No Other Savior (Isaiah 45-46)

Isaiah 45:1-25; 21b-22; 46:1-13

"And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn [Look] to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other" (Isa 45:21b-22, NIV).

In Isaiah 44-46, Isaiah repeatedly and emphatically declares that apart from God there is no God (Isa 44:6, 8; 45:6, 14, 18, 21-22; 46:4, 9). Isaiah also declares that there is none but God who is man's Savior (Isa 45:21b-22; 46:13). God's salvation is an everlasting salvation (Isa 45:17). How does God save his people?

1. Through humiliation by a foreign power (45:1-8, 13; 44:28).
2. By his sovereign will as man's Maker (45:9-13).
3. By hiding himself and revealing himself (45:14-17, 18-25).
4. By carrying you (46:1-13).
   

References:

1. Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae: Isaiah.
   
2. Isaiah: Title of each chapter and commentary. Matthew Henry Complete Commentary: Isaiah.
   
3. Study Guide for Isaiah 45 (David Guzik): Look To Me and Be Saved. Charles Spurgeon conversion is from Isa 45:22.
1. Look to God who choose Cyrus (1-7).
   
2. Look to God who created everything (8-13).
   
3. Look to the God above all Gods (14-25).
   
4. Study Guide for Isaiah 46 (David Guzik): Dead Idols and the Living God.
   
1. The idols of the nations are carried into captivity (1-7).
2. A call to remember (8-13).
   
5. Outline of Isaiah 45, 46, 47, 48 —The fall of Babylon and rise of Persia. Isaiah 40-51 deliver a series of messages to Judah and the remnant of Israel. Isaiah looks into the next two centuries. He sees beyond the Babylonian captivity to the fall of Babylon, and even predicts that Cyrus king of Persia will return the captives to Jerusalem to rebuild it.
• The last verse of Isaiah 44 names a future king of Persia who would shepherd the remnant of God's people and oversee the rebuilding of Jerusalem. All this came to pass.
• The Lord calls Cyrus by name before he has even been born and before the kingdom over which he will reign has risen to power (Isa 45:1-7).
• Cyrus is warned in advance not to argue with God (Isa 45:8-10).
• Cyrus will respect God's purpose and plan, and will co-operate with it to rebuild Jerusalem (Isa 45:11-13).
• God promises that, when Israel has been saved by the Lord, he will give over to Cyrus the idolatrous Egyptian kingdom and other southern nations (Isaiah 45:14-19).
• When God so powerfully brings to pass the purpose he has long ago announced, as he did in the case of Cyrus, all peoples of the earth should acknowledge him, every knee should bow to him (Isa 45:20-25).
• The gods of Babylon like Bel and Nebo, will be useless before Cyrus (Isa 46:1-2).
• Now God tells all the remnant of Israel to listen and remember. He reiterates that he is their true God, not some dumb unmoving idol. He, God, will save them from Babylonian exile when he calls Cyrus from the east, Cyrus the man of God's purpose (Isa 46:3-13).