The Courtroom of History and the Nailed Down God Text: Isaiah 41:1-7
Introduction: The Divine Lawsuit
We live in an age of constant noise and frantic activity. The nations are in a perpetual uproar, and the chattering classes that report on that uproar never take a breath. Everyone has a plan, an angle, a solution, a crisis. Everyone is shouting, and consequently, no one is hearing anything of substance. Our world is terrified of silence, because in the silence, a question might arise that we are not prepared to answer. That question is this: who is actually in charge here?
Into this cacophony, the prophet Isaiah speaks with the authority of Heaven. And the first thing God demands is that the world shut its mouth. He is summoning the nations, the coastlands, the centers of maritime power and commerce, to a court proceeding. This is not a negotiation. It is a trial. God is the plaintiff, the prosecutor, and the judge, and the nations are in the dock. The central issue to be adjudicated is the issue of sovereignty. Who directs the course of human events? Is it Yahweh, the God of Israel? Or is it the collection of impressive but impotent gods that men fashion with their own hands and imaginations?
This is not an abstract debate for theologians to hash out in an ivory tower. This is the most practical question in the world. Your answer to this question determines everything. It determines whether you respond to global turmoil with fear or with faith. It determines whether you see history as a random, meaningless collision of blind forces, or as a story being written by a sovereign and good author. And it determines whether, when everything seems to be shaking, you run to the true God who cannot be shaken, or you run for a hammer and some nails to try to secure your own pathetic, man made idols.
In our passage today, God lays out His case. He presents His evidence, asks the unanswerable question, and then, with masterful satire, He exposes the utter absurdity of every rival claim to the throne of the universe.
The Text
“Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new power; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us draw near together for judgment. Who has awakened one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He gives up nations before him And has dominion over kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind driven chaff with his bow. He pursues them, passing on in peace, By a way he had not come with his feet. Who has worked and done it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, I am He.’ ” The coastlands have seen and are afraid; The ends of the earth tremble; They have drawn near and have come. Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, “Be strong!” So the craftsman strengthens the smelter, And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil, Saying of the soldering, “It is good”; And he strengthens it with nails, So that it will not be shaken.
(Isaiah 41:1-7 LSB)
The Divine Summons (v. 1)
The trial begins with God calling the court to order.
"Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new power; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us draw near together for judgment." (Isaiah 41:1)
God addresses the "coastlands," which represents the Gentile nations, the centers of worldly power and trade. And His first command is for silence. Before you can hear the truth, you must stop talking. This is a principle that runs throughout Scripture. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Our frantic activity and endless chatter are often a defense mechanism to avoid confronting the reality of God's sovereignty.
Then, in a display of supreme confidence, God issues a challenge. "Let the peoples gain new power." This is divine taunting. He says, "Go ahead. Muster your strength. Get your best lawyers. Formulate your strongest arguments. I am not afraid of what you have to say." God is not an insecure tyrant who silences dissent by force. He invites the challenge because He knows the outcome is already decided. He is giving them every opportunity to present their case, so that when it collapses, it will be clear to all that it was weighed in the balance and found wanting.
The stage is set for a judgment, a legal contest. The question on the table is simple: Who is God? Who runs the world?
God's Exhibit A: The Conqueror (vv. 2-3)
God does not argue from abstract philosophy. He argues from history. He points to a specific, tangible piece of evidence.
"Who has awakened one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He gives up nations before him And has dominion over kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind-driven chaff with his bow. He pursues them, passing on in peace, By a way he had not come with his feet." (Isaiah 41:2-3 LSB)
God asks a rhetorical question: "Who did this?" The "one from the east" is a historical reference to Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia. God says that He is the one who "awakened" him, who stirred him up to action. Cyrus, a pagan king who did not know Yahweh, was nothing more than an instrument in the hand of the God of Israel. God called him "in righteousness," not because Cyrus was personally righteous, but because God was using him to accomplish His righteous purpose, which was the deliverance of His people from their Babylonian exile.
Notice the language of absolute sovereignty. God "calls" Cyrus to His feet, like a master summoning a servant. God "gives up" nations before him. The stunning military victories of Cyrus were not the result of his own strategic genius; they were gifts from Yahweh. The most powerful armies of the day become like "dust" and "wind-driven chaff" before God's chosen instrument. This is a direct assault on the pride of nations, who believe their military might is their own.
Moreover, Cyrus's conquest is described as supernaturally swift and safe. He passes on "in peace," on a path he had never traveled before. This is not the normal slog of a military campaign. This is the hand of God clearing the way, guiding His servant to fulfill His decreed purpose. This historical event is God's first piece of evidence in His lawsuit against the idols. He is demonstrating His ability to move the great pieces on the chessboard of history according to His will.
The Decisive Question and the Ultimate Answer (v. 4)
Having presented His evidence, God now drives the argument to its ultimate conclusion.
"Who has worked and done it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, I am He.’" (Isaiah 41:4 LSB)
The question broadens. It is not just about who raised up Cyrus. It is about who has been directing the entire sweep of human history, "calling forth the generations from the beginning." Who is the author of the story? Who is the one weaving together the rise and fall of every empire, every king, every generation?
And then God answers His own question with the most profound declaration of His own identity. "I, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, I am He." This is the bedrock of reality. He identifies Himself by His covenant name, Yahweh, the great "I AM." He is the "first," meaning He is the uncreated source of all things. Before anything was, He was. He is the ultimate reality from which all lesser realities proceed. And He is "with the last," meaning He is the goal and consummation of all things. He will be there at the end, bringing His purposes to their triumphant conclusion. He is the Alpha and the Omega. His eternal, self-existent nature is the final answer to the question of sovereignty. He is God because He is God.
The Panic in the Idol Factory (vv. 5-7)
The scene now shifts from the divine courtroom back to the coastlands. How do the nations respond to this display of Yahweh's power in history?
"The coastlands have seen and are afraid; The ends of the earth tremble; They have drawn near and have come." (Isaiah 41:5 LSB)
Their reaction is fear. They see the hand of God moving through Cyrus, and they tremble. They recognize that a power is at work that is beyond their control. But their fear does not lead to repentance. It leads to frantic, idolatrous activity.
What follows is a brilliant piece of satire, exposing the foolishness of idolatry.
"Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, 'Be strong!' So the craftsman strengthens the smelter, And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil, Saying of the soldering, 'It is good'; And he strengthens it with nails, So that it will not be shaken." (Isaiah 41:6-7 LSB)
In their panic, they turn to each other for encouragement. "Be strong!" they shout, whistling past the graveyard. And what is the object of their strength and hope? An idol they are manufacturing themselves. Isaiah gives us a behind the scenes look at the idol factory. It is a flurry of human activity. The carpenter encourages the goldsmith. The one with the hammer encourages the one at the anvil. They are all working together, pooling their strength and skill to create their god.
And the punchline is devastating in its simplicity. After all this work, after the smelting and hammering and soldering, what is the final step? They have to strengthen it with nails, "so that it will not be shaken." Think about the contrast. Yahweh is the one who shakes the ends of the earth. Their god is one that needs to be nailed down so it does not fall over. The God of Israel raises up and casts down kings. Their god cannot even stand up on its own. This is the pathetic end of all human attempts to create a source of security apart from the true God. Our idols, whether they are made of wood and metal or of political ideologies and economic systems, are things that we have to prop up. They are things that we have to constantly maintain, reinforce, and nail down, lest they be shaken and exposed for the frauds they are.
Conclusion: Our Unshakeable God
The message of Isaiah 41 is a direct confrontation to our own age of anxiety. When the world trembles, when the coastlands are afraid, where do we run? Do we run to the idol factory? Do we start frantically hammering away at our political solutions, our financial plans, our personal securities, telling each other to "be strong" while we try to nail everything down so it will not be shaken?
Or do we listen in silence to the one who is the First and the Last? Do we trust the God who calls forth the generations, who raises up kings and brings them to nothing?
The ultimate "one from the east" was not Cyrus. The ultimate conqueror whom God raised up was His own Son, Jesus Christ. God awakened Him from the sleep of death, and He has passed on in peace to the right hand of the Father, having been given dominion over all kings and all nations. Before Him, the proudest empires of this world are as dust and chaff. He is the one who is calling forth the final generation from the beginning of time.
The world sees the advance of His kingdom, and it trembles. And in its fear, it runs to its idols. It tries to nail down its secular utopias, its godless moralities, and its autonomous institutions. But they will all be shaken. They will all fall.
Our God does not need to be nailed down. He is the one who was nailed down, for us, to a cross. But the nails could not hold Him. The grave could not hold Him. He is the unshakable one, and we who are in Him have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). Therefore, let us stop our frantic hammering and be still. Let us listen in silence. Our God is the first, and He is with the last. He is He.