Creator and Redeemer

Text

Isaiah 42:10–43:1 NKJV

10 Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, You coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord, And declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. 14 “I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, And I will dry up the pools. 16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, They shall be greatly ashamed, Who trust in carved images, Who say to the molded images, ‘You are our gods.’ 18 “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see. 19 Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, And blind as the Lord’s servant? 20 Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear.” 21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. 22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!” 23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24 Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law. 25 Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, Yet he did not know; And it burned him, Yet he did not take it to heart. 1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

The idea is this - the impotence of idols. Only the Lord can redeem - so he is worthy of praise, not only in Israel, but throughout the world.

Verse 10-13 - sing a new song

A new song for a new era - salvation for the whole earth.

The conquering king. The nations were ruled by the demons; the prince of the power of the air - his weapons are guilt, shame, sin and death. This drives fear.

A new song is a song not heard before on earth

Verse 14-17

the seed of the woman crushes the head of the serpent. Jehovah defeats the enemy and redeems his people

Egypt, Babylon - the power of the devil. Idols cannot do it.

Why not?

Deafness and blindness. The power of sin is as unbreakable as deafness and blindness.

The old - here is my goodness, my laws, statutes judgments, here are leaders, teachers

But the problem is the heart.

How do you command love? How do you open a blind eye? A deaf ear?

Verses 18-20

A call to all of the deaf and blind - hear, and see!

But how? It is just as impossible for a sinner to do that which is righteous.

No amount of motivation, self-help, or shaming or threats of punishment can change a heart.

So the indictment - SEE and HEAR.

And then hope - look at Israel

Has anyone been as deaf or as blind as Israel? “At peace” complete, whole, Jerusalem! And yet, blind and deaf.

They have been charged with being a light and a testimony to the nations, and yet they are as dark as ever

It is a question of motivation

How do you motivate someone to good works?

This is the next section

Verses 21-25

God’s righteous requirements haven’t changed. His nature, what pleases him, is righteousness. Uprightness.

We are in his image, and so we reflect a bit of this, even though we are fallen.

God gave Israel the law and he made it and them honorable, blessed. The awe of the gentiles.

Deuteronomy 4:5–7 NKJV

5 “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6 Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?

But what did Israel do?

Broke every single law, fled from God, corrupted themselves continually, until finally the only thing left was judgment - divorce.

Who will listen? Why then do we always think that we can do something more that what was done for Israel?

The exile wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t because Marduk was stronger than Yahweh. It was the decree of God himself. Babylon has no strength except for what is given them by the creator. Babylon was a judgment.

And yet - even in judgment, God remembers mercy. If Israel receives mercy, how much more the gentiles!

For who is deaf and blind like my servant??

This is why the law will always bring death.

But more importantly - it is why only the Creator can redeem. And He will do it in a way that upholds his righteousness, as well as his mercy and love for his image bearers.

this is chapter 43