Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.
Parallel Translations
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Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.
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Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
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Declare ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together: Who hath announced this from ancient time, and declared it of old? Have not I the LORD? And there is no God else beside Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me.
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to Isaiah 45:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 45:5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,
- Isaiah 43:11 I myself am Yahweh. Besides me, there is no savior.
- Isaiah 43:9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”
- Isaiah 44:7-8 Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen. Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”
- Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
- Titus 2:13-14 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
- Isaiah 43:3 For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
- Isaiah 45:14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
- Isaiah 45:18 For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.
- Isaiah 45:25 All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!
- Isaiah 41:1-4 “Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgment. Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow. He pursues them and passes by safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
- Isaiah 41:22-23 “Let them announce and declare to us what will happen! Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.
- Isaiah 48:14 “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
- Jeremiah 23:5-6 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
- Joel 3:9-12 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh. “Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
- Zephaniah 3:17 Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
- Romans 3:25-26 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
- Psalms 26:7 that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard and tell of all your wondrous deeds.
- Psalms 71:17-18 God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
- Psalms 96:10 Say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.
- Isaiah 41:26 Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and before, that we may say, ‘He is right?’ Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.
- Isaiah 48:3 I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.
- Isaiah 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
- Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- Zephaniah 3:5 Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 45:21 Tell ye, and bring [them] near; yea,…
Isa 45:21 Tell ye, and bring [them] near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? [who] hath told it from that time? [have] not I the LORD? and [there is] no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; [there is] none beside me.
Ver. 21. Who hath declared this?] sc., That the people of God should be set at liberty by Cyrus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Let them take counsel together, to maintain the cause…
Let them take counsel together, to maintain the cause of their idols.
Who hath declared this? this great work of which I have spoken, concerning Babylon’s destruction, and the redemption of God’s people.
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A just God and a Saviour; whereas the gods of the heathens are neither just nor saviours to their people, but wicked, and the authors and abettors of all sorts of wickedness; and so far from being either able or willing to save their worshippers, that they are the chief occasion of their utter destruction.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Tell ye, and bring them near, and let them…
Tell ye, and bring them near, and let them take counsel together,.... Tell them what I say of their ignorance and stupidity; and gather them all together, their gods, their makers, and their worshippers, and let them lay their heads together, and consult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by foretelling things to come:
who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? that is, who of all their gods or priests have ever declared this or anyone thing at any distance of time before it came to pass? either this everlasting salvation of my people, or the redemption by Cyrus, which was a type of it, and was spoken of beforehand? have ever any of them foretold anything like this, and it came to pass as predicted? not one of them.
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Have not I the Lord? he had. Christ, by his Spirit in the prophets, signified before hand his sufferings and his death, and the glory that should follow, Pe1 1:11 and when he was here on earth, he foretold his being betrayed to the chief priests; his being delivered to the Gentiles; his scourging and crucifixion, and resurrection from the dead; all which came to pass exactly as he had predicted, Mat 20:18,
and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour: there is "none beside me", Christ is the one God with the Father and Spirit, and there is no other; nor any Saviour of lost sinners, but him; there is salvation in him, and in no other; and he is "just" in things pertaining to God, in satisfying his justice, and fulfilling his law; he was set forth as Mediator to declare his righteousness, and which is displayed in the work of redemption by him; so that God is just, while he is the justifier of him that believes in him, Rom 3:25.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Take counsel - To maintain the cause of their…
Take counsel - To maintain the cause of their idols. This - This great work, Babylon's destruction, and the redemption of God's people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Bring them near; yea, let them take…
Verse 21. Bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together] For יועצו yoatsu or yivvaatsu, let them consult, the Septuagint read ידעו yedau, let them know: but an ancient MS. has יועדו yoedu, let them come together by appointment; which may probably be the true reading.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Tell ye, and bring them near - That is,…
Tell ye, and bring them near - That is, announce, and bring forward your strongest arguments (see the notes at Isa 41:1).
Who hath declared this from ancient time? - Who has clearly announced the events respecting Cyrus, and the conquest of Babylon, and the deliverance from the captivity? The argument is an appeal to the fact that God had clearly foretold these events long before, and that therefore he was the true God. To this argument he often appeals in proof that he alone is God (see the note at Isa 41:22-23).
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And there is no God else beside me - (See Isa 45:5).
A just God - A God whose attribute it is always to do right; whose word is true; whose promises are fulfilled; whose threatenings are executed; and who always does that which, under the circumstances of the case, ought to be done. This does not refer particularly to the fact that he will punish the guilty, but, in the connection here, rather seems to mean that his course would be one of equity.
And a Saviour - Saving his people. It was a characteristic of him, that he saved or preserved his people; and his equity, or truth, or justice, was seen in his doing that. His being ‘a just God’ and ‘a Saviour’ are not set here in contrast or contradiction, as if there was any incongruity in them, or as if they needed to be reconciled; but they refer to the same thing, and mean that he was just and true in saving his people; it was a characteristic of him that be was so true to his promises, and so equitable in his government, that he would save them. There is here no unique and special reference to the work of the atonement. But the language is such as will accurately express the great leading fact in regard to the salvation of sinners. It is in the cross of the Redeemer that God has shown himself eminently to be just, and yet a Saviour; true, and merciful; expressing his abhorrence of sin, and yet pardoning it; maintaining the honor of his violated law, and yet remitting its penalty and forgiving the offender. It is here, in the beautiful language of the Psalmist Psa 85:10, that
Mercy and truth are met together,
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The same idea is expressed in Rom 3:26 : ‘That he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.’ It is the glory of the character of God that he can be thus just and merciful at the same time; that he can maintain the honor of his law, secure the stability of his government, and yet extend pardon to any extent. No human administration can do this. Pardon under a human government always does much to weaken the authority of the government, and to set aside the majesty of the law. If never exercised, indeed, government assumes the form of tyranny; if often, the law loses its terrors, and crime will walk fearless through the earth. But in the divine administration, through the atonement, pardon may be extended to any extent, and yet the honor of the law be maintained, for the substituted sufferings of the innocent in the place of the guilty, will in fact do more to restrain from transgression than where the guilty themselves suffer. Of no human administration can it be said that it is at the same time just, and yet forgiving; evincing hatred of the violation of the law, and yet extending mercy to any extent to the violators of the laws. The blending together of these apparently inconsistent attributes belongs only to God, and is manifested only in the plan of salvation through the atonement.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Me. He transports his auditors to the times succeeding…
Me. He transports his auditors to the times succeeding the captivity, when the completion of the prophecies will be evident.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Challenge the worshippers of idols (Isa 41:1).
Challenge the worshippers of idols (Isa 41:1).
take counsel together--as to the best arguments wherewith to defend the cause of idolatry.
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who . . . from that time-- (Isa 41:22-23; see on Isa 44:8). Which of the idols has done what God hath, namely, foretold, primarily as to Cyrus; ultimately as to the final restoration of Israel hereafter? The idolatry of Israel before Cyrus' time will have its counterpart in the Antichrist and the apostasy, which shall precede Christ's manifestation.
just . . . and . . . Saviour--righteous in keeping His promises, and therefore a Saviour to His people. Not only is it not inconsistent with, but it is the result of, His righteousness, or justice, that He should save His redeemed (Isa 42:6, Isa 42:21; Psa 85:10-11; Rom 3:26).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. Tell ye… this — This what? Whether any…
21. Tell ye… this — This what? Whether any one of idol worshippers has had from his god knowledge that Israel is to be restored to Zion? From what date in the past has an idol predicted this? Have not I the Lord alone done this? The controversy with idols takes this shape now. Moreover, “I, the only one able to predict, am a just God and a Saviour; can carry out what I have predicted, and will do it.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. Tell ye] Better: Declare ye, as R.V.
21. Tell ye] Better: Declare ye, as R.V.
bring them near] Some such object as “your strong arguments” (Isa_41:21) must be supplied, and has probably dropped out of the text.
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who hath declared this …?] i.e. the rise of Cyrus and his conquests. The phrase from that time should be either beforehand or long ago (see on ch. Isa_16:13).
a just God … beside me] Better as a single sentence: a righteous God and a Deliverer there is not besides me. Both attributes have been exhibited in the recent crisis; righteousness (see on Isa_45:19) in the explicit predictions of Cyrus, and salvation in the deliverance of Israel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Tell ye, and bring them near.—Yet another challenge…
(21) Tell ye, and bring them near.—Yet another challenge to the idols and their worshippers.
A just God and a Saviour.—Stress is laid on the union of the two attributes which in human actions are often thought incompatible. (Comp. Psa_85:10.) In virtue of that union the invitation of Isa_45:22 is addressed to all the ends of the world. The offer of salvation is universal.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Tell ye, and bring them near. Dr. Kay and…
Tell ye, and bring them near. Dr. Kay and Mr. Cheyne understand the nations to be addressed, and told to "show" or "announce," and "bring forth" or "produce," any argument in favour of the divinity of their gods. But it is simpler and better, with our translators, to regard the address as made to the prophets of God, who are bidden to announce his message of mercy to the nations, and to bring them near to him. (comp. Isa_40:1) Let them take counsel together; i.e. let the nations consider one with another, whether God or the idols be the fitter object of worship. Who hath declared this? "This" must refer to the conquest of Babylon and deliverance of Israel by Cyrus. None but Jehovah had ever announced this none but he could bring it to pass. From ancient time; rather, from aforetime (Cheyne). The announcement cannot have been made very long before this prophecy was delivered. A just God and a Saviour. A God in whom "mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other"; (Psa_85:1-6) who can be at once just, "acting stringently according to the demands of his holiness" (Delitzsch), and yet design and effect the salvation of sinners.
Vers. 21-25. Our great hope: a missionary sermon.
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The view of the prophet is "exceeding broad." He sees that which is "afar off." He looks across the countries and across the centuries, and he has a more glorious vision than statesman ever pictured, than poet ever dreamed. We look at this
I OUR SUPREME HOPE FOR THE HUMAN WORLD. Isaiah has before his mind a time when "all the ends of the earth will be saved;" when "every knee will bow" to God, and every tongue solemnly invoke his holy Name; when men shall "come to him" in adoration and in thanksgiving. This is our heart"s most profound desire, our soul"s highest hope. We do not want our nation to subdue every other to servitude and subsidy. We do not want our form of faith or polity to swallow up every other form. We do want mankind to know God, to approach him in pure worship, to bless him for his fatherly love, to glory in his goodness, to submit to his righteous sway, to rejoice in him as the One that saves from sin and restores to righteousness. When, beneath every sky, speaking every language, with all possible varieties of custom and civilization, men everywhere shall honour the one holy Lord and rejoice in the same righteous Redeemer, the supreme hope for the world will be fulfilled. But we have to consider
II THE DELAY IN ITS FULFILMENT. The Israelites returned from captivity, and entered again on a course of national freedom and Divine worship in the holy place; the Lord "did great things for them, whereof they were glad." But nothing happened then or in subsequent days in Jerusalem or in Judaea which could be said to be a realization of this glorious vision. Jerusalem perished and Israel was scattered, while the prophecy remained unfulfilled. Jesus Christ came and formed his Church; that Church grew and throve, overturning the idolatries with which it contended. It has been making its way in the world, and, during the last century, has made substantial progress. But the world is very far indeed from having attained to the condition which is here foretold. The prophetic word waits to be fulfilled; there is a long delay in the realization of our supreme hope. But let us gladly turn to
III OUR CONFIDENCE IN A VICTORIOUS RESULT. It rests on three things.
1. The triumphs which have been already gained. These are very great, and they are exactly proportionate to the purity of the doctrine which has been taught and the zeal of the Churches which has been shown, With Christ"s truth taught as it came from him and from his inspired apostles, and with the Churches of Christ as much in earnest as they have been during this century, the advance will be sure and swift..
2. The strong word of Divine promise. "I have sworn by myself... that unto me," etc.; "I, if I be lifted up from the earth," etc.; "All power is given unto me... go ye therefore," etc.
3. The fitness of the gospel of Christ for the necessities of men. It provides:
1. A sense of forgiveness of sin. "Be justified.
2. The possession of moral excellency "Righteousness.
3. Spiritual power to resist temptation. "Strength.
4. Joy of heart, showing itself in praise. "Shall glory.
IV OUR PRIVILEGE AND DUTY IN RELATION TO IT. Since there is, indeed, such a hope for mankind, since that is to be the final issue of all strife and suffering and toil, let each nation, each Church, each family, each Christian man, see to it that its (his) contribution is forthcoming, so that, when the fields arc ripe, it (he) may have a share in the joy of harvest. C.
Just and saving.
The idea is that God is strictly faithful to his covenant, and therefore he must be a saving God. Saving is implied and involved in the covenant. There is the further assertion that God stands alone as a Saviour; there is no God who can save besides him. The point which may be unfolded and illustrated is that there is here declared the union of two attributes in God which, in human actions, are often thought to be incompatible. The just man is thought of as likely to punish. The just God is sure to save.
I MAN"S IDEA IS JUST AND PUNISHING. Our minds are mostly occupied with the work of justice in finding and punishing evil-doers. Consequently, a very limited forensic idea of justice has come to possess men"s minds; and this limited and unworthy notion of justice we too readily apply to God; and according to it settle God"s relations with men. But justice is properly "doing right by men" and "setting men right," and mere punishment is only an accident of the true work of justice; or, we may say, one of its agencies in doing its higher work. Justice is as truly delivering men out of the hands of the wicked, as it is punishing the evil-doer. This position should be fully illustrated, and it will prepare the way for the consideration of the next division.
II GOD"S IDEA IS JUST AND SAVING. With God the "just" means the "right," and that always includes the "kind." This may be opened in several ways.
1. God is just in saving his people from disasters which others have brought on them.
2. God is just in saving them from the consequences of their own infirmities and follies.
3. God is just in saving men from their sins by punishing them for their sins.
4. God is just in saving them from punishment, when the ends of punishment have been secured.
5. God is just in finding a way by which, through the voluntary sacrifice of his Son, his honour can be maintained while his mercy is extended to guilty and helpless sinners. His saving, in Christ Jesus, is the expression of his justice. He is the "Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain A Just God and a Saviour
Isa_45:21-22
A Just God and a Saviour
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The just God and the Saviour
To human apprehension, light and darkness are not more opposed than justice and mercy.
We cannot conceive how they possibly can meet together. But Gods ways are not our ways; He is a just God, leaving not the smallest possibility of escape for the smallest sin; and He is a Saviour, freely and completely pardoning the most atrocious sinner.
I. GOD IS A JUST GOD. The law of God is holy, and just, and good. It is mans plain, reasonable, bounden duty to obey these commandments; and when he fails in the performance of that duty, it is a righteous thing on the part of God to punish him. Some, indeed, have objected to this principle, and have supported their objection by perverting the Scripture doctrine of original sin, alleging that, if mans natural corruption render guilt inevitable, it is unjust in God to punish him for that guilt. To meet this objection in a plain practical manner, we would reply that, before any individual can reasonably plead this excuse in his own case, he must be able to prove that he has never been guilty of any transgression, except those only which were rendered inevitable by his original corruption; for the moment that he knowingly and wilfully breaks the law of God in any one instance, it becomes a righteous thing in the Lawgiver to inflict upon him the threatened punishment.
II. GOD IN CHRIST IS A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR Jesus Christ is an adequate substitute for the sinner. Every impediment to the most unbounded exercise of mercy being thus righteously removed, the invitation is given forth in all its blessed broadness and fulness unto all lands, Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. (D. Dickson, D. D.)
The highest glory of the Divine character
I. These words present, in part at least, AN ASPECT OF APPALLING TERROR--a just God. It is necessary to attend to this with becoming reverenceand awe. Some deny it, or overlook it, regarding nothing but His mercy, and forgetting, that there could be no occasion for the exercise of mercy did not His justice consign guilty men to punishment.
1. The fallen angels who have been cast down from their first estate, and are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the last day, are monuments of His avenging justice. Adam and his transgressing partner exiled from Paradise, and that paradise accursed for their sakes; the inhabitants of the world before the flood, with the exception of a single family, swept away into a watery grave by a single stroke; Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain overwhelmed by a torrent of liquid fire from the skies; Mount Sinai itself with its clouded summit and trembling base, its flashing lightnings, its rolling thunders, and trumpet voices, all bespeak the terrors of that inflexible justice which overlooks no sin of men or angels, and suffers no transgression against the eternal authority and sovereignty of God to go unpunished.
2. Consider further what proofs are afforded of the justice of God in His dispensations with the offending race of men. The lot of the progenitor has now become that of all his posterity; and man everywhere is a suffering and dying creature, because he is everywhere a sinner. Consider the awful calamities which have attended the human race, from the first generations to the present.
3. These proofs of Divine justice may be further strengthened and enlarged by considering the very method He has chosen for displaying His mercy. Is He not a just God? Let the agonies of His beloved Son declare--let the cross of Jesus stand as a witness.
II. THE DEEP AND GLORIOUS MYSTERY which, under another view, these words present. This glorious mystery consists in the union of these two characters in the one God of revelation--two characters which it appeared were hostile to each other--two characters which no other system ever did or ever could reconcile--and the difficulty of reconciling which has led some to deny the one, and some to deny the other. The mystery ties in the union of these two perfections of the Divine nature, justice and mercy--and in their united exercise towards the same sinful creatures. This the Gospel fully develops in the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God, in His substituted obedience, His voluntary submission, His vicarious sacrifice.
III. These words possess AN ASPECT OF DIVINE COMFORT FOR THE SOUL OF MAN.
1. The comfort depends on your reception of the salvation, which is essentially a salvation from sin, in all those respects in which it has affected our nature, whether by guilt, pollution, degradation, or separation from God.
2. This Divine comfort is open to all.
3. The comfort never fails--never fluctuates--will accompany through life, and abound even in death--when all other sources of comfort fail. (The Evangelist.)
A just God and a Saviour
I. The grand truth is manifestly this--that THERE IS IN GOD AN EVERLASTING HARMONY BETWEEN THE JUST AND THE MERCIFUL. He is just, not in opposition to salvation, but because He is a Saviour. He is a Saviour, not in opposition to justice, but because He is justice seeking to save.
1. Let us mark the ground on which Isaiah founded that mighty truth, the supreme and solitary sovereignty of God--I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is none beside Me. He had looked over the conflict of nations and the decay of empires, and seen one eternal God causing all to work His will. Realise that vision of God, and then the idea that He needs reconciling to Himself must instantly fall: for if Gods justice needs reconciling to His mercy, then we have two Gods, the just and the merciful; and it is no longer true that He is God, beside whom there is none else. Realise this, and the idea of the atonement which represents Christ as simply appeasing God the just and inducing Him to be merciful, passes away. God needs no reconciling to Himself: justice is in everlasting union with mercy.
2. Let us ask what is Gods justice, and what His salvation? and then we shall see how they are in perfect harmony. Gods justice is not merely the infliction of penalty; Gods salvation is not merely deliverance from penalty. It is true that He does execute penalty and award retribution. We see it in the stern laws of life by which one error brings down life-long sorrow; one true effort reaps, inevitably, its blessed reward. There is a just God over all, for men ever reap just what they sow. But justice in God is something far grander than the mere exercise of retribution; it is the love of eternal truth, purity, righteousness; and the penalties of untruth, impurity, unrighteousness, are the outflashings of that holy anger which is founded in His love of the right, the pure, and the true. In the same way, God s salvation is more than the mere deliverance from penalty. It is, at the same time, the deliverance from evil, salvation from the cruel lusts of wrong; from the bondage of unholy passions growing into the giant-life of eternity; from the deep degradation and horrible selfishness of sin. Here, then, we see how His justice and His salvation are in perfect harmony. His salvation is to free men from the penalties of justice by making them righteous, true, and holy in Christ.
3. Take now one step further. Take the two great revelations of law and mercy, and we shall see how the law is merciful and mercy holy.
(1) The law, the revelation of justice, came to lead men to God the Saviour.
(a) The sense of immortality. Man, feeling that life is bounded by the present, will never be freed from evil. But sin destroys the sense of immortality, confines him to the narrow circle of the earth, and dares him to look beyond. Under its influence man forgets the grandeur of his nature, sinks into a mere animal, and becomes the slave of material things. To awaken him there is no other voice so powerful as that of the law he cannot obey--a law majestic in purity, and thundering penalties on transgression. The Divine voice in the law speaks to him, making him feel that he is greater than material things--greater than his sinful idols. He asks: Why does it mark out me? And the awful Sinai of conscience awakens at that voice, and the man feels the sublimity of his nature; and there is the beginning of salvation.
(b) The sense of sin as a power in life. The voice of law shows him that in him is the power which the just God hates in holy anger. Cursing evil, it curses him. Thus law is the revelation of God the Saviour. Before its awful majesty and impossible claims man learns the weakness, and slavery, and horror of sin; and is prepared to accept the mercy that delivers him.
(2) Christ, the revelation of God the Saviour, came to glorify God the just. The righteousness of God never was so revealed as in the loving Saviour of the world. Mount Sinai is less terrible than the purity of the man of Nazareth. Men felt it as they said, Depart from us for we are sinful. Look now at His sufferings. Nothing could tear Him from them--nothing alter His course. Where is there a greater revelation of the righteousness of God? In the garden, the pure and holy One shudders at the contact with sin. Where can we see the awfulness of holiness so sublimely revealed as in that passion of woe? The just God was in the Saviour. Mark now the consummate power of Christ crucified; and what is it but a power rousing men to be holy as God is holy? Sin never was so slain as by Him whom sin slew. The law never was so attested as by Him who bore its penalty.
II. We infer TWO LESSONS from this great truth.
1. The necessity of Christian endeavour. We are justified at once; for the germ of a righteous manhood exists in the first act of faith. But the realisation of it is progressive. The Christian ideal is to be as Christ was, faithful, holy, and undefiled. Every day we have untruthfulness, selfishness, unbelief, to overcome.
2. The ground of Christian trust. Some men find security in the belief that they are delivered from the stern awards of justice. But we are not delivered from Gods purity, we are reconciled to it. In the justice of God lies our confidence now, for He will make us righteous and holy in Christ. And this gives us hope in the midst of lifes discipline, and explains much of its mystery. The object of His discipline is not to make us happy simply, but to train us into holiness, which is blessedness. There are men who trust in the infinite mercy of God, and feel that He will deliver them at last. Remember, that to remain in unbelief is to adopt the spirit which killed Christ. To refuse His salvation is to challenge the holy indignation of the Most High. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
Look unto Me!
Consider--
I. How GOD IS JUST. He will not deal unfairly with His creatures. He will not ascribe a single sin to them which they have not committed. He will not punish them beyond what their iniquities deserve.
II. HOW HE IS AT THE SAME TIME A SAVIOUR.
III. WHAT IS THE INVITATION WHICH HE ADDRESSES TO A RUINED WORLD. Mark--
1. To whom it is addressed. All the ends of the earth. How broad an invitation! Who is there who can say, I am not called?
2. What does He invite us all to do? Look unto Me! Behold Me with the eye of faith, as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world! Look unto Me as your refuge, your resource, your hope, your confidence your almighty, all-sufficient, only Saviour! Look unto Me for life, for pardon, for righteousness, for peace on earth, for heavenly happiness hereafter! Look unto Me, by looking off from every object of your carnal confidence, from every vain deceitful hope which you have invented for yourselves, and by placing your entire, unbounded trust in the merits of My Cross!
3. And what spiritual benefit shall that look of faith procure to them? Be ye saved. Are there not those that look for mercy even though they look not unto Jesus? Consider seriously that expression, There is none beside Me--A just God and a Saviour. Ye that are looking unto Him for salvation! remember that, in the very act by which the Lord hath delivered you from death He hath shown you also His horror and His hatred of your sins. (A. Roberts, M. A.)
Looking unto Jesus, the only Saviour
I. THE GRACIOUS INVITATION. Notice--
1. The benevolent Being by whom the invitation is given.
2. To whom it is addressed. Not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles: to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people.
3. What is implied in the invitation.
(1) The state of those to whom it is addressed.
(2) That there is no obstacle whatever in the way of salvation.
4. What the invitation calls upon us to do in order to secure our salvation. Look unto Me. In our natural state we are all looking from Him; and even when we are convinced of our lost condition, how prone we are to look to anything rather than to Him for salvation--our repentance, our obedience, our duties, our morality, our usefulness! What then, is meant by looking to Him? It signifies the same thing with believing in Him.
II. THE POWERFUL REASONS BY WHICH THAT INVITATION IS ENFORCED.
1. He is God.
2. A just God.
3. A gracious God, for He is a Saviour.
4. The only God, and consequently the only Saviour. (D. Rees.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_45:21. A just God and a Saviour.
A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR
Isa_45:21. A just God and a Saviour.
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These words occur in an assertion of the sovereignty of God, which is repeated again and again throughout this chapter, and forms the essential truth around which all its predictions cluster. Isaiah has foreseen that the Almighty would make Cyrus His servant in breaking the captivity of Babylon, and freeing the people from its thraldom. In this he hears the voice of the one Lord above the changes of the world, saying, “I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God beside me.” Again, over the wreck of ancient heathendom—Egypt and Ethiopia—the voice of the Sovereign King rings the proclamation, “I am the Lord,” &c. And then he gazes into a day when all the ends of the earth shall look to heaven for salvation; and once more he hears the chorus, “There is no God beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.” Hence we see the force of these words for Isaiah; God was just because He was a Saviour, and as a just God He sought to save.
How may this great truth be illustrated, and what lessons flow from it?
I. “A just God and a Saviour.” There is in God an everlasting harmony between the just and the merciful. He is just, because He is a Saviour; He is a Saviour, because He is justice seeking to save.
1. Mark the truth on which Isaiah founded this mighty truth, viz., the supreme and solitary sovereignty of God—“I am the Lord,” &c. The same Lord was over all; in Him was no double nature; He, the one God, was at once the just God and the Saviour. Realise this, and the idea of the atonement which represents Christ as inducing God to be merciful passes away (H. E. I. 390).
2. What is God’s justice, and what His salvation?
(1.) God’s justice is not merely the infliction of penalty; God’s salvation is not merely deliverance from penalty. It is true that He does execute penalty and award retribution. He is just to-day. We see it in the stern laws of life. Penalties are the outflashings of a holy anger.
(2.) His salvation is more than the mere deliverance from penalty. It is that; but it is the deliverance from evil. God would save men from evil by making them righteous; and thus He is at once the just God and a Saviour.
3. Take the two great revelations of law and mercy, and we shall see how the law is merciful, and mercy holy.
The law, the revelation of justice, came to lead men to God the Saviour. To save man from evil two things are requisite.
(1.) The sense of immortality. Sin destroys this sense; to awaken him, there is no other voice so powerful as that of the law he cannot obey; the Divine voice in the law speaks to him, and the man feels the sublimity of his nature; and there is the beginning of salvation.
(2.) The sense of sin as a power in life. Man thinks of sin as a misfortune, &c.—anything but a power in him; the law, cursing evil, curses him.
Christ, the revelation of God the Saviour, came to glorify God the just. Men often lose sight of this. Mount Sinai is less terrible than the purity of the man of Nazareth. Men felt it as they said: “Depart from us, for we are sinful.” Look at His sufferings. Nothing could tear Him from them—nothing alter His course. Where is there a greater revelation of the righteousness of God? Beneath the Cross we read that God would not pardon without glorifying to the utmost the majesty of the just and holy law. Mark the consummate power of Christ crucified. Sin never was so slain as by Him whom sin slew. The law never was so attested as by Him who bare its penalty.
II. We infer two lessons from this great truth.
1. The necessity of Christian endeavour. We are forgiven at once. In one sense, we are justified at once; for the germ of a righteous manhood exists in the first act of faith. But the realisation of it is progressive. Every day we have to wash the robes of our spirits in “the blood of the Lamb.”
2. The ground of Christian trust
We are delivered from condemnation; and we are reconciled to God’s purity. We rely on God’s justice; for He will make us righteous and holy in Christ.
There are men who trust in the infinite mercy of God, and feel that He will deliver them at last. Remember, to remain in unbelief is to adopt the spirit which killed Christ. To refuse His salvation is to challenge the holy indignation of the Most High: “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh,” &c.—E. L. Hull, B.A.; Sermons, First Series, pp. 112–120.
The view we have of the Divine character must have a powerful influence on our own, and will materially affect the whole system of our faith and worship. Everything relating to the perfections and glory of God must be important to us as creatures who live under His government, are dependent on His will, and amenable to His high tribunal. Before Him we must come hereafter, with Him we have immediately to do now. Delightful to know that though just He is still a Saviour, that though a Saviour He is still just.
1. He is a just God. The plenitude of His perfections guards Him from the possibility of injustice. Injustice between man and man is occasioned by the desire of some good which could not otherwise be obtained, or the avoidance of some evil which could not otherwise be warded off. But these things can have no possible application to Him who is infinite in wisdom and power (Jas_1:13).
2. He is a merciful God. This is plain from His dealings with sinful men both in providence and grace (Mat_5:45; Joh_3:17). “A just God and a Saviour!”
I. The union of justice and mercy in the character of God is illustrated by the mixed character of His dispensation in every age.—His dealings with our first parents after their sin. He appears a just God in the Deluge, a Saviour in the Ark. In the Old Testament sacrifices justice was seen in the death of the victim, mercy in the forgiveness of the transgressor. A just God in the fiery serpents, a Saviour in the brazen serpent. Just in the plague, a Saviour in the censer of Aaron (Psa_99:8).
II. It appears in the appointment of Christ as a suffering Saviour. Christ’s death respected God as a judge, ourselves as criminals. Here mercy triumphed in the triumph of justice. Justice must have its sword as well as its even balance. Crimes unpunished seem authorised. Had sinners been pardoned without a substitute or a sacrifice, the law and the Lawgiver would have been dishonoured. But in the cross of Christ God has given the most eminent display both of His justice and of His mercy; of His justice in requiring such a sacrifice, of His mercy in providing such a substitute (Rom_5:20-21). Only thus could the law of God and the conscience of man be satisfied. When the conscience is truly awakened, the mind is acute to discern the hindrances and obstacles to salvation. The mind which abused God’s patience before, now painfully discerns the claims of justice; it needs to be shown that God can pardon sin honourably. [1450]
[1450] To human apprehensions, light and darkness are not more opposed to each other than justice and mercy. We cannot conceive how they can meet together; for as long as strict justice is executed, no mercy is shown, and the very moment mercy is extended, there is an infringement upon the claims of justice. When a criminal is tried and condemned by the laws of our country, if the just sentence pronounced upon him by the judge be permitted to remain in force, then he receives simply what he deserved—he is treated with strict justice, and there is no mercy in the case. But if the king interpose, and exercise his prerogative to set aside the sentence of the judge and pardon the convict, then the man receives simply what he did not deserve—he is treated with free mercy, and there is no justice in the case. The king is permitted to be unjust on the side of mercy, and it is only by reverting the sentence of justice that his mercy can possibly be exercised. He may, indeed, confer a distinguished favour on one of his subjects without any injustice, but this is not what we usually understand by mercy. Mercy implies previous guilt and exposure to just punishment; and we repeat the important statement, that it is only by reversing the sentence of justice that any human authority can extend mercy to the guilty. But God’s “ways are not as our ways;” God can exercise mercy to the uttermost without reversing the slightest jot or title of the sentence of the most even and inexorable justice. He is “a just God,” leaving not the smallest possibility of escape to the smallest sin; and He is “a Saviour,” freely and completely pardoning the most atrocious sinner.—M‘Neile.
III. Our perception of it should have a powerful influence upon us.—
1. It should lead us to admire the Gospel, in which these Divine attributes are presented in such glorious harmony.
2. It should give sweetness and solemnity to all God’s invitations and promises of mercy.
3. It should deepen our humiliation and repentance, since it is against such purity and mercy we have offended.
4. It should awaken caution against sin and desires after holiness.
5. It should kindle our desires at length to be admitted to heaven, where we shall see these glorious divine attributes fully displayed.—Samuel Thodey.
A UNIVERSAL CALL FROM THE ONLY SAVIOUR
Isa_45:21-22. There is no God else beside me, &c.
In the words which immediately precede the text, the Lord is showing the gross ignorance and folly of the heathen, whom He represents as setting up the wood of their graven images, and praying unto gods that could not save them. As their idols had not been able to deliver them from the judgments He had inflicted on them for their sins, He calls upon them to take counsel together, that they might be convinced of the vanity of their worship, and of the sinfulness of their conduct; and as He had predicted those judgments long before they were executed, and their idols had not, He appeals to them to acknowledge that it was He alone who could foretell things to come. He then, in the words before us, assures us that there was no god else beside Him; a just God and a Saviour; and invites them all to look unto Him for deliverance from every evil.—Let us consider,
I. THE GRACIOUS INVITATION CONTAINED IN OUR TEXT. “Look unto me,” &c. Observe,
1. To whom it is addressed. “All the ends of the earth.” To Gentiles as well as Jews (Mat_28:19); to you. Your past sins may have been as numerous as the leaves of the forest, or the sand of the sea, but that does not shut the door of mercy against you.
2. What is implied in it.
(1.) That “all the ends of the earth” need to be “saved.” Is that true of you?
(2.) That there is now no obstacle whatever in the way of salvation. The claims of Divine justice have been fully satisfied, and now mercy can be shown.
3. What it calls upon us to do, in order to secure our salvation. “Look unto me.” Not to any other person or thing, but to Him. The explanation of the phrase we have in Num_21:6-9; Joh_3:14-15. It must be the look of faith.
II. THE POWERFUL REASONS BY WHICH IT IS ENFORCED.
1. He who addresses it to us is GOD—God in Christ (2Co_5:19).
2. He is a just God—one from whom the guilty cannot hope to escape; one who will show mercy righteously.
3. He is a gracious God, for He is “a Saviour.” Because of what He has done for us, He can dispense grace to the guilty without tarnishing the lustre of His character, and without any disparagement of His justice and holiness.
4. “He is the only God, and consequently the only Saviour.” This important fact is twice referred to in our text. Rejecting Him, there is no deliverance for us from the consequences of our sins. As the bitten Israelites would have died had they refused to look upon the brazen serpent, inasmuch as it was the only remedy provided for their cure, so we also must die, miserably and for ever, if we apply not to Him who is the only Physician of souls. Will you not believingly look to Him who alone can rescue you from destruction? Does the shipwrecked mariner turn away his face from his deliverer? Does he reject the assistance of the life-boat that comes to save him? Look to Jesus, and be saved! Believe, and live!—Daniel Rees: Sermons, pp. 68–81.
I. The Person who thus calls. “Look unto Me.” II. The invitation given. “Look, and be saved.” The command to Naaman: “Wash, and be cleansed,” as if leprosy could thus be got rid of! But obeying that simple command he was cleansed; and obeying this, we shall be saved. [1453] III. To whom it is addressed. “All the ends of the earth.” IV. The reason assigned why we should look unto Him and be saved. “For I am God, and there is none else.”—A. V. Griswold, D.D.: American National Preacher, vol. i. pp. 153–160.
[1453] This precept implies a sense of personal need, and a reliance upon the Saviour to supply this necessity. For this is frequently expressed by a look. What mother is there who does not know the eye of her child? When unable to speak, an infant will express its wants by a look in a language she perfectly understands. And who has walked in this great city, and has not been moved by the look of a silent sufferer—some poor distressed object, too timid to ask for alms, but yet turning his eye with a look that expressed far more poignant distress than the most vociferous cries? And where is the eye directed? To those on whom they rely for relief. A child looks not upon a stranger, but upon its parent. A poor man looks not to his still poorer companion, for he expects nothing from him. Jehoshaphat, when invaded by the Moabites, thus addressed the Lord: “We have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.” And David, when he would express the confidence of various creatures, says, “The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them meat in due season.” This sense of our need, and this confidence in the Saviour, are essentially necessary. For never shall we really close with His offers till thus convinced—till we are brought to see that sin has defiled our best performances, and that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified. Neither shall we then look to Him, unless we have confidence in Him; unless we believe that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him; and that He is as willing as He is able, freely inviting the chief of sinners.—Stewart.
Salvation! A word of large meaning. The soul’s salvation! It suggests the idea of danger, from which rescue is needed. It is pardon for the sinner; holiness for the impure; heaven for the wandering and the lost. Here is—
I. AN IMPORTANT TRUTH.
“For I am God, and there is none else.” This is not merely an assertion of the Divine unity. It expresses the idea that GOD, and God alone, is competent to man’s salvation.
Man is not competent to his own. He cannot change his nature any more than the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the river return to the source whence it arose. Nor can he atone for sin. He cannot perfectly keep the Divine law, starting from any point. And even if he could, it would be nothing more than his duty; it would not cover past sins, any more than the felon’s subsequent honesty would cover and atone for his frauds.
No creature is competent. Under the Levitical dispensation, sacrifices of animals were Divinely appointed. Yet it is expressly stated that in the nature of the case they were inefficacious (Heb_10:4). Their utility consisted in their typical reference to the sacrifice of Him whose offering possessed a Divine element. No mere creature can repair man’s ruin.
Yet he need not perish. For God can save. He has personally interposed by means of the incarnation, obedience, death, resurrection, and ascension of His dear Son, by which satisfaction has been made to the demands of righteousness, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to renew the hearts of men.
II. A SIMPLE DIRECTION.
“Look unto me.” No man understands the care of his soul until he sees his helplessness through sin; nor will he apply to God for salvation until then. God’s work in men begins with the truth respecting themselves. Then it proceeds to the truth respecting Christ. This revealed condition on which salvation becomes possible is that the sinner believes in the Saviour (Joh_3:16). The metaphor in the text is an expressive one, as setting forth the nature of faith. The Israelites bitten by the serpents were to look to the brazen serpent. You make a promise to a man; he looks to you for the fulfilment. A man is shipwrecked: he looks for deliverance to the lifeboat which he sees making its way to him over the waters. Thus the sinner trusts to the Saviour wholly and only (H. E. I. 1957–1968).
III. A GRACIOUS ASSURANCE.
“Be ye saved,” i.e., Ye shall be saved. It is a promise in the shape of a command. The two are inseparable. The believing man is a saved man. The two ideas should be placed together always. Many illustrations of this can easily be collected from the New Testament. The question is, “Do you believe?” Then you are saved, and may rejoice in the fact of your salvation. Your liberty is proclaimed—your pardon written in the Book. If it were possible for a believer to be lost, God’s word would be falsified. Many Christians darken their spiritual experience by failing to see the certainty with which salvation follows upon faith, or by losing themselves in metaphysical inquiries as to the nature of faith.
IV. A UNIVERSAL CALL.
“All the ends of the earth.” In ancient times the earth was believed to be an extended plain. By the ends of the earth are meant all mankind, even the farthest inhabited point. The call of the Gospel is addressed to mankind in a similarly universal way (H. E. I. 2417).
1. All the ends of the earth need it. The ruin is universal. The helplessness is universal. The plague is everywhere. The race perishes. In all history, in all the world’s present population, the exception does not exist. You are no exception. Only thus is salvation possible (H. E. I. 2418–2420).
2. It is sufficient for all the ends of the earth. There is no limit to the sufficiency of the salvation God has provided. The value of the atonement can only be estimated by the infinite value of the Son of God, which is the same thing as to say it is immeasurable. The Gospel is compared to a feast which a king has provided. But the provision is so ample that, if the whole world accepted the invitation, it would be sufficient. All things are ready. The universal invitation is issued (2421–2424).
3. It is God’s will that all the ends of the earth be informed of it. One is to tell another. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” The disciples of Christ have been from the beginning providentially scattered abroad that they might preach this word. The Church in every age, and every separate church, should be missionary in its character. We must stand in the way, point to the Cross, invite the world (H. E. I. 2448).
4. Its reception by the ends of the earth is predicted. It shall be universally proclaimed, generally received, by all classes and individuals. The present moral desolation shall be fruitfulness and beauty. The desert shall be the garden of the Lord. We expect this on the authority of His word (H. E. I. 2451).
We have seen that God is the only source of salvation for sinners; that in the work of salvation God is everything, man nothing; and that He has authorised all sinners to look to Him for salvation. It follows—
1. That all the glory of salvation must be ascribed to God. Human boasting is excluded. In man’s utter ruin and helplessness, God’s love in Christ undertook and accomplished the work.
2. That the personal salvation of sinners turns upon their observing the direction to believe. The implication is that the unbeliever is not saved. Refuse to look by faith to Christ, and you exclude yourself. It is a personal matter. See that you are united to Christ.
3. That it is the duty of ministers to direct all sinners to look to Him and be saved. Nothing short of this is preaching the Gospel. Not that we can command acceptance. But we can convey God’s message to men, leaving the result between Him and them.—J. Rawlinson.
(Sermon to the Young.)
This is an invitation of surprising mercy to dying, perishing sinners, wherever they may be. It is the great and blessed God Himself calling the Gentile and heathen world to salvation. It is Immanuel, God with us, God who put on our flesh and blood, calling us to look unto Him and be saved. If we are sensible of our misery by nature and practice, if we are weary of sin, and would escape the wrath to come, we must look to Him with an eye of faith and holy dependence as our only Saviour.
I. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” This reminds us of the time when the Israelites were bitten by fiery serpents. Moses was directed to lift up a serpent of brass, which shone brightly under the rays of an Eastern sun, and was visible from all parts of the camp. By a miracle, every one who looked at this serpent was healed. No doubt every wounded parent directed his eyes to the appointed remedy, and exhorted his children to do the same. As the cure of the brazen serpent extended to the farthest distant part of the Israelitish camp, so the effect of Christ’s sacrifice extends to those who dwell in the farthest away parts of the earth; God calls upon “all the ends of the earth,” the north and the south, the east and the west. The cleansing power of Christ’s blood has no geographical limits; it is not measured by longitude and latitude. Colour and race make no difference. The descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth have an equal claim. All are to come. For what? To be saved. To be saved from their sins; and from the consequences of the crimes they have Committed, the vices they have indulged in, the angry passions they have cherished, from the curse under which they were born, and which many have so well earned for themselves.
But who is it that issues this general invitation? This question brings us to the other part of the text:—
II. “For I am God, and there is none else.” God here gives the reason why we should attend to the call, because it is made by Him who has a right to make it, and who is alone able to save.
I. “I am God:” therefore
(1.) I am all-sufficient to save. What is there that the most miserable of creatures can stand in need of, that is not to be found in ample measure in the treasure-house of God? When the Creator undertakes to be a Saviour, the creature cannot perish. There is wisdom enough in Him to make the fool wise; light enough to scatter all our darkness; power enough to make the weakest strong in grace, and active in every duty.
(2.) It is for Me to prescribe the means of obtaining salvation. “I am God;” look unto Me, therefore, ye sinners, and be saved; I will give salvation to him that looks; he that believeth on Me shall be saved from sin and death.
2. “There is none else;” there is none that can save beside Me. The salvation of a sinner is too great a work for any except God. A man cannot change a dead sinner into a living saint; he can make a house, a watch, a ship, foretell an eclipse, calculate the distance of a star; but of God alone can it be said, “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” It requires a Divine Power to secure one in temptation, to fit him for the society of God and angels, to bring him through death to eternal glory; and yet all this is to be done if the sinner is to be saved.
None but God has a right to declare the terms of salvation. If He says, “Look and be saved,” who shall forbid the banns, or narrow the breadth of the invitation? If the Lord of Heaven says to perishing sinners on earth, “Ye shall be saved, if only ye believe,” who dare impose painful rites or laborious ceremonies, or human absolution? The faith spoken of must be a vital principle, showing itself in repentance and aiming at holiness; for a dead faith cannot save (H. E. I. 1978–1986).
CONCLUSION.—How broad and glorious is the salvation of Christ! how it answers to the weaknesses and the wants, the miseries, the dangers, and the fears of the awakened sinner! It reaches not only to us, but to even the savage nations, such as our fathers once were. But we must not trust to wearing the name of Christ; we must learn to look to Him with the eye of faith, the heart of love, and the life of sincere obedience.—George Clark, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 279–285.
I. THE BLESSING OFFERED: salvation.
II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM IT IS OFFERED: “all the ends of the earth;” Gentiles as well as Jews; every one who needs it.
III. THE CONDITION ON WHICH IT IS OFFERED. “Look unto Me.”
IV. THE ARGUMENT THE BENIGNANT SAVIOUR EMPLOYS TO INDUCE GUILTY SINNERS TO ACCEPT IT. “For I am God, and there is none else;” “a just God and a Saviour.” The argument is twofold:
1. Sinners may trust Christ without suspicion, for He is omnipotent.
2. Sinners should trust Christ alone, for there is none else able to save.
CONCLUSION.—The duty of all immediately to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved It is the voice of infinite love that entreats us to be saved. Shall we then turn away from the invitation of such a Saviour? Besides, it is an authoritative command to us to do our duty. It is outrageous folly to trifle with the injunctions of the King of heaven. To those who are looking to Christ, the text is fraught with the richest consolation. “He is able to save you to the uttermost.”—W. France: The Scottish Pulpit, vol. iv. pp. 42–48.
Give your most earnest thought to these four great facts: I. All need to be saved. II. There is One who can save. III. The salvation He offers is worthy of Him. It is present, ample, certain, complete. IV. There is only one way by which that salvation can be made ours, by looking to Jesus.—J. A. Spurgeon: The Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 351.
THE NATURE AND AUTHOR OF SALVATION
Isa_45:22. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.
The glorious end which the Spirit contemplates in calling upon all men everywhere to look unto Jesus is their salvation. [1456]
[1456] There is no intended enriching of men with the titles, honours, incomes of earth; there is no intended extension of the span of mortality, or wisdom, or scientific attainments of man. These are beheld by the Creator of men as scarcely worth a moment’s reflection, while everlasting concerns remain unknown and unravelled, or disproportionately felt by those whom they wholly concern.… If you saw your child sinking amid the waters of the deep, would you feel that the time for gathering pebbles to amuse him, or meditating schemes of improving his mind? Would you not rather dash into the waves, and at the risk of your life rescue the child from his perilous situation? Even so the Almighty sees that the short time that is measured out to humanity needs something better than trifles on which to expend itself.—Cumming.
I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS WORD, “AND BE SAVED.”.
There is implied in it,
1. Deliverance from the dominion of sin in this world. We argue the necessity of this deliverance from the facts—
(1.) That sin is the root and fountain of misery. To remove effects, we must remove the cause: before man can be happy, he must be holy; before he can be saved from sorrow, he must be saved from sin.
(2). That they who enter heaven must be identified with heaven in character (H. E. I. 2730–2738).
(3.) That deliverance from the power of sin is the very purpose for which the Spirit of Christ is given to them that believe. Hereby we dissipate the false and misleading ideas of those who imagine that salvation is a state into which we are not introduced till we die.
2. Deliverance from the consequences of sin in the world to come. These include,
(1.) Irretrievable exile from the presence, and the glory, and the joy of Jehovah—the radiating centre of all happiness and peace.
(2.) The righteous punishment of all the sinner’s transgressions.
(3.) The extinction of hope.
(4.) That bitter remorse which springs from the recollection of having lost a heaven that might once have been won, and plunged into a misery which might once have been shunned. This is the worm that never dies, this is the fire that is never quenched.
II. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS SALVATION IS TO BE SECURED.
“Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” There is in this verse no preliminary required of man, only a look at the Saviour! No preparatory reformation, no preparatory repentance even! Repentance itself is the gift of Christ (H. E. I. 4225–4231, 4249, 4250).
Look! when God commands a work, He presents the might to do it. [1459]
[1459] Men’s regards have too often been tortured and twisted aside and directed to faith, to repentance, and to a vast variety of preparations for learning and living on Christ, instead of being summoned, without restriction and delay, to Christ the Saviour, who is the dispenser of these most precious graces, not the requisitionist of their previous existence. When you are told to look to repentence, to faith, to previous reformation of any kind, you are told to look to an idol, and you stand as far off from the true worship of Jehovah as they who bend the knee to Baal, or they that did homage to the stones, and images, and paintings in the Roman Pantheon. When Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection, many of his auditors supposed that he proclaimed two distinct and equal Deities; and many still, when we preach Christ, repentance, and faith, suppose, though they allow it not, that we preach separate Saviours, to any of which they may look and be saved.… Does not the Scripture declare most pointedly, that Jesus is “exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins.” And does not this imply that we must look to Him before we can repent? Man may sorrow when he looks back upon the threatenings of the law of God, and fear and tremble when he looks forward to the awful punishment of hell; but repent, in the Scriptural sense, he never will, till he look to Jesus. Repentance is in fact the expression of a changed heart, the fruit of being born again.—Cumming.
III. THE CHARACTER IN WHICH THE SAVIOUR PRESENTS HIMSELF TO SINNERS.
Look at Christ,
1. As having borne the punishment which you deserved, and thereby made it inconsistent with the equity of God to punish the believer.
2. As our High Priest who pleads for us within the veil, and sends His Spirit forth to seal us to eternal glory.
3. As able to instruct us savingly in all the will and word of God.
4. As the Sovereign King, whose laws we are unreservedly to reverence and obey.
5. As the source and distributor of all blessings, who has a right to all we hold on earth.
IV. How ARE WE TO LOOK TO JESUS?
1. In looking to Jesus, there is involved a looking away from every other ground of pardon, of salvation, of recovery (H. E. I. 1944–1951).
2. We must look under strong convictions of our helplessness and imbecility.
3. Look to Jesus, not only under a conviction of your insufficiency, but of His fulness (H. E. I. 934–941).
4. We are to look intently, just as the beggar looks into the face of him who has the world’s wealth around him; just as the shipwrecked seaman gazes in the face of him that has the means to rescue.
5. We must look continually. It will not do to look at the Redeemer to-day, and to-morrow forget His existence and His claims; we must look to Him from first to last (P. D. 2313, 2314).
VI. WHO ARE PERMITTED TO LOOK TO HIM FOR SALVATION. [1462]
[1462] H. E. I. 379, 381.
We hold the doctrines of election and of predestination to be scriptural and precious truths; but if a man will make these drags upon our efforts to proclaim the everlasting Gospel, and dampers on our zeal in the cause of perishing souls, we will stand up for their defence, and maintain that these doctrines are desecrated and abused, and instead of being, as meant, consolations to all true believers, are made barriers in the way of heaven’s going forth to recover the lapsed children of Adam, and to rescue the heirs of eternity from going down to perdition. We are to act upon the principle that there is sufficiency in Christ for all; that His blood can wash the most inveterate stains of guilt; and we are to bound its saving efficacy by nothing short of the limits of the globe.—Cumming.
J Cumming, D.D.: “The British Pulpit,” vol. i. pp. 321–334.
LIFE FOR A LOOK
Isa_45:22. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, &c.
The precious truth contained in this statement has been put in this memorable form: “We have here the greatest possible blessing, for the greatest possible number, under the best possible guarantee, and on the easiest possible terms.” While we proceed along these lines, let us breathe the prayer that God would remove the scales from blind eyes, and unstop deaf ears, that His message of grace may be understood and believed.
I. THE GREATEST POSSIBLE BLESSING. Moses was instructed to make a serpent of brass, and set it upon a pole, “that every one that was bitten, when he looked upon it, might live” (Num_21:8). Life and salvation are the same thing, for life is salvation from death, and no blessing can bear comparison with this. A patient may have every attention, but there is one blessing he earnestly desires—to have his life spared, his health restored. The shrieking passengers in wild commotion on that burning ship are seeking one thing—to save their lives. And the most urgent need of the soul is life. Every other blessing is included in this salvation. Your sins expose you to the curse of the law; but Christ has redeemed you, being made a curse for you. What greater blessing can there be? It is not mere deliverance from punishment, but also the rectification of your disordered spiritual nature. Nothing deserves the name of salvation which does not purify the heart. Salvation is complete and final (Mar_8:36).
II. FOR THE GREATEST POSSIBLE NUMBER. “All ye ends of the earth,” “every one that is bitten,” however far gone he might be. What a significant emblem of the Cross in its far-reaching efficacy (Joh_3:14-15). Some years ago a terrible story came from sea. Fire was spreading fast along the decks, and left only two boats available for the 477 souls on board. These were soon filled, leaving the large number for whom there was no accommodation to the alternative of death by fire or water. In this fearful plight the captain first threw his wife overboard, and then himself plunged into the waves. If the lost family of mankind were placed in similar circumstances with respect to the salvation of the soul, many of us might with reason plunge into the deeps of despair; but, blessed be God, there is room for all. “All ye ends of the earth.” Where can you go to be beyond the sweep of these words? To what end of the earth can you retire where this voice will not reach? (Pro_8:4). There is only one place where it is not heard. It does not run, “All ye ends of hell;” but you are still in a world of hope.
III. UNDER THE BEST POSSIBLE GUARANTEE. “For I am God, and there is none else.” The serpent on the pole was no human device. It was the Divine method of recovery to the suffering Israelites. Moses might have said, How can healing come from a serpent of brass? but he stumbled not through unbelief. God’s ways are not our ways. Jesus was lifted up to draw all men unto Him. Despise the Cross, and there is no other way of recovery, for this is God’s way. If He guarantees life and salvation, who shall gainsay or oppose His will? Here, then, is the highest possible security. The Almighty gives us eternal life through His Son, and signs the deed with His own hand. Anything short of this would be unworthy of our confidence; but when a faithful God thus binds Himself, we may surely rest on His word. It is no hazardous speculation in which we are called to embark; no doubtful venture, for the highest authority in the universe has pledged His honour and faithfulness to make it sure.
IV. ON THE EASIEST POSSIBLE TERMS. “Look unto me.” We have but to look to Christ to save us; to depend on Him for salvation; to use a good Scotch word, we have to “lippen” all to Him. He has died to secure your salvation. Why, then, should you distrust Him? Look away from your poor sinful selves, away from all your feelings and strivings, to Him the one source of salvation (Joh_3:36). Nothing can be easier, and it has been made thus easy to be within the power of all. We make it difficult by our prejudices, our ignorance, our despair. There is no deficiency in the provisions of the Gospel. All things are ready. Yet there is room. You dare not doubt the efficacy of the Redeemer’s sacrifice, nor question the boundlessness of His love. Nor can you plead that you are too sinful to be forgiven. Were you not sinful you would need no salvation. It may be you try to make yourself better before you look to Him; but you cannot make yourself better except by looking to Him. The longer you refuse to look the worse you will become. Come to Him as you are, sinful and wretched, and He will take you as you are (Joh_6:37).—William Guthrie, M.A.
It is to the second person in the Godhead—to our Lord Jesus Christ—that we are to look (Joh_3:14-15). In the language of metaphor, the mind, as well as the body, has eyes. We say, “Look at this fact; look at this or that other historic personage—at Julius Cæsar, Luther, Abraham;” and we all understand what is meant when such language is employed. It is in some such way that we are told to look at the Saviour.
I. If you look unto the Lord Jesus, you will see God manifest. How shall we find out the Almighty unto perfection? How shall we know the dispositions and character of that great Being with whom our eternal destiny is linked far more intimately and enduringly than with the dearest friend of our bosom? Philosophy answers: “In nature” (H. E. I. 361). But the Gospel replies: “You will see Him better still in Jesus Christ” (H. E. I. 847, 855–857, 1495–1497, 2243).
II. You will see not only God manifest, but Divine love incarnate. According to the medium through which it shines, the same light gives a radiance of a very different colour and influence—it cheers or depresses; through a clear or gold-tinted glass of a lantern it sheds a bright and summer-like ray, through a blue glass of the same lantern it darts a cold, pallid beam. In a sinful world like this, we could easily imagine an awful incarnation from which the Divine attributes should have shone out upon us cold, lurid, or ghastly, just as they do when viewed through that sin-smoked glass which guilt holds up when it tries to look upon God; an incarnation in which the vindictive attributes of the Almighty had come on errands of severity into the midst of our sinfulness. But what was the actual fact? (Joh_1:14; Joh_3:17). Look to Jesus, and you will see that God is love.
III. Looking unto the Lord Jesus, there is yet another sight with which the penitent sinner is regaled, and that is righteous reconciliation. We behold a Saviour who so completely made satisfaction for us that God’s very righteousness is declared in the remission of the sinner’s transgressions. The Son of God offered a sacrifice so infinitely acceptable that no other offering, no further supplementary sacrifice on the part of the sinner, nay, nor on the part of the Saviour Himself, will ever be required. Now forgiveness is offered to each one of us. Do we accept it? God has set forth His Son as a propitiation for our sin, and whenever the sinner puts forth as his plea, that Christ hath died, the controversy is ended, and God sees no iniquity in the now humble and penitent transgressor. This is the atonement, the at-one-ment: God pacified toward the sinner, and the sinner reconciled to God by the peace-speaking Cross.
IV. Whoever looks at the Saviour long enough, will find life transmitted from Him into his own soul. The moment that God’s injunction is obeyed, and the sinner casts himself on Christ for salvation, that moment he is safe; but it may be a long time before he can realise his safety—before the blessings of the Gospel, which are actually his, are also his in conscious possession. When the serpent-bitten Israelite obeyed God’s command, and gazed at the serpent of brass, he lived; in that very look the virus of death was miraculously countervailed, and his recovery began. But just as you can imagine the anguish so intense that one moment could not charm it into ease and ecstasy—nay, the smart so keen that the stings which had been received would mingle for a time with the throbs of convalescence, and in half-slumberous moments the patient might dream that he was still death-doomed; so when you reflect what a malignant malady is sin, how deep it has dug its fangs into our inmost nature, and how long we have been tossing in its consuming torture, you can scarcely wonder that the surviving smart or the returning twinges of the old death-stroke sometimes startle the believer, and make him question if he can be really recovered, or dread a fatal relapse. But what would you have advised the man in such a case to do? To look again, look constantly, eagerly, till every qualm of doubt, every fear of death was drowned in the tide of transmitted life and healing. And you who still feel the discomfort of the old disease, and fear lest the ancient wound should fester afresh and kill your soul at last, look again steadfastly, solely, unto Jesus Christ. As in the old miraculous cure, through the gazing eye health flowed into the poisoned blood, and passed into the twinging nerves; so through the eye that fixes trustfully and lovingly on the Lord Jesus—God’s beloved Son and the sinner’s propitiation—renovation flows into the corrupt nature, and comfort into the wounded spirit, till by and by recovery mantles on the cheerful countenance, bounds in the obedient step, and swells out in the psalm of thanksgiving.
V. If you look to Jesus as God reveals Him in His Word, and as He is in Himself, you will see a Saviour who, when He attracts your love, will assimilate your life to His. If you look to a right purpose, and long enough and simply enough, you will not only get sensible, but visible salvation; that is, you yourself will look like one who has looked to Jesus (2Co_3:18).—James Hamilton, D.D.: The Penny Pulpit, No. 1713.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the refugees. (See: Isaiah 45:20)
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Let them conspire together
Here the word "them" refers to the refugees from among the nations who worship idols.
Who has shown this from long ago? Who announced it? Was it not I, Yahweh?
Yahweh uses questions to emphasize that he was the one who told them these things would happen. AT: "I will tell you who has shown this from long ago. I will tell you who announced it. It was I, Yahweh." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
declare
Yahweh
God
just
Savior
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.