WWUTT 2054 No Savior Besides Yahweh (Isaiah 43:1-28)

The Lord called the nation of Israel to serve as witnesses to who He is.

He is the one true God. There is no God before Him, there is none who will come after Him, so that we may worship

Him as God when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a

Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe. Thank you,

Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are this week opening up our Bibles to chapter 43.

Last week, we read about the servant of the Lord who will bring forth justice to the nations.

This week, we read about how the Lord will redeem Israel to Himself, and I'll give you an outline of Isaiah 43 here in a moment.

But let's begin by reading verses 1 through 7 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

Lord. For I am

Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you,

I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up, and to the south, do not hold them back.

Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name and whom

I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom

I have made. So that's the first seven verses there where the

Lord says that He will redeem Israel, and it's from this that we can also read and understand that God will redeem us as He shows

His affection and love for Israel. So we can know God has the same affection for us through Christ our

Savior, the servant, the chosen servant that was talked about in chapter 42.

Through this servant we are redeemed unto the Lord. Now the way that this breaks down, we have this first address here by Yahweh to Israel that He will redeem them, a word of comfort, of love, and assurance to this people.

Then He calls Israel to be witnesses to the work that Yahweh does so that we may see through what

God has done through Israel that He will do the same for us. And that's in that next section, verses 8 through 13.

And then last of all, we have the reference to rivers in the wasteland, how

God will bring forth good things even in those places that have been made a desert. And that's the latter portion of chapter 43, verses 14 to 28.

So let's come back again to verses 1 through 7, where we begin, thus says

Yahweh your creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel. Jacob, Israel, of course the parallelism here by saying that twice is just to call attention to this people.

There's really not a difference between saying you, O Jacob, and you, O Israel, because Jacob was

Israel. So it's a parallelism with the same thing repeated twice as saying like hail, hail, or hark, hark, something to that effect, where you're calling the people's attention that they might come and hear.

The Lord says, do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name.

You are mine. Now remember this is being said to a people that is in exile. They have been sent into Babylonian captivity.

But God is saying, I have already ransomed you. I've already paid for you to return to me.

This giving hope to those people that are in exile, that the Lord will be faithful to fulfill His promises and they will come back to the land that God had promised to the descendants of Abraham.

When you pass through the waters, He says, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. All of this talking about both the exile from the land of Israel into the land of Babylon, and also the matter of destruction that had come against them in Jerusalem and in other places.

They saw their homes being burned. And yet you'll pass through fire and you'll not be scorched.

You will get to go back to that land and God will restore it to you. And we know that happened after the 70 years that they were in first Babylonian captivity and then in captivity to the

Medes and the Persians. The Lord saying in verse three, for I am Yahweh, your God, the Holy one of Israel, your

Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba in your place.

Since you are precious in my sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.

Now what is being said here is rather challenging because those places still exist. There is still an

Egypt and an Ethiopia on the earth, but those lands are not protected by God.

His favor is not upon Egypt and Ethiopia. They had faced much worse calamity by the

Assyrians and then by the Babylonians and then by the Greeks that Israel would not have to face.

They were able to come back into the land and did not face further persecution by their enemies to the point that they were driven out of the land again.

That did not happen to them. But with the Ethiopians and with the Egyptians, it did. Remember that there are, there are foreshadowings here regarding Cyrus who has not yet come to power because they've not yet come into the captivity of the

Medes and the Persians. Cyrus is going to be the one that will ultimately say, Hey, we're going to let you go back to your land and I'm even going to supply for you the craftsmen that will help you rebuild your city and your walls and your temple.

And so that is in view here with the promise of Cyrus that is going to lead them back into the land.

No such promise was ever given to Egypt and Ethiopia. They were never taken into captivity and then restored to the land that belonged to them.

Rather, God's anger was appeased through their destruction. It wasn't a total annihilation, but they were certainly destroyed more thoroughly than what happened to Israel with Israel being allowed to go back and build their land and even eventually come into making a temple that was far greater than the one that they had had before.

Of course, the temple that they first built, the second temple was smaller than Solomon's temple, but eventually it was larger under Herod.

When you had the, uh, the temple that was built in Herod's reign. So God is promising the people of Israel that they will see deliverance.

God's wrath was appeased in that these other nations were given over to the

Babylonians or later to the Greeks. But Israel would have that opportunity to come back into their place and the

Lord would sustain them. Do not fear for I'm with you. Verse five. I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west.

I will say to the north, give them up and to the south. Do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

And certainly Jews from everywhere came back into the land and occupied it once again in the decades that followed this particular prophecy.

Now we see even in this prophecy, a promise that God is going to bring his people from the north and the south and the east to the west.

And we see that even now his church, which is the true Israel, those who are in Christ are his people.

And we've come from all over the place, from everywhere in the world, north, southeast and west. As Jesus said to the woman at the well in John chapter four, that the place where people will worship

God will no longer be in Jerusalem or here on this mountain, but they will worship the father in spirit and in truth for these are the worshipers that the father is seeking to worship him.

So in verse seven, everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created for my glory, whom

I have formed, even whom I have made will come and call upon the name of the

Lord. And so that's how we see even in the promises that are given to Israel in this chapter, how we might understand the same promises that are given to us.

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. A promise that's repeated again in Romans chapter 10.

We continue on in the next section where God calls Israel to be witnesses to these promises that he has made beginning in verse eight, bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes and the deaf, even though they have ears.

This goes back to the word that God gave to Isaiah back in chapter six, where he said that you will, you will tell this people to repent, but even though you say it, though having eyes, they will not see and though having ears, they will not hear.

But now God is saying, I'm going to open your eyes and open your ears that you may hear the call of the

Lord. Verse nine, all the nations have gathered together so that the peoples may be assembled who among them can declare this and make us hear the former things.

Let them present their witness that they may be justified or let them hear and say, it is true.

You are my witnesses declares Yahweh. So there's, there's not a, a, an assembly of people in the earth at this time, in this context in which the

Lord is speaking to Israel, there's not an assembly in the earth that is coming forth and saying, Oh, Hey, I understand what it is that he's saying.

It is only by the blessing of God that our, that our ears be unstopped and our eyes be open, that we may be able to hear and see what

God has shown to us. You cannot know God's word. If not for the

Holy spirit that he has given to you, as said back in first Corinthians chapter two, chapter two, verse 14, the naturally minded man can't understand spiritual things for they are spiritually discerned, but we have been given the spirit of God that we may know the mind of God.

It is only through his spirit that inhabits us, that we can even understand this word that is being spoken.

And so Israel serves as a witness to this. Israel was blind. They were deaf.

They could not see, they could not understand, but through their witness, we see it is God who opens the eyes and unstops the ears.

It is God who draws the, those to himself and they believe by the blessing of God, not by their ability to believe or to discern these things by their, by their own human wisdom.

You are my witnesses declares Yahweh verse 10 again, and my servant whom

I have chosen so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me, there was no

God formed and there will be none after me. I even, I am

Yahweh and there is no savior besides me. It is I who have declared and saved and caused it to be heard.

And there was no strange God among you. So you are my witnesses declares

Yahweh and I am God even from eternity. I am he, and there is none who can deliver out of my hand.

I act and who can reverse it. So because of what

God has done with Israel, the way that he has dealt with Israel, we can understand these truths about God.

And hence why God says, you're my witnesses because of how God has dealt with Israel, that all may see and know the character of God, know his eternality, knowing as it says in Romans 1 20, his eternal power and divine nature, which have clearly been perceived in all that has been made.

So that man is without excuse through Israel, we are able to see the character of God through the way that he had called

Israel to himself and what he did with Israel, ultimately fulfilling a promise that he made to Israel by bringing the savior.

And so by faith in the savior, we have all become people of God. All of this through the testimony that was given through Israel.

It is it is from the Israelites that we have the Old Testament scriptures, as the apostle Paul said in,

I think it was Romans 3. What benefit is there of being a Jew? Much in every way, for it was to the

Jews were given the oracles of God. We even have the Old Testament scriptures because God gave them to Jewish prophets and eventually commissioning his

Jewish apostles that would go out into the world spreading the gospel. So it is Israel that serves as witnesses to these things, that we may know these great things about God.

So that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me, there was no

God formed right there. Mormonism is a lie. Before me,

God says there was no God formed and there will be none after me.

There is only Yahweh. There is only our one true God, three persons, father, son and Holy Spirit in the one triune

God. And that is it. There are no gods before. There will be no gods after.

So every polytheistic religion is a lie. Mormonism is a lie.

Mormonism, which claims there were gods before the father and there are gods that will come after because they teach you can become your own god with your own planet and populate it.

Just as they say, Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother have done through their celestial sexual relations.

No such thing is ever going to happen. It is not true. It is a complete lie. And God proclaiming himself here through Israel testifies that he is the only

God and there is no other. Verse 11, I even I am Yahweh and there is no savior besides me.

There is no one who saves but God. You cannot save yourself by your works or any of your efforts.

No priest can declare salvation for you. There is no other relation on or no other religion on Earth that brings salvation.

It is only God. There's not a different God for a different people. There is only one

God for all people, for anyone who is going to be saved. They must call on the name of the

Lord. He is the only savior. Verse 12, it is I who have declared and saved.

I caused it to be heard. God says once again, going back to the fact that man and his wisdom does not cause himself to understand these things.

It is because God has opened the eyes or opened the ears. There was no strange

God among you. God says, so you are my witnesses, declares Yahweh.

And I am God from eternity. I am he. In other words, no beginning and no end.

I've had arguments online recently with atheists who have said, see, you

Christians fall into the same trap that you try to catch us in when you try to tell us, hey, prove to me that something can come from nothing.

Well, what about your God? Where did he come from? And I will say to those persons, it is perfectly logical and reasonable to say that the creator who created all things is therefore outside of all things.

He is not subject to the same physical laws that we are subject to. You're trying to subject him to those laws, but the creator does not need a creator.

The creator who is self -sustaining and eternal, who stands outside of the physical known universe does not need a cause.

He is uncaused and the one who caused everything else that exists.

It would be illogical to try to subject him to those things that he himself has created.

And of course, they don't ever buy that because they're blind and stupid. Their eyes have been closed and their ears stopped up because they love unrighteousness rather than God.

But it is clearly stated that God is from all eternity. He has no cause. He will have no end.

There is none who can deliver out of my hand. He says what he purposes he does in the last line of verse 13,

I act and who can reverse it, who can undo what I have done. Last of all, we have the promise of how

God is going to bring flourishing even in the midst of a wasteland. And this is the last half of Isaiah 43 verses 14 to 28.

Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel, for your sake,

I have sent to for your sake, I have sent to Babylon and will bring down those who fled all of them, even the

Chaldeans into the ships in which they shouted for joy. So those who tried to flee the judgment of God when it came upon the land,

God's judgment will come upon them. There's none who can flee from God's judgment. So he says in verse 15,

I am Yahweh, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.

Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters, who brings forth the chariot and the horse, the military force and the mighty man, they will lie down together and not rise again.

They have been extinguished and quenched like a wick. Now, all of that is prefacing what

God is going to say. Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way through the sea and does all of these amazing things. And then here's the statement from Yahweh in verse 18.

Do not remember the former things, nor carefully consider things of the past. Behold, I will do something new.

Now it will spring forth. Will you not know it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the wasteland.

The beasts of the field will glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland to give drink to my chosen people.

The people whom I formed for myself will recount my praise.

So you see what it is that God is saying here, even those places that he has brought low, that he has made a desolation, which is read earlier in Isaiah, he will cause them to flourish again.

And he will bring blessing even out of the wilderness. And so this is a prophecy concerning Christ, for it was

Jesus who came out of the wilderness. He wandered in the wilderness for 40 days when he was being tempted by Satan.

But he comes out and begins his ministry after those 40 days of fasting and praying in the wilderness.

God literally bringing blessing out of the wilderness, for it is through Christ that we are redeemed.

We are forgiven our sins. We are given everlasting life with God. He is the one who has the power to make the land of desolation, to make it so barren that it is nothing but a haunt for jackals.

And he is the one who is able to give it life again, not a place of haunt, but a place of life.

Verse 20, the beasts of the field will glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland to give drink to my chosen people.

Jesus, remember saying, I am the water of life. The people whom I form for myself will recount my praise.

Verse 22, yet you have not called on me, O Jacob, but you have become weary of me,

O Israel. You have not brought to me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you glorified me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

Rather, you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

I, even I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Bring me to remembrance. Let us enter into judgment together. Recount your cause that you may be proved right.

Your first father sinned and your spokesmen have transgressed against me.

So I will profane the princes of the sanctuary and I will give Jacob to be devoted to destruction and Israel to revilement.

So that reference to your first father, that's a reference to Adam, your first father sinned and your spokesmen have transgressed against me.

But notice that we have this statement, this declaration through Isaiah 43, that God is going to deliver.

He is going to restore Israel and do so for the sake of his name. Verse 25 again,

I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

But for the time being, you are going through this punishment because of your transgressions against me, because you have wearied me with your words and have offered up sacrifices to false gods rather than to the true

God. So he devotes Jacob to destruction and Israel to revilement. It won't be permanent, but for now, this is a taste of the punishment that they deserve.

They don't get the full annihilation that they deserve, but they will certainly feel the consequences of their disobedience against God when they are exiled into Babylon and to the

Medes and to the Persians. But once again, it's through Israel that we have a witness to the goodness and kindness of God.

When we turn to the Lord, when we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, he wipes out our transgressions and he does so for his name's sake.

As said in 1 John 2 12, I'm writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.

And as I'm, uh, I'm fond of quoting from Psalm 23, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

It is the Lord who does this and he does it for his glory. As he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. My friends, if you are a believer in the

Lord Jesus Christ, it is because God has had mercy on you. He wipes out your transgressions through the sacrifice of Jesus for his name's sake, and he will not remember your sins.

Praise him for he alone is worthy of our worship. Heavenly father, as we bring this to a close,

I pray that it serves as a strong reminder to us of just how awesome you are and that we know there is no other

God by whom we can be saved. It is only you who has provided for the, uh, who has provided a sacrifice to appease the anger that you have against the sin of mankind and that sacrifice is in your son,

Jesus Christ, all who believe in him, our sins are forgiven and we have everlasting life with God.

May we be a witness to others that they may know through our testimony that Jesus Christ forgives sins and gives eternal life so that others may come to know and believe you are

God. You are in control of our every situation and circumstance. You have done it.

Who can turn it back? So may we honor you and worship you as sovereign and holy.

You are our king. In Jesus name we declare these things.

Amen. This has been, when we understand the text of pastor Gabriel Hughes for all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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