The gift of being able to say, I am the LORD’s.

Sermon for Midweek of Lent 5

Isaiah 44:1-20

Before we walk briefly through the first 20 verses of Isaiah 44, I want to explain now something that I won’t have time to explain next week, with the long readings we’ll be hearing.

As we’ve discussed before, the last 27 chapters of Isaiah (chapters 40-66) form a literary unit which is neatly divided into three 9-chapter units, which, in turn, are each neatly divided into three 3-chapter units. As it turns out, Isaiah 52, 53, and 54 form such a unit, with Isaiah 53 being the central chapter, not only of that unit, but of the last 27 chapters. In Hebrew literature, and especially in Hebrew poetry, there’s a technique called “centering,” where the main idea of a section is placed right in the center, right in the middle. When I say, “Isaiah 53,” I hope that you immediately think of Good Friday, because that’s always the Old Testament reading for Good Friday, as it describes so accurately Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. So next week, since we’re focusing on Isaiah during this whole Church Year, we’ll hear Isaiah 52 on Maundy Thursday, Isaiah 53 on Good Friday, and Isaiah 54 at the Easter Vigil, and we’ll spend a little time unpacking each chapter on those days.

For now, we turn back to the 20 verses before us from Isaiah 44. 20 verses is a lot, but most of this section doesn’t require much commentary. Most of it is simply God’s justifiable mockery of those who worship idols.

Before we get to that part, though, God has some very encouraging words for Israel—words which apply directly to you and me.

“Yet hear me now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the LORD who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

God calls His people by three different names here: Jacob, Israel, and Jeshurun. That third name, Jeshurun, is only used a few times in the Old Testament, mostly in the book of Deuteronomy. It means “Upright One.” It was a name that was sometimes applied to Israel in a sarcastic way. They were meant to be upright among the nations. But very often they weren’t. Here it’s used sincerely as God is talking to the invisible Church, to the true believers in Israel. He also calls them “My servant,” and He says to them, “I have made, I have formed you from the womb, I have chosen you.” And to all that He adds the comforting command, “Fear not!” And to that He adds the promise, “I will help you.” What a beautiful way for God to talk to His children, to His chosen ones, to His elect.

How will He help His children?

For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground;

God has been using this analogy in Isaiah for a while about putting water in dry places. Here He explains what that picture is referring to:

I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.’ One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s’; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ And name himself by the name of Israel.

Pouring water on the thirsty one is a promise to pour out His Holy Spirit, with His all His blessings on the descendants of Israel. But these aren’t necessarily physical descendants of Israel, because many of them end up renaming themselves after Jacob or Israel, and they do that because they come to trust in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. So this is a promise to the believers in Old Testament Israel, to the Church of God at that time, that God would expand His Church, that it wouldn’t be a nation defined any longer by a national flag or a piece of land or a specific strain of DNA, but by true faith in the LORD God—faith worked by His Holy Spirit. It’s a promise fulfilled in large part on the Day of Pentecost, and in the following years when the Gospel went out and bore fruit in the world. It’s a promise that has come to include you and me, as we happily and readily say about ourselves as Christians, “I am the LORD’s. I belong to the LORD, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am part of the true people of Israel, because the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, has persuaded me that Jesus is the Christ, my Savior and King.”

“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’ ”

The LORD God is the King and Redeemer of His Church. There is no other. He says here what Jesus says of Himself in the Book of Revelation: I am the First and the Last. There is no other God, no other Judge, no other Determiner of history, no other Savior, no other Rock in whom we can take refuge, no other King. Which is why it’s so foolish to pretend that there are other gods who deserve our worship, our praise, our prayers, our obedience, our affection, or our love. .

But that’s exactly what the idolaters do—they pretend, they play make-believe. And so God lays into them in the rest of the verses of our text that are just dripping with mockery. It’s absolute stupidity to do what idolaters do. Taking a chunk of wood, using half of it to make a fire, bake bread, and keep himself warm, while taking the other half and crafting it into the shape of something or someone, ascribing a name to it, and then bowing down to it, praying to it, and expecting help from it. And they’re so given over in their minds to this foolishness that they don’t even see the problem with it!

There are still some people who bow down to a piece of carved wood—or stone or marble or clay, or to animals or to inanimate objects in the natural world. But the truth is, that’s not the only form of idolatry that’s ridiculous and worthy of being mocked by God. Is it really any less foolish to idolize science, or scientists, or mother nature, or space aliens? What about actors and celebrities and TV personalities? Or philosophers, theologians, or church fathers? Founding fathers, politicians, political parties, the American flag? Money, family, your own heart?

No, it’s foolish and ridiculous to worship any of these things, to serve them or to set your heart on them. Set your heart on the LORD God of Israel, who has given His Son into death for your sins. Set your heart on the LORD God of Israel, who has given You His word and His Spirit, who has brought you to faith in Christ Jesus, and who makes you able to say, “I am the LORD’s. I am His servant. He is my God and my Help, by King and my Rock. And there is no other.” Amen.