Commentary - Isaiah 44:21-28

Bird's-eye view

This magnificent section of Isaiah is a thunderous declaration of God's absolute sovereignty over redemption, creation, and history. Having just demonstrated the utter futility and stupidity of idolatry, Yahweh now turns to His covenant people, Israel, and commands them to remember who they are in light of who He is. The passage is structured as a great crescendo. It begins with a tender, personal appeal based on God's electing grace and finished work of redemption (vv. 21-22). This redemptive act then explodes into a call for cosmic, creation-wide praise (v. 23). From there, God Himself speaks, identifying Himself as the sole Creator and Redeemer who governs all reality (v. 24). He demonstrates this authority by showing how He nullifies the wisdom of the world's wise men while confirming the words of His own prophets (vv. 25-26). The passage climaxes with the ultimate proof of His sovereignty over history: the astonishingly specific prophecy that a pagan king, Cyrus, will be His instrument to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. This is God planting an undeniable flag in the middle of human history, proving that He alone is God, and there is no other.

The central message is that God's grace is the engine of history. His decision to redeem is the cause, and our return to Him is the effect. His Word does not merely predict the future; it creates the future. And His purposes are so vast and certain that He can name His chosen pagan instrument more than a century in advance. This is a passage designed to give unshakable confidence to a beleaguered and exiled people, and by extension, to the Church in every age.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

This passage comes in the second major section of Isaiah, often called the "Book of Consolation" (chapters 40-66). The specific context is a lengthy argument, begun in chapter 40, demonstrating that Yahweh is the one true God and that the idols of the nations, particularly Babylon where Israel is in exile, are nothing. In the verses immediately preceding our text (Isa 44:9-20), Isaiah pours out withering sarcasm on the idol-maker, who uses one part of a tree for firewood to warm himself and cook his food, and carves the other part into a god to whom he prays for deliverance. After this masterful takedown of idolatry's foolishness, our text provides the glorious contrast. The idols are dead, dumb, and deaf, but Yahweh is the living God who speaks, acts, redeems, creates, and controls the destiny of kings and nations. The prophecy of Cyrus in verse 28 is the unanswerable conclusion to the divine lawsuit against the false gods. Can any of their diviners do this? The resounding answer is no.

Key Issues

The God Who Says

One of the central themes running through this stunning passage is the power and authority of God's speech. The idols of the previous section are mute; they cannot speak. But Yahweh speaks, and when He speaks, reality conforms. Notice the progression. He says to Israel, "you will not be forgotten" (v. 21). He says He has "wiped out" their transgressions (v. 22). Then He Himself speaks, identifying Himself as the one "who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!'" (v. 26). He is the one "who says to the depth of the sea, 'Be dried up!'" (v. 27). And climactically, He is the one "who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd!'" (v. 28). This is the language of the Creator in Genesis 1. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Here, God says, "Let there be a rebuilt Jerusalem," and Cyrus will rise to perform it. God says, "Let your sins be gone," and they are gone like a cloud. Our confidence is not in our ability to remember, or our ability to return, but in the effectual, creative, and irreversible Word of the God who speaks and it is done.

Verse by Verse Commentary

21 “Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.

The command to "remember" is not a suggestion to engage in nostalgic reflection. In the Bible, remembering is a covenantal action. God is calling His people, in the midst of their exile and discouragement, to reorient their entire identity around two foundational facts. First, their relationship to Him: "you are My servant." This is not a title they earned through performance; it is a status He bestowed by grace. Second, His action toward them: "I have formed you." This points back to their creation as a nation, but also carries the sense of a potter shaping clay. He made them, and therefore He owns them. Because of who He is and what He has done, the promise is absolute: "you will not be forgotten by Me." When God remembers, He acts. When He promises not to forget, He is promising His unending, active, covenantal faithfulness.

22 I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a cloud. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Here we find the very grammar of the gospel. Notice the order. The indicative of what God has done precedes the imperative of what we must do. God does not say, "Return to Me, and then I will redeem you." He says the exact opposite. "Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." The redemption is the basis for the call to repent. The forgiveness is an accomplished fact, described with a beautiful and final metaphor. Sins are like a thick, dark cloud bank that blots out the sun. But God has simply wiped it away. One moment it's there, the next it is gone, with no trace remaining. This is the nature of His forgiveness. It is total and complete. And because this is an objective reality, accomplished by God alone, the exiled sinner has every reason to turn around and come home.

23 Shout for joy, O heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Make a loud shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His beautiful glory.

The redemption of God's people is an event of such magnitude that the entire cosmos is summoned to celebrate it. This is not pantheism; it is high poetry declaring a profound theological truth. All of creation was subjected to futility because of man's sin (Rom. 8:20), and therefore all of creation has a vested interest in man's redemption. When God saves His people, He is beginning the process of cosmic restoration. The heavens, the earth, the mountains, and the trees are all personified and called to erupt in joyful praise. Why? For two reasons that are really two sides of the same coin. First, "For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob." Second, "And in Israel He shows forth His beautiful glory." The ultimate purpose of redemption is the display of God's own glory. Our salvation is not ultimately about us; it is about Him.

24 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, Yahweh, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,

God now speaks in the first person, identifying Himself with two crucial titles. He is the Redeemer of His people and their Creator ("the one who formed you from the womb"). These two realities are inextricably linked. The God who has the power to bring a universe into existence out of nothing is certainly powerful enough to bring a rebellious and exiled nation back to life. He emphasizes His solitary power: He stretched out the heavens "by Myself" and spread out the earth "all alone." There were no helpers, no consultants, no junior deities. This is a direct polemic against all pagan creation myths and a foundational statement of His absolute sovereignty. The one who can do all that can certainly handle the Babylonians.

25 Causing the omens of boasters to be annulled, And making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to turn back, And making foolishness out of their knowledge,

God's sovereignty is not limited to the material world; it extends to the world of knowledge and information. He is actively engaged in the business of thwarting the plans and predictions of the arrogant. The "boasters" and "diviners" here are the Babylonian court magicians and astrologers, the ancient world's equivalent of our modern secular experts, pollsters, and technocrats. They claim to have access to secret knowledge, to be able to read the signs and predict the future. God says He makes them look like fools. He turns their "wisdom" into gibberish. This is what Paul would later call the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness with God (1 Cor. 1:20). God delights in pulling the intellectual rug out from under those who think they have it all figured out apart from Him.

26 Confirming the word of His servant, And the counsel of His messengers He will complete, And being the One who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’ And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’ And I will raise up her waste places again.

In stark contrast to the annulled words of the diviners, God confirms and completes the word of His true messengers, the prophets. Their word is His Word, and His Word is creative. It does not just describe what will be; it brings it into being. While the wise men of Babylon were predicting continued imperial glory, God's servant Isaiah was predicting ruin for Babylon and restoration for Jerusalem. And God stakes His entire reputation on this promise. He is the one who speaks a creative decree over the ruins of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. He says they "shall be inhabited" and "shall be built." This is not a prediction of what men might do; it is a declaration of what He will do.

27 It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’ And I will make your rivers dry.

To underscore His ability to fulfill this promise, God reminds them of His power over the greatest forces of nature. The language here deliberately echoes the parting of the Red Sea at the Exodus. He is the God who can dry up the deep. This also has a more immediate historical relevance, as the city of Babylon was famously conquered by the Persians under Cyrus when they diverted the Euphrates River, which ran through the city, allowing their army to march in on the dry riverbed. God is saying that no obstacle, whether a sea or a fortified river, can stand in the way of His redemptive purpose.

28 It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And all My good pleasure he will complete.’ And saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ”

This is the prophetic masterstroke, the knockout blow to all idolatry and unbelief. More than 150 years before Cyrus the Great would even appear on the world stage, God calls him out by name. And what does He call him? "My shepherd." This was a title normally reserved for Israel's own kings. God claims this pagan emperor as His own instrument, His own servant, tasked with shepherding God's people home. Cyrus will not be acting on his own geopolitical calculations; he will be completing "all My good pleasure." The specific tasks are named: he will issue the decree that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and that the temple's foundation will be laid. This is God demonstrating, in the most concrete and verifiable way imaginable, that He, Yahweh, is the Lord of history. All kings, whether they know it or not, serve His sovereign purpose.

Application

This passage is a potent tonic for a discouraged church. We live in an age where the "boasters" and "diviners" of secularism constantly tell us that our faith is obsolete and that history is on their side. They present their "knowledge" as settled science and their political predictions as inevitable. But Isaiah 44 reminds us that our God is in the business of making fools out of the world's wise men. He is the one who controls history, and His Word is the final word.

We must also take to heart the grammar of the gospel presented here. We do not clean up our lives in order to get God to love us. We are called to live lives of repentance and obedience because in Christ, He has already redeemed us and wiped our sins away like a cloud. Our assurance is not in the strength of our grip on Him, but in the strength of His grip on us. He is the one who formed us from the womb, and He is the one who formed us anew in Christ Jesus. He will not forget us.

Finally, we see that God's sovereign plan is not thwarted by pagan rulers; it is often accomplished through them. Whether it was Cyrus in the Old Testament or the Roman authorities who crucified our Lord, God uses the actions of unbelieving men to complete His good pleasure. This should give us a profound peace and confidence as we navigate our own turbulent political landscape. The kings of the earth may set themselves against the Lord, but He who sits in the heavens laughs. He is still the one who says of His Church, "She shall be built," and of His kingdom, "It will be completed." And His Word does not return to Him void.