Tattooed - Isaiah 44:1-5

Tattooed!

One of the oldest practices that transcends cultures is the art of tattoos. About 7 years ago, researchers in Egypt discovered tattoos on two mummies that were about 5000 years old. What made these tattoos unique is that unlike other ancient tattoos that have been discovered on bodies, these tattoos were decorative. One tattoo was a bull; another one was a sheep. Another was an S-shaped design. All of this suggests that humans have a history of permanently marking up their bodies with stories and identifiers.

Tattoos have a variety of functions. Every tattoo is a story. Every tattoo is connected in some fashion to the self-identity of the individual wearing the tattoo.

A couple of years ago, law enforcement in Michigan chased a murder suspect to the Chicago area. They were pretty sure the guy was their suspect and even engaged him in conversations. But the person they were talking to at different points gave them various names. But it didn’t take long for the US Marshals to figure out they had their guy. The murder suspect apparently has his real last name tattooed on his arm, so it wasn’t all that hard for the authorities to call his bluff and make the arrest.

Tattooed with his name. Before we go any further, Americans have always had an ambivalent relationship with tattoos. Some of it has to do with a bad Bible reading. Among the prohibitions for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is the prohibition of tattoos. But just like pork and just like mixing fabrics together in clothing, what was once prohibited is now the freedom of life in Christ. Just so you know.

The idea behind the tattoo has everything to do with our passage this morning. How do people know you’re a Christian? A Jesus person? How does God know you’re one of his? No matter what you think of tattoos, today’s text has everything to do with the idea. If you’re Israel living in a land that isn’t yours, you certainly have to wonder. What’s the mark of being a Jew in a land that is hundreds of miles from home, a different culture, a different language. What makes us different? And to make things worse, Babylon expected the Jews to take Babylonian names. How would you like it if at this point in your life, you were forced to take a new name? Where is your identity then? Is your identity so bound to your name, would you have an identity crisis? Would you know who you are?

Ever heard of Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah? Probably not. What if I asked you… have you ever heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Yeah. We’ve heard of those guys. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were the Babylonian names given to Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah. That was Babylonian culture. And in the Babylonian culture, the name changes were all part of the religious culture, driven by a different set of gods with different sets of values.

The Identity Crisis

If you’re living in that culture, where will you find your identity? Last week, we looked at the previous chapter and we noted that the first thing we must hear in an identity crisis is that we are loved. But there’s also another thought in chapter 43 that is now unpacked in chapter 44… you’re loved, you’re mine, and you have my name. In fact, this first section of chapter 44 has just about everything that the first section of chapter 43 has. But about this name he says one more thing here in chapter 44 that is meant to impact the trajectory of their lives in Babylon.

Before we get there, here’s what God is again telling his people as they live in a land that is not their own, hundreds of miles from anything they consider to be normal.

You’ve been chosen

The first thing we need to see here is that God continues to remind them of their place in history, especially as the people who walked through the Red Sea when He himself rescued them from Egypt.

Isaiah 44:1 And now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen.

First, he reminds them that they have been chosen. We’re not going to get into what he means when he calls them his servant; we’ll save that for later in the series… this entire section of texts falls in the area of Isaiah where there are a series of songs for the exiles living in Babylon and these songs concern themselves with a servant, a suffering servant. The identification of this servant as the nation of Israel versus a coming messiah figure we know as Jesus is an argument between the Jewish and Christian religions that dates back millennia. But we will come back to this.

But we need to see this: they have been chosen. We now have a hit TV show based on this thought that God has chosen for himself a people.

This idea that Israel has been chosen goes all the way back to the person of Abraham who was chosen from all the families of the Ancient Near East and given a homeland. That idea was reinforced the night that Israel was rescued from Egypt in the middle of the night to walk through the Red Sea on their way to freedom. And over and over again in the Old Testament, God tells them that he chose them from all the nations, not because of anything special about them. The Red Sea event was an act of grace.

I made you

And that leads to the second thing he reminds them about:

Isaiah 44:2 “This is the word of the Lord your Maker, the one who formed you from the womb: He will help you. Do not fear, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.”

Again, God is reminding them that He made them. The Red Sea event is God’s grand act of creating a nation out of the people he rescued. These words are creation words… words that go all the way back to Adam. I formed you. I made you. That night they were rescued from Egypt was their birth event. A new nation was born through no act of their own. God did it all. He created Israel. That speaks to their identity. You’re mine. I made you. You’re mine. I made you. I gave you breath, I gave you life.

Don’t be afraid

And again, God says “fear not”. Don’t be afraid. That may be one of the most used phrases in all of the Bible. What does a people who find themselves in a culture that isn’t their own among a people they aren’t like and a language they don’t speak need to hear? They need to hear that they still belong to God and they need to hear the words “don’t be afraid”. No matter where you see that phrase in the Bible, always look for what’s next. Because it’s almost always followed by promise. By reassurance. This is meant to bring peace and calm.

I Promise

This text is no different. Again, the rat-a-tat of promises here is breath-taking, as if they aren’t to miss this. If there’s anything else here, Isaiah is saying, don’t miss this:

I will pour water

I will pour out my Spirit

They will sprout

One will say

Another will use

Another will write

Another will take on

No matter where they find themselves, they are to remember God’s promises. He’s saying here that things are not always going to be this way. Their homeland is in ruins. They are in a country far, far away… they are at risk of losing their identity. It’s not always going to be like this. There’s coming a day when you will flourish. There’s coming a day when you yourselves will be a people of bounty and blessing beyond measure. And it all centers on the Promise of His Spirit, and wherever the spirit goes there is growth, there is flourishing unlike anything you’ve ever seen. I promise. 7 promise statements, but really one promise… someday I am going to make everything right again. Don’t be afraid. You’re still mine. You still have my promises.

You will have my name

But among the promises sits this one, that again, runs to the heart of identity.

Isaiah 44:5 “This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; another will use the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and take on the name of Israel.”

4 of the promises statements are in this verse. And again, there’s a reminder that God has made them his own, only this time, instead of God saying “you’re mine”, it’s flipped. On the lips of people who have been rescued and have been blessed by the pouring out of the Spirit is the same thought: “I am the Lord’s”. Not only has God made them His own, His own people identify themselves as such, “I am the Lord’s”, “He’s mine.” Isaiah is echoing the statement of the Bride in Solomon’s song: I am my beloved’s, and He is mine.

My name will be written on you

But here it is taken on step further:

Isaiah 44:5 Still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

It’s not enough to just say, I am the Lord’s. There will be a mark. There will be a tattoo. The body itself will bear the mark of ownership. This isn’t the only place this shows up among the promises of a New Day that is coming in the future. Bearing God’s name as a mark on the body occurs more than once. In fact, throughout the Old Testament is this running theme of being marked on the body as an identity of God’s ownership. God has always been telling His story on creatures bodies. In the book of Genesis, the Lord marks Cain after Cain murdered Abel. And again, after Abraham is chosen for a new land, God gives Abraham and his offspring the covenant mark of circumcision. And hundreds of years later at Mount Sinai, as a new nation is formed, God gives Israel instructions to tie God’s words on their hands and binding them on their foreheads.

And another of the prophets of Israel, Ezekiel, talks about the coming day when God will use a writing kit to put his mark on the foreheads of the faithful. I know in our pop evangelicalism there’s just incessant talk about the mark of the beast, and what is that? And we have movies with people who have a permanent stamp on their foreheads with 666. Again, it’s almost all a bunch of silliness… none of that was meant to be taken literally. But what I find fascinating is that all this talk of the mark of the beast completely ignores the point that time and again God says those who are his are going to have their foreheads or their bodies stamped or tattooed with his name. Again, not meant to be literal.

Tattooed with Jesus’ name

But this text is telling us precisely this. There is coming a day for these Israelites in which they are going to have a permanent identifier as belonging to the Lord. Tattooed on the hands. Hands and feet make us creatures… identified with the earth, but made in God’s image.

Every single one of us has been tattooed with Jesus name. Yes, our bodies have been stamped with His name. They are words that just flow out of us and we don’t give it a second thought because they are so familiar. But we have to force ourselves to stop and listen

Matthew 28:19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Our baptism is our tattoo. When we say “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” in baptism, it’s not like we’re waving a magician’s wand and now you’re identified as a Christian. Baptism is an identifier. But it’s more than that. Baptism is the creation of the identity. Baptism gives you the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why do we say “remember your Baptism?” Because this is where Jesus says “you’re mine”. This is where you’ve been tattooed with God’s name. This is where you’ve been given your identity as his… a permanent mark of being created and formed by God. Just like Israel that night through the Red Sea.

This is why the event of Christ’s baptism is so important. Matthew, the biographer of Jesus, writes this:

Matthew 3:17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

What happened to Jesus at his baptism is what happens to you in your baptism… you are a beloved son or daughter of the Father. And he is pleased with you. That is God’s declaration about you in your baptism. You have been tattooed as a Son or Daughter of the king in your baptism. That is your mark on the hand, your mark on the forehead, your mark on the body. In baptism, Jesus says “you’re mine. I’m stamping you with my name”.

Jesus was “tattooed” FOR YOU

But there’s also this. Remember how we started off this chapter 44 talking about this servant, Jacob? That’s a tipoff that what follows and all of these promises aren’t simply aimed at God’s people, but at His servant… God is looking past Israel and He’s looking at Someone else. There is coming a New Day for this Servant, a day that is all about the pouring out of the Spirit and a pouring out of God’s eternal blessings on His people. And oh, by the way, a Day is coming when the Servant will be marked and tattooed.

Hundreds of years later in a gathering space in Jerusalem the Servant is going to stand in front of one of His best friends and he’s going to say:

John 20:27 “Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”

Thomas… look at these marks. These marks are meant to secure your faith in me.

You see, Isaiah says of this very same servant in Isaiah 53, the most awesome story ever told on human skin. “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form marred beyond human likeness. . . . Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. . . . We all, like sheep, have gone astray. And the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 52:14; 53:3, 6). And then these words from the Suffering Servant: “I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I did not hide My face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:60).

One spear, three nails, and a crown of thorns left their marks on Jesus. Thomas, put your hand there. And these marks are permanent. Jesus is forever identified in eternity as The Lamb, the One who bears the marks of our redemption. Tattooed by nails and a spear and a crown of thorns, FOR YOU and FOR ME.

What is it that identifies you as a Christian and sets you apart? It’s Jesus’ marks for you. His death for you. It’s the name given to you in your baptism. Our culture is constantly trying to make us in its image. In fact, our society and our culture is always looking to give us its name. Some of the most stunning data in the last few years has to do with the way American Christians self-identify. The stats tell us that we more readily identify ourselves as conservative or liberal, more than we do as Christians. We’ve tied our identities to conservative or liberal worldviews… politics, more than religion, define us. And then you get beyond the politics… we self-identify with our bank accounts, the friends we keep, the stuff we buy… even gender and sexuality offer themselves as identifying markers. All of this is the enemy attempting to re-stamp us with an identity other than Jesus. You want to talk about the mark of the beast? The mark of the beast is politics, consumerism, relationships, behavior, sexuality… anything offering itself as an alternative worldview and identity to Jesus.

So we come back to Isaiah 44… Jesus is reminding us once again, You have my name. I created You. You are mine. You have my mark, you’ve been tattooed with Me. I’m your identity. I’ve given you my identity as your own. This is WHO YOU ARE. Forever tattooed on your skin through your baptism.

Let’s pray.

The Table

Remember your baptism. That’s this Table every single week. This is where we are marked all over again. Jesus’ body and Jesus’ blood making us His own, telling us that we are loved by Jesus again and again and again. Right here. This Table is your identity. You forget who you are? Show up here. Receive from Jesus your marks. Easier said than done, but the identity crisis is always resolved right here at this Table.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.