A God That Hideth Himself

"Verily, Thou art a God That hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15)

It is as though the Prophet was suddenly overawed and struck with amazement at what he was being made to prophesy! In the midst of his ministry something of its wonder broke upon himself and he interjected this ejaculation.

Leaving, for the present, much of what this might imply as to prophecy as prediction and its vindication, we will stay with the exclamation itself. That statement is one in principle with several instances in the Scriptures. Looking at the present context we see that it is Israel's release from captivity, and return to the Land to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, which is contemplated. No doubt there had been much speculation and discussing as to how the prophecies of their return would be fulfilled. Seventy years had been determined and made known as the duration of their captivity. The Gentile powers were in undoubtedly ascendancy and there seemed very little prospect or possibility of Israel's regaining their national power and glory among the nations. The state of things in their own country - the destroyed Temple, the burnt city, the land overrun with wild beasts, the enemy emissaries installed - and the disintegration among the people themselves in exile, made the outlook one fraught with seemingly insuperable problems, and it might well have led to complete bafflement and even despair.

Then the Prophet is made to foretell that it would all come about - this restoration - at the hands or by the will of the Gentile power itself; that the Sovereign Spirit of God would come down upon one who - as yet - was not in the position to do it, and probably whose name was not yet known at all. Babylon was not yet overthrown; the Babylonian Empire was not yet destroyed; Daniel's prophecies were not yet fulfilled. But the one who would do it was mentioned by name and the details of his conquest are given in this forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah's prophecies. (Read it fragment by fragment.) And then, even although this man would be in ignorance of God, he would be constrained and compelled by God like an Anointed one to fulfill the Scriptures, release the people, provide the means, and generally facilitate the restoration.

As the Prophet sees it all in his "vision" ("the vision of Isaiah," 1:1, one vision including everything) he is overwhelmed with wonder. All the problems are solved, the questions answered, the "mountains" leveled! Who would have thought of that? Who would have dreamed such a thing? Oh, how deep are God's ways, beneath our imagination, hidden from our most intense speculations. "Verily Thou art a God That hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 2)