CHAPTER 43

(712 B.C.)

GOD HAS REDEEMED HIS PEOPLE

¹But now thus says the LORD Who created you, O Jacob, and He Who formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are Mine. (In this Chapter, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah portrays two things: Israels purpose and Gods greatness! The last Verse of the previous Chapter portrays Israels refusal to repent. Set over against this impenitence, ignorance, and rebellion are displayed the Grace, Power, and Love of the Messiah.)

²When 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; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. (Israels past history affords striking proofs of the truthfulness of this Verse. The future will reveal yet more striking proofs of its truth. Such Prophecies not only apply to Israel, but any follower of the Lord.)

³For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour: I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you. (Particular countries which would have destroyed Israel were instead destroyed by the Lord, which is referred to as your ransom. As well, the Lord paid the ransom on the Cross, which was demanded by God, which was the giving of His Life, that whosoever will, may find life [Jn. 3:16].)

⁴Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honourable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your life. (Israel became precious from the time that the Promise was given to Jacob that in his seed all the nations of the Earth should be blessed [Gen. 28:14]. Henceforward, God placed the interests of Israel above those of men generally and markedly above those of any other people.

The only reason they have suffered such defeat and failure is because of their rejection of God and their Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.)

⁵Fear not: for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Verses 1 through 4 portray the preservation of Israel, while Verses 5 through 7 portray the gathering of Israel, which in essence began in 1948 and will be finished at the Second Coming);

⁶I 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 (as stated, this will take place on a worldwide scale immediately after the Second Coming, because Israel will have then made Christ her Saviour and her Lord);

⁷Even every one who is called by My Name: for I have created him for My Glory, I have formed him; yes, I have made him. (The very name of Israel means Prince of God or Soldier of God, and thus every Israelite was called by Gods Name.)

⁸Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Israel is described here as blind people who have eyes; in other words, a people long blind, who have now, to some extent, recovered their sight and are ready to witness for God. As stated, this will take place in the Kingdom Age.)

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can decla re 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. (This of which the Lord will do, and we speak of the Restoration of Israel, will be of such magnitude that the Lord will gather the nations of the world that they may observe and say, It is truth.)

ISRAELS MISSION

¹⁰You are My witnesses, says the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. (As in the previous Verse, the nations are invited to come together and challenged once more to vindicate their idols by fulfilled Prophecy. But it is in vain that they will seek for witnesses! But the Messiah will bring forth His witnesses, even His Servant Israel to prove that there is no God but the God of Israel; that He declares and saves and shows; that He is from everlasting; and that He is Almighty.)

¹¹I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour. (None but God can save men. Man cannot make atonement for his followers. In this Passage is found the telling point of the Gospel, and the contention arousing Satans anger. Emphatically, it is declared that the Lord is the only Saviour. Satan deceives men into believing otherwise.)

¹²I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore you are My witnesses, says the LORD, that I am God. (It could be translated, I did what the idol-gods cannot do announced Deliverance and effected it, and further proclaimed [or published] it at the time when you Israelites had no idolatry among you. Therefore, He is saying, There is no excuse for you not to believe.)

DECLARATIONS OF GOD TO ISRAEL

¹³Yes, 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? (The first part of this Verse, before the day was I am He, refers to the Truth that God was just as powerful before He delivered Judah from Sennacherib as He was at the time of their Deliverance. God does not change! He says, I will work, and who can stop it?)

¹⁴Thus says 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. (Now the Prophecy is given concerning the coming destruction of Babylon. It would happen approximately 170 years in the future.

The ships speak of the Chaldeans, a special ruling group of Babylonians, who would attempt to escape. Instead of the ships becoming their saviour, they would be tombs; hence, the cry.

The words, for your sake, speak of Israels Restoration, which would take place in the Medo-Persian Empire; however, its greater fulfillment awaits the coming Kingdom Age.)

¹⁵I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. (In this Passage, we are told that the LORD is the only One Who can make such predictions as are outlined in the previous Verse and unfailingly make them come to pass. He tells them here that He is their King. Sadly, some 750 years later, they would say, We have no king but Caesar [Jn. 19:15].)

¹⁶Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters (this has reference to Gods Deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the way in the sea; these mighty waters would be pushed back, with a path made through them for Israels safe crossing);

¹⁷Who brings 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. (The Chaldeans were to perish as completely as the Egyptians did in the Red Sea. The words, quenched as tow, refer to the wick that was made of flax; it was very flimsy and, thereby, easily extinguished. The Lord is saying that the Babylonians will be extinguished as easily.)

¹⁸Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old. (The Holy Spirit is saying that the old Deliverance will be as nothing compared with the new. Israel must cast its eye forwards, not backwards.)

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (This refers to the Millennial Reign, when Christ will reign supreme from Jerusalem, and Israel, at long last, will accept Him as Lord and Saviour.)

²⁰The beast of the field shall honour Me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My People, My Chosen. (These wild beasts and fowls of this Verse may possibly figure the Gentile nations. Many will come to Christ, because of His Power to save.)

²¹This People have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise. (Finally, and at long last, this people, i.e., Israel, shall show forth My praise.)

²²But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of Me, O Is rael. (Constantly, the Holy Spirit contrasts Jacob and Israel. He attempts to make them into Israel, the Prince of God, while they insist upon being Jacob, the schemer and supplanter.)

²³You have not brought Me the small cattle of your Burnt Offerings; neither have you honoured Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with an Offering, nor wearied you with Incense. (In these Passages, we are witnessing a loving parent pleading with his children; and with pity, compassion, love, and tenderness!)

²⁴You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled Me with the fat of your Sacrifices: but you have made Me to serve with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities. (It is actually sweet calamus referred to here by the Lord using the term sweet cane. It was used in the Incense that was poured on the Golden Altar [Ex. 30:23; Ezek. 27:19].

It seems that Israel had grown weary of offering the Incense, and also of the Sacrifices; consequently, the fat, symbolic of Gods best given for humanity, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ, was no longer burned on the Altar. They forgot the source of their prosperity.

When one no longer makes the Cross the object of ones faith, of which the Sacrifices were a symbol, one then also does not define sin as one should!)

²⁵I, even I, am He Who blots out your transgressions for My Own sake, and will not remember your sins. (The recital of Israels contempt of and disobedience to the Law is cleft in two and seemingly disjointed and interrupted by the declaration of this Verse. Such is the heart of God! When sin reaches its climax, as it did at Calvary, and becomes unbearable, Grace puts away the sin instead of putting away the sinner!

As man under the First Covenant despised the spotless Lamb and its atoning Blood Gods Way of Salvation in type so man today denies and despises the Divine Way of the Cross as it refers to Justification and Sanctification through the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot.)

²⁶Put Me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare you, that you may be justified. (The answer is: I cannot produce any defense. When man is brought to this consciousness, he listens with wonder to the glad tidings offering him a spotless Righteousness in and through Christ and what He did for us at the Cross!)

²⁷Your first father has sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against Me. (The first father refers to Abraham. Your teachers refer to the Priests and Levites of the Sanctuary, who also sinned! The idea of this Passage is that Israel cannot fall back upon merit.)

²⁸Therefore I have profaned the princes of the Sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. (The profaning of the princes of the Sanctuary refers to the captivity, when the Babylonians took Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple. It refers to the principal members of the Priesthood who were carried into captivity with the rest of the people [II Ki. 25:18].

Israel, at that time, was given to the curse of a severe bondage, and to the reproaches of the neighboring nations.)