Love goes both ways, Pt 18: Turn to me

Isaiah 45:22-25                      22“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.  23By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.  24They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone are deliverance and strength.’”  All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.  25But all the descendants of Israel will find deliverance in the LORD and will make their boast in him.

I am God and there is no other

In our world today there are many gods—only we don’t call them gods.  We use words like ‘celebrity’ or ‘sports figure’ or ‘movie star’.  We devote our attention to their every whim and spend considerable time, maybe hours at a time, devoted to every aspect of their existence.  In the old days these sorts of people were called idols, and our devotion called idol worship.  These days those words—god, idol, or idol-worship—aren’t found in society because most of the time we act as if God doesn’t exist.

But in this passage, God refutes that entire line of thinking.  God the Father is telling all the world, them and us, that He is the one true God; that there is no other God.  God drew forth the nation of Israel from the Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to teach the world about himself, His laws, and His decrees.  Through these words He is telling the entire world that there is no other God besides Him, and He is the only avenue through salvation can come.

Remember, in this time of God’s self-revelation, He spoke through the Prophets.  He spoke of the coming Messiah, of a New Covenant through that Messiah, and of eternal cleansing of one’s sin by the sacrifice of that Messiah.  This was a society fundamentally based on honor and faith.  Decisions and agreements were made through reputation, and people affirmed their integrity through oaths and by appealing to greater, or well-known persons with whom they had had dealing as a way of demonstrating their integrity.

My Word will not be revoked

But there is no one greater than God.  God, speaking through the prophet, is addressing both His people and the nations, affirming His unique status as the only God and Savior.  The phrase “I have sworn by myself” invokes a solemn, self-referential oath, which in the ancient Near Eastern tradition, especially in divine speech, implies absolute certainty.  Because there is no one greater to whom He can appeal, God swears by Himself.  His word, once uttered, is not contingent on human response or the unfolding of history—it is effectual and conclusive.

Although God does use His hands, the making of Adam and Eve in the Garden for instance, for most of His creation He speaks things into existence.  The assertion that this word “will not return” emphasizes irrevocability.  The divine utterance achieves what it intends.  In this case, it is the universal acknowledgment of God's lordship: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.”  This exaltation of God will happen at the End of Days where, once Satan and all his dominions and powers, and all his possessed human followers have been cast away, every single human left on the planet will acknowledge Him as the One True God.

This vision is later echoed and deepened in Philippians 2:10–11, where Paul identifies Jesus Christ as the one before whom “every knee will bow” and “every tongue confess.”  By applying Isaiah’s prophetic oracle to Jesus, Paul is affirming the deity of Christ and His role in the fulfillment of this ancient word.  The continuity between Isaiah’s prophecy and its New Testament application demonstrates the unity of God's salvific plan and the unbreakable reliability of His declarations.

In the LORD alone is there strength

Jesus, the Cloud Rider, will come at the End of Days.  He will defeat Satan and in the process remove every evil leader from any position of authority throughout the world.  All the peoples of the world will praise God.  The confessional response of the nations is imagined: “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength.”  This profound declaration of divine exclusivity presents not just a theological truth but a personal transformation.  What is “said of me” reflects an inward realization of dependence upon God.

One’s inward realization of dependence upon God is not a common thing in today’s society.  We think we are autonomous; we think we have full control of our lives and responses to circumstances.  But that is all an illusion.  We fool ourselves into thinking we are in control, but really we are just responding to forces which are entirely out of our control.  In a world rife with competing loyalties and pluralism, Isaiah reminds us that God's word does not bend to the whims of culture or politics.  His purposes are not only declared but enacted, and they cannot be nullified.  This offers a foundation for faith, an anchor in the turbulent uncertainties of history.

All will find deliverance in Him

God says, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”  The word turn in Hebrew denotes more than physical might—it suggests ability, power to act, and durability.1  When coupled with “righteousness”, which carries connotations of covenant fidelity and justice, the result is a complete picture of what is found in the Lord: both the ethical and the enabling qualities for life and salvation.

In other words, the turning is the definitive event.  God calls us to repent of our sins and turn away from evil.  We can’t do that except through His strength, but the one thing we can do is say, “Yes!”  we can trust that God will be true to His covenantal promises, and that He has the strength and the ability to accomplish His desires including our own salvation.  But all of it is contingent upon our willingness.

Turn implies repentance, reorientation, and intentional response.  Salvation is not accidental; it comes through deliberate turning toward God.

What about me?

Romans 1:17 says,  “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  The Isaiah verses anticipate the Roman verses.  The whole point is that we can’t ‘work up’ the strength to overcome the struggles of life; it is a gift from God to enable us to grow in faith and righteousness.

We can all point to people who seem to do well in life—those successful people who drive $100,000 cars and live in $1,000,000 houses.  I’ve talked to a few such people, certainly not a proper statistical sample, but each of them mentioned the quiet struggles, anxiety of bills, management of budgets, things common to all of us, of course at a different level.  But people at that level of society have a thing the rest of us don’t—the blockade affluence places against trust in God.

The phrase “shall come to Him and be ashamed all who were incensed against Him” suggests a reversal of roles.  Those who once mocked or opposed God will come in recognition and repentance, ashamed of their rebellion.  This aligns with the prophetic theme of divine vindication and moral reckoning.  The shame is not imposed but realized—the result of comparing human presumption with divine reality.  When Jesus comes riding on the clouds, every human being will see the marks on His hands, feet, side, and head.  Every person will come to the shocking realization they have been wrong all along.

In practical terms, this means that believers, that is, those people who have heard and understood God’s message,  must resist the temptation to find strength in human systems, ideologies, or achievements.  The message is countercultural: strength is not something we manufacture but something we receive.  In the face of suffering, persecution, or failure, this verse becomes a source of hope and perseverance.

1Motyer, J. Alec.  The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary.  Kindle edition.   Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1993.