The Book of Isaiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

After the blindness and judgment of chapter 42, God says "But now", grace breaks in. He speaks as Creator and Redeemer: "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." Then comes the promise of His presence in every trouble: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee... when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned." Notice He does not say the waters and fire will not come, but that He will be with His people in them, and they will not be overwhelmed. The reason is who He is: "I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." He values His people beyond price, "since thou wast precious in my sight... I have loved thee", and He will gather them from every direction, "from the east... from the west... from the north... from the south... my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth." Everyone "called by my name" was "created... for my glory." Redeemed, named, loved, gathered, and made for God's glory, this is who His people are.

Gospel Focus

These verses have carried more of God's people through fire and flood than almost any others. "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." Here is the gospel's double gift: redemption (the price paid to buy us back, fulfilled when Christ redeemed us "with his own blood," Acts 20:28) and belonging ("thou art mine"). We are not our own; we are "bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20), and we belong to Him. And see the shape of His promise in verse 2. He does not promise a life without deep waters or hot fire; He promises His presence in them, "I will be with thee." The three Hebrews learned this literally in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, where a fourth walked with them and not a hair was singed (Daniel 3:25-27). Whatever flood is rising over you or fire closing around you, the promise is not that you will be spared the trial but that you will not be overwhelmed or consumed, because He is with you. And the One who says "thou art mine" is the same God who came to us in Jesus, the Saviour who calls His sheep by name (John 10:3). You are redeemed, named, precious, and loved. Fear not; you are His.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God resumes the courtroom scene. He summons the nations to bring their gods and their witnesses to prove any rival claim: "who among them can declare this, and shew us former things?" None can. Then He turns to His own people: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen." Their whole history, redemption from Egypt, provision, prophecy fulfilled, is testimony that He alone is God. And He states it in the most absolute terms in all of Scripture: "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." There was no God before Him and will be none after; there is no other Saviour at all. He alone "declared, and have saved, and I have shewed." He is eternal, "before the day was I am he," and sovereign, "there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?" No one can reverse what this God does.

Gospel Focus

This passage is the bedrock of Apostolic, Oneness faith: there is one God. "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." God could not have said it more plainly, there is one God, and one Saviour, and they are the same LORD. Now hear the gospel: the New Testament calls Jesus "our Saviour" again and again, and declares, "neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). If "beside me there is no saviour," and Jesus is the Saviour, then Jesus is not a second God beside the Father; He is the one LORD Himself, come to us in flesh. This is why Jesus repeatedly says "I am he" in John's Gospel, taking the very words of Isaiah 43 onto His own lips (John 8:24, 58). To confess Jesus as Saviour is to confess Him as the one God our Saviour. And notice the beautiful calling in this passage: "Ye are my witnesses." God's people are His evidence in the world, living testimony that He alone is God and Saviour. Jesus repeated this word to the church, "ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8). Your redeemed life is meant to be a witness that there is one God, one Saviour, and no other name.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God speaks again as "your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," and reminds them of His power over Babylon and His past mighty act, the Red Sea: He "maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters," drowning Pharaoh's "chariot and horse," who "are extinct... quenched as tow." But then He says something surprising: "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old." As glorious as the exodus was, it is not to hold their gaze, because "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth." He will make "a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert," providing for His people so lavishly that even "the beast of the field shall honour me." All of it is "to give drink to my people, my chosen," and for one great purpose: "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." God's redemption always aims at worship; He forms a people to declare His praise.

Gospel Focus

"Behold, I will do a new thing." God is never confined to His past acts, however great. The generation that loved to rehearse the Red Sea is told not to let even that hold them, because God is about to do something new. This is the pattern that runs to its climax in the gospel: the "new thing" points beyond the return from Babylon to the new covenant in Christ's blood (Luke 22:20), the "new creature" He makes of every believer (2 Corinthians 5:17), and finally the "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). Our God specializes in making a way where there is no way, "a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." When you are in a trackless place with no path forward and no water in sight, this is your God, He opens roads through wildernesses and pours rivers into deserts. And notice why: "to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." You were made for worship. The rivers He gives in your wilderness are meant to overflow in praise. Do not merely remember the old mercies; watch for the new thing God is doing, drink from the rivers He provides, and show forth the praise of the One who formed you for Himself.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God turns to expose the sad truth of His people's hearts. For all their religion, "thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel." They had grown tired of God. Their offerings, where they made them, were empty, and worse, "thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." God, who never wearied them with heavy demands, was Himself wearied by their sin. And then, at this lowest point of the indictment, comes the highest word of grace in the chapter: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Against a people who wearied Him with iniquity, God announces free, complete forgiveness, not earned, not deserved, but given "for mine own sake." He invites them to reason it out with Him, "Put me in remembrance: let us plead together," and honestly names the long history of sin, "Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed." Yet the shining center stands: the God they wearied is the God who wipes their sins away.

Gospel Focus

Verse 25 is one of the brightest gospel verses in the Old Testament: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Notice three things. First, who forgives: "I, even I", God Himself, personally, is the One who wipes away sin; forgiveness is His own act, not something we achieve. Second, how completely: He "blotteth out" the record and "will not remember thy sins", the same promise of the new covenant, "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). Third, and most astonishing, why: "for mine own sake." He forgives not because we have earned it, we had just "wearied" Him with our sins, but for His own name and mercy and glory. This is the ground of all our assurance. If God forgave us for our sake, our forgiveness would be as unstable as we are; but because He forgives "for mine own sake," it rests on His unchanging character, and it cannot fail. This is what Christ accomplished at the cross, "blotting out the handwriting... nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:14). Your sins have wearied God, and He knows it, yet He says, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions." Come to Him, plead His own promise, and rest in a forgiveness that stands on His name, not yours.