Isaiah 43:1-25

Isaiah 43:1. But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

I cannot pause to comment upon each of the precious sentences here, but every word is full of marrow and fatness. Ask the Lord to enable you to feed upon each sentence as it passes before your mind.

Isaiah 43:2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee:

That always seems to me to be the master-consolation: «I am with thee.» What more does the most troubled heart need than God's presence?

Isaiah 43:5. I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

O Church of God, thine elect members shall all, in due time, be fetched in, however far they may have wandered!

Isaiah 43:6. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

And that in a double sense, for God's people are twice made; made first in creation, but marred by the fall; and then new-made as «new creatures in Christ Jesus.»

Isaiah 43:8. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

There are plenty of them, for our proverb is true, «There are none so blind as those that will not see, and none so deaf as those that will not hear.» But even to such people as these God makes his appeal.

Isaiah 43:9. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew 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.

Isaiah 43:10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

It is a great blessing to know that the Lord is God; and not merely to know that as a matter of fact, but to feel it, to realize it, and to trust in God and act towards him conscious that he, and he alone, is the living and true God.

Isaiah 43:14. Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

You know what happened to the army of Sennacherib when it came against Jerusalem. Horses and chariots were there in vast numbers, and all the pomp and pageantry of a vast host of armed men; but they slept their last sleep, from which they never rose again, when the angel of the Lord flew through their ranks. So was it with Babylon itself. When the set time came, that long-established empire, with its colossal power, was swept away like a vision of the night. It blazed like tow, and then was quenched for ever. What cannot God do for his people when he uplifts his almighty arm?

Isaiah 43:18. Remember ye not the former thing, neither consider the things of old..

For something better is going to be done in the future than all that God has done in the past. He will eclipse all his previous achievements, and outdo the mightiest of his own miracles.

Isaiah 43:19. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it. I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me,

As it slakes its thirst at an unwonted spring,

Isaiah 43:20. The dragons and the owls:

Alarmed and startled, as God's people pass by on their way to the land which God would give them,

Isaiah 43:20. Because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob;

Have any of you restrained prayer of late? Has your path to the mercy-seat been but little trodden? Then, listen to God's gentle rebuke: «Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob;»

Isaiah 43:22. But thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.

Weary of God! Have any of us grown weary of fellowship with him, weary of his truth, weary of his day, weary of his service? Oh, what strange ingratitude this is on our part!

Isaiah 43:23. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices.

There are some of God's people, at any rate, who forget to offer their sacrifices unto God. If they do love Christ at all, their love is not practical, not self-sacrificing; it does not lead them to bring love-gifts unto him.

Isaiah 43:23. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.

«I have made no irksome tax of it. I have not demanded anything of you. I have left it to your own free will to give according as your love suggests.»

Isaiah 43:24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but

Alas! instead of good, there has been evil.

Isaiah 43:24. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins,

What! made God our servant, when we ought to have served him? Alas! I fear it is often so even with some of his own people.

Isaiah 43:24. Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

O sirs, how sad it is when God's people are weary of him and he is weary of them! What shall we read after this? Surely the next sentence will be a thunder-clap, and a lightning flash will blaze out of the sacred page! Listen, and be amazed at the mercy of the Lord.

Isaiah 43:25. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

What a blessed God to deal so graciously with his ungrateful erring people!