"But hear now, O Jacob, my servant; And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says Jehovah, your Maker; And He that formed you from the womb, and will help you: Fear not, O my servant Jacob; And, O Jeshurun, whom I have chosen: For I will pour out waters on the thirsty; And flowing streams on the dry ground: I will pour out my Spirit on your seed, And my blessing on your offspring. And they shall spring up as grass among the waters; As the willows beside the aqueducts. One shall say, I belong to Jehovah; And another shall be called by the name of Jacob: And this shall subscribe his hand to Jehovah, And shall be surnamed by the name of Israel. Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel; And his Redeemer, Jehovah God of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; And beside me there is no God. And who is like me, that he should call forth this event, And make it known beforehand, and dispose it for me, From the time that I appointed the people of the destined age? The things that are now coming, and are to come hereafter, let them declare unto us." (Isaiah 44:1-7,Lowth)
The Chosen
How often in these chapters we find the word "chosen." God has chosen Israel. But who are Israel? Israel is the prince of God, the one who overcomes. "And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel [margin: "A prince of God"]: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed.
Does the Lord then choose as His favorites only those who have made a conspicuous success in life? Oh, no: the choice must necessarily be made before the struggle is ended. As we well know, Jacob was chosen before he was born. We are chosen in order that we may overcome. God has blessed us in Christ, "according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." (Ephesians 1:3)
All are chosen; we have only by submission to His will to make our calling and election sure.
Why God Chooses Us
"Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen." (Isaiah 44:1)
It is evident that Israel means more than one man. The man Jacob, who was by the Lord named Israel, was dead hundreds of years before the prophet Isaiah wrote these words; they apply to all the children of Israel.
And here appears some more of the comfort of God. God has taken away every ground for discouragement, in this promise to Israel. Notice that He uses both names, Jacob and Israel. Jacob is the supplanter, the deceitful schemer, the one whose character is anything but attractive. The Lord indicates that He has chosen Jacob from his birth.
That means that He has chosen us from our birth. But we have a bad record. No matter, so had the original Jacob. He has chosen us, that He may make us better. So we need not mourn over our early life; God makes all that pass away in Christ. Every inspired prayer is a promise of what God will do; and in Psalm 25 we read: "Thus says the Lord that made you, and formed you from the womb, which will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jesurun, whom I have chosen." (Isaiah 44:2) "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." (Psalm 25:7)
That this is what God promises to do, we have already learned from the preceding chapter, where He says, "I, even I, am He that blots out your transgression for my own sake, and will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25)
He has chosen us, "that we might be holy and without blame before Him." (Ephesians 1:4)
Little Children
"Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen." (Isaiah 44:2)
The word "Jeshurun" occurs only four times in the Bible, the three other times besides this one being in Deuteronomy 32 and 33. It is a diminutive, such as people use as pet names, and is equivalent to "the good little people," or, "the dear little people." It is applied to the whole people, just as a mother uses a term of endearment to her child. It reveals the tender affection of God for His people. It corresponds to the "little children," so frequently used by the Saviour.
The Water of Life
"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring." (Isaiah 44:3)
The Spirit of God is the water of life. This is seen from the following texts: "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive." (John 7:37-39)
Remember that this promise in Isaiah is to the same ones who in the preceding chapter are said to be witnesses, and the Spirit is necessary in order that they may bear witness, "And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. ... For there are three who bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one." (1 John 5:6,8,RV)
God, who is "the Fountain of living waters," (Jeremiah 2:13) is Spirit: "God is a Spirit." (John 4:24) "The Spirit ... proceeds from the Father," (John 15:26) the stream flowing from the fountain head.
Cooling Streams
"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty" (Isaiah 44:3)
Nothing gives a more complete idea of satisfaction than cold water to one who is thirsty. God promises not merely to give the thirsty ones a drink, but to pour water upon them. He giveth liberally. If anyone has ever known what it is to be faint from thirst in a dry place on a sultry day, he will appreciate this. He longs not merely for a drink, but to plunge into the water. He does not want simply a cupful of water, but a stream of it; and when he sees the stream in the distance, how he runs to it, and, throwing himself down, buries his head in it, or immerses himself in the refreshing liquid. Even so can the soul who thirsts for the living water find satisfaction.
Thirsting for God
Recall the expressions of longing for God, that appear in the Psalms. "As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God; for the living God." (Psalm 42:1-2) "O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." (Psalm 43:1)
All are familiar with the expressions, and yet much of their force is lost because they are considered as only figurative, when as a matter of fact they are very literal. The psalmist does indeed use a figure, but it is only to express his longing for God. The thirsting after God is not the figure; that is the fact. "As the hart pants after the water brooks," this is the illustration; "so his soul pants after God."
This is the thing illustrated. The thirst which God satisfies is real thirst, and He satisfies it as really as the brook satisfies the panting deer.
Drinking the Life of God
Recall the passage which says that:
"The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams." (Isaiah 33:21)
Remember that the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Revelation 22:1)
That the water which proceeds from God and the Lamb is real water, such as will satisfy literal thirst, we are taught by the experience of the children of Israel in the desert. "And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide with me? wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, wherewith you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?" (Exodus 17:1-7)
Christ is the Rock of Israel, and He stood upon the rock which Moses smote, and we are told that the people "drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them." (1 Corinthians 10:4)
From the spiritual Rock comes spiritual water; but spiritual water is very real. It was real enough to satisfy the thirst of the whole company of Israel, and also all their cattle. It is of this water that comes from the throne, that God says He will give all the thirsty ones freely. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
It is from this stream, flowing from the throne of God, that the thirsty land is watered and made fruitful. "You visit the earth, and water it; You greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water; You prepare them corn, when You have so provided for it. You water the ridges thereof abundantly: You settle the furrows thereof: You make it soft with showers: You bless the springing thereof. You crown the year with your goodness; and your paths drop fatness." (Psalm 65:9-11)
When we remember that two-thirds of the human body is water, it is easy to understand that water is our life; and then when we learn that the water which comes from heaven and gushes forth from the earth in springs comes direct from the throne of God, we can see that we live by the life of God.
God Alone Can Satisfy
It is a fact, therefore, that men may literally thirst after God. Indeed, whenever they thirst for pure, fresh water, it is for God that they are thirsting, although they do not know it. Every desire, every unsatisfied longing, is but an expression of the soul's need of God. He alone "satisfies the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:16)
"None but Christ can satisfy,"--Emma Frances Shuttleworth Bevan, Hymn: O Christ, in Thee My Soul Hath Found (also: None But Christ Can Satisfy). even though the soul does not recognize the fact. Sometimes a man tries to satisfy his thirst with alcoholic liquor, but that never satisfies; it only creates a worse thirst; instead of building up, it tears down. That spirit is not the Spirit of life, but of death.
Satan, who tries to make people believe that he is the Lord, and that his work is Divine, has stolen the name of the water of life for his spirit, calling brandy eau de vie. That is what pure water is, while the spirituous liquor is the water of death. The exhortation is: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18)
Thirsting for Righteousness
"The Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10)
The water and the blood, which agree in one with the Spirit, (1 John 5:8) are also life, and consequently righteousness. We know that the blood of Christ is righteousness, because it "cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
Drinking of the water of life is therefore drinking of the blood of Christ which is righteousness and life. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)
Everything that gives us real life is from God. Whenever we take in that which builds up the body, we are receiving of the life of God, the blood of Christ, the water of life. If therefore we recognize God in His gifts, we may actually take in righteousness with every drink of water that we take.
All our thirst is but a longing for that which only God can bestow; but we do not, however, always thirst after righteousness. Instead, we try to satisfy the longing with everything except God. It is not popular to acknowledge our dependence upon God. Men have no hesitation in letting it be known that they are thirsty, but they would never think of admitting that they are longing for the life of God. That is why so few become filled with righteousness.
Nevertheless God sheds the Spirit upon us abundantly, even though we do not recognize the gift. He gives to the unthankful as well as to the thankful. If we but recognize the gift, and thank Him for every renewal of it, righteousness will be ours as surely as God lives. How easy and plain is the way of righteousness and life!--Present Truth, December 7, 1899--Isaiah 44:1-8.