Isaiah 41 on Origins

Photo of the Book of Isaiah page of the Bible (cropped version) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday was the first time I didn’t put up a post with great links to check out, so today is going to be the first Sunday post!  I’ll have to do links later, this Bible study was time consuming (and fun!).

We were so busy that I didn’t even get my Bible reading done until just before bedtime last night, but it was so amazing I want to share some with you.

In this passage God wasn’t addressing Evolutionist people in Isaiah’s day, but idols. However, the same principles apply since idolatry often has elements of Evolution in it. 

(The following pages I link to are NOT from Creationists)

Isaiah 41: 21-29  (I was going to paraphrase this for easier understanding, but the NASB did it for me already!)

21 “Present your case,” the Lord says.  “Bring forward your strong arguments,” the King of Jacob says.

Sound familiar?  We are constantly hearing the Evolutionists’ theories when we read about science, they even have “strong arguments” to “prove” that the earth must be old and that there is no reason to believe in the Creator God.

A planetoid plows onto the primordial Earth, example of impact event (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome.  Or announce to us what is coming;

You can find info on what they say will happen to the universe, for example that eventually the whole universe will freeze.  Of course, that isn’t pleasant to imagine, so they spend most of their time confidently telling us what happened long ago, even though any possible way for life to have gotten started remains “elusive”.  This means that for the hundreds of years they’ve been trying to figure out a way to have Abiogenesis, every idea they come up with makes people laugh.

23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. 

God is being very tongue in cheek here; He knows they can’t really predict the future and that such people aren’t gods.  But they sure act like they are in control of everything.

24 Behold, you are of no account, and your work amounts to nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.

Okay, so here God is talking directly to the idols, but you’re still in big trouble if you believe this stuff until death!

25 “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun he will call on My name; and he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay.” 

This is probably talking about Jesus at His return to be King.  It’s not going to be pretty for the other side!

26 Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?  Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?  Surely there was no one who declared, surely there was no one who proclaimed, surely there was no one who heard your words. 

God repeats Himself a lot throughout the Bible.  Not because God forgot what He said, but because we can have thick skulls and slippery memories.  Repeating the idea of telling the past (which we didn’t see) and the future (which hasn’t happened yet) shows us how important this is.  No human being was around yet to be an eye witness of the beginning of the world.  God is the only one who saw all of Creation, and He’s the only one outside of time so that the future is as familiar to Him as the past.

27-29 “ Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’  And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’ But when I look, there is no one, and there is no counselor among them who, if I ask, can give an answer. Behold, all of them are false; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind and emptiness.

God is grieving here for the people of Israel’s rejection of His commands and their idolatry.  An interesting thing here is that God is mourning Israel’s refusal to be a “messenger of good news.”  He had never meant for only the children of Abraham to remember the true God, He had wanted them to share the truth with everyone.  But they wouldn’t and eventually almost forget the truth themselves.

God promised Abraham: And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 28:14

Moses said: Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.  For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? Deuteronomy 4:6,7

PS Answers in Genesis linked to a Hyrax “singing” video in this week’s News to Note, so I copied the link into my Hyrax article!