43:1. “But now
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.”
Jacob is the name that is
associated with the flesh; and Israel, with what is of the Spirit, and it is
instructive to note that “created” relates here to bringing into existence,
but “formed” is associated with instructing, shaping, molding what has been
created, something that God does only with the new creature in Christ, never
with the natural man, for the simple reason that “the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1
Corinthians 2:14.
Relative to a new name,
see also what is written concerning redeemed Israel, “And the Gentiles shall
see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called
by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name,” Isaiah 62:2.
Only of the redeemed does God say “thou art mine.”
The “fear not” applies to
the redeemed of every age, for they belong to God, and have His assurance
that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28.
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.”
Part of this promise was
fulfilled when Israel passed through the divided waters of the Red Sea as
they left Egypt, and again when they entered Canaan through a miraculously
divided Jordan. The third part was fulfilled typologically when Israel,
represented by the three young Hebrews of Daniel 3, were preserved alive in
the fiery furnace; and it will be fulfilled literally in a day now imminent
when God will bring the believing remnant through the fiery trial of the
Great Tribulation into the enjoyment of millennial Canaan.
Believers of this present
age have the same assurance of preservation. No matter what trial we may
have to endure, we will all stand safe and secure in heaven at last.
43:3. “For I
am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.”
The term “the Lord thy
God” speaks of His universal dominion as the Creator of all things; “the
Holy One of Israel” presents Him as the One Who is “of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and (Who) canst not look on iniquity ....” Habakkuk 1:13; but
“thy Savior” declares Him to be the One Who saved Israel from death by means
of the Passover lamb when He slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians, and
delivered from bondage those He had redeemed by the blood of that lamb which
is a type of Christ the true Passover Lamb, as it is written, “For even
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,” 1 Corinthians 5:7.
His having given “Egypt
for thy ransom” is understood by some to have reference to His deliverance
of the firstborn Israelites on the night of the Passover, and His slaying
the firstborn of the Egyptians. By others however, it is taken to mean that
“As a ransom or reward for releasing the Jewish captives, Persia was enabled
by God to conquer Egypt... Cush (modern-day southern Egypt, all of
Sudan, and northern Ethiopia), and Seba, possibly the same as Sheba
in southern Arabia ... where the Sabeans lived .... In contrast with
non-Israelites (represented by these three nations), Israel is precious
and honored because of God’s love,” The Bible Knowledge
Commentary.
43:4. “Since
thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved
thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.”
Two things that should
never be confused are God’s foreknowledge and His predestination, see Romans
8:28-30 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he
did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” God foreknows
who will accept, and also who will reject Christ as Savior, but He does not
predestinate that choice. Notice that the predestination has to do not with
salvation, but with conformity of believers to Christlikeness.
Clearly therefore those
mentioned in this verse are the foreknown Jewish believers who will
constitute the converted Israel that will emerge from the Great Tribulation
into the blessings of the Millennium, their blessedness continuing into the
eternal state.
His giving “men ... and
people for thy life” means simply that while He would permit rebel nations
to be destroyed, He would preserve Israel.
43:5. “Fear
not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather
thee from the west;”
This is God’s assurance
that though Israel will be scattered to the four corners of the earth as a
result of the Great Tribulation judgments, He will gather the believing
remnant of them back to enjoy His blessing in the Millennium.
The reference to the east
is the reminder that it is the direction which is invariably scripturally
synonymous with sin and departure from God, see, for example, Genesis 3:24
and 4:16, relative to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, and the
departure of Cain from God’s presence, “So he drove out the man; and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life,” “And Cain went
out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east
of Eden.” In all of Scripture there is not one good reference to the east.
Note for example, that the wise men came from the east into the
presence of Christ around the time of His birth,” Matthew 2:1-2; and
relative to their return it is not said that they went back eastward (which
of course they did), but that “they departed into their own country
another way,” Matthew 2:12. (Note also that the bringing of “thy
seed” i.e., descendants, implies a then distant future regathering,
which is now imminent).
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;
This continues to portray
God’s call to Israel in the Tribulation era, to return to Canaan from her
world-wide scattering; and as noted already, the return of the Jews to
Palestine since 1938 is the assurance that the terrible Tribulation
judgments are not far off.
43:7. “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.”
“... called by my name”
implies that these called ones are converted Jews, who, like all other
believers, have been created for God’s special glory, His having “formed”
them implying that He has instructed or molded them in the way of
righteousness, which goes beyond His merely having “created” them, for it is
to be remembered that He will be glorified by the destruction of the
unrepentant rebel, just as He will be by the salvation of the believer, see
Ezekiel 28:22, “... Behold I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be
glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord when
I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her,”
43:8. “Bring
forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.”
The reference is to
disobedient Israel, for though they had eyes and ears, they refused to see
or hear what God had written, or what He said to them through His servants
the prophets. He is equally blind and deaf who fails to understand that
apostate Christianity merits the same condemnation.
43:9. “Let the
nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among
them can declare this, and shew us former things?”
Other translations of this
verse are, “... who among them could foretell this?” AAT; “Who among
the idolaters could predict this [that Cyrus will be the deliverer of
Israel] and show us the former things?” Amp; “Where are the witnesses
of anything they said? If there are no witnesses, then they must confess
that only God can prophesy,” Taylor.
As has been noted already,
fulfilled prophecy attests the Divine Authorship of the Bible.
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.”
God here calls upon Israel
to testify that He, Jehovah, is the only eternally existing God, all others
being but the figments of disordered imaginations; fulfilled prophecy being
competent testimony not only to the veracity of His spoken and written Word,
but to His omniscience.
43:11. “I,
even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior.”
His being “the Lord”
speaks of omnipotence, an essential attribute of anyone who would save men
from hell, and fit them for heaven, for that miracle required that the
deliverer die as man’s representative in order to expiate man’s sin, and
then rise from the dead to continue living eternally as evidence that He had
power even over death, as it is written, He “was delivered for our offences,
and raised again for our justification,” Romans 4:25. Christ’s resurrection
is the proof that God has accepted His vicarious sacrifice, and imputes it
to every born-again believer.
43:12. “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.”
When Israel had abandoned
idolatry, and turned again to Jehovah, He had proved that He, and He alone,
was God. He had foretold the future; He had delivered them from their
enemies, and demonstrated His omnipotence, as they themselves must testify.
43:13. “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 (hinder) it?”
“... before the day was”
is another way of declaring God’s eternality; and the impossibility of
opposing Him declares his omnipotence.
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.”
The Amplified
rendering of this verse is, “For your sake I have sent one to Babylon, and I
will bring down all of them as fugitives, and all their nobles, even the
Chaldeans into the ships over which they rejoiced.”
Most historians agree that
the one whom God used to destroy Babylon was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus.
“... whose cry is in the
ships” means that the Babylonians, who had found inordinate pleasure in
their ships, would now fly in panic to those same vessels in an effort
escape the invader, and save their lives.
Revelation chapters 17 and
18 make it clear that Babylon is the great apostate religious system Roman
Catholicism headquartered in Rome, and extending her evil tentacles into
every corner of the earth.
43:15. “I am
the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.”
Here God emphasized His
special relationship with Israel. He Who had created them, as He has all
things, was absolutely holy, and their unique privilege was that He was
their King. They therefore, should also have been holy, as it is written,
“For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye
shall be holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth ... ye shall therefore be holy,
for I am holy,” Leviticus 11:44-45.
43:16. “Thus
saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty
waters;”
There is general agreement
that the reference here is not to creation, but to God’s having brought
Israel out of Egypt through the divided waters of the Red Sea.
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.”
This describes God’s
destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea after the night of the
Passover, when they followed the escaping Israelites, for whom He had
divided the sea. Those waters, rolling back in the wake of the fleeing
Israelites, engulfed the pursuing Egyptians, snuffing out their lives like
candlewicks.
43:18.
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”
Taylor’s translation of
this verse reads, “But forget all that - it is nothing compared to what I’m
going to do.” We too should realize that in this, and in every past
deliverance of Israel, God wants us to see a typological picture of what is
yet to be. Following the rapture of the Church, a believing remnant of
Israel will be brought through the terrible judgments of the Great
Tribulation, into the blessings of the Millennium.
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.”
This describes millennial
conditions on the earth, see, e.g., Isaiah 35:1, “The wilderness and the
solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and
blossom as the rose.”
43:20. “The
beast of the field shall honor 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.”
“... dragons and owls” is
better translated “jackals and ostriches,” or “wolves and ostriches.”
In that coming glorious
era the behavior of the animals will also be changed: those that are now
carnivorous will become herbivorous, and there will be fulfilled what is
written in Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
Their honoring God seems
to be related to their becoming herbivorous, so that they will no longer
kill one another, the abundance of grass for food being related to the
plentiful supply of water even in places that are now desert.
“...my people, my chosen”
will be the millennial-age believers, both Jews and gentiles.”
43:21. “This
people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
The people here are
generally understood to be the believing Jews in the Millennium; and whereas
they have for so long dishonored God by their rejection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they will in that impending age honor Him by believing in the One
their ancestors rejected and crucified.
43:22. “But
thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O
Israel.”
As noted already, Jacob
relates to the flesh; Israel, to the spirit, so that the message here is of
God’s condemnation of the people’s complete disregard of Him, for even their
outward ritual of worship was a mere formality. Nor is that of today’s
professing but unbelieving Christendom any less repugnant to Him. An
obedient life is the truest form of worship as it is written, “Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” 1
Samuel 15:22, a truth emphasized by the Lord Himself when He said, “If ye
love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15.
43:23. “Thou
hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings; neither hast
thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with
an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.”
“... small cattle” was the
general term for the smaller animals such as sheep and goats, as distinct
from the larger bulls and heifers; and while God had prescribed what animals
He would accept, He had not compelled Israel to bring any of them: they were
to offer voluntarily. The spirit of true worship is nowhere more
beautifully described than in the words of David in Psalm 51:17, “The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise.” All the sacrifices offered in the OT dispensation
were merely types of the one perfect Sacrifice that alone could put away the
believer’s sins for ever, i.e., the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, see
Hebrews 10:1-14.
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 ambiguity of the KJ
translation here is clarified by other renderings, e.g., “Thou hast not
bought for me with silver fragrant calamus, nor with the fat of thy
sacrifices hast thou sated me ... but thou hast burdened me with thy sins
... thou hast done nothing but oppress me with thy sins ... you have made me
a servant to your sins, and you have made me tired with your evil doings.”
43:25. “I,
even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and
will not remember thy sins.”
God’s paramount desire was
to provide a way whereby He, on a perfectly just basis, could pardon
Israel’s sins, and bless her; and in the OT era that method was by the
shedding of the blood of an innocent unblemished animal, its physical
perfection adumbrating the moral perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
43:26. “Put me
in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be
justified.”
God graciously invited
Israel to produce any proof that would justify her claim to righteousness,
for she in her blind complacency failed to see that the countless thousands
of animals she offered for the expiation of her sin were instead the very
evidence of her guilt.
43:27. “Thy
first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.”
Some take “thy first
father” to have been Jacob, but clearly the first father here was Adam, for
it was he, not Jacob, who brought sin into the world.
And the transgression of
the teachers was their failure to recognize that it was impossible for man’s
sin to be atoned for by the blood of mere animals. Nothing but the precious
blood of Christ can expiate men’s sins, as it is written, “Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot,” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
43:28.
“Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given
Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.”
The NEB translation of
this verse reads, “Your princes profaned my sanctuary; so I sent Jacob to
his doom, and left Israel to execration (shame, reviling).”
It is to be noted again
that relative to Jacob, who represents the flesh, he is said to have been
sent “to his doom,” i.e., he was destroyed; but Israel, who represents what
is of the Spirit suffered shame and reviling, but not destruction. This is
the typological announcement of the truth that “flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption,” 1
Corinthians 15:50.
