Continuing to develop some of the themes introduced in Isaiah 40 (which serves as an introduction for the remaining chapters of the book), Isaiah 41 applies the truth of God’s holy, unrivaled greatness to Israel’s historical context and concerns (41:1-20). It also drills down into the folly of seeking strength in motionless, powerless idols (41:21-29).
The chapter opens with the Lord convening a trial. He summons the “coastlands” (the peoples who live on the “edges” of the earth) to draw near, listen in silence to His questions, and give an answer. The Lord wants them to identify the One who raised up a ruler “from the east” to invade, terrify, and overrun the nations: “Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step?” (2). At this point, we aren’t told the identity of this ruler from the east who “tramples kings underfoot” (2). We just know that this ruler is used by God to do His work of making other nations ‘like dust” and driving them away like “stubble”. Here we see God working through a human ruler and his armies to accomplish His purposes (cp. 40:24). Later in Isaiah’s writings, we learn this ruler is the Persian monarch Cyrus (45:1), a ruler who will not be born for centuries!
The Lord’s point is that only He knows and accomplishes what is to come in human history. Unlike the idols which are mute and motionless (7), God is the prime mover behind world events. This theme, a recurring emphasis in the following chapters, showcases the uniqueness of Israel’s King. He plans and “performs” His plans (4).
The people of the coastlands are indicted for their folly in looking to inert idols for strength. Isaiah contrasts the true source of strength—waiting for the Lord (40:31)—with futile attempts to find strength from other people (“Everyone helps his neighbour and says to his brother, ‘Be strong’”—6) or from powerless idols that must be “strengthened” with nails in order not to fall over (7).
In contrast to the nations that depend on worthless idols, Israel is to react to threats (like the coming of a mighty king from the east) in a distinctly, different way. They are to “fear not” and “be not dismayed” (10). How can tiny Israel (a “worm”—14) show strength in the face of events that terrify the surrounding nations? It’s because they have the Lord as their Master and Redeemer; He is with them and will help them (repeated three times—10, 13, 14). Verse 10, for good reason, has been a comfort and consolation for God’s people for generations: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am you God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
As a result of belonging to and being helped by the Lord, Israel will find their enemies “put to shame and confounded” (11). Those who contend with God’s people will vanish: “You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all” (12). In fact, the Lord will turn things around, making His people “a threshing sledge, new, sharp and having teeth” to “thresh the mountains” (15). Instead of being vanquished, Israel will be victorious through God’s help. They will respond with grateful joy: “And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory” (16).
The blessing that will come to Israel will clearly be God’s doing. He will “open rivers on the bare heights” for the poor and needy (17-18); he will the wilderness into a beautiful forest (18). He will do all this “that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Isaiah has created it” (20).
The final nine verses in chapter 41 (21-29) contrast the help God gives Israel with the utter helplessness of idols (false, counterfeit gods). The court proceedings begun in verse 1, pick up again in verse 21. Here the Lord indicts the idols of the people; He challenges them to prove their worth by showing they know and affect the future (21-23). Unlike the Lord, the idols know nothing and do nothing. So, the Lord can declare they “are nothing” and the work of their hands is “less than nothing” (24). Those who choose to rely on them are an “abomination” (24).
The Lord cycles back to the opening contention of this chapter by reminding everyone that He alone stirred up one from “the north” and “the rising of the sun” (25). This one will “trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads the clay” (25). What’s more, the Lord says this ruler “shall call upon my name” (25). In some way, this ruler will know he is doing God’s bidding.
The Lord alone has the ability to declare what is to come. He does so through His servant Israel, making Jerusalem “a herald of good news” (27). The idols, on the other hand, have nothing to say as they are “a delusion” and “their works are nothing” but “empty wind” (29).
Behold Your God
The Lord has always been the author of history. One of the central themes running through the book of Isaiah (especially chapters 40-66) centres on how the Lord knows and controls the future. He has written the story of the world “from the beginning” (4). Unlike the gods of the nations—idols that can do nothing good or bad (23)—the Lord both knows and controls the flow of human history. He created the world and carries out His plans through “stirring” up people and nations to do His purposes (2). He draws straight lines using crooked sticks.
By the way, this is one of the arguments against those who see chapters 40-66 as written hundreds of years after Isaiah of Jerusalem lived. Those who claim these chapters were written after the events described (i.e. the coming of Cyrus and the return of the exiles from Babylon) are forced into the awkward position of asserting that the later author(s) pretend God is telling the future when that’s not the case; this undercuts the very argument of the book for God’s supremacy as the only One who knows and controls future events.
The Lord remains faithful to the offspring of Abraham. Though Israel has failed him repeatedly and grievously, the Lord still affirms he will not cast them off (9). The steadfast, loyal love the Lord never fails. He will deal severely with disobedience (40:2) but holds tightly to His promises and holds the hands of his people (13). As one of the sons of Abraham by faith (Gal 3:26-28), I rejoice in the covenant faithfulness of the Lord. I can live in the promise of Isaiah 41:10: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Here Am I
I will either try to strengthen myself or find my strength in the Lord. Those who do not rely on the Lord must try to find strength in themselves or from the works of their hands (6-7). Those who know the Lord can be strengthened by His power: “I am your God; I will strengthen you” (10). It strengthens my soul to know the Lord promises to “help” and “uphold” His people (10,13,14). As He gives us strength, we give Him glory (“in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory”—15).
I can trust the Lord for the future of the world and my own future. Since the Lord knows and controls world events, and since He cares for His people, I can rest secure in His sovereign oversight of the future. What is unknown to us, is both decided and directed by Him. As I rest in this, I can find rest in a restless world.
I must live in the reality of God’s power and promise. The Lord is literally the history-maker. He writes the script of world history, working through human agency and choice to accomplish His predetermined purposes. He does not promise to keep His people from experiencing hardship (“when the poor and needy seek water and there is tone and their tongue is parched with thirst”—17); however, He promises to help, uphold and redeem them (“I the Lord will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them”—17). If I trust Him and His promises, I can call on Him for help and rest in His faithfulness to me at all time. I want to live in this blessed reality.
Rick and Linda Reed 