save sinners? Because sin demands
death, that's the law of God. God cannot clear the guilty.
He must punish sin, He must be just, because that's His nature.
God's justice is not just His choice, it's His nature. So how can He be both a just
God and a Savior? How can God be just and still
save sinners like us in mercy? He's fixing to tell you, right?
And it's gonna set him apart and distinguish him like no other
God. There's no other God. There's none beside me. He says,
look at verse 22. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I'm God, there's none else.
I have sworn by myself. God's declaring an oath here.
You remember in Hebrews chapter six, he talks about God's promise
to Abraham. that was supported by his promise
and his oath. I swore by myself. God can swear
by no greater because there is none greater. The word has gone
out of my mouth in righteousness, in justice. However God's going
to do this in salvation and mercy and grace, it's going to be a
way of righteousness, a way of justice, and it shall not return
He says, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear. Remember Paul quoted this in Philippians 2. Here's the
way, verse 24. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength, in Christ. God's way
of justification is the blood of his Son. Christ our surety. who took our sins upon Himself. Our sins imputed to Him, charged
to Him. And our substitute, He came and
took our place. I've heard preachers today say
that He became us. He didn't become us. We preach
substitution, not transformation. The transformation that happens
to us comes in the new birth, when God the Spirit gives us
life from the dead. But Christ, our substitute and
our Redeemer, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.
Even to him shall men come. You come to Christ. And all that
are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel, spiritual Israel, be justified, forgiven
of all their sins on a just ground, declared righteous in God's sight
on a just ground, the imputed righteousness of Christ, His
righteousness imputed us and that and shall glory. We'll boast
in Christ. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May
the Lord bless his word to our hearts. Amen.