Isaiah 45:20

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

This summons belongs to Isaiah 41-45, within the continuing promises of chapters 44, 45 and those that follow, where God very fully reveals His purpose, promises, and covenant for His people. It is to be studied prayerfully and read personally. God there declares Israel His servant who shall not be forgotten, that He has blotted out transgressions as a thick cloud and sins as a cloud, that He has redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel.

Those escaped of the nations are called to assemble themselves and come, to draw near together. All the ends of the earth are called with them to look unto the Lord and be saved. The powerless gods are contrasted with the Lord, the only God and Saviour, who offers salvation to all.

Those who set up wood for a graven image and pray to a god that cannot save have no knowledge. Wooden idols and human devices prayed to and trusted in for guidance are powerless and cannot save. Such trust is ignorant idolatry in contrast to the Lord, the only God, a just God and a Saviour.

There is no God beside Him, for He is God and there is none else. In Him alone, in the Lord, are righteousness and strength and salvation for all. In Him all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory, while all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.

Unto Him every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. This sworn word means all shall stand before the judgment seat of God and every one shall give account of himself to God. Therefore no one should judge his brother or set him at nought or put a stumblingblock in his way.

The verse directs its hearers to seek wisdom from God. It does not instruct His people to turn away from His wisdom to look to finite man for wisdom, since righteousness and strength are found in Him and not in human wisdom.

Examining heads by phrenology to determine character and direct the life is such a powerless god. It is a snare that leads minds astray into false paths and turns souls away from the work God has chosen for them. The course of life is not to be shaped after head-reading, which may be very far from the counsel of God, and the Holy One of Israel is not to be limited by hereditary peculiarity or deficiency of character.

Christ lived and died and rose as man to be Lord both of the dead and living, purchasing human life by being executed in man's stead to make it impossible through belief to lose eternal life and to make immortality attainable. Though Satan as destroyer has nearly obliterated the image of God in man, Jesus Christ is the Restorer, and all who connect themselves with God will have His moral image restored in them. Whatever was given as a legacy in hereditary peculiarity may be overcome through faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ in the new birth where old things pass away and all things become new, and through His grace He will give fitness for the work He chooses so that by cooperating with divine agencies they shall be successful.

The chapter shows what the Lord has done and what He will do for His people if they follow on to know the Lord, whose going forth is prepared as the morning. This encouragement is altogether too little appreciated and calls for much greater appreciation. It calls for being aroused to action because time is passing, with God using His people so His name can be glorified through more missionary work and more missionary spirit coming into the churches, reaching even into the highways and the hedges.

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