I am The Lord There is No Other

Isaiah 45: 1-7

Pentecost 21 (Proper 24)

Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen.  The sermon text for the twenty first Sunday after Pentecost is the Old Testament reading Isaiah 45.  It is the Lord’s hand that moves all of history for the benefit of His people.  It is important that we know that and remember it. It is important to remember that God is in control of all things especially as we live in this sinful world. We look at the condition of things around us, and it can cause us to worry.  We worry about the upcoming elections.  We worry about the condition of our country.  We worry about all the news that we hear happening around the world. When we look at the fallen world around us, we start to get very concerned about the direction things are going. As we look at the fallen world around us, it feels like we are standing on shaky ground.

Yet, when we look at our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, we see that God is indeed the Lord of history and that He moves things for our benefit. Recall what was said in verse one. “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before Him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed.” When Isaiah originally said these words, he was speaking about the future.  Isaiah was speaking to the Israelites who were exiled in Babylon.  At the time Babylon was the most powerful nation in the ancient world and so it appeared that there was no hope for the Israelites.  But that was not the case.  God would free His people, and He would do so by anointing Cyrus to become king of the Persians.  Cyrus was able to rise up through the ranks, become a military leader, and eventually surround the city of Babylon.  The Babylonians surrendered and opened up the gates and allowed the Persians to walk in. This was all accomplished by the hand of God to use Cyrus to free the people of Israel.  Cyrus made a decree to allow the Israelites to return to their land. God was the one in charge.  It was not the pagan gods, Israel, Babylon, or the Persians.  It was the Lord God who called Cyrus to free His people. 

Let us go to verse two.  “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.”  This verse is referring to Israel’s captivity.  It looked like there would be no possible way that the Israelites could ever be free from their exile.  But nothing is impossible with God.  The Lord moved things in such a way that His people were indeed freed.  What God opens no one can shut.  The Babylonian captivity was no obstacle to God.  When we face the obstacles of sin, darkness, and death it is the Lord who overcomes them for us.  He forgives sins, shines a great light in darkness, and He has overcome death.             

Here is what is said in verse three. “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”  It was the Persians led by Cyrus who defeated the Babylonians and it was the Persians who became the next great nation in the ancient world. What this verse makes clear is that it was by God’s hand that the Cyrus won the victory.  It was the Lord who moved things to put Cyrus in position to be the king of the Persians.  He would not have been king without God’s hand.  

Verse four explains why God moved things the way He did.  “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.”  The reason that God worked through Cyrus was for the benefit of His people.  It was by the Lord’s hand that the Israelites returned to their land.  It was by God’s plan that they returned to the land and then eventually rebuilt the temple.  It was the Lord who preserved the line of the Messiah so that we could be saved from sin and death.  What is interesting is that Cyrus even though he was doing the will of the Lord did not actually know the Lord.  Cyrus did not believe in the one true God.  Yet, God still worked through Him to carry out His plan to free His people. 

Let’s dive into verses five and six.  “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, through you don’t know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”  The Triune God is the one true God.  He is the creator of all things and He preserves all things.   He is also our redeemer and Savior.  God revealed Himself to certain people at certain times throughout history.  He did so to achieve His plan for our salvation.  The Lord inspired the prophets to write down what He had done so that all would know Him.  When the time was right the Lord sent His Son into the world to bring about our salvation. Jesus lived the perfect life, died, and rose from the dead and in doing so rescued us from sin and death.  The apostles and evangelists wrote down the eyewitness accounts of what Jesus said and did so that we would know Him.  The Lord now comes to us in His Word and reveals Himself to us.  What has been reveled is that all people are accountable to God, that the Lord will judge the wicked, and that salvation is given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. What is reveled to us is that God wants all people to know Him and believe in Him. 

That takes us to verse seven.  “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”  This last verse is the hardest to understand at least at first glance.  If we are careless in our reading, we might come to the conclusion that God is the author of evil.  That would be wrong.  In the beginning when God made everything it was good.  God’s creation was perfect.  Sin came into the world because of the fall.  God is not the author of evil, but He does allow things to happen. He allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve. He has also allowed various calamities to happen throughout history.  But we must remember that when God allows things to happen, He is doing it for the good of His people.  What the chief priests and Roman officials did to Jesus by crucifying Him was sinful. Yet, the Lord worked through our Lord’s death on the cross to bring about our salvation.  God’s hand moves things throughout history, and He allows things to happen, but He does so to bring about our salvation.  He does so to bring us closer to Him.  We are not going to understand everything about God or everything that happens in the world and in our life, but we do know that God is good. When we face hardship and struggle it will be difficult, but we know that the Lord is with us.  We know that we can trust Him. 

Psalm 37 conveys this very well.  “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.  Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.  For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”    

We worry about a lot of things.  That is why our Old Testament reading from Isaiah is so important.  It reminds us that the Lord is the one who moves history for the benefit of His people.  God is the Lord of history who moves things and allows things to happen to achieve His plan to bring about our salvation.  Let us trust in the Lord and cling to His promises.  For the Lord is gracious to us though His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.