43:1ff Chapter 42 ends with God’s sorrow over the spiritual decay of his people. In chapter 43, God says that despite the people’s spiritual failure, he will show them mercy, bring them back from captivity, and restore them. He would give them an outpouring of love, not wrath. Then the world would know that God alone had done this.
43:1-4 God created the people of Israel, and they were special to him. God redeemed them and called them by name to be those who belong to him. God protected Israel in times of trouble. We are important to God, too. If we claim to belong to God, we must never do anything that would bring shame to him.
43:2 Going through rivers of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. If you go in your own strength, you are more likely to drown. If you invite the Lord to go with you, he will protect you.
43:3 God gave other nations to Persia in exchange for returning the Jews to their homeland. Egypt, Ethiopia, and parts of Arabia (Seba) had attacked Persia, and the Persians defeated them.
43:5, 6 Isaiah was speaking primarily of Israel’s return from Babylon. But there is a broader meaning: All God’s people will be regathered when Christ comes to rule in peace over the earth.
43:10, 11 Israel’s task was to be a witness (44:8), telling the world who God is and what he had done. Believers today share the responsibility of being God’s witnesses. Do people know what God is like through your words and example? They cannot see God directly, but they can see him reflected in you.
43:15-21 This section pictures a new Exodus for a people once again oppressed, as the Israelites had been as slaves in Egypt before the Exodus. They would cry to God, and again he would hear and deliver them. A new Exodus would take place through a new wilderness. The past miracles were nothing compared to what God would do for his people in the future.
43:22-24 A sacrifice required both giving up a valuable animal and pleading with God for forgiveness. But the people presented God with sins instead of sacrifices. Can you imagine bringing the best of your sins to God’s altar? This ironic picture shows the depths to which Israel had sunk. What do you present to God—your sins or a plea for his forgiveness?
43:22-24 Sin separates the sinner from God. God, however, does not want to be separated from his people, so he instituted the sacrificial system in which sins were symbolically transferred to animals and then destroyed. The people of Judah chose to ignore God’s provision for sins, and thus they were in danger of losing his protection. Do you try to “go it on your own,” or do you accept God’s provision of forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice?
43:25 How tempting it is to remind someone of a past offense! But when God forgives our sins, he totally forgets them. We never have to fear that he will remind us of them later. Because God forgives our sins, we need to forgive others.