Isaiah 46:1

The Bible says in Isaiah 46:1-7, “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.” In these verses once again God is showing the Israelites the vanity and the foolishness of having “gods” made by the hands of man. Of course, this subject is symbolic of man’s foolishness in every generation to find some replacement for the true worship of God through faith in Christ. But in the time of need the false gods will not help and will not save because they are gods made by the hands of man or made by the imagination of man. Millions are trapped by false religion around the world, and others are trapped by humanism and man-centeredness, which is a form of idolatry. It is interesting that the idols of the Old Testament were often made of gold and silver, and in our day it is the gold and silver themselves that easily become the idol. God warns us about idolatry. He says in Isaiah 46:7, “yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.” In the New Testament the Apostle John wrote in First John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

For those who trust in Christ a great promise is given in Isaiah 46:4, “And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Of course, the everlasting arms of God are able to “carry” us through all the years of our lives on this earth. This is the best social-security system of all: trust in Christ because He has promised that He will carry you “even to your old age.” You may get weaker as you get older and less capable in some ways, but God is not weaker. Jesus will always be just as powerful as He is today. You need His blessings in your youth, and you will need them in your old age. He promises that you will have them.

The Bible says in Isaiah 46:8-9, “Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.” In order to live by faith we must have a good memory. There are things that God wants us to remember. He certainly wants us to remember some of the great events of the Old Testament when God proved Himself to be faithful to His promises. For example, God saved Noah and his family by leading Noah and teaching him to build the ark. And because Abraham believed God, God promised Abraham that the land of Canaan would be given to Abraham and to his descendants forever. God is still bringing that promise to completion. When Jesus returns and saves the Israelites from their enemies, that promise will be completely fulfilled. At the same time all Jews who are left alive will turn to Jesus and believe on Him as their Savior. It says in Zechariah 12:10-11, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” It also says in Romans 11:26-27, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

It is very important to remember what God did for the believers in the days of the Bible. In the Old Testament we can see what God did for Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets, etc. In the New Testament we can see what Jesus did for the apostles and for others such as Mark, and Luke, and Stephen. When we remember what the Lord did for all of these people, we can remember the greatness of God and His faithfulness to His people. If we are believers in Christ we can also look back at our own lives and see ways in which Jesus has abundantly blessed us and helped us by His grace and mercy. These memories will help build up our faith and encourage us that what Jesus once did for us, He will do again. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, and today, and forever.”

God makes a very interesting statement to the Israelites in Isaiah 46:8. He says to them, “show yourselves men.” In other words make sure that you become what a human being ought to become: a spiritual person who remembers God and who therefore lives by faith in Christ. The implication is that someone who is not spiritual is not a total human being. God designed people so that we would have a physical life on this earth, and also so that we would have a spiritual relationship with Christ. Any person who does not have a spiritual relationship with Christ is not a complete person, and does not have the quality of existence that they were meant to have. It is no wonder that it says in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 46:10-13, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” We can remember God’s blessings and deeds in the past and therefore have a strong faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. In a sense we can also “remember” the future because He has revealed to us in the Bible many details about the future. We can read and study those prophetic details that are recoded in the Bible, and then our hearts are blessed by remembering what Jesus is going to do in the future. The Lord said in Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” Only God can tell us what is going to happen in the future because He determines what is going to happen at all times, both today and farther into the future. God said in Isaiah 46:11, “yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” The reason that things happen for a purpose is because God said “I have purposed it.” The reason that there is ultimately a good result to everything that happens in life is because the good Lord has “purposed” every event that takes place in your life or anyone else’s life. That is why it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God; to those that are the called according to His purpose.”

Notice that God says in Isaiah 46:12-13, “Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” Isaiah 46:12 describes the greatest problem of the human race, and verse 13 describes the solution to that problem that God has brought to being through Jesus Christ.

The problem of the human race is that people are “stouthearted” and they are “far from righteousness.” In this passage the word “stouthearted” refers to the inner man, the heart; and it refers to being defiant against God in the inner man. Human beings are naturally resistant to God and to God’s will. In a very real way a human being in the natural state can be at war with God inside the inner man. The devil uses the naturally defiant heart of man to try and keep separation from God in place. The Holy Spirit tries to draw each human heart into a right relationship with Christ. That is what the Apostle Paul was writing about in Romans 5:1 “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is what the Lord was talking about in Isaiah 46:12 when He said, “Hearken unto me.” Instead of resisting God and His words, become submissive to God through faith in Christ. Listen to God. Hearken to Him.

Of course, God is well aware of man’s sin problem. God is well aware that every person is “far from righteousness” because He sees every person’s sins every day. In Isaiah 46:13 God spoke of His plan to “place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” Zion refers to Jerusalem. In the days of Isaiah God spoke about His plan to save people from their sins. God’s plan for salvation had a great deal to do with Jerusalem and with the nation of Israel because the Messiah would be born a Jew, and the Messiah would suffer for the sins of the world in Jerusalem. For these events to happen, Israel would have to be preserved as a nation. Jesus said in Matthew 20:18-19, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.” Everyone can have a part in this great salvation that God planned and that Jesus provided by turning to Jesus and praying to Him to receive His great salvation and forgiveness of sins.

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