Jehovah confirms the word of His servants and fulfills the counsel of His messengers. Jehovah also says to Jerusalem, "She will be inhabited," and to the cities of Judah, "They will be built," and "I will raise up their ruins" (v. 26). He says to the depths, "Be dried up," and "I will dry up your rivers" (v. 27). Furthermore, Jehovah says to Cyrus, "He is My shepherd," indicating that Cyrus is God's shepherd for the shepherding of Israel. Jehovah also says to Cyrus, "He will fulfill all My desire." Cyrus will do this by saying of Jerusalem, "She will be built," and of the temple, "Her foundations will be laid" (v. 28). These words are pleasant to God's ears.
Isaiah 45 speaks regarding a servant of Jehovah and a witness of Jehovah.
In this chapter a servant of Jehovah is raised up by Jehovah in righteousness (v. 13a). He is called by Jehovah (vv. 3b, 4b) and chosen by Jehovah (42:1a) for the sake of Jehovah's servant, Israel (45:4a). He is anointed by Jehovah (v. 1a) to subdue the nations (vv. 1b-2), to build Jehovah's city of Jerusalem (v. 13b; cf. Neh. 2:5-6), and to send away Jehovah's captives of Israel, neither for a price nor for a reward (Isa. 45:13c; Luke 4:18c).
A witness of Jehovah testifies that only Jehovah is "Jehovah" and "there is no one else" (Isa. 45:5a). Besides Jehovah there is no God. Jehovah is the One "who forms the light and creates darkness" and "who makes peace and creates evil" (v. 7). Here evil refers to the lack of peace.
Isaiah 45:8 says, "Drip down, O heavens, from above,/ And let the clouds flow down righteousness;/Let the earth open/And bring forth salvation and righteousness;/Let them spring forth together;/I, Jehovah, have created it." What does it mean to say that the clouds will "flow down righteousness"? This means that the Spirit will flow down to dispense Christ as righteousness into the people on earth. The earth here signifies human beings. Thus, for the earth to be opened is for people to be opened. On the one hand, God causes the Spirit to flow down from heaven to impart Christ as righteousness into us; on the other hand, God causes us as the earth to open and bring forth salvation and righteousness, both of which are Christ Himself. In this verse, therefore, we have a description of how God carries out His salvation. God carries out His salvation by using His Spirit to bring down Christ as righteousness and by opening us to receive Christ as salvation and righteousness.
Jehovah is "a God who hides Himself" (v. 15). Even today, God is still hiding. Jehovah is also the Savior of Israel, the Savior of those "who have escaped from the nations" (vv. 15, 20a). However, those who make idols will be ashamed and go in confusion (v. 16).
In 45:20-25 we have Jehovah's loving word of invitation.
First, there is the invitation to turn to Jehovah for salvation. "Turn to Me and be saved,/All the ends of the earth,/For I am God and there is no one else" (v. 22).
To Jehovah every knee will bow and every tongue will swear (v. 23).
"It will be said of Me, Only in Jehovah/Is there righteousness and strength./To Him will men come,/And all those who are burning in anger against Him will be ashamed" (v. 24). Here righteousness refers to salvation, and strength refers to life. This means that in Jehovah we have salvation and life. Those who come to Him will be saved, but those who oppose Him will be ashamed.
According to verse 25, in Jehovah all the seed of Israel will be justified and will glory. Here to be justified is to be saved. In Jehovah all the seed of Israel will be saved and will glory.
In chapters forty-one through forty-five, Isaiah gives us a conclusion. In the first forty chapters he unveiled in a hidden way God's economy, which is to have a people so that Christ as the embodiment of God can be expressed as everything, to be the centrality and the universality of everything in God's economy. God in Christ and Christ with God have reached this point, that is, to have Christ expressed as God's centrality and universality, to such an extent that Cyrus, a Gentile king, became one with Christ and that even pitiful Israel also became one with Him. No doubt Isaiah was one with Him. Thus, Cyrus, Israel, and Isaiah were one with Christ that God might have a corporate expression.
Everyone who is one with Christ, including us, is a type of Christ because such persons are part of Christ. All who are part of Christ are types of Christ, who is the Servant of God, and they also are servants of God. All other persons have been terminated, "fired," and put aside by God. We who are one with Christ also have been fired by God, but unlike the unbelievers, we have been replaced with Christ to be one with Him. Furthermore, we who are one with Christ have become a great corporate Christ. This corporate Christ is the same as the individual Christ in being the testimony and servant of God.
God's economy is to have Christ processed for the divine purposes to be the centrality and universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing of Himself into His elect. The divine dispensing is implied throughout the book of Isaiah. For example, the child born and the son given (9:6) is for the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people. To drink the water of God's salvation is to receive His dispensing (12:3). The feast (25:6) with Christ as the canopy (4:5-6) to cover the entire situation is for the dispensing of the riches of the Triune God into those who enjoy Christ.
With Hezekiah in chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine we do not see anything of the divine dispensing, but we see much of this dispensing in chapter forty. When a person realizes that he is nothing, that he is withering and fading, and that only God is everything and that only He abides forever, he is willing to come to the word of God to be regenerated. Regeneration by the living and abiding word of God (40:6-8) is the issue of God's dispensing. Regeneration is actually a great dispensing. We were born of Adam to be temporal persons, but we have been regenerated to be eternal persons. In regeneration, the Triune God dispenses Himself into us as life to make us eternal persons. Regeneration is followed by transformation. Becoming transformed persons who mount up with wings like eagles (v. 31) is also a matter of the divine dispensing.
In this message we will consider chapters forty-six through forty-eight. In these chapters Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is typified by Cyrus to release Jehovah's captives of the beloved Israel from Babylon.
According to 46:1-2 and 5-7, the idols of Babylon are powerless and useless and cannot be compared to Jehovah. Furthermore, the idols are a burden for Israel to carry in their coming captivity. Concerning this, 46:1 and 2 say, "Bel has bowed down; Nebo stoops;/Their idols are on beasts and cattle;/The things which you carry are a burden,/A load for a weary beast./They stoop and have bowed down together; / They are not able to escape the burden; / But they themselves have gone into captivity." Bel was one of the gods of the Babylonians, supposed by some to be the Babylonian name of Baal.
Instead of helping the people of Israel, the idols were a burden to them, for the people had to carry them. When Israel was captured by the Babylonians, God's people still would not give up their idols and had to carry them from the good land to Babylon. In these verses, Isaiah, speaking somewhat in a mocking way, seemed to be saying, "You people of Israel have made idols for yourselves, but they will not do anything for you. One day you will be captured, and you will have to carry your idols with you as a burden into captivity."
Anything that replaces God or occupies the position of God is an idol as a burden to the worshipper. Today's human society encourages people to make idols. A person, education, or a high position with a company can all become idols to us. Eventually, every idol will not help us but instead will become a burden that we must carry.