"The Ruler of History" Sermon: Isaiah 41:1-7 (manuscript)

“The Ruler of History”

[Isaiah 41:1-7]

May 10, 2020 YouTube

In chapter 40 of Isaiah, God comforts and gives hope to Judah and Jerusalem in response to God telling them that they will be conquered and sent into captivity for seventy years.  God comforts them, letting them know that they will suffer, but it will not be all they deserve, and God will be with them and give them strength for each day that they serve their discipline.

In this morning’s text, God turns His eyes to the coastlands – to the nations around the Mediterranean – to the Gentiles.

We see that God calls the nations to come before Him to be judged in court.

            “Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.”

            Paul writes, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31, ESV).

            Just as God was preparing Jerusalem – the Church – to be taken into captivity and discipline – some one hundred years in the future – so God turns to the unbelievers and tells them that they will have to answer before God in His courtroom.

            God tells them to keep silence, to gather their strength, and then, when they are ready, they can offer a defense before God – they can speak and then hear the judgement of God on them.

            And Paul says the same thing – the day will come when everyone will be brought before God in His throne room and judged.  And we know this will happen because God raised Jesus from the dead – evil has lost, the devil has been defeated, the effects of sin will soon be swept away.

            While we are “locked down” and suffering not being together in worship, have we remembered those who do not believe who are “locked down” – who are not merely at risk for their lives, but their eternal lives and judgment before God?

            Might this not be a good time to talk with someone who doesn’t have the time to talk about religion or to read something from the Bible or another good Christian book?  If someone still doesn’t have time – no time at all – tell then they need to make time, they need to be silent and pull themselves together and confront something that is greater than Covid.

            God tells the Gentiles – the unbelievers – to get themselves together and come into the courtroom for judgement.

            Second, God tells them that He is the Ruler of history.

“Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod.”

God tells the Gentiles to listen, and He asks them Who it was that stirred up one from the east and gave him victory at every step, trampling kings, wielding his sword like it was going through butter, and he chases the nations away and takes their land for his own?

So, the question is, who is “one from the east”?  Who is this that God is referring to?

And there are two major answers from the commentators:

The first is Abraham.

Moses records: 

“Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran” (Genesis 11:31-32, ESV).

“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3, ESV).

Abraham is from the east.  He is chosen by God to be the father of the people of Israel.  God sends him to a new land where he had never been.  He goes and conquers and makes treaties and becomes one of the wealthiest people who has ever lived.

So, the question is, Who did this for the one from the east?

God did.  God is telling the Gentiles that God is able to take one man who is faithful and obedient and empower him and lead him to conquer the world and set up a nation for God.  God chose Abraham and removed all the obstacles he would face so he arrives exactly where God wants him to be and promises him, he will be.

The second possibility is Cyrus.

Cyrus was born around 600 B.C. and ruled the Medo-Persian Empire from 559 B.C. to his death in 530 B.C.  Cyrus was born in the east, and God raised him up to be the leader to the Medo-Persian Empire – striking down the Babylonian Empire in 539 B.C., claiming an empire that ran from Egypt and Turkey throughout all of the Middle East.

God made Himself known to Cyrus, and we read:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up”’” (II Chronicles 36:22-23, ESV).

Thus, in 539 B.C., the release of Israel and Judah from the Babylonian captivity began, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the whole nation.

Cyrus is from the east, and he conquers much of the known world and frees God’s people, and he tells all the neighboring nations to Israel, that they are going to pay for the restoration of the nation – including building the wall around Jerusalem.

So, is it Abraham or Cyrus?  Why not both?

The point is not who is God referencing.  The point is that God is the Ruler of history, and God is able to choose anyone to accomplish His Will and no nation, no people, no circumstance in all of the world will be able to stop God from accomplishing His purposes through any man or woman He chooses, because He is Sovereign.  His Hand is Providence.

God says, “Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.”

God tells the Gentiles to understand, God called the generations into existence in the first place, and God brings the generations to the place He would have them be.  God is before the beginning, is now, and will forever be.  God is the First and the Last.  He is the Almighty.  He raises up unexpected people to accomplish His Will and it comes to pass exactly as He planned without anything ever diverting what He intended.

There is a point where Jesus is before Pilate, and Pilate is trying to get Jesus to take His trial seriously – to get Him to understand the facts of His incarceration – that the only thing that would keep Jesus from being crucified and dying would be the will of Pilate.

And Jesus corrects him, “Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’” (John 19:11, ESV).

“Pilate, God is the Ruler of history.  You are doing what must be done that Providence would come and the Will of God satisfied.  You have been given the authority to do what God intends to have done, but I am not in your hands.”

God brings the nations before Him and tells them that He is the Almighty, He is the Sovereign, He is the Ruler of history – and he gives the example of the one from the east – which was and is – from their time perspective – a big deal – the rise of Abraham on the world stage and the rise of Cyrus on the world stage.  And God tells the Gentiles to listen up because He is and was and will forever be.

We have images in the Scripture of God being love and Jesus being the Shepherd of the sheep – and those are true – but they do not make up a full picture of Who God is.  We need to know God in all of His Attributes for our growth in faith and obedience.

It is nice that God loves us and shepherds us, but something more is added if we say He is the Sovereign, Providential Ruler of history Who knows and leads individuals to accomplish His purposes, isn’t it?  Isn’t it even more comforting to know that God is both He Who suffered and died for us and physically rose again, and the God Who empowers people who we unknown to be major players on the world stage and for the progression of the Kingdom of God?

And what might the Gentiles understand?  How might they react?

If you are an unbeliever and you are told by the Almighty God Who moves history according to His Will that you will have to answer before Him in His court, wouldn’t you cry out like the crowd on the day of Pentecost, “What must we do to be saved?”

The world needs to hear the full picture of Who God is.  It’s not enough to tell people that God is love and loves His people.  We must also tell them that He is the Almighty God Who is Holy and Just and will require us to answer before Him at the end of the age.

Still, knowing that God is the Ruler of history will not move a heart of stone.

Third, the Gentiles run to their idols.

            “The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come. Everyone helps his neighbor    and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’ The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, ‘It is good’; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.”

            The Gentiles – the unbelievers understand the message that God has given – and they are terrified.  The earth is trembling at the revelation of God’s Almighty Sovereignty.  The people run and gather together in groups and tell each other, “Be strong – everything will be fine.  Don’t worry, be strong!”

            How in the world can they hear the message of impending doom and tell each other that all will be well?  Their hearts and hard, and their minds are deluded.

            They run to the craftsman and have him made idols for them.  He covers the idols with gold and silver.  They take the idols home and nail them down so nothing can move them, and they tell themselves, “It is good – all is well.  The nails are holing my god down, so there is no chance of the God of Jerusalem coming against us!”

            “No chance”?  That’s exactly the point – there is no chance!  Chance is not a thing that exists.  God is the Ruler of history and He moves every molecule to where He would have it bento accomplish His purpose, and He disciplines and brings down His Wrath as He is pleased to.

            They were eyewitness of the power and work of God, and they were deeply convinced of it – as Calvin explains – but they would not listen.  They smiled and closed their ears and hearts and took their trinkets home to protect them.

            One of the last days of college, I was sitting with a friend of mine, who is not a believer.  And he looked at me and asked me what was wrong.  I told him that I was concerned for him – that he did not believe in Jesus the Only God and Savior, and he said, “Don’t worry; I’ll be fine.”

            No, he won’t.  Not unless he comes to faith and confesses Jesus as God and Savior.  No, he won’t be fine if he dies in unbelief and has to face the Almighty God in His courtroom.

            Paul tells us that the sufferings of this world are nothing compared with the glory we will be brought into on the last day.  So, be comforted brothers and sisters, as we endure Covid.  Let us strive after holiness with everything in us – enabled by the power of God the Holy Spirit.  Let us read our Bibles and listen to biblical preaching and learn about Who God is.  Let us know the God Who chose to save a people – a remnant of humanity – for Himself – and bought us with His Blood.

            But don’t comfort the unbelievers.  Don’t tell them that God loves them just as they are.   No, Jesus died because of how we are.  Tell them that the Ruler of history has sent One Savior into the world for all people to turn to and believe for forgiveness and eternal life.  Tell them they won’t be all right if they put their faith in their idols.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we rejoice that You are Sovereign over history.  We look to You when we don’t understand the course of history, and we pray that You would keep us acknowledging Your Sovereignty when days are bright.  Help us to speak up, telling our friends that there is One God and Savior Who controls all of history and will save all those Who believe in their hearts and confess Him with their mouths.  Send the Holy Spirit through us as we speak to break hearts of stone and draw the remnant to Your Salvation.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.