"Yet now, thus says Jehovah; Who created you, O Jacob; and who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through waters, I am with you; And through rivers, they shall not overwhelm you: When you walk in the fire, you shall not be scorched; And the flame shall not take hold of you. For I am Jehovah, your God; The Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer: I have given Egypt for your ransom; Cush, and Seba, in your stead. Because you have been precious in my sight, You have been honored, and I have loved you: Therefore will I give men instead of you; And peoples instead of your soul. Fear not, for I am with you: From the east I will bring your children, And from the west I will gather you together: I will say to the north, Give up; And to the south, Withhold not: Bring my sons from afar; And my daughters from the ends of the earth: Everyone that is called by my name, Whom for my glory I have created; Whom I have formed, yea whom I have made." (Isaiah 43:1-7,Lowth)
No attention should be paid to the chapter division here, although as a matter of convenience we have made it the division of a lesson. But there is no break in the subject, and we cannot get the full force of the scripture here quoted without reading the last part of chapter 42. "Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law. Therefore He has poured upon them the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart." (Isaiah 42:24-25) "But now thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and He that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1)
And then follows the assurance that God is with them even in the fire and the water, and that they shall not be burned or overwhelmed. He who gave Israel into captivity is his Redeemer.
Present Help
Our versions make the mistake of rendering verse 2, "I will be with you." (Isaiah 43:2)
The common version is better than the Revision, in that it places the words "will be" in Italics, indicating that they are not found in the Hebrew, as they are not. There is no verb expressed, as is often the case in the Hebrew, which is very brief. Now it is evident that when the copulative verb is omitted, the simplest form of it is that which should be supplied, which is the present tense, and not the future. Therefore it is correctly given by Lowth, "I am with you." (Isaiah 43:2)
That exactly represents the character of God, whose name is I AM. There can be no doubt that God will be with us, when He is always present. With Him the present contains both the past and the future. He is always I AM; therefore in all the ages to come He will be the hope of His people. But if we read it, "I will be with you," we are apt to forget the present. The present is all that we are concerned with; if we have God with us as "a very present help in trouble," (Psalm 46:1) we can ask for nothing more. With God it is always now.
The Secret of Discontent
"Be free from the love of money; content with such things as you have: for He has said, I will in no wise fail you, neither will I in any wise forsake you. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6,RV)
Having Him, we have everything. That is true enough, and no one will deny it; and yet we very seldom act as though we believed it. And that shows how rare real Christianity is; for the very fundamental principle of Christianity is the continual presence of the Lord, and that He is everything.
He who does not believe that God is always present, always loving, and always all-powerful to carry out His loving designs, does not believe in God. But whoever does believe that, must be content, because he knows that with the Lord he has all things. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
It follows, therefore, that anxiety and worry are marks of heathenism. "Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:31-33,RV)
What Constitutes Heathenism
There is more to this than appears on the surface. We are not aware how often we proclaim ourselves heathen. Consider this very apparent distinction between the heathen and the worshiper of the true God: The heathen is not content without a god that he can see; while the Christian trusts the God who "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen, neither can see." (1 Timothy 6:16)
In short, the heathen cannot trust his god out of sight, while the
Christian has as much confidence in his God when he cannot see Him as when he can. Now no one would ever complain if he could see all that he desired, ready to hand. It is when we cannot see how we are to get on, that we begin to murmur or grow anxious. Yea, it is often a murmur, in that the desponding one says, "God has forsaken me." (Isaiah 49:14)
Because he cannot see God, he thinks that He does not exist. We doubt God, because we cannot see Him. We cannot endure that He should work behind a veil. Thus we proclaim ourselves heathen.
People may think that it is not a very great thing to believe in God, but really to believe in God is everything. Real belief in God means freedom from all worry, because God cares for us, and tells us to cast all our care on Him. "Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)
God's Nearness
"I am with you." (Isaiah 43:2,Lowth)
Therefore we are not to fear. Jesus came and said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," (Matthew 28:20) and He had just said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matthew 28:18)
He cannot leave us nor forsake us, because He fills heaven and earth. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24)
In every sunbeam, in every sparkling drop of water, in every breath of air, the Lord is present, and His presence is with us for the purpose of giving us rest. "And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:14)
How near He is, when we can feel His breath upon our cheek, yea, even in our nostrils. "For what nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?" (Deuteronomy 4:7)
Christ's Saving Presence
"Fear not!" (Isaiah 43:5)
Why not? "For I am with you." (Isaiah 43:5)
The Lord has left on record some examples of the saving power of His presence, so that we may learn not to fear. After the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves, when the people were about to take Jesus by force, and make Him king, He constrained His disciples to get into the boat, and to go before Him to the other side of the sea, while He sent the multitudes away. The night came on, and "The sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew," (John 6:18) and the ship in which the disciples were, "was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves," (Matthew 14:24) "And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them." (John 6:17)
Then suddenly they saw a form walking calmly on the angry waters, and they cried out with fear; but Jesus said to them, "it is I;" (Matthew 14:27) literally, "I am." "Be not afraid." (Matthew 14:27)
It is the same word, "Fear not, for I am with you." (Isaiah 43:5)
They thought that they were alone on the waters, but His eye was upon them all the time. His name is I AM, and He was with them when they could not see Him as well as when He appeared to them.
The Author and Finisher
When the disciples recognized the Lord, "They willingly received Him into the ship." (John 6:21)
Their fear was past. Then what? "Immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." (John 6:21)
He is the beginning and the end. (Revelation 21:6) With His presence there is the fulfillment of all things. The task that is but just begun is finished if it is begun in Him.
They feared no more, after Jesus came to them; yet there was no more reason to fear before they saw Him, than there was afterwards. Would we fear in any circumstances whatever, if we could see Jesus right before us, or at our right hand? You say, "No; not at all."
But we do fear, and yet He is present. "I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." (Psalm 16:8)
Are our fears due to the fact that we do not have confidence in the saving power of the Lord? or because we do not believe that He is present? In either case, they are a remnant of heathenism that we have not yet shaken off.
In the Fire
There were three Hebrew captives in Babylon, who proved the power of the presence of the Lord. A stern decree had been issued, commanding everybody to bow down before a golden image that the king had set up. The penalty for disregarding the decree was burning in a furnace. They unqualifiedly refused to bow down to the image. Here was a test as to who was God. Was it the king and his idols? or was it the God of Israel?
If the three men had bowed down through fear, what would their act have said? It would have said that they did not believe in God; that they could not trust in Him to deliver them from the king and his idols. But their profession of faith was more than a theory. They knew whom they had believed, and that their God was able to deliver them.
So into the fiery furnace they went, where the fire was so hot that it slew the men who had to draw near to the outside of it to cast them in. But what of them? God had said, "When you walk in the fire, you shall not be scorched; and the flame shall not take hold on you;" (Isaiah 43:2,Lowth) and so it was. Only their bands were burned off, and the three men rose and walked erect in the midst of the furnace; for God was with them. Then the king commanded them to be brought out, "And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed upon them." (Daniel 3:27)
Present Though Visible
Did you ever think that we hear nothing more about the form of the fourth after the three men were taken from the furnace? He was clearly seen for a few moments, walking to and fro with them in the flames; then the doors were opened and the men were called forth, and their companion disappeared. Did He forsake them? Not at all; He was as near them when they could not see Him as when He appeared.
In fact, there is nothing to show that the three men in the fire saw Him at all. His appearance was more for the benefit of the king and his idolatrous court, then for the three men themselves. They knew that He was present without seeing Him. It was the consciousness of His presence that made them able to stand unmoved in the presence of the threatened punishment. God is unchangeable. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and for ever; therefore He is as near when unseen as He is when He is seen. They who believe and trust in His presence when they cannot see Him will at the last have the privilege of seeing His face, and beholding Him for evermore.
Dwelling With Everlasting Burnings There is coming a time when "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, ... the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3:12,10)
Then the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left. "Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." (Isaiah 24:6)
Who will be the few men left? Only those who are able to dwell with the devouring fire, and amidst everlasting burnings. "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil." (Isaiah 33:14-15)
Those who make the Most High their habitation, being confident of His presence, even though it may seem that He has forsaken them, will be able to dwell in the midst of the fire that devours the earth, for they dwell with God, and "our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:29)
This promise in Isaiah will be very real to many before very long. But none will be able to trust in it when the great test comes, except those who have lived in the consciousness of God's presence, and the proof of it in the deliverance from sin.
God With Us
What is the practical daily result of having God with us? Well, of course, in the first place it is that we have life, and breath, and all things, for "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Everybody in the world gets this from the Lord; but those who acknowledge His presence, and who delight in it, get benefits that others do not. Of Christ we read that God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power, and that "[He] went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38)
So the benefit that those receive, who love and acknowledge the presence of God with them, is the power to do good to others. Now remember that the name of Jesus is: "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us." (Matthew 1:23)
He is with us all the days until the end, and therefore God is with us, that we, like Him, may do good. Of the child Samuel we read, "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground." (1 Samuel 3:19)
The result of God's being with him was that he spoke "as the oracles of God," (1 Peter 4:11) so that his words were too valuable to be lost. If we invite God to stay with us, we must consent to allow Him to manage all our affairs, and us too; but that ought not to be considered a hardship, since "His way is perfect." (Psalm 18:30)
Perhaps the most instructive case of all, as illustrating the presence of God with a man, is that of Joseph. "The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his affliction, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh." (Acts 7:9-10)
Note this, that God was with him when he went down to Egypt, although he went as a slave. It was not merely in the prosperity that God was with him, but in his affliction. Indeed, it was God who sent Joseph into Egypt. When Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was sold again, but the Lord did not forsake him. "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." (Genesis 39:2)
But it was not all smooth before him, even though God was with him. Joseph was falsely accused, and without being given any chance to clear himself, he was cast into prison. Surely the Lord had forgotten him then. Not at all. "The Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. And the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper." (Genesis 39:21-23)
The Lord is not afraid or ashamed to go to prison, so that the fact that a man is in prison does not prove that the Lord has left him. Indeed, the Lord is often in prison. "I was in prison, and you came unto me. ... I was ... in prison, and you visited me not." (Matthew 25:36,43)
After a long time, and much weary waiting, Joseph was taken from prison, and placed over the land of Egypt. He became practically the king of Egypt. He was ruler over all the land, and all that he lacked was a seat on the throne. Joseph did not know what he went to prison for until Pharaoh sent for him; and then he found out that it was the way to the place of power. But Joseph did not spend his time mourning, although he could not see the way out of prison.
We can look back to that time, and seeing the end at the same time that we see the experience that he passed through, it seems to us a matter of course that Joseph should do as he did. But we must remember that to Joseph things looked as black and hopeless during those years in prison as they would to us. If we could see our way clear, we should never murmur, nor doubt the presence and goodness of God.
Joseph could not see ahead, but he did not mind that; God was with him all the way, and that was sufficient; he did not need to see ahead. If we would but remember that He knows the way that we take, and can see the end from the beginning, it would save us much time and useless despondency. God is with us in the dark as well as in the light, in fire, and water, and prison, as well as in times of ease and prosperity.--Present Truth, November 16, 1899--Isaiah 43:1-7.