©Living Hope Church 7 September 2008

The Sovereign Savior 45

Introduction

A. God’s Sovereignty defined

Story of a question a group of pastors was asked. “Of all the attributes of God is there one attribute has come to mean much more to you through the years?” The vast majority said, the sovereignty of God. And he asked them, “Why?” They said that to know that God is in absolute control over the world and their lives was a great comfort and strength.

It is isn’t it?

Bruce Ware in his fine book, God’s Greater Glory defines God’s providence in this way: “God continually oversees and directs all things pertaining to the created order in such a way that 1) he preserves its existence and provides for the creation he has brought into being, and 2) he governs and reigns supremely over the entirety of the whole of creation in order to fulfill all of his intended purposes in it and through it.”

So we see that God both preserves and governs his creation in his providence.

B. God’s sovereignty raises questions

Now God’s providence or his sovereignty raises a number of questions as we connect it to his relationship with creation, especially with us, his human creatures. What is the relationship between divine providence and human choice? What is the relation of divine providence to good and evil and suffering?

There are other questions as well, and my purpose this morning is not to answer all of them. If you would like a book which does answer many of these questions, I would suggest Ware’s book God’s Greater Glory as well as the book, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor.

C. Isaiah 45-How God’s sovereign acts with Cyrus reveal that he alone is the Savior

But Isaiah 45 brings into focus another important issue as God brings into focus his own sovereignty. The important issue is that God alone is able to save. Here is how God defends this idea: I am the Creator of all things; As Creator I rule my world and bring about my purposes; If I am the Creator and Ruler only I can save. Now will you trust me for your salvation.

God presents himself as the Savior in the context of something “bad” that is going to happen to his people. In about a hundred years they will be exiled to . God told them so. And like the rest of us, when they heard this news they thought that they were finished. It was hard for them not to lose hope. And like we so often do, when they heard this bad news they began to believe all kinds of lies and to think that there was no use to trust in God at all because, once again, it seemed like he was not really in control of things.

When we don’t understand what God is up to (especially when he is disciplining us and we don’t see our sin), it is easy for us to begin to believe all kinds of lies, which lead to losing hope and living in fear.

So what God does in Isaiah 45 is he reminds his people of his absolute control over the world and he takes this message of his sovereignty personal and global.

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Let me explain what I mean. God shows his rule by predicting that he will raise up an earthly king to deliver his people after they live in exile for 70 years. And to prove without a doubt that God is the one doing this, he names the king he will raise up. He predicts his name will be Cyrus. Then God does something interesting. In Isaiah 45 he turns personally to the king he is going to choose and essential says, “When I raise you up to power I want you to know that the Holy One of is the true God. And then the Lord turns to the world and does the same thing: “When a king named Cyrus appears on the scene in about a hundred and fifty years from now, know one thing: I alone am God and as the only true God I rule this world. Therefore, as verse 22 says, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

This is the one of the strongest declarations to the world that the Lord alone is able to save and God proves it when he delivers his people through a king named Cyrus. Throughout history God has declared that he alone is the Savior. And here he proves to Cyrus, to his people, and to the world that he alone is able to save by his sovereign power.

D. How Isaiah 45 unfolds God’s sovereignty

Now let’s look at how God reveals his sovereignty and how he alone is able to save. Isaiah 45 is not an easy chapter to outline but we might see its development in this way: First, God puts his sovereignty on display by raising up Cyrus to deliver his people from powerful Babylon. Second, God makes much about declaring his sovereign work before it happens. It is the argument we have seen before, but it is taken global, as God declares to Cyrus and to the nations: Because I alone am God I declare what I will do long before it ever happens. So when I have fulfilled what I have declared would happen, know that this gives witness that I alone am God and I alone can save you. And third, God turns to the nations and he simply confronts them about his sovereign rule over the world and proves that he alone is the Savior. We will either turn to him for salvation or we will be forced to bow down and proclaim that in the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.

So in Isaiah 45, we see God’s sovereignty displayed, we see God’s sovereignty declared, and we see God’s sovereignty confronted as the Holy One of Israel reveals that he alone is the Sovereign Savior.

It is my prayer, that if you have come this morning, but have not believed in God for your salvation that you would come to faith, today. God has given evidence to you that of all the religions and gods man has created, the Lord rises above them all and he alone is the one, true God. You need to know and believe this so that you may turn to him for salvation for there is salvation in no one else.

It is also my prayer that if you have already believed in God for your salvation through Jesus Christ that you will leave adoring God all the more for how he has brought about our salvation. Isaiah 45 speaks of God’s powerful sovereign acts to accomplish this. God’s people face, yet again, a time when they could be finished as a nation and with them the end of a savior who was to come from the line of . But God sovereignly delivered them that a Savior might be born one day in Bethlehem. And as God works to accomplish this he proves that he alone is the Sovereign Savior.

Now let’s first look at God’s sovereignty on display as he predicts how he will raise up the Persian King, Cyrus, in order to deliver his people from powerful Babylon. Read 1-10.

1. God’s Sovereignty on Display vv 1-10

A. The display of God’s sovereignty by raising up Cyrus

Isaiah begins by speaking directly to Cyrus. Now again, remember this is given 100 years before the exile and about 150 years before Cyrus defeats Babylon. But when God actually fulfills this prophecy he raises up a man for the hour, the prophet Daniel. Daniel is one of the exiles taken to Babylon and by God’s hand prospers greatly there. Daniel becomes a trusted advisor to the Babylonian kings and then becomes one of three presidents appointed to rule the empire under Cyrus. We also know that he had access to the of Israel and knew some of the details of what was to happen. Perhaps he

2 ©Living Hope Church 7 September 2008 was used by God to make Cyrus aware of what Isaiah prophesied concerning Cyrus, his rise to power and defeat of Babylon.

Some of the details of these prophecies would have captured Cyrus’ attention. The fact that he rose so quickly to become a world power was predicted in Isaiah 45:2 where the Lord says he will level the exalted places and smash the bronze gates and cut through the bars of iron. The fact that the Lord would give him “the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places” by handing him for example the fabulous wealth of Croesus, king of Lydia could not go without notice. Also, Cyrus could not miss the fact that Isaiah predicted in ch.47:9 the most unlikely possibility of defeating the impregnable city of Babylon in “one night.” Amazingly, this was fulfilled by Cyrus’ army as they walked through a drained water duct underneath the walls of Babylon and they were virtually unopposed because Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and his army were blitzed from an all night drinking party.

As Cyrus heard these prophecies he realized that the God of Israel was the one who had given him victory after victory, including the greatest victory over Babylon. Therefore, he decreed in for the Temple to be rebuilt and that the people in his kingdom should support the return of the Jews with silver and gold and goods and cattle. Even this fulfills Isaiah 45:13 which says that Cyrus will build the city and set the exiles free, “not for a price or a reward.”

So God displays his great sovereignty over the nations as he raises up the Persians, who never before and never since became a great power after their decline in 485 BC. But God ordained that Cyrus and his people would become great and would defeat Babylon. And unlike the kings of these empires, Cyrus would show benevolence on God’s people and allow them to return and rebuild the city and the Lord’s Temple.

B. The purposes of God’s sovereignty v 8

As God displays his sovereignty in this world event Isaiah explains God’s purposes in this. At different places in Isaiah we see a prophecy being given and then they are interrupted with a song of praise or a prayer. Verse 8 is another one of Isaiah’s “breakout” statements in which he cries out, “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.”

The reason this statement is so significant is that it tells us two primary purposes God is aiming to achieve through his sovereignty. Here we are told that God is directing all things to display his righteousness and salvation. God’s righteousness and God’s salvation. These are the two primary ways that God will display his glory in the earth.

It is important for us to take this to heart, especially when our own “good” seems to be laid aside for a season. God doesn’t immediately intervene to make everything in our lives all better, does he? There are times in which he seems very slow in answering our prayers for help. One reason for this is that he often sees things much differently than we do. God knows the good of taking us deeper into his righteousness. Nothing brings greater good for our soul.

Dave Powlison writes in his chapter, God’s Grace and Your Sufferings (found in the book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God), “How does God’s grace meet you in your sufferings? We can make the right answer sound old hat, but I guarantee this: God will surprise you. He will make you stop. You will struggle. He will bring you up short. You will hurt. He will take his time. You will grow in faith and in love. He will deeply delight you. You will find the process harder than you ever imagined—and better. Goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life (Ps. 23:6). No matter how many times you have heard it, no matter how long you’ve known it, no matter how well you can say it, God’s answer will come to mean something better than you could ever imagine.” p.146

In John 15 Jesus Christ reminds us that God prunes us. Pruning folks, does not feel good. In fact, pruning feels a lot like discipline. It just has a different purpose. Jesus tells us, “Every branch that

3 ©Living Hope Church 7 September 2008 bears fruit he (God) prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” God desires his righteousness to rain down on the earth, because he knows as Heb.12:10 teaches us that our good is found by sharing in his holiness, and that righteousness yields a “peaceful fruit.”

God also has purposed for his salvation to sprout up on the earth. Thankfully, God has not left man to himself but he is working for his salvation to fill the earth. In a particular way God raised up Cyrus and works in his heart so that he would send his people back to so that they might be established, once again, as the people of God. But the ultimate reason that God was committed to do this is that the offspring of and David would be established again, and out of that offspring would come one day, a Savior.

God called Cyrus to be his servant that the world might have a Savior. And we can be confident of this: As God has sovereignly worked to give us a Savior he continues to sovereignly work on our behalf that his salvation might sprout up in the lives of people all over the earth.

Bringing his salvation to the peoples of the earth is a purpose God will fulfill. He will not be stopped in this. But the question is: Are we growing with a conviction that this is so much the heart of God that we will commit to join God in this primary purpose that he has ordained to fulfill? Are we continuing to adjust our priorities as individuals and as a church to give ourselves to God’s sovereign purpose that his salvation would sprout up all over the earth? We must continue to fight Satan’s temptation to derail our lives with lesser things.

Now as God, 150 years later, displays his sovereign rule by raising up Cyrus and delivering his people from Babylon, he’s has a message to declare. This is his message in verses 11-19. Read.

2. God’s Sovereignty Declared vv 11-19

A. God’s pattern of revealing himself

One of the chief characteristics of the way God reveals himself to mankind throughout history is that he proclaims who he is and how he alone is the Savior. Then he does something that unfolds his salvation, and after he acts he explains how what he did reveals his salvation and how he alone the Savior. The pattern is: Word-Act-Word. In :12 God actual tells us this pattern of how he had revealed himself to Israel-“I declared and saved and proclaimed.”

So as God continues to reveal himself through Isaiah, he again follows this pattern. He tells us who he is and because of who he is, what he will do. In 150 years he does it. And then he tells us what he wants us to see from what he did. The message God declares is this: You can ask me anything that I plan to do for my people in the future and I will tell you what will happen, because all of it is the work of my hands. And as I tell you long before what will happen, when it takes place as I said, know that I am the one who made the earth. I am the one who created man. The reason that I raised up Cyrus to become a world power is to show my people and the world that the Holy One of Israel alone is God. And as you see that I alone am God you will understand that I alone am the Savior. Therefore, turn to me and be saved.

B. Yet another prophecy about Cyrus

God goes on to say that not only will he raise up Cyrus to become Israel’s deliverer, but then in verse 14 he tells of another thing he will do. As God fulfills his word in delivering his people from the exile, he tells Cyrus that he will also bring the Egyptians and the Ethiopians and the Sabeans, all people from the south, under his control. And they will honor him with their goods, but most importantly they will proclaim, “Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.”

This theme of God bringing the nations who once worshipped false gods to a place of proclaiming that the LORD alone is God is seen throughout Isaiah, and one that will continue to be declared in chapters 49 and 60. As the Creator of all things God is the sovereign ruler over his world. He is directing

4 ©Living Hope Church 7 September 2008 all things to one end-the glory of his own name. One day all the other gods that have been created by man will disappear. You remember says that they will completely vanish, because one day God will make it apparent to everyone that he alone is the eternal, self-existent One, he alone is God.

C. What God declares

But until this is completely fulfilled God is calling people to faith in himself, and he gives you and me a powerful witness. He has given us his prophetic word, and now he declares, “I have told you what is to happen with Cyrus. I raised up a king and a people who never before and never since has risen to such power. This happened by my hand, because I alone am God. I have declared this long before it happened and I have not spoken this in secret, but have said it out in the open. When this word is fulfilled just as I said, hear what I have to say to you, ‘Turn to me in faith.’ I have spoken the truth and this is my message, “I alone am God. I made the heavens. I formed the earth. I am the Lord and there is no other.”

3. God’s Sovereignty Confronted vv 20-25

A. God’s prophetic word and its fulfillment confront us

With this declaration God confronts both his people and the nations and he calls them to turn away from their idols back to him, their Creator. Read vv 20-25.

One hundred and fifty years before it happened God revealed that a king was coming to deliver his people, and he named him, so that both the time and the person were identified. How is this possible? How could God say what specifically he was going to do through him? Check the records of history. It happened as God said. And now, this is the testimony that confronts us, especially those who have yet to believe.

You can naively say, “There is no god” or “There are many gods.” But the one true God confronts you. He has told you long before what is going to happen. And then he did it. And now he says, “Will you not turn from whatever god you are serving back to your true Creator?”

In the same way that God has proven that his word is true in the past, he tells us what will certainly happen in the future. You will either discover that God is your Savior now or you will be forced one day to bow your knee and swear that in the Lord alone is righteousness and power. In other words, you will have to say that the Lord is righteous because he gave you evidence that he alone is the one true God and as you stand before him you will have no excuse. On that day you will also acknowledge that all power belongs to God because he has done all that he has said.

B. Only two ways to respond

There are only two ways to respond. One is, you believe God’s witness and turn from your sin back to him and receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ. If you do this, God will become your Savior.

The other way to respond is to shut your eyes and ears to the evidence which God has given about himself and refuse to honor him. But God warns you, if you do this-“Woe to him who strives with the God who formed him….Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?”

A pot is simply not in a position to argue his case with the potter that he does not like the way the potter has made him. Neither will you be in a position to argue your case. You will simply have to accept what God says.

C. It’s not too late

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But it is not too late. As you hear God’s testimony about himself, as you see that God has done just as he said, now turn to him in faith and he will show you mercy. His love and power are great. God has sovereignly worked to preserve the offspring of Abraham and David, and a Savior has been born. His name is Jesus Christ. And in the same way, he has proven who he is by performing miracles, and by dying on a cross for your sin, and by being raised three days later from the dead so that through faith in him you may receive forgiveness for your sin.

God will show mercy to you, today, so turn to him before it is too late.

D. To those who have believed

To those of us who have believed, what affirmation Isaiah 45 is to our faith. His word is sure. He has told us what he would do long before it happened, and he has fulfilled it just as he said. Therefore, we can trust him. He alone is our Savior and in him are righteousness and strength. What kind of righteousness? Wow! A righteousness filled with grace. The last verse of the chapter says, He has “justified” his people. He has made us right with himself.

But he has made us right with him in the most unexpected way. He has taken sinners like you and me who cannot fulfill God’s righteous requirements and therefore must depend upon his grace. In Jesus Christ he has clothed us in perfect righteousness; a righteousness not of our own doing but that which comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

What power God has demonstrated in this. When we were dead in our sin, God made us alive together with Christ. When we had no hope of living up to the righteous standard God required to be saved, he sent his Son to fulfill all righteousness and become our substitute.

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