In Creation and in Revelation, Jehovah is Reliable

Can the Jews rely on Jehovah's promise of eternal salvation for Israel?  Isaiah answers:  "This is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He is the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He and the  One  who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: "I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.  In a place of concealment I spoke not, in a dark place of the earth; nor said I to the seed of Jacob, "Seek me simply for nothing, you people."  I am Jehovah, speaking what is righteous, telling what is upright.' " (Isaiah 45:18, 19) For the fourth and final time in this chapter, Isaiah opens a weighty prophetic passage with the phrase:  "This is what Jehovah has said." (Isaiah 45:1, 11, 14) What does Jehovah say?  That both in creation and in revelation, he is reliable.  He did not create the earth "simply for nothing." Likewise, he does not ask his people, Israel, to seek him "simply for nothing."  Just as God's purpose for the earth will be carried out, so God's purpose for his chosen people will be carried out.  In contrast with the obscure utterances of those who serve false gods, Jehovah's words are openly spoken.  His words  are just, and they will come true.  Those who serve him will not serve him in vain.

For God's exiled people in Babylon, those words are an assurance that the Promised Land will not remain desolate.  It will be reinhabited. and Jehovah's promises to them come true. By extension, Isaiah's words are an assurance to God's people today that the earth will not become a desolate ruin-charred by fire, as some believe, or destroyed by nuclear bombs, as other fear.  God purposes that the earth will remain forever, robed in paradisiac beauty populated by righteous inhabitants.  (Psalm 37:11, 29; 115:16; Matthew 6:9, 10; Revelation 21:3, 4) Yes, as in Israel's case, Jehovah's words will prove reliable.

Next time: Jehovah Extends His Mercy

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001