◄ Isaiah 46:9 ►
Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
Study Bible
Remember the former things of old
This phrase calls the reader to a conscious act of recollection. The Hebrew word for "remember" is "זָכַר" (zakar), which implies not just a passive recall but an active engagement with the past. In the context of Isaiah, this is a call to remember God's mighty acts and faithfulness throughout history. The "former things of old" refers to the foundational events in Israel's history, such as the Exodus and the covenant at Sinai. These events are not just historical but are theological anchors that remind the Israelites of God's unchanging nature and His covenantal promises.

for I am God
The declaration "I am God" is a profound assertion of Yahweh's unique identity. The Hebrew word for God here is "אֵל" (El), a term that denotes strength and power. This statement is a reminder of God's sovereignty and His supreme authority over all creation. In the ancient Near Eastern context, where polytheism was prevalent, this assertion distinguishes Yahweh from the myriad of other deities worshiped by surrounding nations. It is a call to exclusive worship and trust in the one true God.

and there is no other
This phrase emphasizes the monotheistic core of Israel's faith. The Hebrew word "אַיִן" (ayin) means "there is none," underscoring the exclusivity of Yahweh as the only God. This is a direct challenge to the idols and false gods that were prevalent in the surrounding cultures. It serves as a reminder that no other being or entity can compare to the Lord in power, authority, or existence. This exclusivity is foundational to the covenant relationship between God and His people.

I am God
The repetition of "I am God" reinforces the previous declaration, emphasizing the certainty and importance of this truth. In Hebrew literature, repetition is a common technique used to stress significance. This reiteration serves to remind the Israelites of God's unchanging nature and His eternal presence. It is a call to recognize and submit to His divine authority.

and there is none like Me
This final phrase highlights the uniqueness and incomparability of God. The Hebrew word "כָּמוֹנִי" (kamoni) means "like Me," and its use here underscores that no other being possesses the attributes, power, or holiness of Yahweh. This is a call to awe and reverence, recognizing that God's ways and thoughts are higher than human understanding. It is an invitation to trust in His perfect wisdom and sovereign plan, knowing that He alone is worthy of worship and adoration.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah's ministry spanned the reigns of several kings of Judah. He is known for his prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of the Lord.

2. Babylon
In the context of Isaiah 46, Babylon represents the power and idolatry that God will overthrow. The chapter speaks to the futility of idols and the sovereignty of God.

3. Israel
The chosen people of God, who are being reminded of God's unique nature and His past acts of deliverance and faithfulness.

4. Cyrus
Though not mentioned directly in this verse, Cyrus the Great is a key figure in the surrounding chapters. He is the Persian king whom God uses to deliver Israel from Babylonian captivity.

5. Idols
The false gods worshiped by the nations, which are contrasted with the one true God in this chapter.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty
God alone is sovereign over all creation. Recognizing His sovereignty helps us trust in His plans and purposes, even when circumstances seem uncertain.

The Futility of Idolatry
Idols, whether physical or metaphorical, cannot compare to the living God. We must examine our lives for anything that takes precedence over our relationship with Him.

Remembering God's Faithfulness
Reflecting on God's past acts of deliverance and faithfulness strengthens our faith and encourages us to trust Him in present and future challenges.

The Uniqueness of God
There is none like God. This truth should lead us to worship Him with reverence and awe, acknowledging His unparalleled nature.

Call to Action
We are called to remember and proclaim the truth of God's uniqueness and sovereignty to a world that often turns to false gods and idols.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the context of Isaiah 46:9 help us understand the importance of remembering God's past acts?

2. In what ways can modern-day "idols" distract us from recognizing God's sovereignty in our lives?

3. How does the declaration "I am God, and there is none like Me" challenge us to live differently in our daily walk with Christ?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that we are placing God first in our lives, above all other "gods"?

5. How can reflecting on God's faithfulness in the past help us face current challenges with confidence and hope?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 4:35
This verse emphasizes that the Lord is God and there is no other, reinforcing the uniqueness and sovereignty of God as seen in Isaiah 46:9.

Exodus 20:2-3
The first commandment, which declares that there should be no other gods before the Lord, aligns with the declaration of God's uniqueness in Isaiah 46:9.

Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God" echoes the call to remember and recognize God's sovereignty and unmatched nature.

Acts 17:24-25
Paul's sermon at the Areopagus, where he speaks of God as the Creator who does not dwell in temples made by human hands, connects to the futility of idols mentioned in Isaiah 46.
Sermons
The Religion of Jehovah Contrasted with IdolatryE. Johnson Isaiah 46:1-13
A Fourfold Aspect of the InfiniteHomilistIsaiah 46:9-11
Cyrus, a Ravenous BirdProf. J. Skinner, D. D.Isaiah 46:9-11
The Purposes of GodJ. Burner.Isaiah 46:9-11
People
Isaiah, Jacob
Places
Babylon, Cush, Zion
Topics
Ago, Former, Memory, Mighty, None, Past, Remember
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 46:9

     8670   remembering
     8724   doubt, dealing with

Isaiah 46:9-11

     4945   history

Library
A Righteousness Near and a Swift Salvation
'Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry.'--ISAIAH xlvi. 12,13. God has promised that He will dwell with him that is humble and of a contrite heart. Jesus has shed the oil of His benediction on the poor in spirit. It is the men who form the exact antithesis to these characters who are addressed here. The 'stout-hearted' are those who, being untouched in conscience and ignorant of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The God of the Aged
THOSE will be peculiar circumstances under which I shall stand up to address the people next Tuesday; circumstances which perhaps seldom occur,--possibly may never have occurred before. It might have been more in order that the aged minister should himself address the people; but nevertheless, as it is his own choice, so it must be; and I shall draw my consolation from the third verse, where it is declared, that though God be the God of the close of our life, yet he is also the God of its beginning. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

Whether the Seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer are Fittingly Assigned?
Objection 1: It would seem that the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer are not fittingly assigned. It is useless to ask for that to be hallowed which is always holy. But the name of God is always holy, according to Lk. 1:49, "Holy is His name." Again, His kingdom is everlasting, according to Ps. 144:13, "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages." Again, God's will is always fulfilled, according to Isa 46:10, "All My will shall be done." Therefore it is useless to ask for "the name of God to be hallowed," …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Of Internal Acts
Of Internal Acts Acts are distinguished into External and Internal. External acts are those which bear relation to some sensible object, and are either morally good or evil, merely according to the nature of the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak only of Internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns internally to some objects, and averts from others. If during my application to God I should form a will to change the nature of my act, I thereby withdraw myself …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

"And this is his Commandment," &C.
1 John iii. 23.--"And this is his commandment," &c. There are different tempers of mind among men, some more smooth and pliable, others more refractory and froward. Some may be persuaded by love, who cannot be constrained by fear. With some a request will more prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath some regard to this in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour, and are Wearied," &C.
Matth. xi. 28.--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied," &c. It is the great misery of Christians in this life, that they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him, …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Power of God
The next attribute is God's power. Job 9:19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong.' In this chapter is a magnificent description of God's power. Lo, he is strong.' The Hebrew word for strong signifies a conquering, prevailing strength. He is strong.' The superlative degree is intended here; viz., He is most strong. He is called El-shaddai, God almighty. Gen 17:7. His almightiness lies in this, that he can do whatever is feasible. Divines distinguish between authority and power. God has both. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Iranian Conquest
Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin. The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young Scythian. The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt --Darius and the organisation of the empire. The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration: …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

Barzillai
BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M.A., D.D. "There is nothing," says Socrates to Cephalus in the Republic, "I like better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom it is right to learn the character of the way, whether it is rugged or difficult, or smooth and easy" (p. 328 E.). It is to such an aged traveller that we are introduced in the person of Barzillai the Gileadite. And though he is one of the lesser-known characters …
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known

Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Unchangeableness of God
The next attribute is God's unchangeableness. I am Jehovah, I change not.' Mal 3:3. I. God is unchangeable in his nature. II. In his decree. I. Unchangeable in his nature. 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being. [1] No eclipse of his brightness. His essence shines with a fixed lustre. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17. Thou art the same.' Psa 102:27. All created things are full of vicissitudes. Princes and emperors are subject to …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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