I preached on Isaiah 45 last Sunday. It is the text where God claims Cyrus to be his “Messiah”. It is a fascinating concepr that God will use a pagan who hasn’t even been born yet to bring his people back to the promised land. Nevertheless it happened and Isaiah is all about reminding his people of God’s never ending care and concern for them. Earlier in chapter 40 we read these words –
“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding,” Is. 40, 28.
One of our old professors apples the concepts of Isaiah 40 to a word study he did on Romans 8:33
God, the Justifying. Paul does not use the aorist participle, since he does not refer to the objective justification, embracing all men, pronounced on Calvary, Rom. 5, 18; 2 Cor. 5, 19, or to the subjective justification, which took place when man was converted, brought to faith in Him that justifieth the ungodly, Rom. 4, 5; nor does he use the future participle, as though he referred only to the final justification on the great day of Judgment, Matt. 25, 34 ff. He uses the present participle, which indicates that this justifying act is an enduring, a continuous act. No matter how often the elect of God have sinned, no matter how often they are charged by their enemies before the throne of God in the hope of finally gaining a hearing, there is no prosecutor, be he human, be he a spirit, that can successfully press his claim against the elect. All their efforts to lay a charge against them must fall flat. Why? God is justifying them all the time, daily, hourly, every moment of their lives. Sin on the part of the elect and charges on the part of their enemies can be no more continuous than justification on the part of God. A truth almost too precious to believe! A grace beyond human understanding, made possible only through the all-satisfying vicarious atonement of the Son of God. Because of this work of Christ we can apply the words of the prophet to our justification also:
