In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 44 we hear an in depth and majestic description of God’s standing as creator and by comparison the folly of all false gods that are created by man.
“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” This message was given to Isaiah to share to the people of Israel who were away from their homes in exile for their past sins. Should someone claim to have another god who can save and deliver them, they are asked to come forward. “Who is like me? Let him proclaim it”
God asks followers of false idols to come forward and provide evidence to the court to prove their worth. Can they predict the future? Can they hold together a people from ancient times to follow them, delivering the people in time of need and prospering their way? The LORD asks what results false idols have ever brought to the world.
In the verses that begin chapter 44, which is not included in our lectionary reading for this morning, we hear the most important reason there is no God like YHWH, because God alone formed Israel.
Isaiah 44:1-2
But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
God Formed us from the beginning. Our society may have lost sight of this truth long ago, but no matter the changes in science and technology the fact remains that God formed us and shaped us to be His people. He formed each of us from the womb, just as God first formed Adam of the clay of the earth. We were made exactly how God intended, with God’s life breath.
Genesis 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature.”
”For you formed my inward parts: you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:13
As our gradual celebrates, how unsearchable are his ways in creating us and forming us with the breath of life. For from him and through him and to him are all things.
We see in the first two verses of Isaiah chapter 44 that Israel has been chosen from the beginning for the purpose of serving God. Israel was formed for the task of doing God’s purposes and Israel can count on God’s protection for this task. “Behold my servant whom I have chosen.”
Christ formed us as His body, the church. Through his betrayal and flogging, through His prayers for those who persecuted him on the cross, Jesus began to build his church. Jesus reconciled all people to himself on the cross and through his resurrection he became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep , through the persecution of the apostles and the blood of the martyrs, Christ chose his church and formed her to be His servant. We did not build the church ourselves: Through the foundation of Holy Baptism Jesus formed us into His church.
God created us and the church to give glory to Him through our faith and obedience to Him. When people live their lives apart from His design and only for their own sinful pursuits- then they are pursuing things in life that are apart for what we were designed for.
This is like using a tennis racket for playing baseball, or using a baseball bat to play tennis. We would be missing most of the enjoyment of the sport in not sticking with the original design.
Just after the selection of Isaiah 44 that served as our Old Testament reading there begins in verse 9 a description of those who fashion idols. God formed us, and we form idols. Listen to the reading as it describes the irony and pathetic nature of how people create their own gods and worship them. The reading gives a picture of the folly of pretending that we can create gods that can save us.
Isaiah 44:9-20
9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12 The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
It is sad to hear this description. There is a sense of the man’s pride in what he accomplishes with using wood and fire- but this pride is tragically misplaced. It has led to a false idol worship. And what is more we heard the LORD has shut their eyes so they cannot see and their ears so they cannot understand- so that the unbeliever does not stop to think “Is there a lie in my right hand?” God formed us and we form gods.
In our current time there are a lot of things we design and create in terms of food crop varieties, animal breeding, and technology innovations, When it comes to technology most of what we create is simply an innovation or variation of what has already been invented in the past. When it comes to genetic modifications, we are only taking the life God has already created and focusing on certain traits to express them more.
If we recognize innovations and cultivations as a gift from the LORD we are thankful for his gifts of creation. When we take the credit ourselves we begin to form idols out of what we make.
Of course we can’t create a person from clay- or anything that is actually living. Did you ever hear about the famous Miller experiment from 1952 where he and a partner claimed to have simulated early conditions of the earth and built amino acids- the building blocks of proteins? This was an energizing concept for evolutionists, that they could simulate past conditions and build molecules.
Of course it did not prove anything, the amino acids were not such that could build life, the gases used would not survive in an oxygen rich environment which current research identifies was present in the atmosphere in all geology and fossil records. And most importantly the experiment proposes no explanation for the design and order necessary for cells to function. This experiment was simply a foundation in the false idol of scientific pursuits. When it comes to making the conditions of life, man is helpless.
Despite the folly of our sinful human nature, despite the false idols we make of money and wealth and savings, or popularity and social standing, or nutrition and health, appearance or politics or family reputation and success- God still loves us and cares for us and actively works to form us away from false idols and into His image.
Isaiah 44:21-28: Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, 26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’; 27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’; 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
God is forming us: Listen how the God who is there promised to Israel in the time of exile a future through the promise that Jerusalem would be inhabited, the cities of Judah built. God even references forming and shaping the landscape to save Israel as in the case of the deliverance from Pharaoh when, deep rivers became dry.
God formed Israel through the oath he led King Cyrus to make: Saying of Jerusalem she shall be built and of the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.
God did not create us and leave us be. He forms us with His Word. And he redeems us. In this chapter God provides rescue and redemption from bondage through use of a king of another nation- Cyrus. Cyrus was used to fulfill God’s purposes. Now in these last days he has spoken to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Like Cyrus was for the people in exile longing for return, Jesus is our Shepherd who unites us with the Father’s will.
Jesus forms us to call those who are captive by false idols to know his joy. Jesus forms us to be light to the world. Jesus forms us to be his own and live under Him in his kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. Amen.