Last night Liam Goligher preached on Isaiah 44:6-11 and 45:20-25.
God
Liam pointed out that many in the wider evangelical scene believe that sincere people of other faiths might make it to heaven. We have all heard the phrase "saved according to the light they recieved. He pointed out that this isn't the biblical position God tells us in Isaiah there are no other gods. Goligher reminds us that Isaiah lived in a plural society because Israel since its inception had always worshipped gods alongside YHWH.
God reminds the people of Israel "who amongst the God's is like me" he challenges is to show them a god from the nations who can tell the future in advance.
God and his rivals
The gods of the nations are unlike the god of Israel because they are man made, therefore they are like man. They are not jealous and so there is a pantheon and when a nation conquered another nation it would add its gods to the pantheon, just in case. Goligher points out that as Isaiah moves away from talking about God to idols he moves from Poetry to prose, this is because idols are prosaic, there is nothing poetic about them. Those who delight in them become like them. Gollum from the Lord of the rings reflects this, he holds a ring as more precious than life itself and we are horrified to find that Gollum the pathetic creature was once a hobbit but now he is a mere shadow addicted and controlled by his "precious." As Keller says we can turn a good thing into an ultimate thing making it an idol.
God and his claim.
Isaiah 40:20
Turn to me and be saved. God offers to Israel and to the nations his open arms. Turn to me and be saved. There is a promise of hope that the nations will one day call upon the Lord as saviour.
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