Untitled Sermon (6)
The Lord Will Make a Way
43:16 a way in the sea Allusions to the exodus from Egypt inspire Israel to remember how Yahweh formerly accomplished their salvation with great power, especially as evidenced by the crossing of the Red Sea (see Exod 14:21–31).
43:18 You must not remember the former things After evoking strong memories of the exodus event in Isa 43:16–17, God instructs the exiles to stop dwelling on the past. The “former things” previously seemed to refer to the judgment against Israel predicted earlier in Isaiah, so the instruction may have two parts: stop dwelling on your punishment (exile) and don’t yearn for the former days of Israel’s power. Rather, attention should now be focused on God and His miraculous redemption.
43:19 I will make a way in the wilderness Compare 40:3–4; 35:5–8.
REVERSING GLOOM God will bring an oppressor on the Babylonians who will make them flee. He will liberate His people. Things will be changed and He will ‘make them a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’. His people will praise Him.
of God’s unchanging character towards His people, (Exod. 14) 17. Which bringeth forth the chariot … and the power—the might of the enemies’ host; every mighty warrior. they shall lie down together—as Pharaoh’s army sank “together” in a watery grave.
No longer should Israel look back to its ancestors’ miraculous exodus deliverance through the Red Sea, for a new set of divine wonders awaits in a “second exodus” from captivity in Babylon (vv. 16–21).
Ver. 15. I am the Lord, your holy One, &c.] And therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: the Creator of Israel, your King; and therefore both able and willing to protect them.
Ver. 16. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, &c.] Who did make a way in the Red sea, when he led Israel through it as on dry land; this, with what follows, is observed to encourage the faith of the Lord’s people in the performance of what he had promised, to bring them out of Babylon; for he that had done this, and the rest that are mentioned, could easily remove all difficulties that lay in the way of their deliverance: and a path in the mighty waters; either of the Red sea, or it may be of Jordan; through which the Israelites passed into the land of Canaan.
Ver. 17. Which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power, &c.] Who brought forth the chariots and horses, and the mighty army of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, to pursue the Israelites into the Red sea, where they were drowned. The present tense is put for the future, as in the preceding verse; the future is put for the past tense in the next clause: they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they lay down in the Red sea, where they sunk to the bottom, and perished, and never rose more, at least to life, nor never will, till the general resurrection: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow; or flax, or as the wick of a candle, when put into water, is quenched at once; so the Egyptians became extinct in the Red sea. Some observe an allusion to the commodity of flax, for which Egypt was famous. Kimchi interprets the whole of the army of Sennacherib, which was brought out of their own land to Jerusalem, and was destroyed in one night by an angel. Aben Ezra of the Chaldeans being brought out to fight with the Persians. But others rather of the army of the Medes and Persians being brought against them, by whom they became extinct as tow or flax.
Ver. 18. Remember ye not the former things, &c.] Just now referred to, the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in it; for though these things were worthy to be remembered with thankfulness and praise, and to the glory of God, and for the encouragement of faith, yet not in comparison of what was hereafter to be done; meaning, not the redemption from Babylon, unless as a type of spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ; for otherwise there were greater and more wonderful things done, when Israel were brought out of Egypt, than when they were brought out of Babylon; but the great salvation by the Messiah, which exceeds both the deliverances out of Egypt and Babylon, is meant: neither consider the things of old; unless as figures of the new, but not to be put upon a foot with them, much less to the undervaluing of them, and indeed to be forgotten in comparison of them; see Jer. 23:7, 8. The Talmudists, by the former things, understand subjection to kingdoms; and, by the things of old, the going out of Egypt; as they do by the new thing, in the following verse, the war of Gog and Magog.
Ver. 19. Behold, I will do a new thing, &c.] A wonderful and unheard-of thing, and therefore introduced with a behold, as a note of admiration; the same with the new thing created in the earth, Jer. 31:22 the incarnation of the son of God; who took flesh of a virgin, appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, and was made sin and a curse for his people, in order to obtain eternal redemption for them; which blessing, though not newly thought of, resolved on, contrived, and agreed upon, that being from eternity; nor newly made known, or as to the virtue and efficacy of it, which had been from the beginning of the world, yet new as to the impetration of it by the blood and sacrifice of Christ; and may be also called new, because excellent, it being of a spiritual nature, complete and eternal, and having so many valuable blessings in it, as justification, pardon, and eternal life: now it shall spring forth; or bud forth as a branch, in a very short time, suddenly, and at once; one of the Messiah’s names is that of the Branch; see Zech. 3:8 and 6:12: shall ye not know it? the Redeemer, and the redemption by him. It was known to them that looked for it, and to whom the Gospel is sent, and the spirit reveals and applies it; these know the nature of it, own it to be of God, and know their interest in it, and know the author of it, in whom they have believed, by the characters given of him: and as this may have respect to the redemption of Christ, so to the conversion of the Gentiles, and to the grace of God dispensed through Christ to them; when old things passed away, and all things became new; a new covenant of grace was exhibited, a new church-state set up, new ordinances appointed, and a new people called to partake of all this, on whom was a new face of things; and wonderful and excellent things were done for them, as follows: I will even make a way in the wilderness; as there was a way made for the Israelites through the wilderness, which lay between Egypt and Canaan; and through another, which lay between Babylon and Judea; so the Lord would also make a way in the Gentile world, comparable to a wilderness for its barrenness and unfruitfulness, for the Gospel to enter into it, where it should run, and be glorified; where Christ, the way of salvation, should be made known; and where there should be a way for Christians to walk together, in the fellowship of the Gospel: and rivers in the desert; the doctrines of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which should be preached and administered in the Gentile world, before like a desert; and the graces of the spirit, which should be brought into the hearts of men by means of them; and the large communications of grace from Christ; and the discoveries of the love of God, with the blessings of it; compared to rivers for their abundance, and for the comforting, reviving, and fructifying nature of them.
Ver. 20. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons, and the owls, &c.] Which is not to be understood literally of these creatures, who as they had honoured the Lord, when Israel passed through the wilderness, so would again in their way praise the Lord, when they came through the deserts from Babylon, for giving them water to drink in such dry and thirsty places, to which there may be an allusion; but spiritually of the Gentiles, compared to those creatures for the savageness, fierceness, and stupidity of them, and who were reckoned by the Jews no other than as the beasts of the field; who should honour and glorify God for the Gospel brought unto them, and for his grace and mercy bestowed on them: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert; as before; see the note on the preceding verse; because of the plenty of divine grace, and the means of it: to give drink to my people, my chosen; to refresh and comfort the hearts of his people, whom he had chosen out from among the Gentiles, and now would call them by his grace, and set them a thirsting after Christ, and salvation by him.
Ver. 21. This people have I formed for myself, &c.] The Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, wild and uncultivated, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God, and redeemed by Christ, are formed anew by the spirit of Christ, made new creatures, regenerated, and transformed by the renewing of their minds, and conformed to the image of Christ, and having him formed in their souls, and principles of grace and holiness wrought in them; in consequence of which they reformed in their lives and conversation, and were also formed into a Gospel church-state, and all this done by the Lord for himself, his service, and his glory. The Targum is, “this people have I prepared for my worship:” they shall shew forth my praise; with their lips, by ascribing their formation to the power and grace of God, and even their whole salvation to it, and express their thankfulness for the same; and likewise by their actions, by a subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel, and by their lives and conversations being agreeably to it. Joseph Kimchi, as Abendana observes, interprets this people of the beasts of the field, spoken of in the preceding verse, that should honour the Lord, and here said to be formed for himself, and should shew forth his praise; and which is taken notice of to aggravate the sins of the people of the Jews, who called not on the Lord, &c. as in the following verses; so the ants and conies are called a people not strong, and the locusts a people great and strong, Prov. 30:25, 26; Joel 2:2.
The Lord is going to accomplish a new deliverance that will replace the crossing of the Red Sea in the memories of his people. This time it will be the Babylonians, rather than the Egyptians, who will be humbled, and the Lord will make a way back from Babylon through the wilderness, rather than out of Egypt through water (43:14–19). This people who owe their very existence to God have a purpose: to declare his praise (43:21). We are no different; Peter says so (1 Peter 2:9). But how have God’s people got on with their mission? Instead of praying they have been yawning, and instead of bringing offerings they have been sinning (43:22–23). So now it is the Lord who is weary with his people, or, to be more exact, weary of their iniquities (43:24).
Isaiah 43:14–28. Let us take care lest we thwart God’s purpose in our lives. We were made to show forth his praise, v. 21; but we must beware of causing a revoking of his gracious purpose. See Num. 14:34, R.V. margin. By prayerlessness, v. 22; by the neglect of little things, v. 23; by the lack of sweetness and tenderness in our disposition, v. 24. “Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee,” Rom. 11:20, 21, R.V.
On the other hand, directly sin is repented of and put away, it is blotted out, v. 25. It is persistence in sin that causes God to turn from us. If we forsake what is evil, as soon as we are conscious of it, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” It is blotted out as a cloud from the sky and no more remembered against us forever. This is done for God’s own sake. The reason for our salvation and deliverance is not in us, but in him. The cross of shame and sorrow was his own expedient, and the Lamb in the midst of the throne is the emblem of the divine Atonement, which was commenced and finished by the inexplicable grace of God.
Cease to dwell on days gone by (vv. 14–21).—As if to underscore the reality of the message in verse 13, the prophet turns now to the theme of Israel’s coming salvation. God is planning a new exodus for his people for this Babylonian captivity. This new exodus will be a “new thing” (v. 19), superseding even the first exodus in glory and power.
43:15 The purpose of this verse is to assure God’s people of the certainty and reliability of his prophecy.
43:16–17 God called on his people to remember their great deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Ex 14).
43:18–19 The exodus poetically described in vv. 16–17 is described as past events, the things of old. But God turns the hearers’ attention to something new, a new exodus. This time God will create not “a way in the sea” (v. 16), but a way in the wilderness. This future deliverance is pictured as a reversal of nature, with rivers in the desert.