Isaiah 43:1

The Bible says in Isaiah 43:1-4, “But now thus 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. 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. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” These verses are full of wonderful verses of what God will do for the people that He loves and for the people that He has chosen. First we are reminded that God is our Creator. As it says in Psalms 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” We have been created for a purpose. We are here for a reason. God has a plan for us.

In Isaiah 43:1 we are given a command: “Fear thou not.” And then we are given the reasons why we should not fear. God said that we should not fear because He has “redeemed” us. To redeem means to purchase: to pay a price for. Jesus paid a price so that many could believe and become the sheep of His pasture. The price that Jesus paid for us was His own blood shed on the cross of Calvary. We who believe now belong to Him, and He is going to take care of us to the accomplishing of His plan for each of us. We also should not fear because God said, “I have called thee by thy name.” In other words we have a close and personal relationship with Him. That close relationship means that He is always with us. He will guide us, He will strengthen us, He will help us, and He will protect us. It is no wonder that He tells us to “fear thou not.”

In Isaiah 43:2 God gives us a couple of examples of how He will protect us. His promise is: “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.” Of course, He is not talking about literal water and literal fire. But He is talking about the great trials of life that can come upon any of us at any time. Notice that He does not say that we will not have the trials, but only that He will get us through them. When a trial does come, it is important to get through it God’s way, knowing that God does have a way through it. God provides a way even when there is no way from a human standpoint. It is important to notice the reasons given that believers will get through the fiery trials of life and the burdens that otherwise would totally overflow us and overwhelm us. God says in Isaiah 43:2, “I will be with thee.” Jesus’ presence with the believer is the reason that we shall overcome whatever life brings our way. The presence of Christ is exactly what protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo when they were cast into a literal fiery furnace. It says in Daniel 3:23-25, “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Also, the Apostle Paul wrote in Second Timothy 3:10-11, “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”

One other truth that God makes clear to the believer and that He gives as a reason that we will be delivered from the trials of life: Jesus has a special love for the believers that goes far beyond the love that He has for the other people of the world. Of course, the Lord has a great love for all the people of the world which He demonstrated by giving His life for everyone on the cross of Calvary. Knowing how great that love is, we can marvel at the great love that He has for the believers. It says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Lord says in Isaiah 43:14, “Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.” We will never be able to totally measure the vastness of God’s love for His children. The Bible says in Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He loves everyone in the world, but He especially loves His believers. He loves us so much that He will even sacrifice others for our sakes. That is exactly what He says in Isaiah 43:4, “therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” Believers are “precious” in God’s sight. How much He loves us because of Jesus. We are so fortunate. We are blessed above all other people of the earth.

The Bible says in Isaiah 43:5-7, “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 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; 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.” Once again the Lord commands us to “Fear not,” and once again He promises us that He is “with” us. And then in Isaiah 43:6 God makes an additional promise that is very important. God speaks of the gathering together of all believers. We certainly do get separated in this life. The Israelites got scattered because of the nations of Assyria and Babylon who came to conquer them. The believers in our age are separated for many reasons. They are separated because of their own carnality and their inability to follow Jesus’ command to love one another. They are also separated because of being scattered throughout the world in the midst of a wicked and unbelieving generation. But it is a common theme in the Bible for God to promise that all believers will be gathered together to live in a wonderful harmony forever with the Lord. But no matter what happens to separate us, to destroy us, or to limit us; God has a plan for all of the believers. We have just read the promise as it is given in Isaiah chapter 42. Jesus said in John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” The Bible says in Second Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 43:8-15, “Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 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. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 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. 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 it? 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. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.”

The passage of scripture in Isaiah 43:8-15 tells us about three truths. It tells some characteristics of the believers. It tells us some characteristics of God. And it tells us some of the deeds that God will do for the believers. The believers are those who understand the truth about God and about Jesus Christ. Of course, they did not always know. According to Isaiah 43:8 believers were once “blind” and “deaf.” But now believers “see” and “hear” the truth about God. Once a person becomes a believer by having his or her blind eyes receive sight, and once the ears have been opened to hear and perceive the truth about Christ, that means that the believer is now a “witness.” A witness tells the truth. A believer tells the truth about what has been revealed to him or her concerning God and the Savior Jesus Christ. Someone might ask the question, “How can I be a witness for Jesus Christ?” Here is the answer: just tell the truth. That is all. Just tell the truth about Jesus.

In the passage in Isaiah 43:8-15 God calls believers “witnesses,” and He calls Himself: “the Lord,” “Savior,” “redeemer,” “the Holy One,” “the Creator,” and “the King.” God is Almighty, and therefore He can do anything. He is the ever-existing One and therefore, He can give eternal life to whomever He will. God is the Savior, who saves from sin and who can save us from any trouble. He is the redeemer: He has bought us and paid for us with His precious blood on the cross of Calvary. He is the Holy One, and we are unholy: all of our holiness comes from Him and from His grace. Jesus is the Creator: He made us and we are not our own. Jesus is the King: He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, we should recognize Him as king and we should rest confidently in His authority over all principality and power.

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