Isaiah 45:4-5 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called you by your name: I have surnamed you… It appears from this prediction, taken in connection with its wonderful accomplishment, that God justly claims a sovereign right to make great men the instruments of executing His wise and benevolent designs. God claims a supreme right to the services of great men, in almost every page of His Word. How often do we hear Him saying of this, of that, and of the other great character, He is My servant! How often do we meet with this sovereign language, My servant Moses; My servant Job; My servant Jacob; My servant Israel; My servant Isaiah; My servant Nebuchadnezzar! But He more fully displays this prerogative by publishing to the world what great men shall do, before they are brought into being. He claimed the services of Solomon, the wisest of men, and appointed the business of his life, before he was born (1 Chronicles 22:9, 10). In the prediction concerning Nebuchadnezzar, God claimed a sovereign right to employ him as the minister of His vengeance, in punishing the people of His wrath. He asserted His absolute Divinity and sovereignty, in His prophetic address to Cyrus. And He displayed the same sovereign right to the powers and influence of great men, in His predictions of Alexander the Great, of Augustus Caesar, of John the Baptist, of Constantine the Great, of Mohammed, and of the Man of Sin. 1. He gives men their superior natural capacity for doing good. 2. He presides over their education, and gives them the means of improving their superior talents, and forming themselves for eminent usefulness. 3. God gives them the disposition, which they at any time have, to employ their superior abilities in promoting the happiness of mankind. 4. God gives great men the opportunity of employing all their power and influence in executing His wise and benevolent designs. 5. It is God who succeeds their exertions for the benefit of the world. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. |
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