Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 43:9

"Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth." — Isaiah 43:9 (ASV)

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled:

As though there was to be a great debate as to who God is, and what God is, he first summons all his people whose blind eyes and deaf ears he has opened, and then he calls for all the nations to be gathered together, and gives them this challenge:

Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. (Isaiah 43:9)

Where else have we any true knowledge of God except in his Word and among his people? The myths and mysteries of the pagans, how dark, how indistinct, and shadowy they are! What true prophecy did their oracles ever give? Ask Greece and Rome, the most polished of the ancient nations, what did their so-called gods ever foretell? Let them bring any holy book of theirs which reveals the future, and which is true.

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

God challenges all the false gods and their worshippers to produce a single fulfilled prophecy, – to show one instance in which they have truly and correctly foretold any event or a chain of event; but all Jehovah's prophecies have been fulfilled, or will be, in due season.