Honestly, passages like this are some of my absolute favorite in all of scripture. I love it when God skewers idolatry. There's always a lot of fun language, isn't there? This imagery that here, your gods, the things that you are worshiping are traveling on beasts of burden. They are being carried. They're not sustaining anything. They haven't created anything. You created them. They can't even save the beasts of burden or the burden. In fact, if you were to go into captivity, if you were captured, they would go with you. And so what does God say? We see this here, as I've highlighted in verses three and four. Listen to me, O House of Jacob and all the remnants of the House of Israel who have been born by me from before your birth, carried from the womb. Even to your old age, I am he. And to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear. I will carry and I will save. Notice the difference here. The Gods are being carried by these beasts, by these beasts of burden, but instead God is carrying His people. And He goes all the way to the beginning.

So we see a clear, prophetic word here in the Book of Isaiah as we come to Chapter 45. Cyrus hasn't even come to power. He hasn't even been born yet, yet Isaiah is speaking this word about this one, Cyrus, who is going to do a great work. Now, this is strange because Cyrus is not a Hebrew. He is not from the nation of Judah. He is not from the nation of Israel. He is a Gentile. And yet God is ordaining that this one is going to be the one who will bring the people back, that he will free the people from where they have been exiled to, that they will come back to the land. And again, he is a Gentile. This is off. But why is God doing this? Well, we know the answer, as reformed folk, we know the basic concept behind the glory of God. Westminster Short of Catechism, question and answer one, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is going to bring glory to God. This is why this is being done. We see here specifically, it's being done for the people of Israel, for God's servant, Jacob.

This is a really cool passage to take a look at. We've seen all this language of exile and of judgment. Here we have a good reminder of what God is doing. What is amazing is we get to the end and God is doing an interesting thing, and we'll see what that is. But first, we need to remember this story that is told throughout scripture, this idea of God redeeming a people for himself, of him making a people for himself. It's all connected to his saving grace, to his redeeming power. We see here that Israel needs to remember and Jacob needs to remember. In other words, this all-encompassing, Hey, all the people who are my people, you need to remember something very important. I formed you. You're my servant. Hey, you're mine. I have made you my servant. I have bought you. And that's why this redemption language is so important here. This idea that they've been redeemed, that they've been bought. God has taken possession of them. He for lack of a better term, owns them because he has bought them. And so what was done to buy them? He's blotted out their transgressions like a cloud and their sins like a mist.