Watchman Radio Hour

David Schultze: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Schultze your announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker Alex Dodson to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Guest (Male): For our scripture reading today, let us turn to Isaiah chapter 45 and we'll begin reading in verse 15. Let us hear the word of God.

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God and savior of Israel. All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together. But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced to ages everlasting.

For this is what the Lord says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—he says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other."

Alex Dodson: Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in all that it says. And now, O Father, as we come to study your word, we pray that you will send your Holy Spirit in great power among us. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

God gives great promises in this chapter that apply not only to Israel but to the whole world. Not only does he promise salvation and deliverance to Israel when they were in captivity, but he goes further to prophesy a whole world coming to acknowledge the true and living God in the future.

Israel would be delivered and returned to their homeland. A Gentile king would make this possible, for God raised him up for that very purpose. The Jews would return to their homeland to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He would come to his temple just as the prophets of old had predicted.

He would not only come to bring salvation to the Jewish people who would receive him, but he would send forth his gospel into the whole world to all nations. God's promises are still being fulfilled, and there is more fulfillment yet to come.

Our text today is Isaiah 45:15-18, which I want to read again. It says, "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God and savior of Israel. All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgrace, and they will go off into disgrace together. But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to shame or disgraced to ages everlasting.

For this is what the Lord says who created the heavens. He is God. He who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it. He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited." He says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other."

God will carry out his purpose. Many of the doomsayers today, many have given up on the church, many are looking for a rapture to take them out of the way before all is destroyed. Yet God's promises for his church point to brighter times ahead. We must believe that.

Our task is not complete on this earth; much work yet must be done. We are still under the great commission to make disciples of all nations. This is God's purpose: to see all nations come to Christ. The church is not finished.

Guest (Male): Archibald Alexander of Old Princeton wrote about revivals in 1832 during the time of the second great awakening in America. He writes, "I come now to speak of genuine revivals where the gospel is preached in its purity and where the people have been well instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. The word of God distills upon the mind like the gentle rain, and the Holy Spirit comes down like the dew, diffusing a blessed influence on all around.

Such a revival affords the most beautiful sight ever seen upon earth. Its aspect gives us a lively idea of what will be the general state of things in the latter day glory and some faint image of the heavenly state. That God may send upon this church many such revivals is my daily prayer, and many such have been experienced in our country, and I trust are still going forward in our churches."

Alex Dodson: Today we must also pray for revivals to come upon us, not only in this country but throughout the world. God promises a bright future for the church. We don't see so much of that right now, but we must believe that a latter-day glory is yet to come.

The gospel is being declared now, and we invite you to come to Christ and receive him as your Lord and Savior. He died on the cross for your sins and calls on you now to accept him as Lord of your life. Come to Christ. Come now. Don't wait. Come and receive a new life in him.

Let us see in the first place: our God is a God who hides himself. Verse 15: "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God and savior of Israel." His purposes are hidden for a time.

Guest (Male): Matthew Poole writes, "These are the words of the prophet, drawn from him by the contemplations of the great and various works and dispensations of God toward his church and the world." God hides his plan for a moment but then reveals them.

There were many hints in the Old Testament that the gospel would eventually go to the Gentiles and the whole world. This chapter in Isaiah teaches that very thing, yet much was a mystery until Jesus came and revealed the great plan for all to see.

In Romans 16:25 it says, "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him."

The Old Testament gave many hints of what would later take place. The New Testament made it even more clear. The mystery was lifted and the gospel went out into all the world to all the nations.

In Ephesians 1:9 and 10 it says, "And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." God's plan is to bring the whole world to Christ, all nations.

Ephesians 3:2 says, "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit of God's holy apostles and prophets. And this mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."

The gospel would go not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, and there would be one church, one people of God made up of both Jews and Gentiles. This church would be universal, all over the world. This was God's plan to bring salvation to all nations and make people from all nations his people.

In Ephesians 3 and verse 7 it says, "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Salvation would now go to the Gentiles and the whole world. This salvation would be in Jesus Christ, and he must be declared to all the world. Colossians 1:24: "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

The gospel would be for the Gentiles and all nations. Jesus Christ would be presented a world savior and not just a savior of the Jews; he would be the savior of the world. God keeps his purposes hidden for a while but reveals them in time.

Edward J. Young writes, "The participle is reflexive and suggests that God keeps hidden under the clouds of the contemporary situation the purposes of mercy he is about to reveal." God's ways are not always known by us, but God is at work behind the scenes of history.

Cailin Dalige writes, "The meaning is: a God who guards, guides with marvelous strangeness the history of the nations of the earth, and by secret ways which human eyes can never discern, conducts all to a glorious issue." God was promising salvation to Israel and also to the whole world, yet his purpose had been hidden but was being revealed.

J.A. Alexander wrote, "If these things are to be hereafter, then, O thou savior of thy people, thou art indeed a God that hides himself; that is to say, conceals his purposes of mercy under the darkness of his present dispensations."

John Calvin writes, "Now as Paul says in Romans 8:24 and 25, hope is not directed to those things which are seen, and in this sense Isaiah calls him a hidden God because those things which he promised are not immediately visible to our eyes."

Calvin goes on to write, "Thus he intended that we should withdraw our minds from present objects and raise them to the heavens, which we must do if we wish to receive and accept of his aid. There is need of patience that God, before he displays his glory, conceals his power to try our faith."

Matthew Poole writes, "Sometimes thou hidest thy face and withdrawest thy help from thy people, and sometimes thou dost show thyself to be their God and savior, as it follows, and therefore it is meet that we should patiently wait for the accomplishment of these glorious things here promised to us."

Glorious things are promised in this chapter of Isaiah. We haven't seen all that is yet to be accomplished in this world by the gospel. Therefore, we must wait in patience for the fulfillment of God's promises.

John Gill writes, "He who hid himself from the Gentile world for some hundreds of years, who had no knowledge of the true God, live without him in the world, and whose times of ignorance God overlooked and suffered them to walk in their own ways, though he would make himself known by his gospel sent among them and blessed for the conversion of them. He is also a God that hides himself from his own people at times."

God reveals himself at the proper time. Israel would be delivered; the Gentiles would be saved by the gospel. Through the gospel Christ would reign over the whole earth, and all nations would be under Christ's reign. For it says in Ephesians 1:10, "To be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

Then Edward J. Young writes, "The profound truth is that God cannot be known by man apart from revelation, and his ways are hidden from their eyes, from the eyes of men until he himself makes them clear. Thus the wondrous hidden mystery of God and his purpose of salvation go hand in hand."

That's why it's so important that we study the Bible. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, and it is there that we will come to know him and his plan for the world.

Matthew Henry, the great Puritan commentator, writes, "The salvation of the church is carried on in a mysterious way by the spirit of the Lord of Hosts, working on men's spirits by weak and unlikely instruments, small and accidental occurrences, and not wrought to the last extremity. But this is our comfort: though God hide himself, we are sure he is the God of Israel, the savior." God had hidden himself, but he would reveal himself and save Israel, and not only them but all the world through the gospel.

Alex Dodson: And then secondly, let us see that God saves his church. Verse 16 says, "All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgrace. They will go off into disgrace together." And then verse 17: "But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to shame or disgraced to ages everlasting."

Let us see then that all idol worshipers will come under judgment. Those who reject the true God and worship idols will go to judgment for their sins. Today in America we are worshiping great idols in many forms. We have turned our backs on God, and we will pay the price if we do not repent. Judgment has already begun.

There is a judgment day coming, and all who reject God will be punished for their sin. People are sinning today as if there is no judgment day. Those who do not repent will see judgment. They will be disgraced.

Guest (Male): J.A. Alexander wrote that the enemies to be subdued are not certain nations in themselves considered, but the heathen world, the vast mixed multitude who worship idols. There is coming a judgment day when all who reject God will face great judgment for their sins.

Calvin writes, "Whenever therefore this thought arises in our minds, wicked men are at ease, and therefore God favors them and the promises on which we rely are unworthy of credit. Let us betake ourselves to this declaration of the prophet as the surest anchor, and let us fortify ourselves by it. The Lord will not disappoint our expectation, but we shall at length be delivered, and even though we be now exposed to the reproaches, slanders, mockings, and cruelty of the wicked."

Alex Dodson: All the enemies of God will face judgment. Judgment is coming. And then it says Israel will be saved. Here it is the people of God or the spiritual Israel meant. Those who follow the Lord will be saved. They will not face judgment. The church is the spiritual Israel. Galatians 6:16 says, "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God."

Edward J. Young writes, "It is the spiritual Israel, not Israel after the flesh that is in view. This Israel will be saved in the Lord. Its salvation will be spiritual." And then he writes, "The salvation is not a temporary deliverance, but one that will endure for all time."

J.A. Alexander writes, "The general form of the solemn declaration and the eternity again and again predicted of the salvation promised seem to show that the Israel of this text and of others like it is not the Jewish people considered simply as an ancient nation, but the Jewish people considered as the church of God, a body which has never ceased and never will cease to exist and claim the promises."

Are you a part of the spiritual Israel? Do you know Christ? Have you received him into your life? Come now and believe on him, and come into his kingdom and be a part of his church. Eternal life will be yours. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

And then in the third place, God created the earth for a purpose. Verse 18: "For this is what the Lord says, he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited. He says, 'I am the Lord, and there is no other.'"

God is the creator. The emphatic pronoun says he is God. There is a creator, and he is God. Evolution did not create the earth. Those who say so are telling us a lie. Evolution cannot create anything. Only God can create.

Those who bow down and worship evolution, giving it the attributes of God, are worshiping a false god and need to repent. They will be judged for their great idolatry. Only God created the heavens. The heavens declare his glory all over the world. In Psalm 19:1 it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Guest (Male): Edward J. Young writes, "Emphasis also falls upon the phrase 'creator of the heavens,' for this sets forth the distinguishing mark of the true God."

John Calvin writes, "When he repeats that he is God, this is not intended merely to assert his essence, but to distinguish him from all idols and to keep the Jews in the pure faith. For even superstitious men acknowledge that there is one God but conceive of him according to their fancy, and therefore we must acknowledge God who revealed himself to the father and who spoke by Moses.

Thus he does not speak merely of God's eternal essence, as some think, but of all the offices which belong to him alone, that no part of them may be ascribed to creatures." Only God could create the heavens. Only God.

John Gill writes, "For by the word of the Lord, the essential word of God, were the heavens made in the beginning." Psalm 33:6 says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."

And Hebrews 1:10 says, "He also said, 'In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.'"

Alex Dodson: God formed the earth to be inhabited. He made the earth for man to inhabit. He made it ultimately for his church, for his people. Matthew 5:5 says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

God created the earth that his people might inherit it. So God sends salvation that the whole world may come to know him. Jesus came to save the world. God's purpose is to bring about a redeemed world by the preaching of the gospel to all the nations.

John 3:16 and 17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him."

Christ must reign until his kingdom covers the earth and all his enemies are defeated. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22 says, "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him. And then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet."

Guest (Male): Edward J. Young writes, "Sin destroyed the human race and that it separated the race from God. God's purpose of salvation was not to deliver a few isolated individuals from the fallen race, but rather to save the world, and the redeemed world will be inhabited by those who sing God's praises."

John Calvin writes, "Since God created the earth that men might have an abode and habitation in it, much more did he create it that there might be a residence for his church, for he takes a deeper concern about his church than about all the rest."

And then he goes on to write, "In a word, as long as the earth shall endure, so long shall the church of God exist. So long as the sun and moon shall last, it shall not fail. If the covenant which God made with Noah as to the settled order of the world is stable, much more the covenant which he has made concerning his church must be stable.

The world is fading and corruptible, but the church, that is the kingdom of Christ, shall be eternal, and therefore it is reasonable to believe that the promises which he relates to the church shall undoubtedly be more stable and permanent than all the rest."

Matthew Poole says, "To demonstrate God's sufficiency to fulfill all these glorious promises made to his church, because he made the world of nothing and upholds it by the word of his power and withal to discover God's goodness to mankind, inasmuch as he did not create the earth in vain, but for the use and comfort of men, that it might be a fit habitation for them, whence it was easy to infer that God would much more be gracious to his own people."

God's plan calls for his gospel to go out through the whole earth and to bring people to salvation through Christ. We must believe that. The Bible talks about a fullness of the Gentiles yet to come, which is also associated with a large bringing in of the Jews to salvation in the future.

In Romans 11:25 it says, "Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." There's a fullness of the Gentiles yet to come.

Ian Murray has a good discussion of this fullness of the Gentiles in his book on revivals. He writes, "Fullness in verse 12 means the large numerical increase of converted Jews, but not excluding the possibility of others being subsequently added. So in verse 25, it is not necessary to believe that fullness means anything more than a large addition of Gentiles, a multitude of the Gentiles," says Matthew Poole's annotations, "greater by far than was in the apostle's day. The verse says nothing which requires us to expect no further expansion of the kingdom of Christ thereafter."

As a recent commentator writes, "The fullness of the Gentiles denotes unprecedented blessing for them but does not exclude even greater blessing to follow."

John Murray writing on Romans 11:25 says, "The contextual data therefore point to the conclusion that the fullness of the Gentiles refers to blessing for the Gentiles that is parallel and similar to the expansion of blessing for Israel denoted by their fullness and their receiving in verse 15."

Alex Dodson: Is there a latter-day glory yet to come? Will there be a great ingathering of the Gentiles in the future along with a great conversion of the Jews? Are there great revivals yet to come to this world that will sweep the gospel throughout the world and bring great numbers of people to Christ?

Reverend Daniel Dana of Newburyport, Massachusetts lived during the time of the second great awakening in America. He wrote in 1832, "If anything is to be found on earth which has much of heaven in it, it is a genuine revival of religion. But in this imperfect state, nothing can pass through human hands entirely unsoiled.

It is a delightful thought: he who loved the church and gave himself for it will finally present it to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. It is my prevailing hope and belief that the great things which God has already done for his American Israel are precursors of still greater things to come.

May he cleanse our Zion by the spirit of judgment, by the spirit of burning, and may he purify the sons of Levi that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness, and may our beloved land and may the whole earth soon behold the glory of the Lord and rejoice in his salvation."

Let us all pray that revivals will come and that this country will turn back to God. If you don't know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I invite you to come to him now in repentance and faith. Turn from your sin right now and turn to Christ.

Join me in this short prayer. Dear Lord Jesus, I confess that I have sinned before you. I repent of my sins and I receive you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for the great salvation that you have provided. In his name I pray.

Dear Lord Jesus, we pray that if there is anyone who prayed this prayer today that you will fill their hearts with your spirit, that you will watch over them and help them to follow you always. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

David Schultze: Thanks for listening to the Watchman Radio Hour. We invite you to come again next week to hear another timely message from God's word. We are Watchman Radio Ministries International, reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.