For I Am God, and There Is No Other (Isaiah 45:18-25)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“18 For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other. 19 I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain'; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 20 Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save. 21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me. 22 Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. 24 He shall say, 'Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him. 25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.' ' ”
Introduction
If a mother pelican has nothing to give to food to their young, they will give their own meat and feed it to them. If their chicks are dying, they will burst their own blood vessels and give her blood into the mouths of their chicks. A mother pelican is willing to sacrifice her life for her chicks. Another instance are penguins, the mothers goes a long distance to the seas to get food for her chicks and she will fill her entire mouth with food to feed her chicks. The mother penguins, never feeds herself first but will always feed her chicks first. In a zoo, they would feed the penguins with a lot of fish but there was a penguin that was starving. The penguin would feed all of the fish to her chick and she starved herself to death. When I heard this, I thought this was the heart that God has for us. This is God’s sacrificial love for us. This love does not just exist in humans but also in animals. Why did God allow unconditional love to exist? This is to show God’s unconditional love for His creations. In other words, God’s unconditional love, God has shown us that love to us on the cross. In order to show His love as well, He allows animals and human kind to exhibit and experience this type of love. Chicks and babies don’t have any idea regarding the unconditional love of their parents. The same thing for us, we can’t understand and comprehend the unconditional love that God has for us. When I heard about the pelican birds and penguins, I realized this is the type of love that God has for us. We have been reading the book of Isaiah and the book of Isaiah keeps showing the unconditional love of God. If you look at today’s Biblical scripture, we can see God’s unconditional and everlasting love for His children.
1. God the Creator
1) Creation of the visible world
Verse 18 - If you look at this, we can precisely see God’s love for us. God created the heavens and all of the stars of the universe. I saw in the news that a space probe, Voyager 1 made its journey from the earth and exited our solar system. And, this space probe traveled at a fast speed and passed our solar system, and it took a long time. But to God, the solar system is just a speck to Him. And, if you look at the entire universe, our solar system is just a speck, a dot. And, God has created all of this. This is amazing. All of the mountains and trees, God has made all of them. There are trees that we don’t even know the names of but God created all of them. Not only that but there are flowers and fruits that are growing within those trees. There are so many birds and names of birds that we don’t even know but God has made all of them. When we look at the sea, there are so many fish. But, we can see that God’s wisdom is so vast that God has created all of the creatures and creations of this world and named all of them. God created the Earth and is in control of the world. But God when He created everything, He said in verse 18. When I came to America, there were 6 million people living here but now there are many more millions of people living in America now. God created the world not to be void but for His people to inhabit this world. God made it where mankind could live in this world. And, He prepared everything in this world so that we can live in it. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” - When God created the world in 6 days, He prepared each creation within those 6 days. Many people existed within this world and many people survived in this world eating many different types of foods. When we look at the history, we know that God prepared vegetation and food so that mankind could survive and live. We can see the great power of creation of God. This God is our Father. Not only that but God created the invisible world that we cannot see.
2) Creation of the invisible world
Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' ” - God created mankind, who were created in God’s image. God has given us the authority and power to subdue this world. God created us to possess a spirit, emotions, and wisdom. We can have fellowship with others and with God, and give worship to God. Why did God create us this way? I think God created us so that we can experience true happiness. So that we can experience the blessing of feeling true happiness, joy, and peace; that is why God created us so that we can have emotions and feelings. What do we do if we experience hardships? No matter what problems come to us, God will give us an answer.
God absolutely tells us in Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” - No matter what problem it is, God tells us to come to Him and He will give us rest. If we truly believe and confess of God who is our true Creator, then He will absolutely give us answers. If we entrust all things to God and pray before Him, then God will show us that He is the Creator and Almighty God. Many people face financial problems but if we pray before our Creator God then why would God the Creator not answer us? If we just believe that God is our Creator, then we will receive answers undoubtedly.
2. God Who Speaks
1) God who fulfills
Verse 19 - From here, God tells us that God has not spoken in secret or in darkness. People who seek other than God, this who God was speaking about. This means that idols can’t speak. Look at those who worship idols and the slaves of idolatry, they are bound by Satan and speak of chants enticed by darkness. That idol and source of darkness will speak to the idol worshipers and if you worship these idols, these idols will give you the idea that your problems will be solved. But our God will reveal everything. God was asking for us to confirm if He speaks in secret or in darkness. God will always speak in righteousness and will speak what is right. We must hold onto this. We need to hold onto four questions.
2) Four questions that people need to ask
The first thing that we need to hold onto is where did this world and humans come from? Secondly, what is the reason why we must live? In other words, what is our purpose for our lives? Third question, what is good and evil? Who set the standards of the tree of good and evil? The fourth question, mankind will die but what happens after death? What is more important is who is capable of giving you the answers to these questions? The Israelites were searching for these questions and answers.
Verses 20-21 - The Israelites were seeking their idols and finding the answers to these questions through their idols. God was saying that the Israelites were foolish for doing this. The Israelites were seeking after only their idols alone.
God was so frustrated by this that He spoke in verse 21 - Where did God say for us to find these answers? God is saying that He is saying the answers. What was the core of this message? God was saying that He is the Creator and no one is a Creator except for Him. He is the only one who can provide the answers to all things. God said that there is no other Creator and God except for Him eight times in chapter 45 of Isaiah. And, God said this four times in a row to the Israelites. This shows how frustrated God was. We can also see God’s love within this. God was saying this repeatedly so that the Israelites could hear and listen to Him. This shows how much God loved the Israelites. But the Israelites would not listen and could not accept what God was telling them. They kept searching after their idols and were seeking for answers before their idols. But the true answers are within God alone.
Verse 22 - All mankind, God was pleading for His people to turn to Him. God was pleading for all people to come to Him and be saved. God was proclaiming that He is God and He is the only way.
3. God Receives His Praise
1) The reason He must receive praise
Verses 23-25 - What God says will absolutely be fulfilled. In other words, the only person who should receive glory and praise is God alone. All of the birds and all creations of this world are all glorifying and praising God alone. But only mankind are ignoring God. All creations have no choice but to bow before God but only mankind are ignoring God and worship idols instead. But God speaks in verse 23. The praise that was stolen from God, God said that He will restore all of that.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.” - Those who chase after idols, they cannot receive answers no matter what they do. Those who chase after the world, God said that those people will leave this world in vain.
We can see God of justice in verse 24. We can see what is right and wrong from justice. God of justice who defines what is sin and what is right and good. God will bless those who are righteous. There is no one who can escape God’s justice and judgment. If you worship other things besides God, you will be brought before justice and be put to shame. Even if you plead before God during Judgment Day, God said that He will turn against you. Just like how you turned against God in this world, God said that He will do the same. God will put you to shame.
Verse 25 - We can see the God of righteousness here. Those who don’t worship idols and praise God, then God said that He will give them the blessing of righteousness. The sin that mankind cannot solve on its own, God sent His Son to die on the cross and will give us the answer to our sins through this. Those who believe in this Christ who died on the cross for our sins, we can become righteous. Those who believe in the cross of Christ, then you can become righteous. You can boast of this God and you can boast that you are a child of God. You can sing praises of this. May we enjoy this blessing. So many people are being deceived and worshiping idols. So many people are worshiping idols so that they can live and survive but they are rejecting God who prepared everything for them. But mankind is busy living for their own sake. Only God can receive glory and praise.
Verse 22 - Hold onto this verse and be victorious. We who are saved, we need to live as spiritual beings.
2) Spiritual people
What are the blessings that we will receive as the ones who are saved? The Spirit of God will enter into us and will guide us forever.
1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” - Enjoy this. Hold onto today’s sermon. We are God’s temple and when we hold onto and enjoy the Creator God within our lives, then we can receive the blessing of the Triune God. Then, we can build our bartizan and build our bartizan against darkness.
Romans 16:4 “Who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.” - Enter into only the gospel because everything is within this. We need to build the bartizan to save the 237 nations. Only when we enter into only the gospel, then we can save our church.
Acts 18:3-4 “So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” - Within our fields and our occupations, we need to build the bartizans. May we become the bartizans who can block disasters and darkness, and shine the light of Christ. May we become the people who can testify of Christ who died on the cross for us. We can shine the light of Christ who shows us everlasting and unconditional love.
Conclusion
Isaiah 60:2-3 “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” - Starting today, set your goal. This world is becoming darker and the world is being swallowed by the 3 organizations. The only way to save the world and the 3 organizations is through the light of Christ. Then, nations and kings will come before you.
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