We are about two-thirds of the way through the book of Isaiah in this sermon series that we’re calling Images from Isaiah. The image for today is a powerful one of the potter and the clay. Isaiah has used this image before, and the image finds its way also into Jeremiah, and even Paul’s letter to the Romans. But before I read this passage from Isaiah 45, I want to set a bit of the historical stage for you:

The Assyrian empire which threatened God’s people Judah, a threat Isaiah speaks about in the first part of his prophecy, has now been defeated – God had miraculously saved His people from the Assyrian tyrants. But about a century later, the Babylonian Empire came to dominate the Middle East, replacing Assyria as the world power. Babylon took over all of Assyria’s conquered territories -- including Judah -- and Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a policy to take any conquered people away into exile.

So at this point in Isaiah’s prophecy, Jerusalem was left nearly abandoned, the Temple was a pile of dust, and much of the nation had been deported away to Babylon (2 Kings 24-25). But the exile to Babylon would soon come to an end.

God had spoken, beginning in Isaiah chapter 40, about a time of restoration. YAHWEH was calling His people out of Babylon on a New Exodus back to the Promised Land: He promised safe passage across the desert to their home, a “highway” through the desert with water and food, and YAHWEH would act as their comforting Shepherd guiding them to safe pastures (Isaiah 40).

Isaiah had spoken God’s words of comfort to encourage His people and convince them to follow His plan – to coax them out of exile: God said,

“I love you, I am with you, through fire and water, I am God, I made you, you have sinned against Me but I forgive you and I will save you” (Isaiah 42-43).

YAHWEH promised release to the prisoners, freedom from deceptive idols, and a leading hand for the deaf and blind. God was about to announce His plan of salvation for His captive people, and everything was going to finally be all right…what could possibly go wrong? Listen now to God’s words, spoken through His prophet Isaiah…

Isaiah 45:1-3

Meet Cyrus, the King of Persia. Isaiah had spoken rumors of one “rising in the East,” someone who would attack Babylon from the North (Isaiah 41). But the illusive identity of this savior had remained concealed. God was about to reveal what He had only hinted at before in Isaiah’s prophecy: that God’s chosen human leader on this New Exodus journey back home to the Promised Land would be Cyrus King of Persia, the great Middle Eastern conqueror of the time.

In 539 BC, Cyrus would single-handedly conquer the Babylonian Empire. And Cyrus’ policy toward captive people was to let the refugees go home, and reestablish their homelands (it was in his best interests to have loyal territories). Cyrus would allow the Jews to return home and set up a Jewish state, rebuild Jerusalem, and rebuild the Temple. Cyrus would be YAHWEH’s Servant now, leading YAHWEH’s people home to salvation.

God calls Cyrus “His anointed,” and this title is very significant to God’s people. In Hebrew this title anointed one translates as Messiah, a word we know well; the Greek translation of messiah is Christ. Messiah (“anointed one”) was a title used previously only for Israel’s great Kings, who served as the high priests of Israel.

Isaiah 45 is the only place in the Old Testament where a foreign ruler is called messiah. The tyrannical Assyrian Kings in the first part of Isaiah were used as God’s instruments of destruction, never as God’s servants of salvation. But now Cyrus is called messiah – Cyrus, God’s chosen savior of God’s people in exile.

Like King Saul and King David, who were “set aside” as God’s chosen servants, to accomplish God’s chosen purposes, the task of subduing nations and returning Israel to the Promised Land was now given to Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus’ career as God’s chosen king will flourish like David’s career did:

Ancient sources (other than the Bible) record Cyrus’ swift and complete takeover of the Babylonian Empire and the surrounding nations. Cyrus will enter the international scene, “grasped by the right hand” and led by YAHWEH, and nations would fall down before this powerful king. Isaiah tells us here that “door and gates” of the cities will open to Cyrus, he will “strip the robes off” or disarm kings. Mountains will fall down flat before him, bronze doors will shatter, iron bars will break. YAHWEH will call Cyrus by name and single him out for this task of saving Israel.

Isaiah 45:4-5

But there is one problem with God’s announcement, one glitch with this “Cyrus Plan”: Cyrus is not Jewish, and Cyrus does not know God. Cyrus is not even a convert who is following YAHWEH; Cyrus worships a pagan god named Marduk. Maybe Cyrus would come to know YAHWEH, the God of Israel, but there is no guarantee. But regardless of his religious faith, Cyrus has a policy of sending captives back home, and so God chooses to use this foreign king, this outsider. God likes to do this sometimes, using those who don’t know Him to accomplish salvation for His people…

• just like God used Pharaoh to call Israel out of Egypt and save them
• just like God used the Philistines to protect David when he sought refuge in their nation
• just like God used Assyria to punish Judah, and bring the nation back to God
• just like God used the evil anti-Semite Haman to establish safety for the Jews in Esther’s time
• just like God used King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to promote God’s servant Daniel
• just like God used Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, to sentence Jesus to death by crucifixion, and thereby play a part in preparing the way for the ultimate act of salvation…

Isaiah 45:6-8

Nobody would have expected God to save His people through any of these unexpected ways. This time, God will save His people through Cyrus – not for the glory of Cyrus, but for God’s own glory; that all people, “from the rising of the sun to its setting in the west,” would know that there is no other God, and that YAHWEH has armed Cyrus for this task. And who is this God?

This is the God who creates both light and darkness, the God who governs both peace and calamity. Nothing happens, good or bad, that is outside of the control of YAHWEH (unlike Persian dualism, where God is both light and darkness, God is in control over both).

King Cyrus the conqueror is the military calamity, the military weal that God brings on the nations. Even a foreign conquering king who does not know God can be used for God’s larger purposes. God is not limited to use only His people in accomplishing His goals. God will even use those outside of Israel, and those outside of the Church. YAHWEH is the Lord of History, and He will use anybody He wants to use.

Through Cyrus, this unexpected savior, salvation springs up from the broken earth! Rain from heaven falls and brings growth to the seeds of salvation and righteousness, which grow and bear fruit. God makes good on His promise: He creates it, even when His people don’t understand what He is doing, or how He’s doing it.

Isaiah 45:9-10

But for Israel, there is still a big problem…that problem is Cyrus. We don’t hear Israel’s actual objection directly in this passage, but based on God’s response here in Isaiah 45:9-10, we know that Israel is not happy with God’s announcement about Cyrus. They would not have liked this “Cyrus Plan,” this Gentile Liberator, this outsider. Cyrus could not be their king – surely this could not be God’s plan!

This was scandalous. Israel was in exile because of sinful alliances with foreign kings; was God being inconsistent by asking them to follow this foreign pagan conqueror? Had God lost His mind? Why wouldn’t God perform a “miracle” instead? In an ironic turn of events, Cyrus the pagan obeys God, while God’s people Israel resist God. “Save us God, but save us on our own terms, save us our own way…and save us by one of our own people.”

Liberation had been offered to the exiles in Babylon – that problem was solved for Israel by God providing Cyrus, but a deeper spiritual sickness plagued the nation. Ever since Moses led them on their first Exodus journey, Israel had learned to grumble against God, and challenge His decisions.

Israel was bickering with her maker, as in 43:1, and in Genesis for forming Adam out of the ground. In a ridiculous comic sketch, the clay turns to the potter and asks, “What are you making?” The pot being formed turns to the potter and says “the potter has no handles” (meaning no hands, no skill). During childbirth, the child turns to the father and the pregnant mother and asks, “What are you giving birth to?”

And God is angry…

“Woe to you, the one who argues with his Maker.”

It seems that Israel had gone too far in quarreling with God. Is it OK to question God, to argue with God, to struggle with Him?

• Hadn’t Jacob done this, when he wrestled with the Lord through the night?
• Hadn’t Job struggled with God, when his family and fortune had all been destroyed?
• Hadn’t Abraham and Moses both questioned God’s decisions, persuading God to reconsider?
• Doesn’t the Psalmist pray so often in anguish, not understanding God’s ways or God’s silence?
• Haven’t so many other great figures in the Bible questioned God, all the way up to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He was crucified…asking if the Cross was really the only way?

If questioning God seems in the Bible to be a faithful way of relating to Him, why does God get so angry with His people in Isaiah 45 when they seem to question His choice of Cyrus as their deliverer?

Israel, it seems, had done worse than question God. Israel had done worse than wrestle with where God was in this situation, and question what He was doing. Israel had started a quarrel with God – not just arguing with God, but taking God to court with a law suit, challenging His right to do what He did, challenging His right to be God.

Wrestling with God and His decisions is one thing, but this is challenging God’s authority. This is the clay challenging the potter, this is God’s creatures trying to take God’s place and be God. This was the original sin.

The issue God has with Israel is not that they are asking honest questions, but that they are assuming God’s place, and assuming to know what God’s answer to their dilemma should be. There is freedom in the Christian walk to strive with God, to wrestle with what He is doing in your life and by wrestling to grow closer to Him…but there is not freedom to try and be God’s equal. There is a difference between challenging God for His place (which seems to be the case here), and questioning God when His plan does not seem to make sense, being honest with our frustrations, our disappointments, and coming closer to Him in the struggle.

God’s unexpected ways of salvation sometimes seem foolish. Paul wrote that even the Cross itself seems foolish to the wise. God’s plan was frustrating to Israel – God’s plans are often frustrating to us. His ways seem hidden (v. 15), and His plans often threaten our own plans.

From grade school into college, I had my own plan of what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to be a professional Christian rock musician. It was a great plan. From my bedroom in Montana, I kept up on every aspect of the Contemporary Christian Music scene in Nashville: Michael W. Smith was my hero for years, and I was in love with Amy Grant from the 5th through 9th grade (we were both single at the time; I knew something would work out despite the age and geographical difference).

In my college years, it became clear that God had different plans for me. There was nothing wrong with my plan; it was a good plan to serve God. But this clearly wasn’t God’s plan for me. This was difficult for me…but even once I accepted this disappointment, I didn’t really surrender my plans to God.

Because about three years later, I thought I had figured out God’s plan again. This time, I was going to manage a music store in Montana. It was a great plan: working with musical instruments that I loved, helping people make music, working with local churches, and opportunities to grow the business and possibly own it myself. I was at an industry trade show when I realized that this, also, was not God’s plan for my life.

I remember asking, “God, if not this, then what do you have in mind for me? What are you up to?” I kept on asking that question for several months, “God, what are you doing?” I never really stopped asking that question…

When God’s ways seem confusing and frustrating, there are three ways in which we can choose to respond:

“Forced Submission”…this response is grinning and bearing it, appearing to go along with God, but denying our questions in the process. This response looks obedient, at least on the surface, but by denying that we have any struggle with God, we might miss an opportunity to grow in our relationship with Him. It’s sort of passive-aggressive, because we seem to go along with God, though we secretly resent Him. Forced submission has a lot of surrender, but no honesty.

“Open Defiance” …this is taking God to court, trying to take His place, like Israel did in response to the “Cyrus Plan.” This response is fighting God not in order to come closer to Him, but to challenge Him for control over our lives. This response feels honest at first, but in the end it will frustrate us as we fight against the One who made us, and who wants the best for us (clay and potter). Open defiance has a lot of honesty, but no surrender.

A middle way between the openly defiant extreme and the forced submission extreme, Honest Surrender…this response acknowledges God as God, but still takes our questions to God. We follow, but we’re honest about any difficulty in accepting God’s plan, and we trust that God will deepen our relationship with Him as we struggle with what He is doing. We can surrender, and still be honest with God.

As Isaiah’s prophecy continues, God will continue to promise to free His people, and build a city for His people. But God will not be talked out of the Cyrus Plan; 500 years later, Jesus would not be talked out of the Cross (Mark 8:31-34) – not by Satan, and not by His disciples, His closest friends. Jesus wouldn’t even talk Himself out of the Cross, but He would struggle with this plan of salvation.

Even though we sometimes object to what God is doing, God is not bound to our expectations. God is not bound to what we consider to be our rights, and God is not bound to our view of the future. We can rest on God’s promises of comfort and hope (chapter 40), but what will we do when God makes good on those promises, and it isn’t the way we pictured it? What will we do when God answers our prayers, not just in ways we didn’t expect, but in ways that might offend us, like Cyrus offended Israel?

Can we wrestle with God without commanding Him, can we struggle with God without making Him in our own image? Can we surrender our lives to God, our plans and all of our hopes, and still be honest with Him when that surrender is hard to do?

Yes, we can always be honest with God. Real surrender doesn’t mean ignoring our questions with God, it means bringing them to God in honesty, in confession. We can bring God our questions and our struggles, even when our struggles are with Him, and what He is doing, or what He is not doing.

We may not get our way in this struggle with God, we may not win an argument with God, but the struggle will always lead us closer to Him…if we are willing to come face-to-face with God, and surrender our plans to the One who made us.