"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the Lord, which makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as flax. Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, The people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise. Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel. You have not brought me the small cattle of your burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not made you to serve with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities. I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set forth your cause, that you may be justified. Your first father has sinned, and your interpreters have transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling." (Isaiah 43:14-28,RV)
God's Power to Deliver
Again we have a reminder of God's power and His care for His people. We recall from the 40th chapter that Israel says, "My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God." (Isaiah 40:27)
Therefore God tells what He has done for their sake. "Thus says the Lord, which makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as flax." (Isaiah 43:16-17,RV)
All the enemies of His people, who put their trust in their war ships, are taken captive by Him. He delivers His people from bondage, even making a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, as when He brought Israel out of Egypt. The chariot and the horse, the army and the power, are as nothing compared with the Lord. "The horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea. ... Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone." (Exodus 15:1,4-5)
That was a wonderful deliverance; but the Lord will do still more wonderful things. "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: But the Lord lives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:7-8)
The things which God will yet do for His people are so great that the marvelous events of the exodus will pale into insignificance by the side of them. "Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18-19,RV)
God's Children Delivered From Egypt
The Lord is the God that has brought His people out of the land of Egypt. "Out of Egypt have I called my son," (Matthew 2:15) says the Lord by the prophet, and this is true of everyone of His sons. Out of the land of Egypt must we all come; and that wonderful deliverance in the days of Moses, will stand as the evidence of God's power to save, and the quickener of faith, until the future, final deliverance shall have been effected, and then to all eternity the "new thing" that God has done will be the theme of the saved. In the performance of this new thing the Lord will "make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert," (Isaiah 43:19,RV) to give drink to His chosen witnesses, His servants. Now this was written nearly a thousand years after the exodus from Egypt, when God caused the waters to run in the dry places like a river, so that Israel might drink; and since that time there has never been a similar occurrence, that is, none on a similar scale; therefore it is evident that these things are yet to be fulfilled.
That they are to be literally fulfilled, we cannot doubt. If we should deny that we here have statements of what will actually occur, the only reason for it would be the improbability of such things being done, because we are not accustomed to them. But that would be a denial of the Lord.
This is a case in which God's power and love are called in question, and He will do such things as will leave no chance for doubt. In the time of trouble of which we have previously read, when the flame devours the pastures of the wilderness, God will cause rivers of water to spring forth from the dry ground to refresh His children.
Power Yet To Be Manifested
"The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." (Isaiah 43:20)
The wild beasts will also honor God. We remember that Jesus was in the wilderness of temptation forty days, and was with the wild beasts. "And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto Him." (Mark 1:12-13) "Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gape upon me with their mouth, as a ravening and a roaring lion. ... Save me from the lion's mouth; Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen You have answered me." (Psalm 22:12-13,21,RV)
They compassed Him about, and gaped upon Him with their mouths, and He was threatened by the lions, and was seemingly about to be tossed by the horns of the wild oxen; yet not one of them touched Him. They recognized in Him the authority of their Creator.
Even so it was with Daniel in the den of lions. Their refusal to harm the prophet of God, although they were hungry, as was shown by their instantly devouring his accusers, was a testimony to the saving power of God. Thus they honored Him.
God's people are yet to be brought into just such close places for their faith, and the wild beasts of the desert will do homage to the power of the righteousness of Jehovah in them. God made man to have dominion over the beasts, and this he had as long as he remained his loyalty to God, and when men become perfect witnesses for God,--when the image of God is perfectly restored in them, and the life of Jesus is manifested in their mortal flesh,--the authority of God in them will be recognized by wild beasts and serpents. When it is thus demonstrated that man has recovered his kingly authority, it will be but a very short time until the first dominion will be restored to him.
God's Glory Revealed In and By Men
"This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." (Isaiah 43:21)
It is of us that the Lord speaks. The Apostle Peter says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him that has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)
That is what God has made us for. He has chosen us as His servants, that He might reveal himself in us. It is our "high calling ... in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)
Is it not a wonderful thing, that even as the glory of God shone forth of old from the sanctuary, so now He will let His glory shine forth from the men who will acknowledge themselves to be the temples of God? And the glory of God that is seen on them, will be their own glory, shining forth from them. "He will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalm 149:4)
Acceptable Sacrifice
What shall we think of the Lord's complaint against Israel, that they have not brought burnt-offerings to Him, and have not honored Him with their sacrifices? Does it mean that they had been remiss in their daily and yearly services? Not by any means. Remember what He said to them in the very beginning of the prophecy of Isaiah. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats." (Isaiah 1:11)
What does He mean then, by what He says here? He means just what He meant in the beginning, when He said, "Bring no more vain oblations." (Isaiah 1:13)
Their sacrifices were vain, because there was no heart in them. They did not give themselves, and that is all the sacrifice that is acceptable to God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Roman 12:1) "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51:17)
When these are present, God is "pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness." (Psalm 51:19)
God says, "I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense." (Isaiah 43:23)
In like manner He said by the prophet Jeremiah: "I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." (Jeremiah 7:22-23)
Sacrifice was never anything in itself; for God has made the only sacrifice that can be of any value. Sacrifices were never anything more than an expression of trust and thanksgiving.
Making God to Serve
"But you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities." (Isaiah 43:24)
This is one of the most striking statements to be found in the Bible. Instead of being the servants of God, we have made Him our servant! The term is the same as that used in Exodus 1:13, where we read that: "The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor." (Exodus 1:13)
Also, "I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage." (Exodus 6:5)
Isn't it shocking? Just as the Egyptians made slaves of the children of Israel, putting them to hard and distasteful service, even so we have done to God, piling upon Him all our sins, and making Him carry the load day after day. Now we begin to get hold of that which will reveal to us the infinite patience of God.
We are all familiar with the words: "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world;" (John 1:29) but few read the word in the margin, which ought to be in the text, namely, "bears." If we always thought of Him as the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world, it might make His work mean more to us. "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)
Mark it; He is, not, He makes propitiation for sins. "[He] His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24)
These things we have all heard, and they are so common that they have almost lost their meaning to us. Our lesson brings before us in the most vivid manner the Lord's relation to us and our sins.
All Sin is Upon God's Life
Take the words in the 1st chapter of Hebrews, that Christ, being the effulgence of the Father's glory, "and the very image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:3,RV)
He upholds or bears all things. The weight of the universe rests upon Him. Not a thing but is held in place by the power of His life. "In Him all things consist," (Colossians 1:17,RV) and, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
He is the Soul of the universe. There is no life anywhere but the life that flows from the heart of God. That is the simple truth, which is easily said, but which we may well think upon for days and years.
The fact that God is in all things, even in sinful man, is scarcely ever thought of; and too often wholly disbelieved. Compare Deuteronomy 30 and Romans 10: "For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it." (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
In the first passage, together with the context, we learn that Moses was addressing the children of Israel, and exhorting them to obey God. That shows that they were not wholly obedient, and we well know that they were not.
Then he tells them that they need have no difficulty in obeying the Lord, for the commandment is not hidden from them, neither is it very far off. They do not need to go across the sea for it, nor ask somebody to go up to heaven, to bring it down for them, that they may hear it and do it. No; the commandment, the Word, is very near, in their mouth, and in their heart, that they may do it. It is there whether they do it or not; it is there in order that they may have no excuse for not doing it.
Saved by the Life
Read now the parallel text in Romans. It is quoted from this one, but inasmuch as Christ is the Word, the name "Christ" is substituted for "Word." "The righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what does it say? The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the Word of faith, which we preach. That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:6-9)
Confessing the Lord Jesus means confessing the truth concerning Him, namely, that "[He] is come in the flesh," (1 John 4:2) even in our own sinful flesh. (Romans 8:3) Why should He come there? In order that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." (Romans 8:4)
The theory that would make Christ keep entirely away from sinners until they begin to serve Him, would throw upon them the labor of converting themselves. No; Christ dwells in every man, waiting his permission to reveal himself. Therefore the wrath of God is justly revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, because they "hold down the truth in unrighteousness." (Romans 1:18)
Christ is the truth: "I am ... the truth." (John 14:6) "That which may be known of God is manifest in wicked men, for God has showed it unto them; for His everlasting power and Divinity are to be seen in everything that He has made [including man]. They are therefore without excuse for their sin." (Romans 1:19-20)
Christ is present in every man to save him from sinning. It is therefore idle for the sinner to say that the Lord will not receive him. Why, the Lord has you; He has been carrying you all your lifetime. There never has been a heart throb, not a pulse beat, not a tingle of a nerve, that did not reveal the presence of the life of God; for all those things reveal the presence of life, and there is no life in the universe but the life of God. If there were, then there would be another God.
That is the whole question in controversy--whether creatures can live separate from the Creator. They who think to save God from the disgrace of being in sinful men, do Him no honor. They are conceding all that the devil would claim. If any man can establish his ability to live an hour without the Lord's life, then he can live for ever without Him. But this no man can do, and it is the Lord's mercy that he cannot.
What God Endures for Man
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)
But for that we could not live at all. In our flesh, our life, is the Divine Word,--God himself. And what is our condition? "Laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters ... the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Isaiah 1:4-6)
This is the condition of the flesh in which the Divine Word has condescended to dwell. "Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses." (Matthew 8:17)
All the loathsomeness of sin the Lord who hates sin was pleased to take upon himself, that we might be freed from it. He has forever identified himself with humanity. Every sin that is committed by the vilest transgressor is committed with the life that God has loaned to him. God dwelling in human flesh is made the servant of men's passions. They are corrupters, in that they corrupt the life that God has given them. He is not responsible for a single sin, for "in Him is no sin," (1 John 3:5) yet because it has been committed with His life, He assumes the responsibility. The weight of every sin is upon the Lord, and that it is no small weight is seen from the fact that it crushed the life out of the Son of God. What infinite patience, that He still continues to bear it!
Loathsomeness of Sin
But it is loathsome to Him. With the picture of the body utterly corrupt, full of putrefying ulcers from head to foot, and you have an idea of what God is bearing. Can you wonder then that He says, "I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25)
Ah, we do not need to plead with Him, to make Him willing to cleanse us from all unrighteousness; He is most anxious to do it; it is He who pleads with us to allow Him to do it for us.
Yes, and Christ has by himself made purification for sins. With all the sins of the world upon Him, He gave up His life; but because He knew no sin, He came forth from the grave; and so when we confess that Christ is come in our flesh, we may know that He is risen from the dead, so that He lives in us with the power of the resurrection life.
As soon therefore as we make the confession, and yield completely to Him, we are freed from the bondage of sin; for God is not so in love with sin that He will retain it a second after we turn it completely over to Him. He will cast it "into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19)
The Lord has bought our sins; they belong to Him. (John 1:29; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:1-2) He has bought us, and we belong to Him. (Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Timothy 2:6) We therefore have no right to do anything with ourselves. But when we refuse to confess our sins, and at the same time to confess Christ, we are claiming the sins that are upon Him. We are retaining them, because we refuse to acknowledge that they are sins, and we go on putting more sins upon Him. Patiently He abides with us, however, literally suffering long.
He has our sins, whether we acknowledge it or not; therefore it does not add one whit to His burden for us to let them rest upon Him alone, and not try to bear any of them ourselves. On the contrary, it relieves Him for us to confess our sins, and cast them entirely upon Him, for then He casts them off, and bears us alone. Before, He bore us and our sins; now He bears us freed from sin. Why not grant the Lord this favor?
He asks us to remind Him of what He has done for us. "Let us plead together," (Isaiah 43:26) says He. Literally, "Let us go into court together."
If we will but declare the truth, we shall be justified, for the truth is that He has all our sins upon Him. All that is required of any man, in order to be saved, is that he tell the simple truth about what he sees. If we admit that God is supporting us, that we live by His life, and that consequently all our sins are upon Him, and that we are in harmony with that arrangement, then we are freed from them.
So although our first father sinned, and we as a consequence were born in sin, we are made as free from them as the only begotten Son of God. What a wonderful Saviour!--Present Truth, November 30, 1899--Isaiah 43:14-28.