Bring it, says the LORD of Hosts, “bring your proofs.” Show your stuff. Convince me why manmade idols are better than the living God. Such is the challenge that closes Isaiah 41.

In Isaiah 40, the glory of the LORD is revealed. And as the greatness of God is put on display for those with eyes to see, and declared for those with ears to hear, a penetrating question echoes from heaven:

To whom then will you liken God,
       or what likeness compare with Him?

To whom then will you compare Me,
       that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

(Isaiah 40:18, 25 ESV)

And the best the world has to offer? The alternative foolishly embraced by God’s people because the nations around them embraced them? Idols. Objects crafted by their own wisdom.

So says the One who is beyond comparison, Bring it!

Set forth your case, says the LORD;
       bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
       that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
       or declare to us the things to come.
Tell us what is to come hereafter,
       that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
       that we may be dismayed and terrified.

(Isaiah 41:21-23 ESV)

Set forth your case . . . bring your proofs . . . that we may consider them . . .

If the proof is in the pudding, then let me chew on the pudding.

Oh, the things ancient Israel chose to embrace, rather than embrace their Redeemer. Oh, the objects and subjects and rejects of their unfaithfulness to the God who would be their shepherd (Isa. 40:11). Oh, the folly of subjecting themselves to the works of their feeble hands and embracing the affections of their fallen souls rather than bow before the one “who sits above the circle of the earth” (Isa. 40:22a).

And to those things, God says, show me your stuff. Show Me what you know — about the past, about the future, about anything, really. Do something, something good, something bad, anything at all — just do it so that we might know what power you truly possess.

And the response of these inanimate, impotent, imbecilic objects? Nothing. Wood don’t talk. Silver don’t act. Gold don’t give.

Behold, you are nothing,
       and your work is less than nothing;
       an abomination is he who chooses you.

(Isaiah 41:24 ESV)

But less we point the finger only at those ancients, how we should consider Paul’s exhortation that these things “were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1Cor. 10:11).

How the people of God in every age must look hard within ourselves (and sometimes not so hard) to identify those inert, inanimate idols of image, ideas, and ideology which have enticed us to abandon “the love you had at first” (Rev. 2;4). Those manmade objects of worldly wisdom that promise a manmade righteousness but with no possibility of delivering anything because of its manmade origin.

Set forth your case . . . bring your proofs . . . that we may consider them . . .

And then, when, by the illuminating Spirit within us, we behold that they are nothing, let us repent and return to the One who has promised to “hold your right hand” (Isa. 41:13-14).

Only by His grace. Ever for His glory.