Isaiah 43:15-28
Isa 43:15
I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of
Israel, your King.
God reaffirms that he is the Holy One of Israel, their
creator as he brought them forth from the loins of Abraham as promised and he
was their king. By making these
three declarations he is stating that he will perform everything in its timing
which he has declared and there will be no turning back from the performing of
those things. God will protect
Israel when the Medes and Persians conquer Babylon and they will return to the
land as God had promised them.
Isa 43:16
Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a
path in the mighty waters;
Then God declares to Israel through Isaiah that he made a
way for Israel in the sea. That is,
he prepared a path for them right through the heart of the Red Sea on dry land
when they came out of Egypt. That
dry pathway was also the lure for the army of Egypt who pursued them and was
drowned in the sea.
And the waters returned, and covered the
chariots, and the horsemen, and
all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so
much as one of them. (Exodus 14:28)
Then when they were ready to cross the Jordan, God opened up the path
through the raging Jordan.
And it shall come to pass, as soon as the
soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all
the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan,
that the waters of Jordan shall
be cut off from the waters that
come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. (Joshua 3:13)
Isa 43:17
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.
Then the LORD states that he was the one that put into
Pharaoh’s mind the idea that they should go after Israel to kill them because
Pharaoh would now be a laughingstock among the rulers of the world’s nations
being outdone by slaves. So God
places in his mind the idea of pursuing them by bringing the entire army out in
their chariots to pursue Israel and no doubt to destroy the entire nation.
Then the LORD decreed that that they would face their demise in the Red
Sea, both the army and their chariots would lie down, that is, would be
destroyed and their power would never be regained as after that Egypt was never
a real world power again. They have
become extinct, that is, they are at the bottom of the Red Sea and are not
visible to anyone making them extinct among the living.
When tow or flax on a burning candle is placed in the water, it
immediately is extinguished. The
description is used of the Egyptian army which was quenched in the Red Sea as
immediately as tow is quenched in water.
Isa 43:18
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the
things of old.
Here God tells Israel that although their deliverance
from Egypt was a mighty work and their coming into the Promised land was a
mighty work, they were not to dwell in the past.
I was on staff at a Bible College in central New Jersey and the glory of
that ministry was their past as they did not look to the future.
Too many of us dwell on the past instead of encouraging ourselves to look
to the future. Sometimes when
Christians give their testimonies, they dwell too much on their past instead of
encouraging their listeners to consider the future that God has for the
Christian.
Isa 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.
Then God declares that he is going to do a new thing
which will spring forth like the blooming of a flower in the spring and all
Israel will know about it. That new
thing is the coming of the Messiah who will bring forth the new way of salvation
which is by grace. This is why
Israel was not to dwell on the past such as keeping the law along with all the
sacrifices. When Christ went to the
cross in 33 A.D. that spelled the end of the ceremonial law of Moses and now
salvation via sacrifice for sin was now in Christ.
For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
There was a way in the wilderness which went from Canaan to Egypt which
was a very dangerous trek for anyone but God promises that he will make a way in
the wilderness of this world to go from unsaved to saved which could be
symbolized as Egypt to Canaan. The
way in the wilderness would be the way of the Gospel that can take a person from
being unsaved to eternal salvation.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)
The rivers are the rivers of the true
gospel.
Isa 43:20
The 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.
Then the beasts of the fields will honor the LORD because
he had given water in the deserts.
These beasts are not literal animals even though they would be thankful in their
own ways for literal water in dry places.
These beasts are a synonym for the Gentile nations which acted like
beasts in their dealings with their conquered people.
The dragons would be profane and carnal people and the owls would be the
predators of the night.
For they that sleep sleep in the night;
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:7)
How will these evil people honor the LORD?
When they drink of the water in the wilderness and the rivers in the
desert which is the gospel and they become saved, they will drink of the living
water of Christ and as the verses states, they are the ones chosen by the LORD.
The LORD chose them, they did not choose the LORD.
Isa 43:21
This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew
forth my praise.
The people that God formed for himself will be made up of
both the Gentiles and the Jews and as a result of their salvation, they will
sing the praises of the LORD as they witness to others of the gospel.
And he hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our
God: many shall see it, and
fear, and shall trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:3)
Isa 43:22
But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast
been weary of me, O Israel.
Here God points to the physical nation of Israel and
Judah stating that in their distresses as well as their times of prosperity,
they neglected to call upon the Lord and what God is saying here justifies his
action of sending them into the Babylonian captivity.
To be weary was to be like exhausted.
In other words, they got to the point where they were tired of obeying
the LORD and the law and wanted to go on to other things while believing they
were still under the protection of the Lord.
Isa 43:23
Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt
offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused
thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
According to the law, they were to bring the lambs and
kids for sacrifice every morning and they did not even bring the larger
sacrifices to the temple. They were
just doing sacrifices out of ritual and were not honoring the LORD according to
the law and their hearts were far from him.
There were also free will offerings which they were not compelled to
bring which they also neglected.
They also neglected the incense which was not a costly thing yet they chose to
avoid those particular parts of the offering.
The LORD is stating that he did not require these of the people which
would cause them to be wearied of him, instead their own rebellion caused them
to be wearied of the LORD.
Isa 43:24
Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither
hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to
serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
The sweet cane was used in the anointing oil also for
perfume and incense. Sweet cane
grew in Judah and Israel so they did not have to carry that expense, they could
have just went to the fields and picked it.
The fat of the sacrifices represented the fact that the land was blessed
and was producing healthy animals but they were sacrificing the small ones and
there was no fat left over which was to be given unto the LORD.
It was not so much these specific items but generally speaking they had
rebelled against the LORD and caused him to bear the sins of the people and as a
result God became wearied or lost patience with their sins of idolatry and
rebellion. God was telling them that
their iniquities have piled up and as a result he would have to enact judgment
against them.
Isa 43:25
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Then God makes a great statement that if they would turn
to him in repentance and would sincerely seek him and forsake the false gods,
then he would blot out their transgressions against him for his sake, not
theirs, as he is their true Savior, in addition, he would remember those sins no
more and would never be brought up to them again.
This verse is also a great promise to the true born again believer.
God is the one who removes our sin from our soul because of Calvary and
not because of anything we do. All
those sins which we committed in the past and will commit in the future have
been paid for by Christ and removed from us so our soul remains clean and we are
readied for Heaven. The fact of the
removal of our sins and that God will completely forget our sins is also carried
over into the New Testament.
Therefore, if God has removed and forgotten every sin the believer ever
committed, then what can cause a person to lose their salvation?
Nothing!
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
16 This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:16-17)
Isa 43:26
Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare
thou, that thou mayest be justified.
Then the LORD tells them that they should remind him of
any favor they have garnered in their lives which would cause them to deserve
the salvation of God and the forgetting of their sins.
What promises did God make to Israel that he did not keep?
Come before the LORD with all your pleadings and let us plead or discuss
it further. Make your declarations
before the LORD and justify yourselves with your actions and lifestyle.
Do you think that rebelling against the LORD and walking opposite of his
law would justify yourselves? It
would invoke the right of God to judge them according to their sin and
rebellion.
Isa 43:27
Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have
transgressed against me.
The first father here could be speaking of Adam who
acquiesced to his wife by eating the fruit without asking what tree it came
from. It could also be speaking of
Abraham who was also an idolater in Mesopotamia before he became a true believer
and after he became a believer he sinned by lying to Abimelech that Sarah was
his sister and not wife. The
teachers which would include the priests, teachers, scribes, Pharisees and
anyone else in a leadership position have sinned against the LORD by distorting
the true teachings of God to make it fit their lifestyle.
This practice goes on today as many churches and media ministries distort
the truth of Scripture and overlay the truth of the Scriptures with man’s
teachings.
Isa 43:28
Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.