Introduction
Up through Isaiah chapter 39 we were dealing with a lot of judgment because the nation of Israel and the people of Judah had fallen into some pretty abject sin. And the kings of Israel and Judah for the most part lead the people into sin. The exception was a good king like Hezekiah who we talked about a few weeks ago. Hezekiah‘s son Manasseh though, was an awfully sinful fellow. But since chapter 40, the tone of the book of Isaiah seems to have changed from judgment to comfort; God speaks more gently to the backslidden people calling them to repentance.
Let’s read the chapter: 43 Israel Redeemed
But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel,“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;I have called you by name; you are Mine!
2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
3 “For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your place.
4 “Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.
5 “Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring 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,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
Israel Is God’s Witness
8 Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,
And the deaf, even though they have ears.
9 All the nations have gathered together
So that the peoples may be assembled.
Who among them can declare this
And proclaim to us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified,
Or let them 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 there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.
11 “I, even I, am the Lord,
And there is no savior besides Me.
12 “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,
And there was no strange god among you;
So you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And I am God.
13 “Even from eternity I am He,
And there is none who can deliver out of My hand;
I act and who can reverse it?”
Babylon to Be Destroyed
14 Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“For your sake I have sent to Babylon,
And will bring them all down as fugitives,
[c]Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.
15 “I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Thus says the Lord,
Who makes a way through the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
17 Who brings forth the chariot and the horse,
The army and the mighty man
(They will lie down together and not rise again;
They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick):
18 “Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19 “Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
20 “The beasts of the field will glorify Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I have given waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My chosen people.
21 “The people whom I formed for Myself
Will declare My praise.
The Shortcomings of Israel
22 “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob;
But you have become weary of Me, O Israel.
23 “You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
24 “You have bought Me not sweet cane with money,
Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
Rather you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins.
26 “Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together;
State your cause, that you may be proved right.
27 “Your first forefather sinned,
And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me.
28 “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary,
And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.
Chapter 43 begins with “but now”. “But now “, what? Well, from back in chapter 42 God was saying, you guys have been blind and deaf to my word, but now, even though you guys were not listening and have been hard hearted, I wanna show you the consequences of your sins and call you to repentance. This is God’s gift of mercy to do this.
God lays claim to his people when he says I formed you, oh Israel. In much the same way God lays claim to us, and sometimes we forget that we have a creature to creator relationship with God. My attitude toward God can be “hey God I really try to live my life in line with what you say I should do (God looks down and says oh yeah?) and I say why can’t things just go my way once in a while, but the problem is right there where I say my way, I’ve reversed the creature/creator relationship with God and put myself in charge by my whining and complaining.
“Fear not“ God says over and over again throughout the scriptures. Continuing, for I have redeemed you I have called you by your name you are mine. God shows He is our protector so why should we be afraid, and not only do we have a creature/creator relationship with him, but we also have a redeemed/redeemer relationship with him. God paid for us. He purchased us out of sin. He bought us with his own blood. An off quoted verse from this pulpit seems to fit here from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works God prepared before hand that we should walk in them. By this redemption we have been made brand new creations 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, therefore, if any man is in Christ, he’s a new creature. The old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Am I the only one that struggles with this or do any of you also struggle with the fact that God has redeemed me and made me his new creation in Christ but then I fail to live that way. I don’t have an answer for that, but I will say it makes me repent quicker and cling more tightly to the Lord as I recognize my weakness.
Verse 2 “when”, double underline the word when when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overflow you when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned nor shall the flame scorch you. If I were an Israelite and God said when you passed through the waters, I would say, but we already did that. Remember that red sea thing, Lord? But in a very similar way after their exile in Babylon, they would return to Israel and have lots of rivers to cross, and the captives from other parts of the would have to make water crossings to return home. We just covered this in John chapter 16 verse 33 but I have got to get this imprinted on my mind. These things I’ve spoken to you that in me, you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation, but be a good cheer. I have overcome the world. I can’t say I’m always of good cheer when I have to encounter water crossings, or walking through the fire. The walking through fire without getting burned reminds me of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3
Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27 therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock, but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended, and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the house and it fell and great was it’s fall. Both wise and foolish experienced the storm, but only the wise man, who built his life on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ, successfully weathered the storm.
Verse 3 for I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. This part where it says I gave Egypt for your ransom speaks of the exodus of Israel from their captivity in Egypt and how they literally without a fight plundered Egypt when they left. In Exodus 11:2 God says to Moses, speak now, in the hearing of the people, that each man may ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold. Also, in the plagues leading up to the exodus, the first born of the Egyptians died so that the Israelites would be let go.
Verse 4 Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored and I have loved you therefore, I will give men for you and people for your life here continuing this theme of the Jewish people being ransom from their captivity by the lives of their captors. My question for you is do you see yourself as precious in God’s sight? Do you see how you have been honored by God and loved by God?
Let’s do a little thought experiment; there are people who don’t feel as if they’re precious to God. What if life has been miserable for you? What if your whole life has been one of trouble and toil and pain? How would you feel? Here are a couple of alternatives.
- You might think you don’t deserve all of this trouble. You might think you’re a good person, and if there was a God, he wouldn’t let these bad things happen in your life so you might conclude that there is no God.
- Or you might think you’re just like the rest of us. You’re not any better or worse than anyone else. You might understand that we are precious to God because we’re created in his image. you might understand that we live in a fallen world where bad things happen. Like it says the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
I have to tell a little story about going into the diversion center a couple of Sundays ago with Tori and Garret Hall…
Verses 5-6 fear not for I am with you. We should paint this statement over the exits. Remember this every time we leave here fear not be courageous be bold. Then the rest of this verse, “ I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west”, has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled to this very day in Israel.
Verse 7. Again, the idea of God, calling his people to return to their land from the captivity in Babylon because he has a claim on his people. He has a personal intimate relationship with his people that he calls them by his name and he has created them for his glory. And for us today just like we desire that our sons and daughters would honor us. God created us to bring us into his family so we would do him proud.
Verse 8-9 some of the exiles in Babylon, who read this long after it was written were examining what God had said, and these people in exile, were among the lifeless, pagan gods of the land of Babylon. Some of the Israelites had adopted worship of these pagan gods. As it has been said, you become like the god you worship. since these pagan gods were just idols, dead, lifeless couldn’t hear and couldn't speak. The people had become blind and deaf in a spiritual sense. A modern day example would be the people of Islam, who become like Allah, who is capricious temperamental, and terroristic. Obviously not every Muslim is like that thank God.
Verse 10 talks about God‘s nature, the Lord was before everything he had no beginning. The question many a atheist will ask is who created God? They think that dismantles Christianity. We look at things from within time, but God is outside of time. He is the uncreated one and he is the source of everything and his name יְהוָה reflects that very fact. His name is related to the verb. I am remember when Moses asked the Lord who shall I say sent me? and the Lord said tell them I am that I am has sent you.
The next question that many people of a non-believing persuasion might ask would be how then can Jesus be God he had a beginning he was born?
John 1:1-14 (NASB95) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
…
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Verses 11-12 Another question our friends from other belief systems might ask, is if Isaiah says in verse 11, "besides me there is no savior", how can Jesus claim to be Savior? Let's look at Luke 2:11 The Christmas story says it, "for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord". So is Jesus is this Yod Heh, Vov Hey or in the English OT it is rendered LORD.
Israel started out devoted to the true and living God, the LORD. (Even though from their beginning they waffled back and forth) All have sinned and fallen short, they did just like we do. They strayed. Hopefully, we don't but we do still carry around a corrupt human nature (Romans 6:1-11 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We have it so much better than the Israelites did, but we are not better than they were.
I want to talk about our motivation and what it ought to result in. We ought to be motivated to live for Christ, by gratitude for what Christ has done for us by his death, burial and resurrection. I want to preach both to the Spiritual aspect of Living for Christ and the practical, by way of a practical example.
I have a job as a software engineer. My career is rapidly counting down to retirement. It's just under seven months till I retire. I want to do a good job and finish well. I want to be productive and produce quality software for my company. Recently, I wrote a new software application, over the Christmas holiday, and it has already paid off and provided business insights for my company. Presently, I'm working on another new piece of software that I'm almost finished with, that I suspect will be in use long after I retire. I plan on continuing to work as normal, till I retire. I'm not going to ease up just because I'm a bit of a short timer. Not only is it fair, but I do have a sense of gratitude toward my employer for paying me to work for them.
It's the same with our spiritual life. We serve God because it is fair, but we do it out of a sense of gratitude for what He's done for us.
Verse 13, the last part of the verse is the very definition of God's sovereignty.
Verse 14, this is a predictive prophecy about how the nation of Babylon would be a world dominating, seafaring power, but when this passage was penned by Isaiah, Babylon was not a world power yet.
Verse 15-17 here we have another reference to how God will judge Babylon, in a similar manner to how He used water to judge Egypt in the Red Sea.
Verse 18 Don't dwell in the past. it is good to reflect on the past, but don't stay there.
Verse 19, is a challenge to you and I to look to the future and how God will do a new thing.
Verse 20 speaks of how God will take care of His people as He calls them to return to their own land. I'm sure you've seen miracles by God when you are on the path that he's called you to.
Verse 21, again we have been formed by God for a purpose, and one aspect of that is direct praise (and I'm speaking of praise as in music and song) because the Hebrew word for praise here isn't the word for general praise. It specifically means, singing songs like hymns or songs of worship. How many here think singing worship songs is boring? No way. How many here have had God touch their heart emotionally and deeply at times when singing worship praise songs?
Singing to the LORD is just one way we worship God. We worship Him in studying His word, we worship Him in giving, we worship Him in serving, we worship him in witnessing and evangelizing, etc, etc, etc.
What are some of the benefits specifically of worshiping God in music and singing?
I just want to promote to you that this act of worship in singing praise to the LORD is one way we learn selflessness. It is one way we learn humility, in that we are a part of a greater community of worship (it's not about me or any one person). We learn about God's attributes and the works that God has done by singing the lyrics of the songs.
Worshiping God in music and song is not about a particular style of music either. It can be very formal. It can be acapella. It can be anthemic and booming and it can be soft and quite. It can be modern and it can be ancient. I will say, we need to be theologically considerate and careful when we sing a song. If we sing a song whose lyrics contain something that is untrue, we ought to be theologically discerning enough to reject such a song. There is a song that has been sung here, more often than I'd like to admit, that does an injustice to the character of God. The very first time we sang the song, I was thinking to myself, this is a really catchy tune. And we got to a particular word describing God's love and I literally swallowed hard, and thought to myself, that can't be. We didn't really just sing what I thought we sang? Ok, so I made it through that, but I'll be honest with you, the next time that song was in the repertoire, I got up and went into the hall. And since then, that has been my policy. I'm not going to make a stink, but I do think we err by singing a song that mischaracterizes God's love. So we ought to be Theologically careful when we sing songs that are meant to praise and worship the LORD. In the same way, there are songs in the Mormon hymnal, that I'm sure we would disagree with Theologically.
Verses 22, 23 and 24 one question here would be, "who is Isaiah speaking to here?" the people of his day, or the exiles in Babylon in the future? Either way, this is a sad state of affairs, and it is sad when we encounter someone who isn't interested in the LORD and His goodness and His mercy and that He offers eternal life. As people we can get weary of things. When you do something too long, it can get boring! The difference here is that God is eternal, we will never fully comprehend His attributes or his goodness. So to be weary of Him is to one's own peril.
When someone is weary of God, it usually means they are enjoying sin too much. The Bible does say sin is pleasurable for a season, in Hebrews 11. Proverbs 14:12 there is a way that seems right (sin) to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.
Verse 25, there are verses that I highlight in my bible in that fluorescent pink color, and that signifies this is Gospel related. When the LORD says he will blot out our transgressions and remember out sins no more, I'm like that's the Gospel. When it says your first father sinned, we do have a fallen nature, a sin nature, but we are responsible for the sins we commit. This none righteous, no not one. There is no one who seeks after God. We've all sinned and gone our own way. But thank God for His mercy. There are those who won't repent. People do have a choice to make to admit guilt and surrender to Christ as LORD and Savior.
We have a better mediator who can touch both God and man. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
Let's cap this off with Romans 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
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