45:19
God has spoken, and He has not done so in secret. A feature of many cults is “secret knowledge” or “secret revelation”. This can also come about by theologians claiming we need to have special academic training in order to understand the Bible (which all too often means rejecting the Bible). This is not to decry the value of academic research at all, but the Bible is actually clear in most of what it teaches. God has spoken clearly. Israel had the Law and the Prophets. Prophets came and spoke openly to the nation and its rulers. God has made an open invitation to all people to seek Him, and if we seek Him the promise is that we will find Him (Matt 7:7).
45:20
Now the call of salvation goes out to all the nations. First there is a call to recognise the futility of their current way of life. God calls the fugitives from the nations to come before Him. These people were in captivity (mostly by the Babylonians). People without Christ are held captive to all sorts of things. The gospel is definitely not about saying “your life is OK, here let Jesus make it a bit nicer”! Sin holds people captive, people suffer because of their rebellion against God. So God tells them that those who worship idols are ignorant. There is no being nice or showing respect here!
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