Sunday School Lesson
Oct. 10, 2004
CREATING A REDEEMED PEOPLE
Bible Background—ISAIAH 43
Focal Verses—ISAIAH 43:1-2,10-13,18-19
Devotional Reading—42:5-13
LESSON AIM
1. We will understand GOD’S message of hope to the captive Israelites in Assyria and Babylon
2. We will be able to explain why GOD’S covenant relationship with HIS people binds HIM to them forever and makes us HIS witnesses
3. We will determine to trust GOD as we go through the trials and challenges of life.
KEEP IN MIND
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
The people were in exile in Babylon, but GOD had not forgotten HIS people. HE promised to be with HIS people as they passed through the waters. The LORD GOD is the only SAVIOR. GOD was doing a new thing: HE was going to re-create HIS people.
By way of background, Scripture declares that all things work together for the benefit of GOD’S people (Romans 8:28). This means that sometimes even bad things happen for our benefit. So it was with the captivity of Judah. Before GOD sent HIS people into exile, HE equipped them with certain precious promises to sustain them in captivity. One of these promises concerned the Israelites’ release by a future Gentile king named Cyrus, who would allow the people to return and rebuild their land.
Isaiah first prophesied of Judah’s Babylonian captivity after King Hezekiah’s foolish act of presumption. The king had boastfully shown Babylonian emissaries all the treasures of his kingdom. GOD sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah the day would come when all of Judah’s treasures would be taken to Babylon. Isaiah also told him that some of his descendants would be carried into captivity to serve in the king’s palace (Isaiah 39:1-6). However, the cause of Judah’s downfall was not Hezekiah’s foolishness, but the nation’s sin.
After Hezekiah’s death, his son, Manasseh, became king. Manasseh led the people into the darkest time of sin and idolatry in Judah’s history, bringing GOD’S judgment on the nation (2 Chronicles 33:1-9).
Later, Isaiah prophesied that GOD would appoint a ruler from the East. This ruler would conquer nations and carry out GOD’S righteous plan of redemption. GOD would use this as yet unborn king to execute HIS wrath on Babylon and free HIS people. The LORD was going to do “a new thing” for HIS delivered people. They would receive a new time of forgiveness, restoration, and blessing (Isaiah 43:14-21).
GOD wanted HIS exiled people to do two things while in captivity: remember that they were special to HIM and that HE would never forget them (44:21), and repent—turn away from their wickedness and return to HIM. If they repented, GOD would wipe away the cloud of sin that separated HIM from HIS people (v.22).
1. PRESERVED IN GOD (Isaiah 43:1-2)
Isaiah begins this message of hope with the conjunction “but.” Many times in the Scripture, the word “but” signals a turning point. It highlights a situation that has reached a critical point and indicates that GOD is about to step in and turn things around. In this case, “but” signifies a turnaround from the last two verses of the preceding chapter: “But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become plundered, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, ‘Send them back’” (Isaiah 42:22). Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? “Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law. So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart” (vv.24-25).
Assyria had already taken the 10 tribes making up the northern nation of Israel into captivity. A similar fate would soon befall the remaining nation of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. The temple would be burned, Jerusalem destroyed, and the people taken in chains into Babylonian exile. The situation appeared hopeless; it seemed like the people of GOD would fade from the pages of history, never to be heard from again.
But then comes one of the most blessed words in Scripture: “but.” GOD had outlined the penalty for disobedience before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28:64-69). Later HE announced the consequences of Israel’s continued disobedience (Isaiah 42:24-26), but now GOD declares a message of hope in the midst of the people’s despair.
It is one thing to counsel people not to lose hope; it is something different to command people to have hope. This kind of command must be based on the power of the commander to justify their hop. To illustrate HIS POWER, GOD begins by declaring who HE is. HE IS THE LORD. HE IS THEIR CREATOR, and HE IS THE ONE WHO FORMED THEM (Isaiah 43:1a).
GOD is the loving, powerful DELIVERER who commands the people to “Fear not” (Isaiah 43:1a, 5). This command is based not only on who GOD is but also on who the Israelites are. They are GOD’S REDEEMED. HE delivered them from Egyptian bondage and personally named them (Genesis 32:27-28).
2. WITNESSES OF GOD (vv.10-13)
In verses 5-9, GOD pulls back the curtain of time and gives the people a brief glimpse into the future. HE begins HIS prophecy by once again commanding the people to “Fear not” (v.5); see also v.1). When the people of Judah were finally deported to Babylon, Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple was burned to the ground. With the holy city and their precious temple destroyed, the deported Israelites gave up all hope of ever returning to their homeland. Their GOD had turned them out because of their wickedness.
GOD summed up their feeling of hopelessness when HE proclaimed through the prophet Ezekiel: “Then he said unto me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel’: behold, they say, ’Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts’” (Ezekiel 37:11). Even though it appeared that their situation was hopeless, GOD instructed HIS people not to be afraid and not to worry because HE would bring them back and restore them to the Promised Land. GOD would call HIS people back from the world and reestablish the nation of Israel.
After prophesying their history in advance, GOD issues a challenge to the world and its false gods. HE describes these confused pagans as having eyes that are blind and ears that are deaf. Even though the evidence of the one true GOD is all around them, they do not see it, hear it, or understand it. GOD challenges the pagan nations to bring forth witnesses who could testify of the ability of their gods to declare the future and then cause it to happen. Only the true GOD, who is the beginning and end of all things, can pull off such a feat.
In proving HIS OWN CASE, GOD declares that Israel is HIS WITNESS. The Israelites can testify that GOD has never failed to bring about anything HE declared. Not only are the Israelites HIS WITNESSES, they are HIS SERVANTS. They are to serve GOD by giving HIM their complete obedience and unfettered worship. All the nations of the world would be drawn to GOD through the testimony of HIS SERVANTS. Their testimony would be based upon three premises: their knowledge of GOD’S deliverance, protection, and care for them in the past; their faith in GOD to protect and care for them in the future; and their implicit understanding that HE IS THE ONE TRUE GOD, the singular CREATOR of all that is. Before HIM, no god was created because there was no one to create it. HE alone is the SELF-EXISTENT ONE, and aside from HIM, they can depend on no one else to rescue them in times of trouble.
It is comforting for GOD’S people to know that HE is able to deliver us from any situation and make us victorious. There is no god, person, or situation that can defeat HIM or change the work of HIS HAND. Our testimony of what GOD has done in our lives makes us living witnesses of HIS POWER, LOVE, AND GOODNESS. It is our responsibility to be HIS witnesses to the unsaved world.
3. POWER OF GOD (vv.18-19)
Isaiah frequently links the Babylonian exile and the Egyptian captivity. Just as GOD released Israel from Egypt with a mighty display of HIS POWER, that same AWESOME POWER would be displayed in their release from Babylon. Just as GOD had secured the release of Israel from Egypt and led her to the Promised Land, HE would free HIS PEOPLE from Babylonian captivity and regather them in their land to reclaim their heritage.
In verse 1, GOD describes HIMSELF as Israel’s CREATOR and the ONE WHO FORMED THEM. Now, in this final passage of the chapter, GOD describes HIMSELF as “your REDEEMER, the HOLY ONE of Israel” (v.14). As Israel’s REDEEMER, GOD testifies to the closeness of their relationship. HE is their KINSMAN-HELPER. This speaks of a close relative who has the responsibility to buy back a disadvantaged relative from indentured slavery.
GOD’S HOLINESS speaks of HIS PURE and PERFECT NATURE and HIS singular right to judge what is right and pure. Because GOD is HOLY, HE cannot tolerate sin and HE must punish it. Israel’s exile into Babylon is the result of the nation’s slide into willful rebellion against GOD; this is the punishment the nation brought on herself. The people experienced the covenant curse for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-36).
However, GOD also promised to redeem HIS fallen people: “Suppose all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have listed—and you meditate on them as you are living among the nations to which the LORD your GOD has exiled you. If at that time you return to the LORD your GOD, and you and your children begin wholeheartedly to obey all the commands I have given you today, then the LORD your GOD will restore your fortunes. HE will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he ahs scattered you” (Deuteronomy 30:1-3).
For the sake of HIS ELECT, GOD will bring down Babylon and all her nobles. The LORD emphasizes that the ONE making this declaration is the same ONE who made a way for HIS PEOPLE to cross the Red Sea (v.16; see Exodus 14:21-22). The same sea was turned into an avenue of escape for the fleeing Israelites and a graveyard for the pursuing armies and chariots of Egypt.
Although looking back on GOD’S mighty works is a means of providing encouragement for the future, GOD tells the Israelites not to dwell on the past (Isaiah 43:18). This is because HE is about to do a new thing. Freedom from Babylonian exile would be different from their release from Egypt. This time, GOD would not send Moses. HE would send a foreign army. The glory of Babylon would be completely destroyed on a level comparable to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Isaiah 13:13-20).
As for Israel, not only would GOD deliver them from exile, HE would empower them to restore Jerusalem and the temple.
GOD’S chosen people never need to fear. The Bible provides a long history of GOD’S acts of deliverance for HIS PEOPLE from various trials and tribulations. Modern day believers can offer millions of personal testimonies of how GOD delivered them from situations that appeared impossible at the time. GOD is still in the delivering business, and HE stills commands HIS PEOPLE to “fear not.” HE is the same GOD yesterday, today, and forever. What HE has done for others, He will do for you.
THINK ABOUT IT!!!!
Spiritually Yours,
Rev. Chris Lowe, Sr. DD