But now, this is what the Lord says--he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
God has a special and unique claim upon us because He is our Creator. When men forget or reject God as Creator, they fail in the most basic obligation they have to God.
Fear not: This is a command, accompanied by promises. By outward circumstances, the people of Judah had reason to be afraid of Babylon’s army and exile. God points them past the present circumstances to both this command and promise.
- He is their redeemer. Not only did Israel have obligation to God as their Creator, by also as their Redeemer. He is the one who bought them out of literal exile and spiritual slavery.
- His relationship is personal. God twice owns His people. He has right of ownership both as Creator and Redeemer. His ownership is personal, because He says I have called you by your name. His ownership is certain, because He seals it by saying You are mine.
Knowing that we belong to the LORD is a wonderful answer to fear. We can know that He holds us, protects us, guards us, and cares for us. We can know that He would not have created, redeemed, and called us unless He intended to finish His work in us. How can we be afraid when we know this God is for us, is looking out for our interests?
Isaiah 43:2-3a
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
Through any potential obstacle, God will be with us. Israel had and would have their trials, but we have ours also. Trials are inevitable; it doesn’t say if you pass through the waters, it says when you pass through the waters. God will be with us in the toughest of circumstances. Trials are varied; sometimes we face waters, sometimes rivers, and sometimes fire. Floods overwhelm, fires consume. God helping us, we can walk thorugh the fire. We don’t have to panic, we don’t have to fear, and we don’t have to run as if we didn’t trust God. He can so strengthen us in our trials that we can walk through the fire.
“Walking is the pace at which you go when you are not in a hurry, when you are not concerned or alarmed. When you are not burdened or anxious, then you walk.
Isaiah 28;16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. (NIV)
- the one who believes will never be shaken.(BSB)
- He who believes in it will not be disturbed. (NASB)
- Whoever believes will not act hastily. (KJV)
What was god's motivation for redeeming Israel?
Verse 4 => "Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you."
While this is a statement of God's affection and love for Israel, it also reveals His character and His motivation for all redemption and His love for us.
Our confidence in the promises of God is only as strong as our knowledge of God.
Isaiah 43:3...7
Do not be afriad, for I am with you; I will bring your children fro the east....everyone who is caalled by my name, whom I created for my glory, whome I formed and made."
This was a promise that God would bring them back from exile. God was not only Creator, His creation was made for a purpose and to bring Him glory.
God not only has created us, but that He has created us for a purpose. If we have no Creator, then we are purposeless; but God has created us, and He did it for a purpose, creating us for His glory. This means that when we are glorifying God, we are fulfilling the purpose we were created for, and will therefore be the happiest and fulfilled.
Isaiah 43:10-13
"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 no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord [I AM JEHOVAH], and apart from me there is no savior,....You are my witnesses...that I am God....When I act, who can reverse it?"
In the verses preceding, God invites both His blind, deaf people and the nations to prove Him wrong or themselves right in their rejection of Him. It is if God is saying, “You have chosen to worship and honor other gods. Come before Me now and justify yourself. Bring plenty of witnesses.”“We must not miss the pathos: imagine any litigant depending on the blind to testify to what they have seen and the deaf to what they have heard!” (Motyer)
Now God says "You are MY witnesses." God’s people had witnessed the greatness of God. If only Israel would remember the great things God had done among them, they would see each wonderful work of His as a witness to the truth that He is the only true God.
In clear, certain words, God says that not only is He the most high God, but that there are no other gods beside Him. There are no “junior gods.” There are no “second class gods.” There was no God formed before the LORD, and there will be no God formed after Him. Jehovah's Witnesses (named for after this specific verse) claimed that Jesus was A God. Jesus WAS God but this verse makes certain that there were no Gods/gods created after Him. The only gods created were the ones created by people to serve their purposes but the LORD God is the only savior.
Isaiah 43:14
"This is what the Lord says ~ your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send to Bablyon and bring down as fugitives all teh Bablyloninans....
Isaiah prophesied before the Babylonians ever conquered Judah and sent the nation into a 70-year exile. Yet Isaiah prophesies, not only about the coming captivity, but also beyond it to the eventual judgment upon Babylon for what they will do to Judah.
Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!
As Isaiah writes prophetically to Israel, they were mired in the desperate circumstances of captivity and exile. God wants to put their eyes on the new work He will do, so it begins with a reminder to not remember the former things. If they are stuck in the failure and sin and discouragement of the past, they will never go forward to the new thing God has for them.
It is a fascinating – and instructive – switch between Isaiah 43:16-17 and Isaiah 43:18. In Isaiah 43:16-17, Israel is told to look to the past by remembering the great things God did for them at the Red Sea. But in Isaiah 43:18, they are told, do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. This shows us that there is a sense in which we must remember the past, in terms of God’s great work on our behalf. There is also a sense in which we must forsake and forget the past, with all its discouragement and defeat, and move on to what God has for us in the future.