The God of Jacob

Isa 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

Islands or coastlands, nations, let the people renew their strength. The only way the nations can be renewed is to come to the God of Jacob and the promised Messiah. Let them come near, putting away their idols. Let them speak before the judge of the world.

Isa 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Isa 41:3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Isa 41:4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Who raised the righteous man from the east? Who raised Cyrus, who conquered the kings? The LORD gave the nations to him. The LORD sets up kings for His purpose. He is the Alpha and Omega. Jesus is Lord and truly he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Isa 41:5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
Isa 41:6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Isa 41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

They tried to encourage themselves as they saw the power of king Cyrus; it was the God of Jacob who allowed Cyrus to be king. The nations still returned to idolotry, making graven images, carefully making them so that they would not fall apart. People see the work of the true God, but return to the idols made by hand. They do not have faith to receive the true God. How many know of Jesus and yet reject him and go back to serving the things of this world?

Isa 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isa 41:9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

God chooses and he chose Abraham and Jacob to bless. Abraham was God's friend because he obeyed Him. Jesus also spoke to us as friends because we were chosen disciples and we obeyed him.

John 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Psa 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psa 28:8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
Psa 28:9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Psa 20:6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
Psa 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

Isa 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Isa 41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
Isa 41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Rom 8:31 ... If God be for us, who can be against us?

Psa 27:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psa 27:2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Psa 27:3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

We must remember that the enemies of God will perish. We are to be as the son's of God, living a good life before those who oppose God. In reality , they oppose themselves and their own salvation.

2 Tim 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2 Tim 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2 Tim 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Psa 22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Psa 22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
Psa 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

The name Jacob, refers to the man Jacob who by deceit took the blessing of his father. In himself there was no good, but God was faithful and Jacob became Israel; one who overcomes with God. Apart from God we can do nothing. We were no good until Jesus saved us. Now we are in him the righteous of God.

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isa 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

If we trust in the LORD, nothing shall be impossible to us.

Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Isa 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isa 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

When Israel again became a nation in 1948, they found that there was an abundant supply of water under the ground. They turned the desert into rich farmland.

Isa 41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

Listen you fake gods. Show me something you can do? The LORD God is the king of Jacob.

Isa 41:22 Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
Isa 41:23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Bring your gods to the LORD GOD, let us see their works. These in which you trust; evolution? Let us see the proof of your theory. There is no substance to your gods. You worship them so that you will not come to the true God. You hide yourself from the true God and serve the works of your imagination because you want to keep on sinning. Can your god predict the future with accuracy? Do good or do evil, show your works so that we may look upon them? If your lie is true, then our God would be a lie and Jesus did not come to save us from our sins. But, if the God of Jacob is almighty God, you have no excuse.

Isa 41:24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

It is an abomination to God to worship these false gods. I think of our nation who will not allow God to be taught in the schools or to be honored in public places. Our nation honors every evil god. The god of abortion, the god of lust, the god of evolution, the god of homosexuality, the god of pornography; the god of greed, the god of pride, all these are gods of this world and those who worship them are an abomination to God.

Isa 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

A conqueror will come from the north, under the direction of the LORD and he shall trample the powerful kings. This is thought to be Cyrus who showed favor to Nehemiah in allowing the Jews to return from captivity and to rebuild their city walls.

Isa 41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

Your gods cannot prophecy, they are not righteous, they do not show you anything. They do not declare anything and none hear your words when you call upon them. Like the prophets of baal, they made much pleading and cutting of themselves, but their god could not answer them.

1 Ki 18:27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
1 Ki 18:28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
1 Ki 18:29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

Isa 41:27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
Isa 41:28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Isa 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

Their molten images are wind (useless) and confusion. There is no God like the God of Jacob. He will strengthen you, he will help you, he will uphold you, he is the Almighty God.