Isaiah 43

The lesson this week—on Isaiah 43—is by Wini Hoffner.

Introduction

    At the end of ch. 42 Isaiah reminded Israel that she was in captivity in Babylon, not because Babylon’s gods were stronger than Israel’s God, but because the Lord had put her there as his judgment on her sin and disobedience.

    Is. 42:24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
        and Israel to the plunderers?  Was it not the LORD,
        against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law.

    Now in ch. 43 the prophet quickly moves on to words of comfort and assurance.

 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:  “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;  I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.  4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.  6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”  (Isaiah 43:1–7 NIV)

V2   “When you pass through the waters I will be with you...”  “When you walk through the fire you  will not be burned.”   
 
In Noah’s day the flood waters overwhelmed and destroyed. During the Exodus the Red Sea swallowed up the mighty Pharaoh’s army. In the last days the fire of God’s judgment will destroy. But the Lord says to Israel, “Fear not.” The waters will not sweep you away. The fire will not burn you.

They are in affliction right now as a result of his just punishment for their rebellion and sin. But, get this, even in their God-ordained affliction he is at their side.

    “Fear not”... Why? What is the basis for them to have no fear? Who  is this who is at their side?

• He is their creator (v.1). God formed them out of nothing into a nation. And he did it for his glory (v.7)
• He has summoned them to be his. He will therefore not abandon them.

    As further basis for their assurance he guarantees their deliverance by using four names for himself.

He is Yahweh, their Redeemer (v. 3)  This is the name by which he revealed himself to Moses, the name he told Moses to use when he declared to the Hebrews that God was going to bring them up out of Egypt. Just as he saved his people from the tyranny of slavery in Egypt, now he will deliver them from Babylon.

He is “your” God (v.3). He belongs to them just as much as they belong to him.

He is the Holy One of Israel (v. 3). They saw dramatic evidence of his holiness at Sinai when he made his covenant with them. They trembled with fear and said to Moses: “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” They know that this Holy One is their covenant God.

He is “your Savior" (v. 3). He will deliver them from Babylon. But this redemption will go far deeper. They cannot by themselves free themselves from Babylon. Neither can they free themselves from the spiritual blindness and deafness that has them in bondage. That greater redemption will be accomplished at a later time when God will send his own Son to pay the price for their sins -- and ours. He is their Savior.

    Why will he save them? (v.4)

 Because they are precious, that is, valuable. They are honored. They are loved.
   
    Dispersed Israel is going to be regathered and brought back to their homeland. It will happen because God has declared it will happen. The language of vv. 5-6 “...from the ends of the earth” conveys the idea that God would be able to bring them back no matter how far-flung they might have become.

    On a deeper level Isaiah’s words refer to the final ingathering of everyone who is called by his name because they have put their faith in him.

    Nations are going to fall (v. 4) to make way for Israel. But this is all part of God’s great plan of redemption through which the nations, in the end will gain far more than they lose. Israel must be kept in tact as a nation because she was to be the womb for the Savior of the world.

 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.   9 All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of them foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.” 10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.  Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.  12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. 13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”  (Isaiah 43:8–13 NIV)

    In this section we have another court scene. All the nations (and their gods) are gathered together, and not one of them can claim to have declared in advance what the Holy One of Israel is about to do. Not one of them can claim to have orchestrated anything that has happened in former times. They can produce no witnesses who can justify their claims to deity.

    But Israel, who at times is very blind and very deaf, will be witnesses for the Lord.

    Israel will not remain blind and deaf as she sees Isaiah’s prophecies about Cyrus begin to be fulfilled. No, for Israel will not only be delivered from the Babylonians but also from her blindness. ..  “that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.” (v.10). This is part of her deliverance.
   
    “You are my witnesses,” says the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen.” (v.10)

    Again Israel is identified as God’s servant. To be a witness as to the saving, redemptive character of God is the true calling of a servant of God. It was Israel’s calling, and so it is our calling as servants of the living Christ .. to be witness as to his saving power and his grace and mercy.. through changed lives.

    Through their deliverance Israel will be a witness to the whole world that there is no other God, no other Savior.

    Who is this God? What does he say about himself?

Look at vv. 11-13.

 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.  12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. 13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”  (Isaiah 43:11–14 NIV) 

He has been this God from before time began and will continue to be the same God. Therefore, when he does something no one can undo it.   

    “Fear not.” How can Israel doubt that he can deliver them? Who he is is the guarantee that no one can reverse what he has done or decreed.

In the same way Jesus says to those who believe in him, “Fear not.” "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:26–30 NIV)

 This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:  “For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.” 16 This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my pr (Isaiah 43:14–22 NIV)

    Twice in vv. 14-15 God reminds them of who he is, reiterating themes of earlier verses.

    We already know from ch. 41 that the Lord will use Cyrus, king of Persia, to defeat the Babylonians, but v. 15 makes it clear that it is the activity of the Lord, Israel’s covenant God, that will accomplish this. The Babylonians will flee for their lives in the ships that are their pride and joy.

    In vv. 16-17 Isaiah reminds Israel of their great deliverance at the time of the Exodus, but great as that deliverance was it was only a foretaste of a far greater deliverance yet to come. So they are not to focus so much on their past deliverance that they cannot even see when the Lord is acting again and in a new way.

    This focus on the past and failure to see that God is acting in a new way is just the trouble that John speaks of in John 1:11  "He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not."

    And so the Lord says through Isaiah, “Behold, I am doing a new thing" [v. 19] and you don’t even recognize it.

    What is this “new thing” the prophet envisions?

    First, the deliverance from Babylon, the return of the exiles to their home.

    This all by itself is not that much greater a deliverance than was their deliverance  from Egypt.

    But the return of Israel to their home planted the seed for the far greater “new thing” .. the ultimate redemption God had in mind for his people which was fulfilled when God sent his Son to be born of a Jewish woman in a small town in Palestine. That Son was their promised Messiah who died on a cross bearing their sins, and who rose again from the dead to bring them life eternal.

    The enormity of the change this “new thing” will produce is depicted in v. 19 where we see the inhospitable desert turned into an oasis providing life instead of death and a path (or way) provided to keep one from being lost.

    In various ways in these 3 chapters God has, by the names he uses for himself, reminded them that he created, (or formed them into a nation) chose them, and redeemed them.

    V. 21 he states the purpose for which he chose them, created them and redeemed them. It is that they might declare his praise.  In just the same way Peter tells us:  "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  (1 Peter 2:9 NIV)

   “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.  23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. 24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. 25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. 26 Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence. 27 Your first father sinned; your spokesmen rebelled against me. 28 So I will disgrace the dignitaries of your temple, and I will consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn.  (Isaiah 43:22–28 NIV)

    In this last section God reminds them again of the reasons they are in their current predicament. The sacrifices they brought did not honor him because their hearts were not right with God.

    They may have felt like they were wearing themselves out with their endless rituals, but actually they were wearing God out because their rituals were pointless. Furthermore, they had burdened him with their sins and offenses. They can make no claim to innocence or sinlessness. Therefore his deliverance of them is not anything they deserve. He does it out of his sheer grace and as an expression of his own character.

    Israel’s problem is not merely that they are physically captive in a foreign land. Their greater problem is that they are in bondage to sin, and have been since the days of their earliest ancestor.

    The result of this sin was that Israel, who was called into existence to bring glory to God, has instead become the laughing stock for the nations.

    Even so, amazingly, the Lord promises by his grace to “blot out your transgressions, and to remember your sins no more.” This is the far greater deliverance that Isaiah foretells.

Conclusion

    This chapter is another “servant” passage where Israel is clearly the servant. And as God’s servant Israel is to be his witness. That is the function of a servant. “You are my witnesses,” says the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen,”

    This is not a command, such as we have in the Great Commission. It is a statement of fact. Jesus said much the same thing to his disciples just before his ascension.

    Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

    The disciples had had experiences with Jesus that changed their lives forever.

    If we have had a genuine, saving encounter with Christ we are changed.

    We are witnesses of God’s saving grace when people see the unmistakable change that has taken place in our lives. Without speaking a word, without handing out tracts, without any sort of overt action and whether we like it or not, we are still witnesses.

    What kind of witness is your life and mine? We are empowered by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Do our lives exhibit the fruits of the Spirit so that the witness of our lives proclaims the praise of Christ?