The Strand Study Bible

ISAIAH

ISAIAH

1105

future king of Medo-Persia, as spoil, a heavy “ burden ” for the beasts that drag them. 46:3 Whereas Babylon had to “carry” their gods (vs 6-7), which were eventually carried away by Cyrus (vs 1-2), Israel’s God “ carried ” them (vs 3-4). 46:5 The unseen supreme God of Israel, who is not represented by any image, is superior ( To whom will ye liken me ) to all the idol-gods of the heathen nations. 46:10 The same God that stretched out the heavens above us and spread the earth beneath us is the same One that ordains all human history. It’s called the sovereignty of God ( Eph 1:11 ). Dr. Harold L. Willmington in Doctrine of the Trinity defines the attribute of sovereignty as follows: According to God’s own Word, all history is present before Him ( Declaring the end from the beginning ). To accurately predict events that lie 10, 100, or even 1,000 years in the future is beyond the ability of man. Thus, the stunning accuracy with which God’s prophets predicted the future is one of the most convincing evidences of the supernatural origin of the Word of God ( II Pet 1:21 ). Called predictive prophecy, only a sovereign God, with whom all time is ever present, and who knows what He is going to do, because He alone controls what He is going to do, has the ability to predict the future with 100% accuracy. NOTE – There are three truths dealing with the sovereignty of God that are set forth within this one verse: 1. God knows the choices we make ( Declaring the end from the beginning ) If God can declare the end from the beginning, then He knows the choices that were made that determine the end from the beginning. You cannot know the end of something without knowing the choices that brought it to fruition. 2. God makes the final choices that determine life as we know it ( My counsel shall stand – Prov 19:21) Lawrence O Richards in Bible Reader’s Companion notes: Simply put, God’s freewill (His sovereignty; His ability to maintain absolute rule) controls the big picture (His purpose for the universe, which includes both angelic beings as well as human beings), while man’s freewill affects the little picture (life on earth). Whereas man’s choices affect the temporal, God’s choices direct the eternal. Take a cruise ship as a crude example. The actions displayed on board the vessel by the people do not affect the will of the captain and the direction of the ship. Like a cruise ship, our earth is on an eternal course. How the inhabitants behave on this earth has no bearing on the direction to which God has it headed (II Pet 3:13-14). Now for those who cannot reconcile (for whatever reason) the divine sovereignty of God and the freewill of man; for those who struggle to grasp how an infinite (eternal), omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (ever- present) Being can execute and bring to fruition His divine purpose in human history despite the freewill of man, consider the following fact –just because you can’t make sense out of something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make sense. Take gravity , for example. Scientists inform us that that the force of gravity holding our earth in orbit around the sun is the strength of a steel bar 3,000 miles in diameter. Yet a tiny insect can fly through it. Try and explain it. You can’t. It’s a phenomenon of God. We cannot see the force of gravity, and yet it’s there. All we can do is observe its effects. The same is true of the temperature called cold . Physicists inform us that the temperature called cold contracts. This is why we shiver when we get cold. Yet when water drops to thirty-two degrees, it expands. Try and explain it. You can’t. It’s a phenomenon of God. If water, turned ice, contracted instead of expanding, it would fall to the bottom of the ocean instead of floating and would disrupt our polar caps, which affects both life-giving currents in the ocean and our weather. Just because we cannot make sense of something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make sense. 3. God has the right to make the final choices that determine life as we know it ( I will do all my pleasure – Isa 64:8) Because God is the Potter and we are the clay (because His motive for why He does what He does is based upon His unchanging character), He has every right to do as He pleases (Jere 18:1-4, Rom 9:10-21 and Heb 12: 5- 10 ). 47:1 In this chapter Isaiah sees future Babylon (which included Babylon the Great – Rev 17:1-5 & 18:1-3 & 19:1-2) as a deposed queen (vs 5), reduced to that of a naked slave girl “sitting in the dust,” widowed and childless (vs 9). Her pride (vs 7,10 – Babylon practically deified herself ), her love of pleasure (vs 8), and her love for the paranormal (vs 9,12-13) are her downfall. Sound like America? This means that God is the absolute and sole ruler in the universe. To be truly sovereign demands that one have the total freedom, power, knowledge, wisdom, and determination to carry out a predetermined course of action. God possesses all these in infinite measure and is thus sovereign. 1 God is God, He is able to “make known the end from the beginning” and “from ancient times” to predict “what is still to come.” He established purposes for the universe He created and is powerful enough to guarantee that His purpose will stand. 2

1 Willmington, Harold L., Doctrine of the Trinity , Lynchburg, VA, Liberty Home Bible Institute, 1977, 1985. Print 2 Richards, Lawrence O., Bible Reader’s Companion , Colorado Springs, CO, Cook Communications, 1991, 2004. Print