Keep sharing good news without ads.
Sermon: A New Exodus Date: June 21, 2026, Afternoon Text: Isaiah 43:16-21 Series: Isaiah Preacher: Conley Owens Audio:https://storage.googleapis.com/pbc-ca-sermons/2026/260621-%20A%20New%20Exodus.aac
Please turn your Bible to Isaiah chapter 43. That can be found on page 604 if you're using the Pew Bible in front of you. Isaiah 43, we will be looking at verses 16 through 21. For those who have become accustomed to my preaching in Isaiah, you will note that this is a larger passage than is usually delivered.
Please go ahead and stand when you have that. But Isaiah 43, beginning in verse 16, thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior.
They lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick. Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches. For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.
Amen. Last week, the text was verses 4 through 15. The point I made was to distinguish between being protected from trials versus being protected through trials, there being a special kind of blessing, though difficulty, and being protected through trials.
Then at the end of the message, I pointed out that there is a third category, which is being raised up when having fallen, which has its own special kind of blessings, though it is an incredibly difficult thing to be under the guilt that comes from moral failings.
Yet to be raised up from such things, to be forgiven, is an incredibly special blessing that most of creation, most of humanity, but the most of creation has no experience of. That is what this passage is about.
In comparing Egypt to Babylon, the deliverance from one to the other, it emphasizes the greatness of being saved from sin versus saved to some other kind of innocent victim bondage. People in Egypt had not sinned to get there.
They simply had been there under Joseph, and a new Pharaoh rose who did not know Joseph, and they found themselves in bondage, and God brought them out. Salvation from Babylon being said to be much greater here is one where the people had by their sin gone into Babylon, and it is that particular factor, the depth of their fall due to sin that makes their release from Babylon so much greater.
And we will see that this salvation from Babylon is typical, that term typical meaning like a type, leaving an imprint of something else as a printer's type would. It is typical salvation from the bondage to sin.
It says in verse 16, "'Thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior. They lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.'".
What is going on there? What's it talking about? This is talking about the Exodus, as they cross the Red Sea, God made a path and the mighty warriors, or in the, excuse me, in the mighty waters. Now what was the point of that path?
You might in your head as you're thinking about salvation, etc., immediately go to thinking about the people being led across this path so that they can find salvation, but that is not the emphasis here.
The emphasis is that He led the Egyptians on that path, okay? The warriors, the horsemen, the chariots, they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick, they are all destroyed, okay, they are made dead.
Exodus 15 .1 gives the song of Moses where he says, "'I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and His rider He has thrown into the sea.'". This is what is being described. This is echoing the song of Moses, this is echoing the Exodus, and particularly not the fact that the people were able to cross on dry land, but that God brought the enemy across the dry land in order that they would be destroyed.
It continues on here, talking about them being quenched like a wick, "'Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?'.
This is something new. Something new is happening. "'I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people, the people whom I formed for Myself, that they might declare My praise.'".
The picture it's giving is of something that's very similar but has some significant opposites. Okay? Instead of a dry path, a dry way going through waters, instead a waterway is going through dry land.
And instead of the dry path, instead of that one way being for the destruction of enemies, for destruction of the nations, instead that waterway is for life overflowing even to the beasts of the field.
"'The wild beasts will honor Me, the jackals and the ostrich, and then most especially God's people, they will honor Him.'". This calls back to Isaiah 43 verse 7,. "'Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.'".
He said back there in verse 7 that He would bring them all from north, south, east, west so that they would be able to glorify Him. What this is saying is that the salvation from Babylon is greater than the salvation from Egypt.
And yet, there are several reasons why we should understand this as ultimately referring to the gospel. Of course, Babylon frequently imaging bondage to sin, yet even here there are several things to consider.
First of all, note that Isaiah 10 made the same comparison with Assyria, so this is not a unique comparison. "'Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts,' this is Isaiah 10 verses 24 through 27,. "'Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, O My people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and they lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did, for in a very little while My fury will come to an end and My anger will be directed to their destruction, and the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb, and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift as He did in Egypt, and in that day His burden will depart from your shoulder, His yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.'".
So this comparison to Egypt, to the Exodus is not an entirely unique one, yet at the same time He speaks more highly of Babylon. He says here these things in Jeremiah 16, 14, it says, "'Therefore, behold, the days are coming,' declares the Lord, "'when it shall no longer be said, as the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them, for I will bring them back to their own land that I gave their fathers.'".
So He seems to speak more highly of people coming back from Babylon. Now as you consider the fulfillment of that in an honest way, can we say that Babylon fulfills this in the fullest sense that one would expect?
Compare how it is that God brought the people out of Babylon and how it is that He brought the people out of Egypt. Just compare the miraculous works. He spoke to a pagan king, Cyrus, king of Persia, and had them, and when Persia conquered Babylon, restored the people to their land and gave them resources in order to build the temple.
That's a miraculous thing. But how does it compare to the 10 plagues, to the parting of the Red Sea, to preserving the people in the wilderness, which is memorialized in many psalms, giving the people water, giving the people food, bringing them over dry land through the Jordan, and so on?
All these are fairly incredible things that seem to be greater than Babylon. So when this prophecy is given to talk about this thing that He's doing, though it is in the immediate context of Babylon, is that ultimately what the Lord is talking about, or is He talking about something greater?
Clearly, He must be talking about something greater. This cannot merely be speaking of Babylon. Rather, it is speaking of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. And it's evident enough from the passage here.
When it says, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick, what does that call us to compare it to? Well, just the previous chapter where He had said, behold My servant whom I uphold, My chosen in whom My soul delights, I have put My Spirit upon him, he will bring justice to the nations, he will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. Who is this talking about? The New Testament interprets this passage for us. It's talking about Jesus Christ.
So when there is a comparison to people being destroyed, quenched like a wick, and then people being preserved and given life, what does that call us back to? The One who gives life and does not quench the wick is calling us back to Jesus Christ.
He is the One who is greater than Cyrus. The salvation that people experience from sin is greater than the salvation that they experience from Babylon, though Babylon represents a salvation from sin since it was the people's particular sin that sent them to Babylon.
So the salvation from sin is a greater kind of salvation. You can see it also just in Christ's life and death. Throughout His ministry, what does He tell the woman at the well? He has living water. What does this passage speak of, the living water?
In His death is He not shown to be the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world? What is the exodus centered about at that crux moment that is memorialized in the Passover? It's the Lamb. And even this passage and the way it speaks, it had said, remember not the former things.
Okay, what are the former things? Former things is the exodus. How do you remember the exodus? It's the Passover. What has been supplanted, what has supplanted or replaced the observation of the Passover for the Christian?
Is it not the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Supper that remembers His death? This is the greater salvation. When He tells us not to remember, not to memorialize anymore, and instead memorialize something new that He is doing, what is the new thing?
The new thing that it is pointing to is salvation through Jesus Christ. Then, of course, we have testimony from other Scripture. In Revelation 21, 5 through 6, it says, And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
And he also said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give the spring of water of life without payment.
Here, speaking of the water of life, later on in Isaiah 55, 1, speaking of that water of life being without payment, saying here, making all things new, saying here, He does a new thing. And then, speaking of Himself as the Alpha and the Omega, what does it say in Isaiah 44, 6?
Just one page over. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and the last. Besides me there is no God. He is the first and the last. He is the Alpha and Omega.
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega. He is the one who is the greater Savior, the greater Savior than Cyrus, king of Persia, offering greater salvation than salvation from Babylon. All this is fulfilled in Him.
And this salvation is greater than the kind of salvation that one might experience otherwise. Compare these two things. When it says that He makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, to describe the death that He brings on others, what does that compare to?
The life that He gives. To save someone from an enemy, someone who is innocent from an enemy, is just to commit an act of violence, right? It is just to bring death. Okay, that is the only happening when an innocent person is protected.
It is no more glorious than that. Now that's a glorious thing on one hand, but it is no more glorious than that. When someone is guilty, what does it look like to save that person? It looks like giving them life.
That is a far more glorious thing to bring a dead man up from the dead. Jesus did not come for the well, He came for the sick, and that is a more glorious thing than coming for those who are well. When we are saved by Jesus Christ, we are united to Him so that we are no longer under the federal headship of Adam, but under the federal headship of Christ.
And that comes with blessings that are more glorious than even if Adam had never sinned. Okay, if Adam had never sinned, and we had never sinned, if Adam had passed his probation, earned the reward that he had for himself if he had not eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we would not need Christ in the same way that we need Him now.
We would not have received salvation from death, such that we are united to Him. And us being united to Him, experiencing His love and mercy in a special way, experiencing the joy of union with Him in a special way, experiencing His strength.
He said in John 10 verse 10, I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly. Okay, those who would have in theory, if Adam had never sinned, had life, they would have had life, and that would have been a good thing.
But those who have been united to Jesus Christ have an abundant life that is far greater. Okay, the salvation from Babylon is greater than the salvation from Exodus, not in the various miracles that God did, because those were greater in Egypt, but it is a more glorious thing to be forgiven of one's sins than to simply be defended.
It is a far more glorious thing, and that is what God has done for His people, is united them to Christ, and we will experience a glorious resurrection, and we enjoy a union being united with Him, the vine, that we would not have otherwise.
There would be no such joy, no such strength. Now think of also what this means for there being not just a greater life, but also a greater people. Consider what it says about the chariot and horse. The chariot and the horse die.
They all lie down. They cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick. What happens with the animals? In the later passage, the wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.
Okay, so He gives water for His chosen people, and who benefits from that? More, more benefit from that. The beasts benefit from that. What is it speaking of when it says that the beasts benefit from this?
Well, first, call to mind some of the things that Isaiah has said before. When he's spoken of jackals and ostriches, these unclean animals, he's typically talked about them coming into cities because of death, right?
He says He will destroy Babylon, and so jackals and ostriches will take over. He will destroy Edom, and so jackals and ostriches will take over. But here it's not destruction that brings the jackals and ostriches.
It's not things becoming more deserted. Things becoming more lively, more full of the essence of life that they come. And what is the benefit of God saving His people? Who does it overflow to? As He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, did He not then, through that wonderful gospel by which one is saved as easily as many, save likewise the Gentiles?
This is precisely what was accomplished. Peter, receiving a vision from God, as the gospel is going out to the Gentiles, what does he see? He sees all kinds of unclean animals being lowered in a sheet.
This is not about being able to eat unclean foods. That is addressed by other passages. Peter's understanding at the end of this is that he should not call any people unclean. Him seeing all these unclean beasts being lowered to him is him being instructed that the Gentiles are welcome in.
Here, as the beasts, as the unclean animals are all permitted and come drink the water which is given to God's people, here in this context, Israel, what is it talking about? It's salvation going out to the Gentiles.
Just as the flood covers the horse and the chariot, and it kills one just as easily as it kills many. He says they lie down together, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, right? The fact that they lie down together, that means He kills one as easily as He kills many.
Through Christ's death, He saves one just as easily as He saves many. Have you ever heard the statement, sufficient for all, efficient for the elect? Sufficient for all. Christ's death is sufficient for all mankind in that His shed blood is not something that would only be of so much value to save the elect.
It is not as though God, in sending Jesus Christ and sacrificing Him, is sacrificing something that only has enough value that it might save a handful of people and no more. Now He only elects some set, as we saw in Ephesians chapter 1, but the point of all this is that He has given a sacrifice that saves many.
And so He has saved not only those among the people of Israel, the Jews, but He has likewise saved people from all over the world as the gospel has gone all over the world. This is the extent of that salvation.
It's a far greater thing to a far greater people, meaning a more expansive scope of people, a greater scope of people. And likewise, this results in a greater praise. Just consider the things that are said about the memorial, remember not the former things nor consider the things of old.
I'm doing a new thing. Why is it that you shouldn't remember it? Well, it's not that it's not worth remembering at all. Of course, we still talk about the exodus, but it is that it pales in comparison and there is far more to praise God about for this greater kind of salvation, for forgiveness from sins, not merely being defended as an innocent person, but being forgiven and raised up to life.
There's far greater praise that is owed. How often do people celebrate the Passover? Once a year? How often do we celebrate the Lord's Supper? We do so here weekly, and that seems to be the indication of the New Testament.
It is something that is supposed to be remembered frequently and focused on, not as one among many different feasts, but as the primary thing that is remembered every week. We have the more infrequent remembrance of baptism, but this focuses on the exact same thing.
Even the preaching is about the exact same thing. It's not these different small aspects of salvation. It is one great salvation that we are hyper-focused on. It's the salvation that we have through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It's a far greater salvation. It's a salvation that is worth understanding more deeply in order that we might be able to praise Him more deeply. It says that He has done this in order that the people whom He formed for Himself might declare His praise.
Remember that that is speaking of the earlier part in chapter 43. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
And how have all those things happened? Verse 4, because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you peoples in exchange for your life. God out of His great love for His people has gathered them all together, and He has done so in His way that that overflow of love has gone to more people than it was initially in its outward form designed for.
It has gone not just to the people of Judea, it has gone to all the Gentiles. It has overflowed with a greater life, a greater life than we would have if we had preserved the life that was initially given.
Like Christ, made a little while lower than the angels, descended and then raised high above everything, above the angels, seated in the heavenly places, we being united with Him have been taken from our place below the angels, raised up with Him.
This is the goodness of being saved, not merely as an innocent man, but being saved as guilty men who have experienced the glorious thing of being forgiven. Understand this truth more deeply as you go to Scripture in order that you might be able to praise Him more deeply, and your heart should be filled with the kind of zeal that wants that river of life to flow to many others, to flow to the jackals, ostriches, all the unclean beasts, that they might be made clean, that they might know the glorious Savior.
Praise Him in your own heart, and praise Him to others. Amen.