THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
The LORD is the Gracious Redeemer
Isaiah 43:1-13 SCC
10/20/13
We are to be filled with confidence that God will keep His Word and
deliver us from the bondage of the world. Such hope casts out fear. But
our confidence in the promises is only as strong as our knowledge of the LORD. Our
confidence is inspired by knowledge. God wants us to know and believe that in
spite of our affairs in the world, there is the promise of deliverance. Do not
despair. Look, even in the midst of the consequences of your own doing, God
will stay true to these promises. That does not take away the consequences of
our sinful worldliness and unbelief but when we see our way back to honesty and
transparency, we will see the deliverance the Lord promises.
There is no need to fear since God will redeem His people from the world
43:1-7
God will redeem His people by ransom 1-4
Verse 1: The Lord called
His people not to fear, even though
they were blind, deaf, and suffering for their sins. God had created the nation
with painstaking care, had redeemed it in the Exodus, and adopted it as His
special treasure at Mount Sinai. His acts for her, not her acts against Him,
guaranteed her future. So the formation
of the Israelites into a nation, the people of God, is being called a
creation. So the expression says that God
is the creator of the nation, and that His creation is by design. So the point
of the first verse is clear: Israel belongs to God because He formed her into a
nation in the first place and now will deliver her from bondage to Himself.
Verse 2: Here are some
bold figures to express divine protection. Water is used for invasions
and exiles in the prophets and fire is used for purging persecutions that come
upon the people. All the imagery means that God will protect His people. God promised to
protect His people from total destruction when they underwent their various
trials. There has always been a remnant to survive and so in the end as well.
Verse 3: begins to spell
out the promise of the rescue from captivity. First, the self-revelation of the LORD, the Holy One of Israel,
adds the epithet "your savior". In this passage it refers to a
deliverance from bondage, and so is essentially political, although this
deliverance includes the fact that sin was the reason for the exile. So it is a physical-spiritual
deliverance. Second, the word for "your ransom"
means God will set His people free from bondage--at the expense of the
oppressors. So their destruction
will be the ransom price--the exchange given to set Israel free. God would even
sacrifice other nations to preserve Israel for Himself. In another larger
sense, God sacrificed His Son as a ransom in the place of many whom He had
called to Himself.
Verse 4: The deliverance
is because Israel is precious (and
honored) in God's sight. They are highly valued because rare--the chosen
people. The main motive for the deliverance is "because I love you". The term for love conveys the idea of
choosing spontaneously. Other words for love will stress the covenant loyalty
that God has for His people; but this one indicates how and that He chose them
and His love for them remains constant. The Lord would sacrifice
other nations for Israel because of what the Israelites were to Him, in spite
of themselves, as well as because of what He was to them. So God is committed to His people!
God will gather His people from the world 5-7
Verse 5-6: repeats the
caution "Do not fear."
The promise of divine presence (meaning God will intervene for protection and
provision) is the basis for the comfort. God says that He will re-gather
His people from all over the world. Not all of the exiled people went to
Babylon--they were scattered. But as
the Creator, God will speak to the north, south, east, and west, and the world
will give up His people from afar and from the ends of the earth! Worldwide scattering would not prevent Him from
fulfilling His promises and giving them a future in the Promised Land. He would
reassemble His sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. Return from
Babylonian captivity would not be from the four compass points and so does not
qualify as the complete fulfillment. So He
will do this when Jesus Christ returns to the earth.
In verse 7: we discover that
with the repetition of the creation theme that God's purpose for Israel was
"for my glory." Likewise, in the New Testament Christ always
did things that the Father might be glorified. And He will not let the
sins of the people rob Him of His name and steal His glory. We could say
that the verse means that God's establishment of a covenant people has as its
purpose that God might be seen throughout the world, for "glory"
means an enhanced reputation for the Lord, honor to Him. Everything He
does is for that purpose, for all glory given to Him will attract many more to
the Kingdom. What qualifies these people for such treatment is their relationship
to The Lord. They are called by His name and are, therefore, part of His family.
Furthermore, God brought them into existence to glorify Himself. Their
condition reflects on Him, and unless He restores them they cannot fulfill His
purpose for them in the world.
The Lord is able to deliver His people because He alone is the sovereign
Lord God 43:8-13
God calls witnesses for and against His claim 8-9
Verse 8: The setting of
this section is a court scene to determine the veracity of the claims of the
Lord. Witnesses are called on both sides of the case to see what the
evidence will be. From the use of the terms for "blindness" and
"deafness" used earlier and elsewhere for Israel, we would conclude
that verse 8 is a call for the disobedient and sinful nation to witness God's
gracious provision—blindness and deafness compared to disobedience and
spiritual ignorance. The prophet was summoning them so God could
address them (v. 10) as His
witnesses. Imagine calling blind and deaf people as witnesses in a court of
law! Yet the Lord would use even them to testify to His greatness. The captive Jews
would, despite their spiritual blindness and deafness, give witness to His
ability to predict their salvation and to accomplish it.
Verse 9: Isaiah pictured
all the nations in this courtroom. Some had already assembled, and others were
on their way. Who among them, the prophet asked, could proclaim former things?
No one among the nations, none of their gods, could predict the future and then
bring it into existence. Only the Lord could do this.
Powerful acts can
be attributed to deities or kings; but predicting them is quite another matter. God is on
one side; all other powers on the other. Who in truth is the sovereign
Lord? These witnesses will have to step forward and give their
credentials or finally admit the truth of the Lord’s claims “it is true”.
God’s claim of absolute sovereignty stands 10-13
Verse 10: "You are my
witnesses." Israel is here addressed as the chosen servant of the
LORD. But believers do not always like the idea of being chosen, nor do
they like the idea of being servants. But if God is God, they must be
both servants and chosen. If we
chose God and He is our servant then He is not much of a God. The focus on
the purpose of this election--that they
might know and believe that "I am He." I am the One. There
is no one else. Who else matters? I am the sovereign Lord who has
no rivals. This point is expanded with "there is no god before or
after me" –while theologians are busying
themselves trying to "re-image" God, and in the process making God a
god and not the only God. The LORD God Himself lays down the
challenge--where are the rivals? The Lord pointed to the people of Israel, His
servant, as those who would be His witnesses that he could predict the future
and bring it to pass.
Verse 11: repeats and adds
to this: "I, even I, am the LORD, there is no Savior apart from
me." Now the personal, covenantal name is put in place of the
pronoun "He," and the epithet "Savior" is added to the exclusive
statement. No religion in the
ancient or modern world made such claims to exclusivity and salvation. There
is only one God; and there is only one Savior—the Lord. God alone, among
all the “gods,” is the only real deliverer, the one who knows the future, and
the sovereign. He is unique. None of the idols was the Lord. The Israelites
could bear witness to that, but they were blind and deaf. Therefore the Lord
had to testify in His own behalf.
Verse 12: The LORD alone,
not a foreign god, was able to proclaim and declare in addition to save. These
verses will affirm that the LORD is the only true God, always has been, always
will be. And He is completely sovereign. No one can deliver out of
His hand, and no one can make Him change His plans. One can only trust
the LORD, certainly not rebel against Him.
Verse 13: The Lord was
the only God from the very beginning. Since He is the only deliverer, no other
god can deliver people from His hand or overrule His decisions. It was foolish,
then, for the Israelites, as it is for all God’s people, to look to anyone or
anything else for salvation. So deliverance
comes from Him; judgment also comes from Him. Here is a message for the people of
God not to fear the circumstances of life because the LORD is about to redeem
them in fulfillment of His promises. He is fully able to do this because
He is the sovereign Lord of the universe, as everyone will attest.
SO WHAT:
1. Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of creation, the great I AM, the
only Savior. He has made promises to us, and those include ultimate
redemption from the bondage of this world and transference to His Father's
House.
2. As a result we should not fear, for He has overcome the world. So
Christians should be strong in the faith, evaluate everything in line with
eternal principles, and look forward in expectation to the great deliverance.
3. Meditate on the nature of your God. He formed you. He redeemed you.
You are precious in his sight. You are honored and he loves you. He will do
what is good for you. He will protect you. Live confidently in this reality.