Isaiah 41:21-42:17
“Which God Should We Serve?”

Introduction
1. Which God should we serve?
2. Is. 41:21-42:17 answers that question, but uses the word ‘idol’. Idols is how a man worships and approaches ‘god’.

Which God should we serve?
I. HIS PROPHECY 41:21-42:9
Isaiah speaks of the future before it occurs. Two key prophetic events are in view: Cyrus
and Christ.
A. The Prophecy of Cyrus 41:21-29
1. The Challenge To Religion 21-24 He dares idols…religions…to prove their
reality. He denies their validity. God dares the religion to do something God-
like to prove their validity. Bring forth your strongest arguments. Present
your case. Show us what shall happen. Announce to us what is coming. 22 Tell
us what is coming. Predict the future that we may know you are gods. Do
something!
Isaiah’s whole point is that sovereign foreknowledge and control over human
events are an essential mark of deity. If God is not the Lord of the future, then
by Isaiah’s logic, He is not God at all, but just another false religion.
Idols…religion is nothing. They are deadly…Your work amounts to nothing. He
who chooses you is an abomination (something disgusting to God). Why?
They are false Gods!
2. The Confirmation To Religion 25-27 Give us proof! Cyrus is named.
(44:28)
God predicts the rise of Cyrus the Great as proof of His sovereign deity. This
was written in around 710 B.C. Cyrus o3f Persia came on the scene in around 539
B.C. He is the ‘who’ in (Is. 41:2, 4) The meteoric rise of Cyrus on the scene,
God did it! 25 No one saw it coming. Who has declared this from the beginning?
Isaiah. “You heard it first, right here.” 26 God alone predicted it. It’s that we
might know we worship the true God!
3. The Conclusion To Religion 28-29 The religions of the world do not have
prophecy conferences! ‘Religions’ Behold their vanity. They are all a delusion.
They are all false. ‘All’ without exception are man-made objects and approaches
to God. 29 Behold they are nothing 24 Behold they are a delusion 29 Behold,
My Servant. (42:1) God’s alternative to idols and empty religion…My Servant
Jesus Christ!
B. The Prophecy of Christ 42:1-9
1. The Person 1-4 My Servant here is Jesus Christ. (Matt. 12:18-20) He is
showing us that the God of the Bible knows the future. He Is God!
*Justice ‘Judgment’ is a key word and it appears 3 times. He is thinking more
than legal correctness. It is used in (Ex 26:30) of the plan of the Tabernacle, the
blueprint that God revealed. God has a blueprint for human existence. He
knows how human beings can be at their best. He knows how we can be
fulfilled. Our hope lies in His Servant Jesus Christ!
*Gentiles…nations are named. His rejection as Messiah opened the doors to the
Gentiles.
*Bruised Reed is a crushed bulrush by a heavy beast…a small reed crushed by
a man’s heel…a simple musical instrument. This is a reed that has been
crushed and no tune comes forth. It has lost its song. Jesus says, Give it to
Me. He will reopen it. Song comes forth!! Jesus will give your song back!
*Smoking Flax shall not be quenched. This is some poor man’s one candle that
has almost gone out. There is but a fraction of the wick left. Our Lord takes
it…shields it and renews it to life. As He breathes on it light bursts forth!
*Did this just happen? Peter W. Stoner American Scientific Affiliation: The
probability of just 8 prophecies being fulfilled in just one person is 1 to 10 to
17th power (1 with 17 zeroes) Silver dollars two feet high all over Texas…put
an x on one dollar…blind fold and pick up that one.
The same chance of one person having 8…Jesus had 60 major prophecies
fulfilled in His lifetime! 1 in 10 to 54th power. It impossible for Him not to
be God!
2. The Performance 5-7
* His Power 5 He is God…Jesus expresses that God!
* His Promise 6 He will give thee…a covenant for His people…light for
the Gentiles. Jesus is that promise and that light!
* His Possibility 7 Open blinded eyes…set prisoners free…those who sit
in the darkness of a prison, He opens the door. HE IS GOD!
3. The Preeminence 8-9 He will not share His glory 8 There is no other way!
All other gods of all religions are false!

Which God should we serve?
II. HIS PRAISE 42:10-12
Sing unto the Lord a New Song. He has opened our eyes and set us free!
There is only One who deserves praise.

Which God should we serve?
III. HIS PROMISE 42:13-17
A God who knows the future, keeps His promise.
A. His Pursuit 13
Victory is sure. God pursues His God with the intensity of a soldier!
B. His Pain 14
God is like a woman in travail. He gives life. Something new comes into the world!
C. His Plan 15
He takes away every security blanket and nothing is left but Him!
D. His Provision 16
His grace changes every negative into a positive.

Hang on to your idols (false religion), and you will be greatly ashamed.