Isaiah 43:1

Now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior... Since you were precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee... For I have created him for my glory, and I have formed him, yea, I have made him.

When God tells a people headed into exile "fear not," the comfort rests entirely on who He is: their Creator, Redeemer, and Savior.

A Word of Comfort to a People Facing Exile

As we've studied through the last several chapters of Isaiah, you'll remember that chapters 36 through 39 form a historical interlude, giving us insight into the condition of Jerusalem and Judah while Isaiah was receiving this prophetic vision. At the end of chapter 39, during the reign of Hezekiah, a prophecy was given that the people of Jerusalem would go into captivity in Babylon.

That prophecy wouldn't be fulfilled for another 120-plus years. But God spoke to a people who had just endured a great trial as the Assyrian army nearly obliterated them. Now they are told that another devastating war is coming. In the midst of such news there could be great despair, and yet God seeks to comfort His people in chapter 40 and onward. That comfort is found in the fact that God would bring a Redeemer.

God the Creator and Redeemer

As we come to Isaiah 43, the Lord says, "I have created you." It is so important to remember this great truth about our God. The very first thing we learn about Him in Genesis is that He is the Creator—"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Here once again God reminds His people that He made them.

Not only did He create them as beings, He formed them as a people. He took one man, Jacob—who was a scoundrel, not a good man—and redeemed him, bringing forth multitudes. "I formed you. Do not fear, because I have redeemed you."

Notice God speaks in the past tense, as if redemption were already accomplished. In reality, it is, in Christ. Our Creator God is outside time and space. We mark the cross on the timeline 2,000 years ago, yet it was a work accomplished before the world began, for He is "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13). So although God's people would see difficult times and end up exiles in Babylon, God says, "I have redeemed you." There is the comfort. Fear not.

Fear Not—You Are Not Given a Spirit of Fear

God speaks the same thing to you and me. Though we are not children of Israel, He says, "Do not be afraid." Jesus told His disciples in John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me." Through Paul to Timothy, He says, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1).

When we are tempted to be fearful, anxious, or afraid, it is not from the Lord—it is from the enemy, who desires to steal our joy and leave us fretting. In reality, in Christ we are more than conquerors. Though we may see tribulation in this world, we are more than conquerors in Him.

When—Not If—You Pass Through the Waters

In verse 2, God builds upon this: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... when you walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned." It was a given. The children of Israel would go through the waters of trial. The swollen river of adversity would surround them. The fire of testing would burn seven times hotter. It wasn't if, it was when.

We can't help but think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This was written more than 100 years before they were thrown into the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. Nebuchadnezzar, enraged that they would not bow, commanded the furnace heated seven times hotter, and the guards who cast them in died from the heat. Yet Nebuchadnezzar rose astonished: "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

We have the same kind of promise. Jesus promised we would see persecution, but we have the added benefit of knowing our trials test and refine us. Peter writes, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you... but rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings" (1 Peter 4:12). Even the worst day, week, month, or year is, as 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "but for a moment," working for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The salvation on the other side of the suffering is what brings the comfort. And remember Jesus' last words: "Lo, I am with you always"—not some of the time, but always.

Egypt for Your Ransom: God's Constant Grace

Why was Israel the recipient of such precious promises? Verse 3: "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom." There are great benefits to being a follower of the one true God. The rest of the world goes through trials too—job losses, foreclosures, heavy medical conditions—but without the comfort of the Lord's presence by His Spirit.

I teach Isaiah at the Bible college, and every semester I get questions about this last part of verse 3. "I gave Egypt for thy ransom" most certainly refers back to Exodus—God sacrificed the Egyptians instead of Israel, destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea while Israel passed through safely. The mention of Ethiopia and Seba likely relates to Isaiah 37, when Sennacherib left Jerusalem to fight the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and God thus delivered the city. The exact interpretation may be debated, but the meaning is clear: God has been constantly gracious to His people.

Isn't that true for us tonight? We are worthy of God's judgment, yet He has been gracious. As He gave Egypt for their ransom, God gave His own Son for ours—He who knew no sin became sin for us. As Israel confessed in Isaiah 1:9, "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been like Sodom." We too are guilty of great sin and should have been punished, yet we have received His grace.

Why God Chose Israel—and Us

Verse 4: "Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved thee." Why was the Lord their God? Because they were precious in His sight. Deuteronomy 7 explains why God chose Israel: "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people... but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers."

This is important for us too, because sometimes we get a high view of ourselves in Christ—as if He got a really good deal when He picked us up. But the Lord says, "The only reason I chose you is because I am a good God and I love you." He chose us because He is faithful to His promises and covenants—"the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy... to a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9).

Consider how, throughout the centuries, God has spared Israel from total annihilation. They wandered dispersed for nearly twenty centuries, yet God kept them from destruction. Since becoming a recognized nation again on May 14, 1948, God has protected them. Today the Israeli Defense Force is one of the strongest in the world, though tiny—and any of their generals would tell you it is a miracle they are still alive. It is by God's power and His covenant, which He will not break.

Fear Not, For I Am With You

In verse 5 God again says, "Fear not," and reminds them of the basis of their confidence: "for I am with you." Underline those words. Imagine in the schoolyard a group of guys come to push you around, and your friend who is four-foot-one and weighs eighty-five pounds says, "Don't worry, I've got your back." That would be an empty word. But when the King of kings and Lord of lords says, "Do not be afraid, I am with you," that should instill great confidence.

"I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west... bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth." Exile in Babylon was their future, yet God promised restoration. He has made good on this ever since. In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and led the people captive; God was with them, then sent Cyrus of Persia to deliver them back. They remained until 70 AD, when Titus marched on Jerusalem and dispersed them again. From 70 AD until the late 1890s they wandered landless—and then God began gathering them back from east, west, north, and south.

Created for His Glory

He says, "everyone that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory." Not just Abraham's descendants by blood, but His elect, chosen before the foundation of the world. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, completed in 1647, opens by asking, "What is the chief end of man?" The answer: "To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Verse 7 reminds us that God is not only Creator; He created us for a purpose.

It has been said that without a purpose there is no reason to exist. The honest evolutionist recognizes he has no intrinsic purpose, and so struggles to know what he is supposed to do. But how wonderful to know God made us for a reason and wants us to fulfill it. Consider a digital camera—it works best when used for its intended purpose, not as a hammer. So with this body God has made; billions use the instrument God entrusted to them in the wrong way and wonder why their lives are broken. Our lives are best used according to the purpose for which God created us.

A Challenge to the Idols and Their Worshipers

Verse 8: "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears." Isaiah 42 four times identifies the blind and deaf as those who trust in idols. Psalm 115 makes it clear: the gods of this world are silver and gold, the work of men's hands—mouths that do not speak, eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear—"and those that make them are like unto them."

So God calls all the idol worshipers of the world to assemble and declare any knowledge or truth: "Show us a witness... justify yourselves if you have any power." You can almost sense the silent pause. I'm reminded of 1 Kings 18, where the prophets of Baal cried, cut themselves, and jumped all day, and nothing happened. The false gods are fiction; they are nothing.

You Are My Witnesses: God Alone Is First and Last

Then God stands up. Verse 10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen... I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." It is from these four verses that the Jehovah's Witnesses take their name—and yet these very verses devastate their faith. Along with Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, and 48:12, God declares, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." The false gods cannot tell you what happened ten minutes ago, let alone a hundred years from now; God declares the end from before creation.

Why does this devastate their teaching? Because in Revelation 1:10–18, the One speaking is "the first and the last... I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore"—that is Jesus. In Revelation 22:13 Jesus again says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." The same words used of God the Father in Isaiah tell us Jesus is God. Not a god—God. As God said, "There is no other God before me, nor shall there be any after me" (Isaiah 43:10).

To Know, Believe, and Understand Him

God wants His people to know, believe, and understand that "I am he" (verse 10). Many today know of God and even believe in God, but do not understand who He is. Hopefully tonight you don't just know of God—you know Him experientially as Abba Father, King, Lord, and Savior. To believe Him is not merely to believe in Him, but to put your confidence and trust in Him, no longer trusting your own works but the work He did on the cross.

"Beside me there is no Saviour," says God the Father. Yet over a dozen times the New Testament calls Jesus Savior and King—Luke 2:11, "born this day... a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"; John 4:42, "the Saviour of the world"; Acts 13:23; Philippians 3:20. God alone is Savior (Isaiah 43:11); Jesus is Savior; therefore Jesus is God. And there is salvation in no other name. People look for salvation in good works or the philosophies of some guru, but they will not find it unless they find it in Christ. So the question comes: is Jesus your Savior? And no one can deliver out of His hand—when God comes to judge, no one will rescue those under His punishment. Therefore, turn to Him before He returns to judge.

I Have Prepared a Way in the Wilderness

Verse 14: "Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer... for your sake I have sent to Babylon." This speaks of Cyrus, king of Persia, who came in 539 BC to cast down the Babylonian nobles—over 150 years before it happened. Unbeknownst to Cyrus, he was fulfilling God's work for God's people's sake. The false gods can say nothing, but God declares it beforehand.

In verse 16 God reminds them of the Exodus—the path through the sea, the Egyptian army overthrown and never rising again. Then in verse 18 He says, "Remember ye not the former things... Behold, I will do a new thing... I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." The journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem must have seemed treacherous, yet God says, over 150 years before they would leave, "I have already made a path for you."

Why were there springs and brooks in that desert between Babylon and Israel, thousands of years before His people would pass through? Because God prepared them beforehand. The beasts of the field were grateful, but those waterways were placed there for the children of Israel.

How this applies to us! Ephesians 2:10 says we are "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." God has already prepared the path. That is why Proverbs 3 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart... in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." As we trust Him, He directs us in the way He desires.

A People Formed to Show Forth His Praise

Verse 21: "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." The returning refugees were predetermined and prepared by God to declare His praise—and so are we. Peter writes, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

Our calling is simple: go into a dark world and declare the praises of Him who called us into the light. To be a witness doesn't take much—if you happen to see a crime, you don't have to do anything but tell what you saw. John says exactly that in 1 John 1: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us." John says, in effect, "I saw Jesus, I heard Jesus, I handled Jesus, and I just declare what I've seen." That was Israel's task too—to be priests to the world, proclaiming the praises of Him who brought them out of Egypt into His promised land.

I, Even I, Blot Out Your Transgressions

Yet verse 22 says, "But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel." They had grown tired of the Lord, sick of His sacrifices and feast days. God says, "I have not been a burden to you, but you have burdened me with your sins; I have not wearied you, but you have wearied me with your iniquities." Instead of being lights, they fell into darkness.

What is God's response? Grace. Verse 25: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." How can an all-knowing God forget our sin? Not as we might forget a wallet—He chooses not to remember it. Then He says, "Put me in remembrance: let us plead together." In effect: would you rather I remember your sin? Would you rather sit before Me in trial and try to justify yourself?

If you wish to justify yourself, God says, you may try—but your first father Adam was a sinner, and his sin spread to you. All your mediators are sinners; all who rule in the sanctuary have defiled themselves. None can plead on your behalf. Yet people still want to stand on their good works. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come now, and let us reason together... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." But Isaiah 64:6 reminds us, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." So the question is: do you want to stand before God on your own merit—because He will let you—or come and reason together and say, "Lord, blot out my sin"?

An Immeasurable Grace and a Clear Calling

God's grace is immeasurable. We have sinned unbelievably, yet He has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. He didn't give a wicked people group like Egypt for our ransom—He gave His perfect, precious Son, who knew no sin, that we might receive His righteousness. And then He says, "Go into all the world and proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." He has prepared the way; all He requires is that we trust Him daily, leaning not on our own understanding. This is a good God, a gracious God, an awesome God.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that You have redeemed us. You purchased us back; You bought us back, Lord. As we prepare to leave here tonight, I ask that You would help us to shine brightly in a dark world. Although we will not have all the answers to every question we receive from every atheist, humanist, or Jehovah's Witness, may we faithfully be witnesses, saying, "I was in darkness and now I walk in light. This is the One who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light." Give us opportunity even tonight or tomorrow to share that reality with someone we meet—a family member, a co-worker, a friend, someone who knocks on our door. Give us wisdom and grace, but give us boldness, Lord, to share You, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.