When I was younger - before I was even a teenager - our family occasionally travelled to a remote and isolated part of the country to visit relatives (this was in South America, before we immigrated to Canada). And looking back, what strikes me about these trips is how dangerous they were.
Much of the road was unpaved - just a dirt road. In the summer, the wind would kick up the dry dust and make it impossible to see more than 10 metres ahead, and in the winter, the road got so muddy from the rain that we feared getting stuck in the mud or sliding into oncoming traffic.
And while everyone else was scared during the trip, I remember sitting in the back seat, at peace, watching my father skillfully maneuver our 1974 Volvo through the dust or mud. I sometimes even fell asleep: that’s how safe I felt; that’s how much I trusted my father getting us there. And he always did, he never failed.
Our reading from Isaiah (43:1-13) gives us a similar picture of trustworthiness: the trustworthy character of God, our heavenly Father. In fact, God is trustworthy in a way that no earthly father could be. Therefore, we need not fear what’s before us (43:1, 5), no matter how difficult our situation is (43:2): God loves us (43:4), he has saved us (43:1, 3, 4), and he is with us (43:5). No one can snatch us from his protective hand (43:3, 11, 12). This is the God we are witness to, this is the God we proclaim to the world (43:10, 12).
The text addresses Israel in captivity: oppressed, living under constant fear and doubt. God had handpicked the people of Israel to be his ambassadors to the world - not because they were extraordinarily talented or good, actually the opposite was the case, they were the weakest and most vulnerable nation in the region - but instead of fulfilling this privileged role, they ignored it: they saw and recognized what is right, but refused to act on it, "they heard with their ears, but didn’t really listen” (42:20 paraphrase). God gave them the independence they wanted, and the result was decisive: they were robbed, plundered, and taken away in chains by their neighbours.
In such dire conditions, God speaks great words of comfort, he addresses their fears with some of the kindest words he’s spoken to his children. Two verses in particular stand out, and in both of them God appeals to his trustworthy character: Verse 1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name...” (43:1). He reminds them that he saved them - he delivered them from slavery at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22) - and under his protection they were safe from the burning fire and the consuming flame (14:2).
And then again in verse 4: “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life” (43:4). The God of the Bible has in recent times been portrayed as vindictive and violent, but this caricature does no justice to our reading: notice the tender words God uses here. They are gentle, full of concern, as from a father to a son.
God’s people are precious to him - he “buys” his people back in an exchange with king Cyrus (43:3) - he frees them so that they can return home (43:6-7). This was not a desperate move on the part of someone who’s weak; it was lavish generosity on the part of someone who loves deeply and has the whole world at his disposal.”1 Anyone who is loved this way has nothing to fear.
And we, the church, living after the death and resurrection of Jesus, are witnesses to the greatest purchase of all, when God through Jesus ‘bought back’ all human beings, for his glory: Christ gave his life on the cross “as a ransom for many” (Matthew 10:45); Jesus...gave himself as a ransom for all men” (I. Timothy 2:5-7). We are precious in God’s eyes. The church is God’s treasure.
The chapter concludes with a remarkable court scene: God challenges the gods of the nations to put their record on the line by bringing the nations as witnesses, but neither the gods nor the nations show up (43:9). But the blind, and the deaf, they do show up; the people of God do come forward, out of captivity: they are witnesses to God’s faithfulness (43:8).
And another remarkable thing happens: as the blind and the deaf give testimony, their faith grows exponentially, it strengthens. Their own blindness and their own deafness is swallowed up in new assurance, and they leave the courts with their heads held high (43:10).2
There’s a connection between proclaiming God’s faithfulness, and growing in our faith. Faith is a gift, certainly, but it’s a gift that we nurture by reminding one another and all those around us of the mighty acts of God. The antidote to fear and doubt is faith.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen ✠
Much of the road was unpaved - just a dirt road. In the summer, the wind would kick up the dry dust and make it impossible to see more than 10 metres ahead, and in the winter, the road got so muddy from the rain that we feared getting stuck in the mud or sliding into oncoming traffic.
And while everyone else was scared during the trip, I remember sitting in the back seat, at peace, watching my father skillfully maneuver our 1974 Volvo through the dust or mud. I sometimes even fell asleep: that’s how safe I felt; that’s how much I trusted my father getting us there. And he always did, he never failed.
Our reading from Isaiah (43:1-13) gives us a similar picture of trustworthiness: the trustworthy character of God, our heavenly Father. In fact, God is trustworthy in a way that no earthly father could be. Therefore, we need not fear what’s before us (43:1, 5), no matter how difficult our situation is (43:2): God loves us (43:4), he has saved us (43:1, 3, 4), and he is with us (43:5). No one can snatch us from his protective hand (43:3, 11, 12). This is the God we are witness to, this is the God we proclaim to the world (43:10, 12).
The text addresses Israel in captivity: oppressed, living under constant fear and doubt. God had handpicked the people of Israel to be his ambassadors to the world - not because they were extraordinarily talented or good, actually the opposite was the case, they were the weakest and most vulnerable nation in the region - but instead of fulfilling this privileged role, they ignored it: they saw and recognized what is right, but refused to act on it, "they heard with their ears, but didn’t really listen” (42:20 paraphrase). God gave them the independence they wanted, and the result was decisive: they were robbed, plundered, and taken away in chains by their neighbours.
In such dire conditions, God speaks great words of comfort, he addresses their fears with some of the kindest words he’s spoken to his children. Two verses in particular stand out, and in both of them God appeals to his trustworthy character: Verse 1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name...” (43:1). He reminds them that he saved them - he delivered them from slavery at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22) - and under his protection they were safe from the burning fire and the consuming flame (14:2).
And then again in verse 4: “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life” (43:4). The God of the Bible has in recent times been portrayed as vindictive and violent, but this caricature does no justice to our reading: notice the tender words God uses here. They are gentle, full of concern, as from a father to a son.
God’s people are precious to him - he “buys” his people back in an exchange with king Cyrus (43:3) - he frees them so that they can return home (43:6-7). This was not a desperate move on the part of someone who’s weak; it was lavish generosity on the part of someone who loves deeply and has the whole world at his disposal.”1 Anyone who is loved this way has nothing to fear.
And we, the church, living after the death and resurrection of Jesus, are witnesses to the greatest purchase of all, when God through Jesus ‘bought back’ all human beings, for his glory: Christ gave his life on the cross “as a ransom for many” (Matthew 10:45); Jesus...gave himself as a ransom for all men” (I. Timothy 2:5-7). We are precious in God’s eyes. The church is God’s treasure.
The chapter concludes with a remarkable court scene: God challenges the gods of the nations to put their record on the line by bringing the nations as witnesses, but neither the gods nor the nations show up (43:9). But the blind, and the deaf, they do show up; the people of God do come forward, out of captivity: they are witnesses to God’s faithfulness (43:8).
And another remarkable thing happens: as the blind and the deaf give testimony, their faith grows exponentially, it strengthens. Their own blindness and their own deafness is swallowed up in new assurance, and they leave the courts with their heads held high (43:10).2
There’s a connection between proclaiming God’s faithfulness, and growing in our faith. Faith is a gift, certainly, but it’s a gift that we nurture by reminding one another and all those around us of the mighty acts of God. The antidote to fear and doubt is faith.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen ✠
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1- Barry G. Webb, The Message of Isaiah: On Eagle’s Wings. The Bible Speaks Today. J. A. Motyer, ed. (Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 1996), 175.
2- Barry G. Webb, The Message of Isaiah: On Eagle’s Wings. The Bible Speaks Today. J. A. Motyer, ed. (Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 1996), 176.
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