For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

 Passage: Isaiah 43:1-3     

1 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.
2 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 Saviour;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in your stead.

A. Find Out:

1. What does the Lord remind Israel v.1b,c
2. With what command does he conclude that, and why? v.1d,e
3. What difficulties does he speak about? v.2
4. How does He reassure them over each one? v.2
5. How does He describe Himself? v.3a,b
6. How does He say He ransoms them? v.3c,d

B. Think:

1. How are thoughts of Israel’s origins to encourage them?
2. How are they reassured about passing through trials?
3. Why do you think the Lord is saying all this?

C. Comment:

The prophetic words of this part of Isaiah are a mix of words of encouragement for the Lord’s faithful ones, and words of judgement for the Lord’s enemies, those who are not faithful.

This is another of those words of encouragement passages.  The encouragement comes in two ways:  a reminder of what the Lord has done in the past with Israel, and a declaration of His abiding presence with them.

First, their history.  The Lord reminds them that they are a people because He has created them, He has brought them into being as a nation. Indeed it wasn’t that He just formed them together from one big family, but He did it through the dramatic escape from Egypt. He used His judgement on Egypt for all their pride and idolatry, as the means to ‘redeem’ Israel. They had already existed as a family in the promised land, but had then gone and settled in another land, from which they needed to be taken and reconstituted as a full nation. That the Lord had done.

Second, His presence. The fact was He had not left them, despite their disobedience. He was still there for His faithful ones and would continue to be there for them. Therefore it didn’t matter what seemed to be happening, the judgement on the nation didn’t change these truths.  He was still there for His faithful ones.

D. Application:

1. Judgement may come on the nation, but blessing on His faithful ones.
2. Remain true in the face of national apostasy.

Passage: Isaiah 43:4-7

4 Since you are precious and honoured in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
    I will bring your children from the east
    and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up!”
    and to the south, “Do not hold them back.”
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth –
7 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.’

A. Find Out:    

1. What does the Lord say about what He feels for Israel? v.4a,b
2. What does He say He will do as a result of that? v.4c,d
3. Why does Her say not to fear? v.5a
4. What does He say He will do? v.5,6
5. Who will He bring? v.7

B. Think:

1. How does relationship come into all this?
2. What hint of destiny is given in this?
3. What do you think “giving people in exchange” means?

C. Comment:

Within these verses we have the first reference to the Lord bringing His people back together again after they have been scattered throughout the earth. This will be repeated again later in Isaiah, as each of these themes are repeated again and again.

Note the extent of this restoration.  He will bring His people from the east and the west (v.5), from the north and the south (v.6) and from the ends of the earth (v.6).  This is good news and bad news.   Good in that they will be drawn back, bad in that they will first be scattered. Israel were scattered at the exile under Nebuchadnezzar, they travelled far under the Romans, but were then dispersed at the fall of Jerusalem in AD70.  They did not return until the 20th century.

Next, observe the reason for their return. It is twofold.  First, because the Lord loves them, they are chosen and precious (v.4).   Second, because the Lord’s purpose for them is for them to bring honour to His name through what happens (v.7).

Finally observe the cost of bringing them back: other lives. In the same way that God had to deal with and bring judgement on Egypt to bring Israel’s freedom, if any other nation in the future similarly holds Israel captive it will be to the cost of their lives. If it comes to a conflict and choice between nations, God will choose Israel at the cost of other nations.  THEY are His chosen ones, chosen to glorify Him, and other nations abuse them to the risk of their own lives and existence!

D. Application:

1. God’s purposes span centuries and millennia.
2. God’s purposes are fixed and planned. Be secure in them.

Passage: Isaiah 43:8-10

8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
    who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together
    and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold this
    and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
    so that others may hear and say, ‘It is true.’
10 ‘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.

A. Find Out:

1. Who are to be lead out? v.8
2. Who gather together? v.9a,b
3. What question does the Lord ask of them? v.9c,d
4. What does He challenge them to do? v.9e,f
5. What does He say Israel is? v.10a,b
6. With what aim in mind? v.10c,d

B. Think:

1. How does verse 8 link with what has gone before?
2. What is the Lord asking the world?
3. How are Israel the answer to that?

C. Comment:

From 42:18 the Lord referred to Israel as blind, not being able to see and understand what was happening.  But now the Lord challenges their blindness and deafness and says to bring them out as incapable witnesses!  (The alternative understanding of verse 8 would make the world as the blind witnesses – that could be – but we prefer it as Israel – see what follows below!)

A court scene is imagined. The Lord calls to the nations to gather together, rather as in 41:1, and invites the world to bring out witnesses to show that their way of thinking and doing things was the right way. It is almost a scene of mockery, for the Lord knows they cannot do this.

Very well says the Lord, I’ll bring out my blind witness and see what they can say. This witness, Israel, seems blind and unable to see and understand what is going on.  No matter they ARE God’s witness. He chose them and called them into being and they now have history with Him.   OK, let them simply tell what has happened to them, so that as they start telling it, they will come to realise exactly what the Lord has been doing with them, and come to realise that they are in a unique position with the One True God and they alone as a nation, have experienced Him.

That’s what this is all about – Israel realising their destiny and privilege and their blindness being removed so that they can be restored and can rejoice in the wonder of what God has done with them.

D. Application:

1. Each one of us who is a Christian has a story to tell. We are God’s witnesses.
2. The amazing thing is that we have encountered The Living God!

Passage: Isaiah 43:11-13 

11 I, even I, am the Lord,
    and apart from me there is no saviour.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed –
    I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I am God.
13     Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
    When I act, who can reverse it?’

A. Find Out:

1. How does the Lord refer to Himself again? v.11a
2. What alone is He? v.11b
3. What 3 things has He done? v.12a
4. What are Israel to testify to? v.12c
5. What can no one do? v.13b
6. So what final question does He ask? v.13c

B. Think:

1. What, in this passage, does the Lord say He does?
2. What does He declare about the nature of His acts?
3. Why do you think He is saying this to Israel?

C. Comment:

Again and again in these chapters we find the Lord saying, “I am the I AM”, for that you will remember is what the name printed LORD in capital letters in your Bible means. He keeps saying it: 42:8, 43:3, 43:11, 43:15, 44:24, 45:3, 45:5,6,18, 48:17, 51:15. The message of God is revelation about Himself, the eternal always-present One. His message of restoration or of judgement is always tied up with what He is. He says what He says and does what He does because of who He is.

He is the One who exists in eternity yet who has also stepped into time again and again and brought salvation for His chosen ones. He has revealed Himself and His purposes to them, He has saved and delivered them out of slavery into freedom and life, and He has proclaimed the Law, His truth of how He has made people to live in peace and harmony.

He has always been this (‘from ancient days’) and He doesn’t change. What He wants to do, He does and when He starts something, no one can stop Him.

And Israel’s role? To testify to Him, to tell the world that there is one true God and that He is the eternal One who has come to Abraham, Isaac and Israel.  They, the people of God, have a message to tell, a message of their encounters with the LORD.

D. Application:

1. God is All-mighty, everlasting, unchanging. Worship Him.
2. He has come down to deliver and bring salvation. Praise Him.

Passage: Isaiah 43:14-17 

14 This is what the Lord says –
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
‘For your sake I will send to Babylon
    and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,
    in the ships in which they took pride.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator, your King.’ 16 This is what the Lord says –
    he who made a way through the sea,
    a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
    the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

A. Find Out:

1. How does the Lord describe Himself first of all? v.14a,b
2. How again does He later describe Himself? v.15
3. Who does He say He will deal with? v.14c
4. What will He do with them? v.14d,e
5. Of what does He remind them? v.16
6. What did He do with those people? v.17

B. Think:

1. What past event does the Lord refer to?
2. What future activity does He describe?
3. Why are they mentioned together in this passage?

C. Comment:

In verse 13 the Lord had declared that He was all powerful. That was a run up to His revelation that He would, in the days to come, deal with the powerful Babylonian people and bring them to nothing. In the historical section prior to these prophecies that started in chapter 40, the Lord had warned Hezekiah that everything he had would be carried off to Babylon (39:5-7). If these words had been spoken in the closing years of Hezekiah’s reign, then it would have been almost exactly a hundred years on that Jerusalem would have been destroyed by the Babylonians. The Lord has all this in mind. He will deal with them.

There is, therefore, possibly a twofold significance to the Lord referring back to the Exodus from Egypt.  He reminds them that He is the all-powerful God who can destroy entire armies. He destroyed Pharaoh’s entire army and He will deal with the entire Babylon army. It doesn’t matter how powerful they look; He will deal with them. The second aspect of the comparison was the fact that from Egypt He rescued them, and similarly in the years to come, He will rescue them from Babylon and return them to their own land.

Look at the descriptions of God given here: He is the eternal God, Israel’s rescuer (redeemer), their creator.  This God can do anything,  so no nation can stand before Him. This all WILL be!

D. Application:

1. God is all-powerful worship Him.
2. He redeems His chosen ones. Praise Him.

Passage: Isaiah 43:18-21

18 ‘Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honour me,
    the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21     the people I formed for myself
    that they may proclaim my praise.

A. Find Out:

1. What were they told to do and not to do? v.18
2. Why? v.19a,b
3. What was the Lord making, where? v. 19c,d
4. Who honoured the Lord? v.20a,b
5. Why? v.20c,
6. With what result? v.20d,21

B. Think:

1. How does verse 18 continue on from the previous two verses?
2. What was the “new thing” that the Lord was going to do?
3. What is the spiritual application, do you think, of this?

C. Comment:

The Lord has recently said that He will deal with Babylon in the same way that He dealt with Egypt. However, He says, don’t look back to the Exodus and all that followed in your expectancy of what is coming, because I am going to do something far bigger, something quite different in the days to come.

We always need to interpret prophecy in two ways: first what did it mean for the people at that point of time?  Second, what wider application did the Lord have in mind?

At that time, the immediate application was in respect of Babylon. The way in the desert was a way back to the promised land. The streams are the Lord’s promise of provision, everything His people will need to bring about complete restoration in the land.

But there is a far bigger feel to this, seen in the light of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. In chapter 40 the first call was to prepare the way of the Lord – coming from a voice in the desert.  In the desert came John the Baptist,  to a people who were spiritually in a desert.  And there as they were being baptised came their Messiah, and with him came the Holy Spirit, bringing streams of living water into the desert. In such ways are people (mankind) transformed, as they meet the Messiah and receive his living water.

D. Application:

1. Jesus came to bring life to people living desert existences.
2. The Holy Spirit brings the living water that transforms. Hallelujah!

Passage: Isaiah 43:22-24

22 ‘Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,
    you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,
    nor honoured me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with grain offerings
    nor wearied you with demands for incense.
24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me,
    or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied me with your offences.

A. Find Out:

1. What has Israel not done? v.22
2. What also had they not done? v.23a.b
3. What had the Lord not asked of them? v.23c,d
4. What further had they not done? v.24a,b
5. Yet what had they done? v.24c,d

B. Think:

1. What had Israel not been doing?
2. What instead had they been doing?
3. How does this follow on from verse 21?

C. Comment:

The Lord has just been saying that He had been preparing a way back for His people, a people He had formed and who were supposed to proclaim the praise of the Lord.

Now the Lord contrasts this and tells us what they had been doing instead. First of all, He might have expected them in their spiritually dry circumstances to call on the Lord, to really put themselves out to seek Him to bring change.  But no, that hadn’t happened.

Second, He might have expected that in their relationship with the Lord, they might have brought Him sacrifices as a physical expression of their love for Him.  But this hadn’t happened.

The Lord hadn’t demanded close fellowship from them (grain offering and incense were used to show particular affection and desire for closeness to the Lord) and notes that they actually hadn’t come bringing precious things, symbols of their love (calamus and fat).

No, quite to the contrary, instead of bringing blessings to the Lord, they had (actually) brought their sins before Him. Here was the Lord starting to bring blessing upon His people, and all most of them can do is wallow in their sins. In all of this the Lord holds them accountable.   He’s not just going to shrug it off and bring blessing.  Sin HAS to be dealt with!  We need to realise this, that in all the talk of God bringing restoration, sin is not ignored, but dealt with.

D. Application:

1. Sin is important to the Lord. is it so to us?
2. Sin breaks fellowship with the Lord. Beware.

Passage: Isaiah 43:25-28

25 ‘I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.
26 Review the past for me,
    let us argue the matter together;
    state the case for your innocence.
27 Your first father sinned;
    those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.
28 So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple;
    I consigned Jacob to destruction
    and Israel to scorn.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Lord say He was doing? v.25
2. Why? v.25
3. What did He challenge them to do? v.26
4. Who had done what against Him? v.27
5. So what did He say He would do? v.28

B. Think:

1. What is the Lord’s first intent?
2. What is the point of calling for a defence?
3. What is the awful conclusion?

C. Comment:

We find ourselves with a passage that seems almost contradictory. It starts with the Lord saying He blots out Israel’s sins and ends with Him judging Israel for those sins. How can this be? Let’s look closer.

What is the wider context? The Lord has been speaking about his Servant bringing in a new covenant (42:6-9) and He said He was bringing a new restoration (43:19).  Now He declares Himself as the God who blots out transgressions and so completely forgets them. This is part of that restoring work, it is part of the new covenant, it is part of our salvation today.  But what always precedes the good news?  Bad news!  The bad news is that we are sinners who deserve destruction, and indeed our old lives are destroyed when we are born again.

The Lord confronts Israel as a nation and invites them to declare their innocence.  He knows they cannot do that for sin has been in evidence right from the outset, whether you see their father as Adam, Abraham or Jacob. So, says the Lord, I will bring judgement on you with destruction.  At this point we think destruction must mean a complete end to Israel.  That’s what Israel thought when Nebuchadnezzar took them into exile, but the God with whom we deal is a God of resurrection. Yes judgement will come, but when you read on into the next chapter you see a promise of blessing for their descendants!

D. Application:

1. God does judge sin. God does destroy the old sinner.
2. God brings new resurrection life to you and me today. Praise Him!