“Submit your case,” says the Lord. “Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King. “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome, or tell us the future. Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe when we see it. Look, you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.” (Isaiah 41:21-24 CSB)
Have you ever wished you knew what the future would be like? I can remember as a kid reading fictional stories by various authors about what the 21st century would be like. We would have flying cars, visit distant planets and even live in outer space. While we have certainly made some incredible scientific advances, we have not yet realized many of the incredible achievements that were imagined. We’ve been able to send men to the moon but not distant planets, yet, and we’ve discovered that living in micro-gravity environments is very hard on our physical bodies. These discoveries and achievements certainly poise us to make even more advances in these areas, but most our visions for the future are still dreams and not reality.
I believe our desire to foresee and predict the future is simply an extension of our sinful desire to be like God. We really don’t want to know what tomorrow will bring, we want to control it. We want the fulfillment of that ancient lie, “when you eat it [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” In other words, they would no longer need God to define what is right and wrong for them. They would be self sufficient, able to define their own reality and decide right from wrong, for themselves.
But I really need you to notice how God defines the same choice; “you must not eat it or touch it, or you will die!” Some like to believe that the difference here lies in the fact that Eve seems to have added the “or touch it” to God’s restriction but I think the key is that the deceiver causes her to question the outcome, death [God’s view] or insight/wisdom or being able to decide what is right or wrong for your own life [Satan’s view]. While our world defines self-sufficiency as a good thing, God defines it as a curse – as death for man. But the deceiver, He whispers to us: “You will certainly not die, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” That has been our desire, ever since. To be like God, self-sufficient – the one who determines our reality, who decides what’s good, what’s evil and, ultimately, who sets the course for our own future and its destination.
In our focal passage, God calls upon litigants to submit their case, to present their arguments and evidence before Him for why their choice is the better choice or the right way to live or their idol is greater than He is. Isaiah has returned to the theme that we looked at two weeks ago, a heavenly courtroom with God presiding as judge and man choosing who is worthy of their loyalty and worship. As you’ll recall, Isaiah told us that the LORD, “the God of Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,” is the one who is worthy of their trust and deserves worship because He alone has the sovereignty to determine the future.
Many of you will read our focal passage and think that this issue, the idolatry God condemns, only relates to uneducated, superstitious, backward people living in social isolation or in a third world country. Nothing could be further from the truth. This strikes at the very heart of 21st century American culture. In fact, I believe it is so basic to human existence it actually strikes at the heart of every generation, culture, nation and people group. It knows no boundaries and this desire to usurp the authority of Almighty God goes to heart of every struggle we face.
For modern Americans, the core issue is not about some idol that represents a local, tribal or cultural deity. It is about those ideals, desires or priorities that we’ve elevated to the place of utmost importance in our lives. For some, it is their sense of self worth, belonging or their identity. For others, it is about their social status, power and influence, cultural recognition, accumulated wealth or business/educational achievements. And for others, it is their sense of independence, personal freedom, self-will and the right to choose and determine their own destiny. There are many others, but these are just a few examples I see in the lives of the people I encounter each day. The actual list of modern idols is virtually endless.
I hope you can see that idols are not just an old fashioned belief in the supernatural or spiritual world and our reliance upon it. It isn’t just about some tribal elemental (fire, water, air, etc) gods. It isn’t competing religious beliefs like spiritually enlightened individuals who receive revelation from some impersonal force in the universe. It’s not even just about mis-identifying and falsely worshiping a single deity whose supposed words supersede previous divine revelation. It is anyone, anything or any belief that takes the place of the One, True God, the Holy One of Israel. Anything that usurps His sovereignty over us and our world is idolatry. As He put it, “You shall have no other gods (idol, belief, ideal, or desire) before (above, more important than) Me.”
God challenges these people to consider how their “gods” have helped them understand and learn from their past, or prepare for the future. In fact, He calls upon them to “do something, anything, good or bad so that we can see it and be in awe of it.” This is like the challenge that Elijah proposed on Mount Carmel (see 1 Kings 18); let’s prepare a sacrifice, pray and see whose god responds. Show me why you serve these gods, call upon them to do something, do anything! But they sit there, doing nothing. How ironic, idle idols.
Now, God responds to the very challenge He issued to the idols. He begins to tell them what is going to happen, “I have stirred up one from the north, and he has come, one from the east who invokes my name. He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.” Two weeks ago, I mentioned that many liberal scholars believe that Isaiah was written by at least two different authors. Many make this claim because of literary differences in the first half and the second half of the book. However, I tend to think that a big part of their belief in another author is to account for the prophetic nature of these verses. Let me explain…
When we stop believing in the supernatural, and that includes a transcendent God who reveals Himself and future events, then we must find another way to deal with these verses and others like them. So, we just invent two authors that lived over a century apart – one who lived during and wrote about the events in the first half of this ancient book and another who lived during and wrote about the events in the second half of it. Isaiah writes to his brothers, future exiles in Babylon, whom God has revealed to him and he calls upon them to cast aside the idols of the Babylonians and return to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He gives them assurance that their God knows their struggle, cares for their souls and is executing His plan to preserve and deliver them (more on this plan, next week).
So, do you believe in a God who exists outside of time and space but has chosen to invade our world and reveal Himself to us? If so, then these words are for you. He wants you to listen to the details He revealed to Isaiah over a century before they occurred and to learn to trust Him. As Isaiah peers through the portal God has opened for him, he sees a king whom God has “stirred up” that will crush the Babylonians like a potter treads and kneeds the clay before it is useful to him. He may be a foreign king, but Almighty God is sovereign over all men, all kings, all nations, tribes and peoples and He uses them for His purpose and His glory.
Like the exiles in Babylon, you may have lost sight of the God who knows your past but has plans for your future. These men and women have a history with the LORD God, but are calling upon false gods in their desperation. There are many today who are just like them. In fact, this may describe you. You’ve lost sight of the God who knows you, cares for you, and has plans for your future. You’ve begun to hear that old lie whispered in your ear, haven’t you? Listen: “You won’t really die, He’s just holding out on you. Actually, you’ll get everything you really want. Just take a bite. Trust me!”
Let me ask you a question, have the world’s promises lived up to their hype? The last verse of our focal passage sums it up: “Look, all of them are a delusion; their works are nonexistent; their images are wind and emptiness.” That may be how God describes the false gods of the Babylonian that the exiles called upon, but it also describes the ones we call upon, today. That shampoo doesn’t really help you find the man or woman of your dreams. Wearing the right fragrance doesn’t turn your life into the perfect fairy tale ending. Drinking that beer or wine doesn’t make your life one long, endless party.
The real question is whether God lives up to His promises or if Satan (the deceiver) and the world live up to theirs? Since we continue to search daily for something that’s missing in our lives, I’d say that the world’s promises fall short. Why not give God’s promises a chance? Despite popular opinion, God and His Word doesn’t promise you perfect health, limitless wealth, a cure for every disease and world peace. What He does promise is His presence in the midst of your struggles, strength when you fall before Him in weakness, hope in the storms of life, and a purpose beyond yourself. Oh, He also offers life like it was meant to be [eternal life] when He brings you home, to Himself.
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” The Apostle Paul put it this way: “For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6 CSB) And Jesus put it this way: “I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:14-17 CSB)
Let me conclude with a question, are you willing to give God a chance? Not the gods of this who are full of empty promises, but the God who created this world and who keeps His promises. Jesus said He didn’t come to establish His kingdom as an extension of any government, “My kingdom is not of this world (see John 18:36).” He didn’t come promising earthly riches, He came to give you what money can’t buy but what you really need – real life! He said: “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10b).”
We want life, we need life, real life but most of us have settled for cheap substitutes. We think if we work a little harder, make a little more money, or find the “love of our life” or our “soul mate” then we think we will have everything we wanted. Those are nothing but cheap substitutes. You can only find life when you go to its source, the giver of life – the God who created you: “All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”(John 1:3-4 CSB)
Don’t settle for a cheap substitute… come, find life in Him.
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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