God on Trial--Isaiah Series

In 2007, a state senator in Nebraska decided to make a point against frivolous lawsuits, so he decided to draw some attention to the issue by suing God. Senator Ernie Chambers, an agnostic, filed suit to force God to cease carrying out harmful acts of nature and making threats to send people to Hell. The first judge to hear the case dismissed it, saying that God could not be properly notified of the lawsuit since He has no home address. Chambers appealed the ruling by arguing that since God is supposed to know everything, He surely knew about the lawsuit. The lawsuit eventually died when the appeals court stated that it does not address abstract or hypothetical questions. People haven’t always taken God to court quite so literally, but through our actions people have often put God on trial and demanded proof that He is God and that His word can be trusted. So in Isaiah 41-44, God throws open the doors of His courtroom and invites the world to come in to settle the question about His deity. Is He truly the one and only God, or can the idols of the nations make a claim to be divine as well? Let’s take a seat in the courtroom as God makes His case! The Case for God’s Deity Exhibit A—God’s control over the nations (41:1-4, 11-13) Let’s read 41:1-4 [READ 41:1-4]. As we can see, God’s first claim is that He is in control over the nations. His words here refer to the power players of the Middle East who were building empires—like the Assyrians. As we have read previously in this book, these nations truly were seeking to advance their own agenda, but God claimed that they were actually carrying out His will. In these verses, God claims that He both stirred up the conquering nations and gave the other nations into their hands. Now of course, the other nations would have laughed at the idea that they were controlled by the God of Israel—especially since many of them were harassing Israel at this time. But the unique history of the nation of Israel shows God’s claim to be true. Throughout these chapters, God describes Israel as His chosen people, His servant, and His witnesses, whom He had established as a nation for Himself. Certainly no other nation could claim to have the miraculous origins and preservation that Israel had with their liberation from Egypt and conquest of the Promised Land. And if the nations would not accept the evidence of the past, God promised to give additional evidence of His control over the nations in the future [READ 41:11-13]. Exhibit B—God’s fulfilled predictions (41:21-29) Let’s read God’s challenge in 41:21-29 [READ 41:21-29]. The ability to accurately predict the future is clearly a divine power. Regardless of what you may hear from psychics on late-night TV, everyone knows that humans cannot predict the future with accuracy. So God’s challenge makes perfect sense—if these idols are gods, then they should be able to accurately predict the future, but as God states, they are utterly unable to do so. The Lord’s ability to accurately declare what will happen in the future is a powerful testimony to His deity, but honestly, it says even more about God than we normally think. We often think that when God predicts the future, He looks into the future and tells us what He sees—like a sailor looking through a submarine’s periscope and reporting on what he can see. But in reality, God knows the future because He plans the future and then carries it out. God is more like an architect showing us his plans for a building. An architect can tell you exactly what a building will look like because he has planned it out. That is the way that we should think about God’s knowledge of the future. So the idols of the nations are powerless to declare the future because they are powerless to do anything about the future. They cannot do good or harm, as God challenges them to do in v. 23. Thus, their weakness is put on full display. Exhibit C—God’s gracious redemption (43:1-2, 25; 44:21-22) With this point, we are talking about God’s response of grace and mercy to Israel’s sins. But how does redemption show that the God of Israel is the true God? Well, as the old cliché states, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Human beings are not naturally inclined toward grace and mercy—we are inclined toward revenge and ruthlessness. There is a scene in the movie Braveheart when the daughter-in-law of the King of England is trying to convince him that an act of mercy toward the rebellious Scots would demonstrate his greatness. He responds by saying, “My greatness will be displayed when Scotland lies in ashes!” That is how we as humans think, but God strikes a perfect balance between justice and mercy, and His true greatness drives Him to help His wayward creatures. Look at 43:1-2. God has just spoken of Israel’s sinfulness and the discipline that He carried out on them, then we read these words [READ 43:1-2]. In v. 1, the Hebrew text uses wording that calls to mind an Old Testament idea that is beautifully portrayed in the book of Ruth. The idea is that of the kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer was someone who had the right to help a family member out of a desperate situation. If a person had to sell some property because of financial hardship, the kinsman-redeemer could step in and buy back the land for his relative. If a man died without having any children, the kinsman-redeemer could marry his widow to ensure her well-being and raise a child who would carry on the deceased man’s name. Now in the book of Ruth, you may remember that when Naomi returned to Israel with Ruth, these two widows were destitute. They had no way to provide for themselves except through Ruth’s labors to pick up grain that fell on the ground during harvest. You may also remember that when Naomi found out that Ruth had run into Boaz, she was thrilled because Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer—he was a relative who was in a position to help them out of their desperate situation. So when God says in Isaiah 43:1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine,” He is describing himself as our kinsman-redeemer. He has treated us like His own relative and has lovingly helped us out of our desperate situation. Now the centerpiece of God’s redemption is always—always—the forgiveness of sins. No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, our greatest need is always to be at peace with God by having our sins forgiven, and so God emphasizes forgiveness in these chapters. In 43:25 He says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Then, in 44:21-22, He says [READ 44:21-22]. Now if we only look at the evidence that God presents, we have an open and shut case for His deity. God is obviously different from the lifeless idols of the nations. The only reason that anyone had to doubt this conclusion is that God’s people were not serving as good witnesses. God’s redemption was not on full display because God’s people were not living like redeemed people. His control over the nations was constantly being doubted by His own people as they ran around making alliances with anyone who would have them. So God describes in chapter 42 a servant whom He would send who would express all the actions of deity that He describes in this section. We can look back on this now and see that it was a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Servant of the Lord as God’s Witness (42:1-9) Notice in the first four verses how the servant will show God’s control over the nations [READ 42:1-4]. The servant is described as having governing power over the nations to establish and execute justice in the earth, and the nations are pictured as eagerly waiting to hear His commands. Next, notice how the servant functions as a redeemer to save people out of a desperate situation [READ 42:5-7]. Finally, in vv. 8-9, we see that when the servant arrives and carries out his ministry, he will fulfill prophecy and thus show God’s ability to declare the future [READ 42:8-9]. In the person of Jesus the Christ—the Messiah—we have the perfect witness to all that God is. Colossians 1:15 states that “He is the image of the invisible God.” People in ancient times were tremendously confused that Christians had no statues—no visible images—of their God. They actually called the Christians “atheists” because they didn’t worship a God whom you could see. But the truth is, we do have an image of our God, it just isn’t a dead piece of wood or stone—it is a person who lived among us and showed us what God is like. Many people over the years have said, “If God wants so desperately for us to believe in Him, why doesn’t He come down out of the clouds and show Himself? Why doesn’t He just appear?” What these people are choosing to ignore is that God already has!! He was here, He lived with us, and we have a record of it in the Bible! The God whom we worship as the only God is guilty as charged! He is the Lord of all—the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Redeemer. So how should we respond to a God like this? These chapters spell it out for us. First, we do not need to fear in this life because of who our God is. Nine times in these chapters, God tells us not to be afraid because He is with us, He will help us, He has redeemed us, He has chosen us, He is one true Rock—a solid foundation on which to build. Second, we are to praise Him and give Him glory—that is, we are to declare His incomparable worth and status, and thus exalt Him. As I stated earlier, the only reason that people really have to doubt that our God is the one true God is that God’s people don’t live like it. If we are God’s witnesses, what kind of case can be made for His uniqueness and divinity? If someone examined your life to determine if the God that you worship is the one true God, what verdict would they reach? Would they conclude that your God must be powerful because you display so much confidence in Him? Would they conclude that He must be in control because you do not live in fear of what may come? Would they conclude that He alone has the power to redeem from sin because you are not burdened with guilt and sinful behavior does not rule your life? What is the verdict? The court is in session all around you right now. Let’s see to it that we are good witnesses!