45:21
As He did with Israel, so God does with the nations. He challenges them, or rather their idols, to foretell the future. Then He points out that He the Lord did declare what would happen, and did so long ago. (Another pointer to the consistency of all of Isaiah being written in the Assyrian time.) The Lord is the only God. He is also the righteous God and a Saviour. God’s ways are right, so we should go to Him. But when we go to Him our own sinfulness will be shown up for what it is, so where does that leave us? As well as being righteous, God is also a Saviour, He saves us from our sins. And He is the only God and Saviour.
45:22
The Lord then calls on all the earth to turn to Him and be saved. All of mankind is in a mess, all of us are entrapped by sin, and we all need to repent and believe, and all who do so will be saved. Jesus told us to go into all the world (Matt 28:19,20). Why must all men turn to God? Because He is God, the only God. There is no other. You can turn to something or someone else if you wish, but it will do you no good.
45:23
This verse is the inspiration behind Phil 2:10,11, which clearly sees Jesus Christ as Lord, as God. God has sworn by Himself, for there is no greater name (Heb 6:13). He has uttered these words in all integrity, ie we can absolutely rely on them. Every knee will bow before Him, and every tongue confess. Man’s original sin is to rebel against God, to deny that He is God, this is the sin that we see repeated in every generation. But one day man will have to end his rebellion and the truth will be hidden no longer.
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