Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me. Sermons
I. SELF-MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH. He is the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega. Existing before the creation, he will endure when it shall have passed away (Isaiah 48:12). It is a thought which strikes us at once by its sublimity, anal, what is better, with its truth. Men sometimes speak of the material world as real, of the world of faith and imagination as dreamy. Not so the greatest prophets and poets. Shakespeare describes the globe and all its human splendours as passing away like an "insubstantial pageant faded." But Isaiah outdoes Shakespeare, making the very heavens themselves pass; and perhaps St. Paul goes a step further when he sees "knowledge itself" vanishing away. Moreover, Jehovah is the incomparable God. He can admit no "rival near the throne;" cannot accommodate other deities to places in a tolerant pantheon. He is the sole Object of worship, the only Being to whom is due the title "God." So, too, he alone can tell the future. Let the long past bear witness. He placed the "ancient people," or the "everlasting people." The reference seems to be to the ever-enduring covenant spoken of in Exodus 31:16, to the priesthood and the kingdom which are everlasting (Exodus 40:15; 2 Samuel 13:16). It suggests "the everlastingness of God's people," in opposition to the proximate fall of the idolatrous nations. Or, the reference may be to the days before the Flood - to the most ancient inhabitants of the world. In any case, he has appointed beforehand the times and the bounds of the habitations of men. And history is intended to teach men of him, that they may with mind and heart glorify him. Israel herself is the great witness on the earth to God. He is her "Rock" - a great and memorable figure (Deuteronomy 32:4, 30, 31; Psalm 19:14; Psalm 31:2, 3; Psalm 42:9). Rock of Ages, Dwelling-place of all generations: who can wear such titles but himself? "If there were another Rock of Ages, Jehovah would not complain; but as his Being is unique, it pains him that men will not have him for a God." II. IDOLATRY CRITICIZED. The image-makers are all of them "chaos" - an expression of extreme contempt. There is no use, no profit, in their trade. To that question of use all institutions, yea, all men, must ultimately come. Now, what can be said on behalf of idolatry? Produce the witnesses. Blind and ignorant, what have they to say? To produce them is to abash and confound them. And so it is with many an idol and institution of our time. It tries to keep off criticism under the plea of sacredness; when the age insists on criticism, and will have an answer, its silence or its confused apologies are its condemnation. What can be answered to the following questions? How can you turn an image into a living spiritual being? Quis nisi demens - who but one out of his senses can confound the one with the other? The worship of these idols was sacra mental, and was kept up by societies and guilds. The members were in association with the idol and with one another; like Ephraim (Hosea 4:17), they were in fellowship with demons (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20). If the idol be nothing in the world, what becomes of those "joined to him"? Let that question be answered. And then, again, how can these human craftsmen make their Maker? Let them all combine in their toil: the ludicrousness of their endeavours is the more manifest. There is the smith with his sharp axe and his hammers, sweating at the fire till he is faint; the carpenter with his line and sharp chisel, plane and compasses. The semblance of a human figure appears. The god is made; and sacrifice and prayer follow. "Save me!" the benighted worshipper cries to his manufacture. The scene is enough to carry conviction to the spectator's mind, and to convince him that these votaries can have no perception, so "daubed" are their eyes and their hearts by the habits of sense. The power of reflection seems gone - the power to hold up the act before the mind and judge it. A thoughtless religion, an uninquiring compliance with tradition and custom, is often enjoined upon us; but only thoughtful religion will endure. God is Mind; and if we fail to offer him the best of our mind, we sink down into some such miserable delusion, such ashy refuse of religion, as is here held up to scorn and ridicule. III. ADMONITION TO ISRAEL. Let the child, the servant of Jehovah, remember these things, and lay to heart the folly of idolatry, and the glorious constancy of the God who has claimed them for his own. Do they think they are forgotten of God? Impossible! "O Israel, thou canst not be forgotten of me!" He is beforehand with her. Before she confesses, he proclaims her sins forgiven; before she returns to her allegiance, be cries, "I have blotted out as a mist thy rebellions;" before she prays for deliverance, he proclaims, "I have released thee; then return!" Here is the heart of the gospel, the heart of the infinite love. We, with too narrow heart, too often make human good the antecedent of Divine grace. "Repent," we say, "and God will forgive; be obedient and God will reward." But on the prophet's representation, Jehovah makes the first advances. He calls for conversion on the ground that he has released Israel. And so ever. The parable of the prodigal reflects the same ideas. The "goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." It is this thought which makes hardness of heart - housing up wrath against the day of wrath - appear so odious in the sinner's own eyes. We need to represent the gospel so that the sinner shall throw all the blame of his condition on self, not on God. Let us ever speak of him as One who "keeps mercy for thousands," and whose stores of compassion cannot be exhausted. "Oh for this love let rocks and hills IV. JEHOVAH AND HIS PURPOSES. He is the God, the Guardian Spirit, the Guide, the Avenging Judge, for Israel. He has moulded Israel in the womb of time, who has made the universe of things. He only is wise, "bringing to nought the signs of the praters, and making the diviners mad," turning the wise backward, and proving their knowledge folly. On the other hand, he speaks by the prophet. He causes his servant's word to stand, and fulfils the counsel of his messengers. And his word and counsel is that Jerusalem shall be peopled, and the waste places of Judah be built upon; the flood of Euphrates be dried up. And already the word is passing into deed. The instrument of Jehovah's purposes has been selected; no prince of the Davidic house, but Cyrus shall be his shepherd and accomplish all his pleasure. And we read in Josephus that Cyrus read the prophecy of Isaiah, and was seized by an impulse to fulfil it ('Ant.,' 11:1.2). God has jurisdiction over heathen monarchs; their plans are directed by him and made subservient to his will. What the Greeks thought of as Ananke, Necessity, the Hebrew thinks of as the will of the Eternal. - J. (R. Cattermole, B. D.) I. "I AM THE FRIST." 1. We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of the supreme God, the Creator of all things. To-day men would teach us another Genesis of the world: the old doctrines of Epicurus are once more becoming current; we hear of eternal matter, of millions and millions of atoms which, by whirling about continually in space, have unconsciously and spontaneously invested themselves with a motion in accordance with the mathematical laws which they had themselves called into existence. We are told that out of a mechanical combination suddenly issued a living cell, and that, millions of centuries aiding, this life has become vegetative, then animal, then conscious, intellectual, and finally moral; we axe asked to acknowledge this ascending progression of matter which, from the inert molecule it was in the first instance, has become sensitive protoplasm, then has been transformed into the plant, which in its turn has become endowed with motion, then advancing one step further has turned into the hideous animal, creeping in the mire of the primitive marshes, to rise up at length in its conquered majesty and call itself Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ. And having thus accounted for the formation of things, men look with scornful pity upon those who still have recourse to the intervention of an all-creating God; their idea of the Divine Being may be expressed in the words of the learned Laplace to Napoleon the First. "I have had no need of this hypothesis." In presence of this self-styled scientific Genesis, it is not only my faith which revolts, but my reason repeats, with the enthusiasm of a conviction firmer than ever, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"; for if there is m my reason an immovable principle, it is indeed this: that no effect can exist without a cause, that all which is in the effect must also be in the cause; that, consequently, matter can never have brought forth intelligence, chaos can never have given birth to harmony, for in nowise can the lesser ever have produced the greater. 2 This reminds us, further, that as God is the supreme Cause, He must also be the supreme End of all that exists, the centre of the thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. All things, says St. Paul, are by Him and for Him. Every being has a destination, and the noblest destination of all beings is that which the Scriptures call the glory of God. You know what this ideal has become, and what sin has made of it. 3. This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity, to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him. God is at work in the midst of mankind. It is in a region higher than that of science that we must seek the hidden sources of the river of life which brings regeneration, consolation, and eternal hope to the world. Whence come they then? They gush from the depths of the religious revelation which the God whom we serve has given to mankind. God the Creator is also God the Redeemer, and, in order of grace as in that of nature, He may truly say: "I am the First." What has been accomplished in the world must also be accomplished in each individual being, and the redemption of humanity is nothing if it is not worked out in the innermost soul of those who are to reap its fruits. II. "I AM THE LAST." By this we must understand — 1. That God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world. 2. That God remains the Supreme Judge, and that, consequently, the hour of justice shall certainly strike. 3. That God is the Supreme Refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which remains standing when all others have disappeared. (E. Bersier, D. D.) 1. It is supported by the structure and order of nature. So far as the universe has come within the sweep of scientific observation and research, it appears as one complete whole. All its parts are beautifully harmonised; all its forces are nicely balanced. 2. It is in direct antagonism to certain prevalent opinions. It is opposed to atheism, which declares there is no God; to fetichism, the worship of any material object that a capricious superstition may select; to polytheism, which holds the plurality of gods; and to pantheism, which regards nature as identical with Deity, and thus destroys a Divine personality. 3. It is accepted as a fundamental truth in all evangelical churches. But our object is to consider the practical uses of Biblical monotheism. I. IT REVEALS THE GREATNESS OF THE CREATOR. Survey this wondrous universe. Gaze upon the vast, and examine the minute in the clearest and broadest light of modern science, and what do you see — wisdom? Yes, manifold wisdom. Goodness? Yes, like an overflowing tide, overflowing all. Power? In rearing the stupendous fabrics, building up the mountains, pouring out the oceans, stretching out the heavens. Do you see wealth in all this? If you attach value to one acre of earth, what is the value of the globe? If there be but one God, how great must He be! II. IT REVEALS THE DEFINITENESS OF MORAL OBLIGATION. Deep in the souls of all men is the sense of duty. My definition of virtue is this — "following a right rule from a right motive." What is the rule? Clearly, if there be but one God, the will of that one God must be the rule. What is the motive? Clearly, if there be but one God, supreme love to that one God. Were there a plurality of gods there would be a difficulty to find out what virtue is; we should have to determine whose will to obey — the will of each, or some, or all. And we should also have to find out who of all the gods we should love the most. III. IT REVEALS THE FITNESS OF RELIGION TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SOUL. 1. The human heart has a centralising tendency. Deep in our emotional nature is a craving for some one object on which to place entire confidence, and centre the deepest love. 2. The moral character of the soul depends upon its central object. By a law of our nature we become like that we most love. He who loves God becomes a partaker of the Divine nature. 3. The soul's happiness is determined by the character of the object most loved. All experience shows that most of our happiness and misery comes out of our supreme love. All, in every age, who have loved the one God supremely have felt with the psalmist who said, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?" IV. IT REVEALS THE HUMAN BROTHERHOOD OF SOULS. "To us," says Paul, "there is but one God, the Father of all things, and we in Him." V. IT REVEALS THE WONDERFUL IN MEDIATION. "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son," &c. Here is love passing knowledge. 1. What a disparity between Him who loves and them who are loved! What a disparity in natures! God, the Almighty, the All-wise, the Eternal. Man, the feeble, the ignorant, and the dying. What a disparity in character! God, the Essence and Fountain of all holiness. Man, vile and polluted with sin. 2. What a manifestation of the greatness of His love. Is this one God our one God? Have we no idols? (D. Thomas, D. D.) People Cyrus, Isaiah, JacobPlaces Israel, JerusalemTopics Almighty, Apart, Armies, Beside, Besides, Cause, Hosts, Israel's, Redeemer, Says, ThusOutline 1. God comforts the church with his promises7. The vanity of idols 9. And folly of idol makers 21. He exhorts to praise God for his redemption and omnipotence Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 44:6 1315 God, as redeemer 1165 God, unique Library Feeding on Ashes'He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?'--ISAIAH xliv. 20. The prophet has been pouring fierce scorn on idolaters. They make, he says, the gods they worship. They take a tree and saw it up: one log serves for a fire to cook their food, and with compass and pencil and plane they carve the figure of a man, and then they bow down to it and say, 'Deliver me, for thou art my god!' He sums up the whole … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Writing Blotted Out and Mist Melted Jacob --Israel --Jeshurun Source of My Spirit's Deep Desire To the Afflicted, Tossed with Tempests and not Comforted. Isa 44:5-11 Fourteenth Day for the Church of the Future The Nature of Justification Catalogue of his Works. Moses' Prayer to be Blotted Out of God's Book. Centenary Commemoration "But if Ye have Bitter Envying and Strife in Your Hearts, Glory Not," &C. Impiety of Attributing a visible Form to God. --The Setting up of Idols a Defection from the True God. The Unity of God Hiram, the Inspired Artificer A Few Sighs from Hell; In the Last, the Great Day of the Feast' The Song of the Redeemed Of the Decrees of God. Third Stage of the Roman Trial. Pilate Reluctantly Sentences Him to Crucifixion. The Water of Life; The Being of God Links Isaiah 44:6 NIVIsaiah 44:6 NLT Isaiah 44:6 ESV Isaiah 44:6 NASB Isaiah 44:6 KJV Isaiah 44:6 Bible Apps Isaiah 44:6 Parallel Isaiah 44:6 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 44:6 Chinese Bible Isaiah 44:6 French Bible Isaiah 44:6 German Bible Isaiah 44:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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