Isaiah 43:1 - Meaning and Application

This chapter connects clearly with the end of the previous one, but in a surprising way. There it was said that Jacob and Israel would not walk in God’s ways, and that when he corrected them, they stayed stubborn and did not take it to heart. You would expect God to give them up completely, but the next words are, “But now, fear not, O Jacob! O Israel! I have redeemed you, and you are mine.” Even though many among them were stubborn and beyond correction, God would still keep loving and caring for his people, and the nation as a whole would remain under his mercy.

God’s goodness shines all the more brightly because of human sin. Where sin increased, grace increased even more (Romans 5:20), and mercy triumphs over judgment because it wins out in the end (James 2:13). It is like the sun breaking suddenly through a dark cloud. The light is brighter, and the surprise is sweet. These words of God’s favor are very high and full of comfort for all the true children of upright Jacob and praying Israel, because this gospel message was preached to us as well as to those captives in Babylon (Hebrews 4:2).

We see here, first, the reasons God cares for his people and for the life of his church and kingdom among people. Jacob and Israel, though sinful and miserable, will still be watched over. They are God’s workmanship, created by him for good works (Ephesians 2:10). He formed them. He did not just give them life, he shaped them into a people, set up their government, and joined them together under the covenant promise. In the same way, the new life in believers is God’s own work, and he will not abandon what his hands have made.

They are also the people he bought for himself. He redeemed them. He first redeemed them from Egypt, and from many other forms of bondage, in his love and pity (Isaiah 63:9). How much more will he care for those redeemed by the blood of his Son! They are also his special people, set apart from others and claimed for himself. He calls them by name, showing that he has a deep closeness and concern for them, and they belong to him in a special way.

He is also their covenant God in promise and relationship (Isaiah 43:3). “I am the Lord your God,” he says, the Holy One of Israel, the God of Israel. The true God is holy, and holiness fits his house. On all these grounds he can rightly say, “Fear not” (Isaiah 43:1), and again, “Fear not” (Isaiah 43:5). Those who have God on their side do not need to fear who or what can stand against them.

Second, we see the earlier signs of this care. God has paid dearly for them. “I gave Egypt for your ransom.” Egypt was laid waste by one plague after another. Their firstborn were killed, and their warriors drowned, all to make room for Israel’s rescue. Egypt was sacrificed rather than Israel remain in slavery when the time for release had come. The Ethiopians had invaded Israel in Asa’s day, but they too would be destroyed rather than Israel be disturbed. If it was such a great thing to give Egypt for their ransom, how much more should we admire God’s love to us in giving his own Son as our ransom (1 John 4:10)! What are Ethiopia and Seba, with all their lives and riches, compared with the blood of Christ?

He valued them accordingly, and they were very dear to him (Isaiah 43:4). “Since you are precious in my sight, you are honored.” True believers are precious in God’s sight. They are his jewels and his special treasure (Exodus 19:5). He loves them, and he takes delight in them above any other people. His church is his vineyard. This is what truly makes God’s people honorable and gives their name weight, because what people really are is what they are in God’s eye. When Providence turned Sennacherib’s forces away from Israel and sent them against Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba instead, God was showing how precious his people were in his sight. That is how some understand it.

Third, God promises further signs of his care and kindness. He will be with them in their hardest troubles and dangers (Isaiah 43:2). “When you pass through the waters and the rivers, through the fire and the flame, I will be with you, and that will be your safety.” When danger seems close and strong, he will deliver them from it. If they passed through deep water on their journey, they would not drown in it. “The rivers will not overflow you.” If persecutors threw them into a fiery furnace because they stayed faithful to their God, the flame would not burn them. That was fulfilled in a remarkable way in the rescue of the three children in Daniel 3. Though they passed through fire and water, which would feel like the valley of the shadow of death, they did not need to fear evil while God was with them. They would be carried through and brought out into a rich place (Psalm 66:12).

He would also, when needed, make the interests of all people yield to the welfare of his own people. “I will give men for you, and peoples for your life.” Great men, mighty men, men of war, and whole peoples would be given up for them. Nations would be sacrificed for their good. Everything in the world would be ordered in a way that best served the good of the church (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Those of them scattered among other nations would also be gathered together and share in the blessings of the whole people (Isaiah 43:5-7). Some of Israel’s descendants had been spread in every direction, east, west, north, and south, or across the lands of Babylon. But those whose hearts God moved to go up to Jerusalem would be brought in from every place. Divine grace would reach even those farthest away and most separated from one another. When the time came, nothing would stop them from coming together again as one body, answering the prayer, “Gather us from among the nations” (Psalm 106:47), and fulfilling the promise, “If any of yours are driven to the farthest parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you” (Deuteronomy 30:4). That promise was later used on behalf of the children of the captivity (Nehemiah 1:9).

But who are these seed of Israel that will be gathered so carefully? God says they are the ones marked for mercy. They are called by his name, meaning they openly profess religion and are set apart from the rest of the world by their covenant relation to God and their name from him. They are also created for his glory. The spirit of Israelites is formed in them, and they are shaped according to God’s will, and these are the ones who will be gathered in.

Only those are fit to be called by God’s name who have been created by his grace for his glory. Those whom God has created and called will be gathered to Christ now as their head, and later to heaven as their home. He will gather his chosen people from the four winds.

This promise points to the gathering in of scattered Gentiles and strangers through the gospel of Christ. He died to gather together the children of God who were scattered abroad. The promise was also for all who were far away, as many as the Lord our God will call and create. God is with his church, so let her not be afraid. None who belong to her will be lost.