Yahweh Calls On Israel To Remember Their Status And What He Has Done For Them (Isaiah 44:21-23).
Having contemptuously dismissed the gods that men worship Yahweh now calls on His people to recognise how different He is.
“Remember these things, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are my servant.
I have formed you, you are a servant of mine,
O Israel, you will not be forgotten of me.”
God's people are now told to remember all that He has said to them. For all will come about. And especially let them remember that they are His chosen servant, shaped and fashioned by Him. They do not shape their God, their God shapes them. And let them remember that they are a servant of His, and that He would never forget them. They do not serve branches of trees, they serve Yahweh the living God, Who formed and shaped them to be His servant. What a purpose was theirs, and what resources they had, and what a certain hope. Now they could go forward to fulfil their function. They could be sure He would not forget them. (But alas, by many of them it was He Who would be forgotten).
“I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions,
And as a cloud your sins.
Return to me for I have redeemed you.”
Indeed God has potentially removed all their transgressions and sins (and has done it actually for those who are committed to Him). They have been blotted out as by a thick cloud. They will no longer be remembered. So let them return to Him because He has redeemed them. The potential for complete forgiveness is before them because of the price He has paid in order to deliver them, both in their redemption from Egypt and in their subsequent deliverances, and in what it costs Him to bring about their cleansing through a multitude of sacrifices. For He has even constantly given up some of His creation to death, so that they might live. And we will learn shortly of an even greater sacrifice yet to be paid (Isaiah 53:1-12).
‘Sing, O you heavens, for Yahweh has done it,
Shout you lower parts of the earth,
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it.
For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,
And will glorify himself in Israel.'
So let the whole of creation unite in singing about what Yahweh has done and intends to do. The heavens, the earth down below, the mountains and forests, yes, and every tree, let them all join together in shouting and singing because of what God's purpose is, and what He will accomplish in Israel. For Yahweh's plan for His Servant will yet come to glorious fulfilment. We note here that the very trees from which idols are so foolishly made, themselves give praise to Yahweh. They know Who is Lord and Creator. Here then Yahweh declares that He will bring about His sovereign will in His own.
We are reminded of another time when creation was called on to worship, and that was when the Lamb was revealed in order to open the seven-sealed scroll of the future (Revelation 5:13), when the destiny of the world was unfolded.
Thus ends in the song of creation a section of the book which began in Isaiah 41:1 depicting Yahweh's Servant, raised up in Abraham and ending in the certainty of what Yahweh will do for His servant so that all creation can give Him the praise. He will redeem them and glorify Himself through them.
Note on Isaiah 40:1 to Isaiah 44:23.
The reader who is familiar with commentaries on Isaiah will have noted how little reference we have made to Babylon up to this point, and that is because that is precisely in line with Isaiah's own words. There has in fact only been one reference to Babylon in Isaiah's prophecy in the whole section, and that almost as a side issue. Now take note of how many times Babylon has been mentioned in any other commentary that you are using. It is called ‘reading in'. To Isaiah up to this point Babylon has been unimportant. What has been important is God's intentions through His Servant. And this lack of mention of Babylon will continue on through chapter 45. It is clearly not the centre of Isaiah's focus, even when dealing with the activities of Cyrus. And even in chapter 46 it is only its humiliation, and the humiliation of its gods, by Assyria that is mentioned (Isaiah 46:1-2). It is a salutary reminder that the writer does not appear to be aware of Nebuchadnezzar and his empire. The Babylonian empire at its zenith might possess the minds of the commentators. It does not possess the mind of Isaiah.
End of note.