My God is Deliverer

1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal. 2 The gods cower; they crouch together; they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go into captivity. 3 “Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. 4 I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.

Bel is Marduk, the Sun god, and Nebo is the god of “academics” and astronomy. Remember, the Babylonians were really into dreams, and astronomy, as illustrated in the Book of Daniel. These gods had to be carried from place to place.

LISTEN UP. this shows up several times in this section of Isaiah. Charles Stanley… listen. Me… LOOK UP HERE! This is important.

Put down your phones! Stop cutting up! Don’t nod off right here!

God reminds His people that idols are heavy burdens that must be carried, and on the other hand He carries His people, from the beginning of life until they are old and gray. Words like sustain, carried along, bear up, save you. They all speak to God’s power to deliver.

What a comfort to know that our God is real and doesn’t need to be delivered from place to place, but He does the delivering.

Do you have to fight your own battles alone or…

Does Your God fight for you?

God deals with His enemies.

Isaiah 47:1–3 HCSB

1 “Go down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled. 2 Take millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams. 3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.

God delivers His people.

Isaiah 47:4 HCSB

4 The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; Yahweh of Hosts is His name.

In the following verses He talks about how He sent Judah to the Babylonians for judgment, but He was now judging Babylon for the harsh way they had treated Judah.

Principle: God can and does use hard circumstances to discipline His people, but He will hold the one behind the harshness accountable.

God dares Babylon’s Idols

Isaiah 47:12–15 HCSB

12 So take your stand with your spells and your many sorceries, which you have wearied yourself with from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! 13 You are worn out with your many consultations. So let them stand and save you— the astrologers, who observe the stars, who predict monthly what will happen to you. 14 Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside! 15 This is what they are to you— those who have wearied you and have traded with you from your youth— each wanders on his own way; no one can save you.

In Isaiah’s day, good King Hezekiah knew that God fights for His people. Listen to the encouraging words he gave to his army:

2 Chronicles 32:6–8 HCSB

6 He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying, 7 “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria or before the large army that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 8 He has only human strength, but we have Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

Application:

God delivers us from death, hell, and the grave, through what Christ did on the cross. Have you repented and turned to Jesus?

God deliver carries us, as we go through life. Good days, and bad days. Are you dealing with some things that God is calling you to a new level of trust?

God fights our battles… sometimes while we sit back, sometimes while we join in the battle. Are you in a battle? Let God fight for you. Rest Trust!

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