In Isaiah 41:15, 16 God tells the restored nation of Israel:

¹⁵ “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; you will thresh the mountains and pulverize them and will make the hills like chaff. ¹⁶ You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them; but you will rejoice in the Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.”

When a nation turns to God in repentance, He ceases to be their enemy. It is only when a nation refuses to recognize that they are “one nation under God” that He raises up enemies to conquer them and bring the people into exile. When men reject His right to rule, God sides with Israel’s enemies and thereby becomes their enemy.

So the verses above picture Israel in its time of repentance and faith. God’s New Covenant vow has been fulfilled and the people are no longer in a state of rebellion. God then turns His attention to the other nations who yet reject His right to rule the nations that He created. No nation has the right to set up its own kings. They did not create themselves and so they do not own themselves.

The biblical pattern is for God to choose the few to bless the many. So Abraham was chosen to be a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12:3). To “bless” is to turn them from their iniquities (Acts 3:25, 26). We know that the divine purpose has taken a long time to be fulfilled. Before the chosen ones could bless all nations, the rebellion of Israel itself had to be corrected in order to qualify to bring repentance to other nations.

Israel’s own judgment (tribulation), according to the law, was to be “seven times” (Lev. 26:18), which turned out to be 7 x 360 years. During this time, God raised up idolatrous nations to rule the Israelites and all other nations with them. It was only when this time of tribulation ended that God began to reverse course and to overthrow those nations. But before the nations could be judged righteously, He must turn the hearts of His people and thereby create a righteous nation that is qualified to judge others.

Isaiah 41:15, 16 describes that righteous nation and its work. We must also interpret this through New Covenant eyes, for only then can we know the mind of God and the purpose of subduing the nations. The nations must be subdued in such a way that they are blessed, not destroyed. God destroys nations in order to save its people. The nations are the governmental structures that oppress the people by the unjust laws of men.

Such nations will cease to exist and become uninhabited, even as Babylon. Jer. 50:39 says of Babylon, “it will never again be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation.” This does not mean that the Babylonian people will all be killed. It means that the Babylonians will be incorporated into the Kingdom of God. They will not be citizens of a failed state but will become citizens of Israel, the Kingdom. Through Christ, they will be blessed by Abraham.

Hence, when the prophet says, “you will rejoice in the Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel,” he was speaking of all the people of other nations who will be delivered from their idolatry and the oppressive laws of men. The term “you” is not just genealogical Israelites, as so many would have us believe.

Those with Old Covenant mindsets and viewpoints generally think in fleshly terms. Their definition of a “chosen people” is more akin to a privileged people. They think in terms of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan using physical swords, rather than the true Joshua’s conquest of the world using the sword of the Spirit.

How to Conquer Nations

If the Israelites had been bold enough to hear the word of the Lord on that first Pentecost at Sinai, they would have been given the sword of the Spirit with which to conquer Canaan. That sword was rejected, however, until the 120 disciples received it in the upper room at a later time when the feast of Pentecost could be fulfilled. That was the sword they were to use to conquer nations and thereby fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy.

Old Covenant swords are effective, but they do not bless anyone nor can they be used to fulfill the calling of Abraham. Physical swords may separate one’s head from the body, but the sword of the Spirit separates “soul and spirit” and can judge or discern “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). One’s sword of choice depends upon whether he is of the Old Covenant or the New.

Isaiah was a New Covenant prophet, and his prophecies must be viewed through New Covenant eyes. So he explains this in Isaiah 41:17, 18,

¹⁷ The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst; as the God of Israel, I will not forsake them. ¹⁸ I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water.

The prophet here does not specifically identify those who are “parched with thirst.” The prophet enlarges upon this later in Isaiah 55:1, saying, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat.” The invitation is open to all who seek Him, and the rain of the Spirit is shown to be universal, though it may start small.

The Glory of the Kingdom

Isaiah 41:19, 20 describes in metaphorical terms the well-watered land of Israel in that day, saying,

¹⁹ I will put the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert together with the box tree and the cypress, ²⁰ that they may see and recognize and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Trees often serve as biblical metaphors of men. In this case the variety of trees speak of different ethnicities who benefit from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and thrive in the Kingdom of God. We then can “recognize and consider and gain insight as well,” knowing that this is part of the divine plan. Unfortunately, even the early Church had difficulty recognizing this. It was not until Philip preached the gospel to the Samaritans that the disciples began to see that the Holy Spirit was to be given to other ethnic groups (Acts 8:5, 17). It took a vision from heaven for Peter to understand that he was to preach the gospel to the Romans—and even then he was taken by surprise when the Holy Spirit fell upon his Roman audience (Acts 10:44, 45).

If they had but understood the metaphorical language of Isaiah, along with the laws of impartiality, they might have understood the mind of God in this matter. But they were steeped in Old Covenant thinking and man-made traditions and culture, and it took the ministry of the Apostle Paul and the destruction of Jerusalem to make the change more widely accepted.

Even then, the New Covenant was largely misunderstood, lost, and misapplied even to this day.

The Court Case

After prophesying that the “water” of the Spirit will be poured out upon Israel while they are in the “wilderness” (i.e., outside the old land), God issues a challenge to His rivals. Isaiah 41:21-23 says,

²¹ “Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” the King of Jacob says. ²² Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; ²³ declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

The challenge is for these false prophets and false gods to prophesy the future and to explain the past (“former events”). In other words, explain the fall of Samaria and the exile of Israel. How is it that the false gods that the Israelites had been worshiping could not protect them from the Assyrian army? Likewise, the false gods could not prophesy (through their prophets) the glorious future that the true God had decreed.

The NASB says in verse 23 above, “that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.” The KJV reads, “that we may be dismayed and behold it together.” The Commentary on the Whole Bible tells us on page 476,

Maurer translates, “That we (Jehovah and the idols) may look one another in the face… and ‘see’ our respective powers by a trial.”

Isaiah 41:24 predicts the outcome of this hypothetical contest,

²⁴ Behold, you are of no account [ayin, “to be nothing, not exist”], and your work amounts to nothing [ehfes, “cessation, end, nothing”]; he who chooses you is an abomination.

These false gods and their prophets are ayin, “non-existent,” and their work fails in the end.  Whoever chooses to follow them “is an abomination” (or “disgusting”).

The True God

Isaiah 41:25 says,

²⁵ “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun, he will call on My name; and he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay.”

Who is this “aroused one from the north”? It is probably the same as the “aroused one from the east” in Isaiah 41:2. If so, it is a veiled reference to King Cyrus of Persia, which was both north and east of Jerusalem. The prophet will have further revelation about Cyrus later in Isaiah 44 and 45. There we find Cyrus to be a prime example of the sovereignty of God.

Isaiah tells us that “he will call on My name.” So we read in Ezra 1:2,

² Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

Cyrus was to hear of the prophecies concerning himself and, as a result, would fulfill his destiny as God’s “servant” by rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. The prophecy in Isaiah 44:26 says,

²⁶ Confirming the word of His servant and performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, “She shall be inhabited!” And of the cities of Judah, “They shall be built.” And I will raise up her ruins again.

Cyrus is identified by name in Isaiah 44:28 and again in Isaiah 45:1. Hence, he is the one that God was to arouse from the north and east. God empowered him to conquer Babylon and take for himself all the nations that Babylon had formerly ruled. Isaiah 41:25 puts it, “he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay.”

What was prophesied obscurely in Isaiah 41 is clarified in chapters 44 and 45. Cyrus is there called God’s “servant” (Isaiah 44:26) and “My shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28). Finally, in Isaiah 45:1 Cyrus is called “His anointed,” (literally, messiah). He was, of course, only a prophetic type and shadow of the true Messiah. His anointing, or calling, was as limited as his revelation of God. Nonetheless, even as Cyrus rebuilt the earthly Jerusalem, so also the true Messiah’s anointing is to build the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hence, when God prophesied through the prophet in Isaiah 41:25, it was a very significant prophecy, not only of Cyrus who was to come 150 years later, but also of Jesus Christ. So the showdown between God and His rivals proved to be an easy contest.

The Inability of False Gods

Isaiah 41:26 says,

²⁶ Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, surely there was no one who proclaimed, surely there was no one who heard your words.

No false prophets had “declared this” since the beginning of time so that the people might know the future conqueror of Babylon. No one will ever be able to declare that a prophet, speaking the words of his idol, could say, “He is right!” None of them had foreseen the rise of Cyrus, and certainly, none of them knew the king by name 150 years before he was even born. Isaiah 41:27 (NASB) says,

²⁷ “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’

Isaiah 41:27, KJV reads,

²⁷ The first shall say to Zion, “Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good news.”

According to The Commentary on the Whole Bible, it should read:

²⁷ “I first will give to Zion and to Jerusalem the messenger of good tidings, Behold, behold them!”

Who is this “messenger of good tidings?” This is a messianic prophecy, because the message that He brings is “good tidings” or “good news,” which in the New Testament is called “the gospel.” Isaiah’s word is basar, which, as we have already seen has a double meaning: flesh and gospel. Thus, Christ was born in the House of Bread (“Beth-lehem”) as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), so that all who believe His gospel may eat of His “flesh” (basar) and become like Him.

So the prophet implies that before obliterating the false gods, the Messiah was to come first with the gospel, the good news, so that the idolaters would not be devastated without first having a solution—the alternative to the lies which they had believed formerly.

Isaiah 41:28, 29 concludes,

²⁸ But when I look, there is no one, and there is no counselor among them who, if I ask, can give an answer. ²⁹ Behold, all of them are false [aven, “empty words, lies”]; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind [ruach, “wind, breath, spirit”] and emptiness [tohu, “formless, void”].”

It is curious that the prophet said that “their molten images are ruach,” as this implies that molten images are more than just physical objects of worship. Most idolaters were aware that their physical images were just artistic representations of their spiritual gods who, perhaps, inhabited those images in the same way that demons may possess people.

So we see that Isaiah 41 focused attention on the superiority of Yahweh, the God of Israel. His power and ability are superior, and His gospel is superior. The people will eventually lose confidence in their idols and will come to believe the gospel of the Messenger-Messiah. In His first appearance, this gospel was presented to the people, but it is only at His second appearance that the gospel will begin to be believed by a greater number of people.

Ultimately, we know that His glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).