Read Isaiah 45:14-25.

Introduction⤒🔗

A T.V. adventure movie began by transporting its leading character back to his boyhood in India. As the character recalled his boyhood days, the camera showed scenes of India, finally focusing in on the Ganges River. As our eyes took in the scene of the Ganges, with its muddy brown waters, with its banks crowded with Hindus who consider the river sacred, the voice of the lead character can be heard commenting, “All the world’s religions flow from here.”

“All the world’s religions flow from here.” In other words, all the world’s religions have a common source; they are all basically the same. That was the message being subtly conveyed. “All the world’s religions flow from here,” from that muddy, filthy, putrid river.

All the world’s religions may flow from that filthy river, but not the religion of heaven! John the Baptist, under divine inspiration, made this distinction between the religious teachers of the world and the Lord Jesus Christ:

³¹The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and he speaks of the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies of what he has seen and heard.Jn. 3:31-32a

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself declares: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except by me” (Jn. 14:6).

Men in their sinfulness invent false gods, as the Apostle Paul declares in Romans 1:25, “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” But the LORD in His mercy calls men to turn to Him, the true and living God. This is the message that is the subject of Isaiah 45:20-25, encapsulated in the LORD’s call to the nations: “Turn to me and be saved, [you people from] all the ends of the earth, because I am God, and there is none other.”

Because the LORD alone is God, you must turn to Him. That is the message the world needs to hear and the message the Christian needs to remember.

Turn to the LORD, in Worship←⤒🔗

“Turn to me,” declares the LORD, “because I am God, and there is none other.” In the previous verse the LORD asserts, “There is no other God besides me. [I am] a just God and a Savior—there is none besides me” (vs. 21b).

Scripture teaches that it is not true that the whole world worships the same God, merely calling Him by different names and serving Him in different ways. If, indeed, the whole world was worshiping the God of heaven and was at peace with Him, the Lord Jesus Christ would not have sent the Apostle Paul to the Gentiles, commissioning him “to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18).

The Apostle Paul would not have preached as he did to the men of Athens. The summary of his message is presented in Acts 17 and is worthy of our consideration:

While Paul was waiting...at Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols... ²²Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious; ²³for as I walked around and observed your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and all things. ²⁶He made out of one [man] every nation of mankind to dwell on all the face of the earth, (having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation), ²⁷to seek God; if, so then, they groped for him, [they would surely] find [him]; indeed, he is not far from each one of us, for ^28'In him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.' ²⁹Therefore, being the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image, (the product of the) craftsmanship and imagination of man. ³⁰Indeed, having passed over these times of ignorance, God now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has set a day on which he will judge the world with justice by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all [men] by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:16, 22-31

Paul begins by mentioning that what he has seen in their city has impressed him with the extraordinarily religious inclination of the Athenians—an impression shared by many other people in antiquity; indeed, some considered the Athenians to be the most religious of all men. The term Paul uses in describing the populace (“very religious”) is ambiguous. As used by the apostle it probably had a double meaning: whereas the Athenians might well be considered to be “very religious” by their pagan neighbors, Paul looked upon them as being pathetically “superstitious,” so much so that they had even dedicated an altar “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” The Athenians were taking no chances that they may have inadvertently overlooked some deity, and by doing so, may have incurred his displeasure. The apostle now uses this point of contact as the means by which he will introduce the Athenians to the true and living God.

In replacing their self-professed ignorance with spiritual knowledge, Paul immediately presents God in His capacity as Creator and Lord—the One who is pre-eminently transcendent over all His creation: “the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth” (vs. 24). Paul goes on to declare that God neither dwells in man-made temples (cp. Isa. 66:1; 1 Kgs. 8:27), nor does He stand in need of man’s service, as though He were dependent upon man (cp. Psl. 50:9-13); to the contrary, He is the one upon whom all creation is dependent (Acts 17:24-25). Thus, at the very outset, Paul refutes the Stoic’s pantheistic view of God, (a view in which God was seen as being a part of nature). By the end of his address, Paul will also have refuted the Epicurean’s deistic view, the idea that God is totally detached and unconcerned about the world and the lives of men—the coming Final Judgment dispels that notion (cp. Acts 17:31).

Having confronted the Athenians with God the Creator, Paul now proceeds to speak of God’s creation of man and the purpose for which man has been created:

He made out of one [man] every nation of mankind to dwell on all the face of the earth, (having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation), ²⁷to seek God; if, so then, they groped for him, [they would surely] find [him]; indeed, he is not far from each one of us, for ^28'In him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' vs. 26-28

The Greek text emphasizes the fact that God’s purpose in having mankind to dwell upon the earth was not an end in itself: The two Greek infinitives (to dwell, to seek) do not convey two distinct and parallel purposes of God, namely, that mankind should dwell on the earth and that they should seek God, with the latter perhaps being an optional endeavor. In the absence of any connecting conjunction, (i.e. the absence of the Greek conjunction kai [“and”]), the second infinitive (to seek) is expressing the ultimate purpose; we may see it as defining the purpose for what has been stated previously in the sentence. Consequently, what Paul is telling the Athenians is that God caused mankind to dwell on the earth for the express purpose of “seeking” Him; i.e. for the express purpose of living a God-centered life in God’s world.

When Paul speaks of “seeking” God he has in mind a dual meaning. First, we should understanding the “seeking” to be the same as the “seeking” of which the Lord Jesus speaks in Matthew 6:33. When in that passage Jesus instructs His disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God,” He does not mean that they should hunt for that kingdom as though it were some hidden spiritual entity; rather, His meaning is that the kingdom should be their main concern; it should be the primary occupation of their lives. Likewise, Paul’s use of the verb “to seek” is first intended to reveal to the Athenians God’s original (and continuing) purpose for man: that he should live a God-centered life, expressed in the language of the Gospels, he should seek first the kingdom of God. (This divine purpose for man is succinctly stated in the initial Q/A of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.) But given the fact that mankind now finds itself in the state of sin and alienation from God, the apostle’s use of the verb “to seek” takes on an added connotation, that of “seeking” God in the sense of repentance. That is the sense of the verb as it is found in Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.” Paul may very well have had that passage of Isaiah in mind, for he goes on to assure the Athenians, “[the LORD] is not far from each one of us.”

In the latter half of verse 27, Paul is expressing a wish, almost a prayer, on behalf of the Athenians: “if, so then, they groped for him, [they would surely] find [him]...” By expressing such a desire Paul is acknowledging the fact that mankind in its present sinful state is not seeking after God; far from doing so, man is intentionally shutting himself off from God (cp. Rom. 1:18-23, 28; Eph. 4:17-19). Attached to his prayerful wish that mankind, most notably the Athenians, would grope for God, the apostle provides a word of encouragement: “[they would surely] find [him]].” The Greek construction is simply, “if they groped for him and find;” the Greek conjunction kai (“and”) is used here to express result: if they grope for Him the result will be finding Him.¹ Paul thus assures the Athenians that their groping for God would surely meet with success, (here seems to be the Gentile equivalent to the promises made to Israel, cp. Isa. 45:19; Isa. 55:6-7; Jer. 29:13-14). The assurance stems from the fact that God “is not far from each one of us,” (note the individualizing: God is within close proximity to each and every man). At this point the apostle alludes to the writings of their own poets (vs. 28);² being made in the image of God, and not being left without a witness of God, even the pagan thinkers had some comprehension as to the nearness of God.

The fact is, the world has willfully and wickedly turned away from the God of heaven, inventing false gods of their own choosing:

^21a...although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him... ^22bthey became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles... ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Rom. 1:21a, 22b, 23, 25

The fact is, behind the false religions and the idols of the world there resides the spiritual power of darkness, the presence of the devil. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians:

Now then, what do I mean? [Am I saying] that meat offered to idols has [any] special significance? or that an idol is anything? ²⁰[No!] But [what I am telling you is] that the sacrifices of the Gentiles are being offered to demons, not to God; and I do not want you to have communion with demons. 1 Cor. 10:19-20

The fact is, men need to turn away from their religions and their idols, and return to the true and living God; the Apostle Paul reminds the Thessalonians that this is precisely what they did when they received the Lord Jesus as their Savior:

...you turned to God from idols in order to serve the living and true God ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, [the one] who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thess. 1:9b-10

The LORD calls us to turn to Him in worship:

²Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. ³Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples; ⁴for great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods; ⁵for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. ⁶Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. ⁷Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. ⁸Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. ⁹Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Psl. 96:2-10

Turn to the LORD, for Salvation←⤒🔗

“Turn to me and be saved,” declares the LORD. The LORD commands us to look to Him alone for our salvation; and He assures us that in so doing we shall surely be saved.

Many people look to their religion. They may put their trust in their baptism, confirmation, church membership, financial contributions, or acts of religious service.

But could any one of us ever honestly maintain that we have met the religious demands of an infinite God? The God who is worthy of receiving the devotion of our hearts and lives, the God who requires that we worship Him “in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24)? He is the God who requires that we love Him “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Each one of us must turn to the Lord, as He today reveals Himself in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and turn to Him alone for our personal salvation: “Turn to me and be saved.”

Many others look to their lives. They place their confidence in their conviction that they are sincere, decent, law-abiding citizens, and in this they put their hope of salvation.

But who is truly sincere? Who can compare to Jesus? What about our sinful human hearts? The Lord Jesus confronts us with the true state of our hearts, when He declares, “out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. ²⁰These are the things that defile a man” (Matt. 15:19-20). Each one of us must turn to the Lord, as He today reveals Himself in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and turn to Him alone for our personal salvation: “Turn to me and be saved.”

Still others look to “false gods” and entertain false hopes. If they do not actually turn to pagan religions, they may invent a caricature of the true God. The most common caricature is the one that maintains, “God is love; therefore, He will allow me to enter into heaven when I die, no matter what I have been while living upon the earth.” Men trust in such caricatures of God, rather than accept Him as He fully reveals Himself in His Word, the Bible:

[The LORD] is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. Psl. 96:13

Christ...died for sins once for all, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, so that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive [again] by the [Holy] Spirit. 1 Pet. 3:18

The LORD declares, ...[I am] a just God and a Savior—there is none besides me. ²²Turn to me and be saved, [you people from] all the ends of the earth. Isa. 45:21-22

The LORD declares Himself to be ^“a just God and a Savior;” that is to say, the LORD can maintain His justice and still be our Savior because Jesus Christ His Son bore the penalty for sin and supplies His perfect righteousness for all who believe in Him. The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans this word of assurance:“God set forth [Christ Jesus] to be an atoning sacrifice...26so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” Rom. 3:25-26

Each of us must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ—as He reveals Himself in the Bible—and to Him alone for our personal salvation: “Turn to me and be saved.”

When you turn in trust and complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, you will surely be saved, even as the LORD so emphatically asserts through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, when He declares, “Turn tome and be saved.”

This is the case, because the Lord Jesus is the one true compassionate and faithful High Priest: “he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). By way of illustration: If you are in debt, it is good to have a sympathetic friend; but it is even better if that sympathetic friend is also rich. Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus Christ is both sympathetic and spiritually rich in righteousness, He is fully able to meet the requirements for our salvation.

Furthermore, you and I can turn to the Lord Jesus with full confidence of salvation because the Lord Jesus is fully committed to doing His Father’s will, as that will is expressed in John 6:37-40,

...he who comes to me I will by no means reject; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me... ⁴⁰My Father’s will is that every one that beholds the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Turn to the LORD, for salvation. When the question was asked of Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” they replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30b-31a).

Turn to the LORD, in Submission←⤒🔗

The LORD has sworn by Himself that every knee shall bow before Him and every tongue shall acknowledge that He is the LORD (vs. 23). The LORD is a jealous God; He will not tolerate the giving to any other the worship due Him, He will not tolerate the giving to any other the devotion due Him. The very first of the Ten Commandments declares, “I am the LORD your God...³you shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2-3). The second commandment goes on to declare, “You shall not make for yourself any carved image...5you shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4-5).

True worship involves devotion. In Matthew 4:10 the Lord Jesus informs the devil who was tempting Him, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Devotion is one of the greatest expressions of worship. Worship apart from devotion is empty and hollow, it is detestable to God; the LORD demands that He be the first and the supreme object of our devotion. This is His right by virtue of being our Creator:

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein; ²for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Psl. 24:1-2

Here in Isaiah 45:23 the LORD declares, “Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess [that I am God].” The awesome message from the Word of God is this: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:5b-6). If a man refuses to bow before the LORD God, yielding his will to Him, that man will be forced to do so in judgment:

The LORD of hosts has a day in store for all that is proud and arrogant, for all that is exalted; and they will be humbled... ¹⁷The arrogance of man shall be brought low, and the pride of man shall be humbled; and the LORD alone shall be exalted on that day. Isa. 2:12,17

But if we willingly bow before the LORD our God, yielding our will to Him, He will lift us up to reign with Him in glory: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6).

Turn to the LORD, in submission. Each of us is required to do so because it is our duty to acknowledge Him as our God, and it is the very essence of worship to yield our will to Him. We are to do so because such worship is pleasing to God and He will greatly reward it.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

In this age of idolatry and spiritual darkness and religious “tolerance,” in this age when men turn their back on the God of heaven and defy His rightful Lordship over their lives, we need to hear and obey this word spoken by the God of heaven Himself:

Turn to me and be saved, [you people from] all the ends of the earth, because I am God, and there is none other. ²³I have sworn by myself, with complete integrity my mouth has uttered a word that will not be revoked: Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess [that I am God]. Isa. 45:22-23

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What promise does the LORD make to His O.T. covenant people? See Isa. 45:13. What incredible change of fortune would occur when the hapless Jewish captives were released and returned to Jerusalem? See Isa. 45:14. What great historically future and “kingdom-to-come” blessings are being described here?

By my righteousness I have raised up [Cyrus], and I will make all his ways smooth. He will build my city and he shall release my exiles, for neither fee nor reward, declares the LORD of hosts. Isa. 45:13

This is what the LORD says, The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia will be given to you, and the tall Sabeans will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you for mercy, confessing, 'Surely God is with you, and there is none other; there is no other God.' Isa. 45:14

The LORD’s people shall inherit the wealth of the world:

This is what the LORD says, ‘The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia will be given to you'vs. 14a

The LORD’s people shall share in the LORD’s dominion: expressed in Old Testament pictorial terms,

the tall Sabeans will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. vs. 14b

This is in keeping with the divine promise expressed by our Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 3:21,

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

The LORD’s people shall witness the conversion of the Gentiles and the nations acknowledging that the LORD is God:

They will bow down before you and plead with you for mercy, confessing, 'Surely God is with you, and there is none other; there is no other God' vs. 14c

2. How does Isaiah, as a representative of the covenant people, respond to the amazing revelation made in verse 14? See Isa. 45:15. What promise does the LORD make to those who love Him? See 1 Cor. 2:9,

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, our Savior. Isa. 45:15

The phrase, “a God who hides himself,” is referring to the unfathomable and incomprehensible ways of the LORD; note, Rom. 11:33.

...in accordance with what has been written, 'Things that the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard and that have not entered into the heart of man, these are the things God has prepared for those who love him.' 1 Cor. 2:9

3. In contrast to those Gentiles who put their faith in the LORD, submitting to Him as their God, (portrayed in vs. 14 as “coming over to [Israel] in chains”), what is the destiny of those who continue in their idolatry? See Isa. 45:16 What is the destiny of the LORD’s people, both believing Jew as well as believing Gentile? See Isa. 45:17 In which of these categories (vs. 16 or vs. 17) do you find yourself?

They will be put to shame, all of them will be humiliated; all those who are the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace. Isa. 45:16

[But] Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to shame nor humiliated for all eternity! Isa. 45:17

4. What assurance is given in Isaiah 45:18 that these two destinies will eventually be realized, with the emphasis being on the realization of the one described in verse 17? What is significant about the statement that the LORD is “the God who formed the earth and completed [the work]”? Note Gen. 2:1-2. As a Christian, what assurance does this provide for you and your salvation? Note Phil. 1:6, as well as 1 Cor. 1:4, 8-9,

This is what the LORD declares, the one who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and completed [the work], the one who established it and did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited, I am the LORD, and there is none other. Isa. 45:18

And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all that they contained. ²And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had made. Gen. 2:1-2

Of this I am sure, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:6

⁴I always thank my God for you, because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus...⁸[God] will also confirm you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor. 1:4, 8-9

5. What gracious invitation, even command, does the LORD extend to people of all nations? See Isa. 45:22. What testimony does the LORD give to encourage us to respond to His invitation? See Isa. 45:19,

Turn to me and be saved, [you people from] all the ends of the earth; because I am God, and there is none other. Isa. 45:22

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness. I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, Seek me in a desert. I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare things that are right. Isa. 45:19

The LORD will not cruelly mislead us, He will not lead us into a desert or wilderness to die; on he contrary, the LORD’s desire is to lead us into a land flowing with milk and honey—the kingdom of heaven.