Your Choice

Introduction

I have heard a number of graduation speeches. I heard speeches at my own graduations. I get to hear speeches every year at FHU’s graduation. Sometimes I go to graduations that pertain to people I love and hear graduation speeches. There are typical themes—congratulations on reaching your goal. A challenge to not stop learning. A call to pursue your dreams. And the most common theme of all—I rarely remember them beyond a few days. I don’t remember who spoke. Periodically I will remember a particular point or gist of a speech but typically I forget them. Graduation ceremonies are significant because they mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of something else.

If you were to give advice to a graduate today, what would you tell them? Would you tell them to chase their dreams? Would you tell them to live life fully because it passes quickly? Would you tell them that their best days are behind them or in front of them? Would you tell them that there are other milestones in life that are far more important? I can remember being in high school wondering when the repetition of days would end. In fact, every educational journey I have made, I have thought the same thing—when will it end? Only to discover that the journey takes on a new form. Going through a formal education process like school or training is necessary for life but deriving meaning from that process is another matter.

The real question has to do with purpose. Every graduation meant I had to do something with the education and I had to determine what the purpose was. Self-centered ignorance. Think with me. Did God know what you would study in school? Did God know what you would do with your training? We think we have to attach purpose. God is the one who can explain it. What does all of this have to do with Isaiah? Let’s take a brief journey back through Isaiah this morning and discover what God says about himself and his character. God assures us he can be trusted. Trusting God is not easy but it is our choice.

Past, Present, and Future

Chapters 40-66 of Isaiah have been debated for 150 years. There were many who thought Isaiah did not write these chapters. The idea was that the details found in Isaiah 40-66 had to only be given after the fact not before. Those arguments were based on a particular view of God. That view is this—God cannot know the future so far in advance. Like human beings he is waiting for things to unfold and then he knows what to do next. Is God really limited by man’s actions? Here is the counter view—Isaiah’s writing in 40-66 assumes that Isaiah is still the author. Arguments have been presented that there are vocabulary shifts and that other language reveals a different author but then that view presupposes that Isaiah’s different styles may be more reflective of his maturation in walking with God rather than a different author.

What this comes down to is which view of God do you accept? Your choice doesn’t change who God is. The question is always what do you believe about God? Your choice says something about your faith not God’s character. Your choice says something about how you will live life not that God will change based on what you decide. Let’s make this real practical. Your choice about God affects how you live, the choices you make, your view of this world and it helps to understand what your purpose is in this world. Whether you have a lot of education or a little, your purpose is given to you by God. You may choose to walk in that purpose or live by a different purpose, but your choice doesn’t change the truth about who God is and what he has in mind for you.

So what does Isaiah say about God? In chapters 44-45, Isaiah depicts three truths about God—He is Creator giving explanation about the past; He is Lord because he can tell the future; and He is Redeemer because he is going to do something new.

God is Creator. Isaiah alludes to this throughout this two chapters but he makes it abundantly clear in 45:12. He is Creator. Because he is Creator he can explain what has already transpired. He knew what was going to happen before the people of Israel came to be. In Genesis 15:13-16, God told Abraham that his descendants would go into a foreign land for 400 years before returning to the land given to Abraham. Only God could foresee that. In Isaiah, God reminds that people that he told them over and over again that they would go into exile. They didn’t believe him. Instead, they trusted other gods. Who was right? Israel’s failure to trust God didn’t change who God was. Their choice to ignore God didn’t alter God’s plans.

    (1) God told Ahaz not to trust Assyria. He did and Jerusalem paid a high price for his faithlessness.

    (2) God told Hezekiah not to trust Egypt. Hezekiah painfully waited on God and Jerusalem was saved.

    (3) God told the people they were going into exile and they chose to ignore his warnings. They went into exile blaming God for their faithlessness. Their choice didn't alter God's character.

    (4) God is Creator. He knows you. He made you. Isaiah uses the image of the potter and the clay. He is the potter and you are the clay. He has plans to shape you into a useful object with a purpose. Do you trust him to do that?

God is Lord because he knows the future. In Isaiah 44 and 45 he tells Jerusalem that their exile is going to end and that he has called a future king to be his shepherd—Cyrus will be his shepherd (44:28). Cyrus will want Jerusalem to be rebuilt (45:13) but not for what he can get out of it. 45:4—Cyrus does this without acknowledging God. God uses a pagan to carry out his plan. And God tells it so far into the future that there is no doubt about who God is. The choice then becomes do you believe in this God? One’s lack of faith doesn’t change who God is it only signifies one’s lack of faith in the assertion.

    (1) In Isaiah 7, God predicted that a child would be born whose name would be Immanuel—God with us. Could God predict the birth of Jesus even by name 700 years before it happened?

    (2) In Isaiah 9, God predicted that a child would be born who would reign on David's throne forever. Could God predict the role of Jesus 700 years before it happened?

    (3) Isaiah 53, could God give such an apt description of Jesus' death some 700 years before it happened?

    (4) What do you believe about God. Is he Lord?

God is Redeemer. 13 times in Isaiah 40-66, God calls himself redeemer. The word ‘redeemer’ is not found in Isaiah before chapter 40. 9 more times in these chapters, God says he has redeemed Jerusalem from exile. Does this signal another author? Or does it signal a shift in assertion? Isaiah says God is going to do something that no one expected or could possibly predict. No idol could tell the future. No false prophets could tell. God is going to bring Jerusalem back from exile. Look at 44:21-22. Could not these words also apply to us?

    (1) How can God forgive sin?

    (2) What did Jerusalem do in exile that made God forgive their sin?

    (3) What have we done to make God sit up and take notice and decide to forgive our sins?

    (4) To ignore our sins doesn't mean we don't have them. To compare our sins to another to justify our sin doesn't make them any less condemning.

So What Do You Believe?

God is Creator and because he is he gets to tell us what our purpose is.

God is Lord and because he is he tells us what our future will be.

God is Redeemer and because he is he is the only one who can forgive sin.

So what do you believe? If you say you trust God then how does that affect how you live, the decisions you make, and the way you view yourself in this world? Isaiah leaves the option not to trust God. Ahaz trusted Assyria. The people trusted idols. Hezekiah ended up trusting his position. God can be trusted. You chose doesn’t change who God is. But your choice changes who you are. Invitation.

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