43:1 But now, thus says the Lord—he who formed you, O Jacob, he who created you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. So, having appealed to his people Jacob, or Israel, to return from blindness—some do and some don't—here again we have the alternating motifs of chaos and creation: chaos at the end chapter forty-two, verse twenty-five, and creation, chapter forty three, verse one. The forming and creating is really organizing things, like a potter organizing a vessel out of a lump of clay. Which is imagery used in Isaiah and by the other Hebrew prophets. And the fact that the motif of creation follows that of chaos implies that there's creation out of chaos. It's not creation out of nothing. The idea of creation out of nothing does not appear in Isaiah or any of the Hebrew prophets, at all. While you are an idolater, you are blind and you are still in a state of chaos. But now you have responded to the Lord's law and word. You have not yet passed the test, as the people of Zion or Jerusalem, but you have responded and now he's creating you, forming you. And the time will come when he will present you with a test, like the people in king Hezekiah's day and then you will qualify for being Zion, or Jerusalem. "He who formed you O Jacob, he who created you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you." The not fearing is a word link back to chapter forty-one where he says "Don't fear; I am with you. I'll help you conquer your enemies, for I have redeemed you." The redemption of the Lord is defined, first of all, as spiritual redemption, in the book of Isaiah. Wherever the word "redeemed" appears you get part of that definition of what it means to be redeemed. And that's my literary message of Isaiah: Take every instance of the word "redeemed" and its synonym, "ransomed" and show what they say. And here it involves crossing the waters and going on an exodus, and so on. But, redemption is, first of all, spiritual. There is a spiritual redemption wrought by the God of Israel, himself, that begins with the forgiveness of sins for those who repent. God pays the price of justice. He's called the Redeemer of his people, the Redeemer of Israel. "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you," so you might say, in a spiritual sense, "I have called you by name; you are mine." Calling by name is a royal accession motif, just like the grasping of the hand is. And the God, in Mesopotamian religion, grasps the king by the hand and also named him. And that empowered him as king, the legitimate, authorized king. Of course, those things in Mesopotamian religion are corrupt offshoots of what happened anciently, in true religion, going back to the end of time, that has a valid basis in Hebrew religion, to this day. Be called by name, be grasped by the right hand, and so forth, are all royal accession motifs. And now Israel is being acknowledged as a covenant people; they're at least being called by name. "You are mine," he says. 43:2 When you cross the waters, I will be with you; when you traverse the rivers, you shall not be overwhelmed. Though you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; its flame shall not consume you. This people experiences this exodus, this physical redemption—after they are called by name, or after they are confirmed in God's covenant. And they are confirmed in God's covenant when they pass the test, as we saw earlier. The deliverance does not happen until they pass the test. The people of king Hezekiah's day were not delivered from the Assyrians; the angel of the Lord did not destroy the Assyrian army in one night until the people had proven loyal to their God and to their king. And so, here, that implies that this deliverance, too, does not happen until they pass the test. The calling by name implies that also; it's a confirmation. It's calling to an elect status: "You are mine." They are his. They were not his while they were still idolaters. But they are his, in a covenant bond. And that exodus motif keeps reoccurring all the way through Isaiah. And here's another manifestation of it. We already saw in verse sixteen of chapter forty-two that he will "lead the blind by a way they did not know, guide them in paths unfamiliar." That's part of it. Part of it is crossing the waters. "When you cross the waters I will be with you." When God is with his people that means there is salvation, or deliverance. That's the name, "Immanuel, God is with you." God is with them, literally, and in the person of his Servant. Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness and through the Red Sea. God was with his people at that time, using Moses as his instrument for deliverance. "When you traverse the rivers, you will not be overwhelmed. Thought you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned." The very fire that destroys the wicked, in the end of chapter forty-two, is the very fire which these, the righteous, walk. They will come from many different directions, from many different places; some will have to cross oceans, some will have to cross rivers, some will have to walk through the very destruction that is already going on at the king of Assyria's doing. And how can they do that? Probably because they'll be in a different time zone, or space. When the Lord's cloud of glory covers them, then the Lord's protection will be there for them. "Its flame shall not consume you." Do we have a precedent in the Old Testament for people walking through the fire? Because everything in Isaiah has a type in the past: Daniel's companions, in the book of Daniel. God's people are given power over the elements, no matter what elements will stand in the way. The fire is destructive; it's the power of chaos, so the waters are the power of chaos. Isaiah keeps repeating that no matter what the adversity, no matter what the opposition may be, it is not as powerful as God is to deliver you through it. 43:3 For I the Lord am your God, I, the Holy One of Israel, am your Savior; Egypt I have appointed as ransom for you, Cush and Seba I give in place of you. Here, "your God" signifies your covenant God. "I am your God," he says, "and you are my people." That's the covenant formula. But "your God" is parallel with "your Savior," which defines God's role as Savior, the ultimate Savior. There are little Saviors, like the Servant, and like king Hezekiah, or like Moses. But all they do, really, is they qualify themselves and their people for deliverance. They don't actually do the saving. Only God does that. "The Holy One of Israel am your Savior," again, his title of "Holy One", as an exemplar—this title of Savior, as an exemplar. Moses could be a savior; Moses could also be a Holy One, a Holy Servant of God. So can we be saviors and holy ones. "Egypt I have appointed as ransom for you, Cush and Seba I give in place of you." How so? When the Israelites came out of Egypt God destroyed the Egyptian army in the midst of the sea, correct? It was as if they were a ransom for Israel. In the latter-day destructions the king of Assyria will destroy the world at large. Out of that world will be brought an elect, or ransomed, people. The purpose of the king of Assyria will be to annihilate and exterminate entire nations, it says in chapter ten, so that he can have total rule over the world. He'll be a world dictator. And, in destroying so many peoples and committing genocide on a world-wide scale, he thinks he's going to destroy the people of God. In many instances, in Isaiah, that's his chief goal to destroy the people of God. because they are his main enemy. He knows that so long as they're around, this world being God's, and they being his people, he will not have full control. He will not have full power. So he destroys, worldwide. Who were the people, for example, that Hitler most focused upon, in the second World War, to try to utterly exterminate them? The Jews. Why? Because they were the people of God. And for the same reason: they were a threat to him. And so does the king of Assyria. But in destroying so many people's he thinks he's destroying the people of God. Did Hitler manage to finally destroy all the Jews? No. But he destroyed a great number of them. In the latter days, the wicked of the world will serve as a ransom for the righteous, in that sense. The Assyrian will think he's destroying the people of God, when in fact he's only destroying the wicked people of God and of the nations. The righteous will be delivered out. On the very eve of the destruction they will come out on an exodus, like Lot out of Sodom, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, because God has redeemed them, because they have kept the law of his covenant, because they have passed the test of faithfulness. Egypt and Cush were lower Egypt and upper Egypt, which, in this case, would be code names for some modern nations like that. Egypt was THE greatest world power at that time, and Cush was upper Egypt. And we have a similar situation today. 43:4 Because you are precious and revered in my eyes, and because I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. The love that God has for his people is a covenant love. I don't think you could say that there's true love, without there being covenantal love. Wherever you define God's love anywhere, or the love of people for God it's a covenantal love. And so, because they keep their part of the covenant, God is bound to keep his part of the covenant. And that is covenant love. Covenant love was anciently defined as a vassal keeping the terms of his covenant with the suzerain. It is the same idea in the New Testament, where Jesus says, "If you love me keep my commandments." You are precious and revered in my eyes because you have covenanted with me. You're like a spouse; you're like husband and wife. And so, he will look out for you. " I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life." When the king of Assyria thinks he's destroying God's people, he is, in effect, only destroying the wicked. They're both a decoy and a ransom. Because, if the wicked were still to live, after it's all over then we would be in exactly the same situation that we're in today where the righteous are still oppressed by the wicked. And so it would not be a real deliverance. Just as it wasn't deliverance for the Israelites when they came out of Egypt until Pharaoh's armies were destroyed. And to live with such people in the Millennium would be unthinkable. It wouldn't be a Millennium. It would just be a continuation of the way things are today. 43:5–6 Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, Give up! to the south, Withhold not! He says twice "Do not fear," as he says it twice in chapter forty-one. So, at this exodus, or at this very time of great and extreme difficulty, threat, and danger, and it seems like we're going to be overwhelmed by nuclear holocaust, or by world-wide conquest by modern Assyria, or some other scenario of that kind, there is great cause to fear, right? That's what the wicked say. You can tell, by reading between the lines, that there is great cause to fear, or that some say there is. In actuality the Lord says, "Don't fear." He keeps reassuring us of that. And the fact that he keeps repeating that, and reassuring us, means that that could be a great test for us. Are we going to remain loyal to the Lord through those difficult times when public opinion is saying one thing, and the Lord is saying, "No, it's not that way. There is deliverance through this. And this is, in fact, the very hour of your deliverance, the hour of destruction of the wicked, when things look impossible." That is the very time that he's going to come through for us. "Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west." " I will say to the north, Give up, to the south, Withhold not!" The same as in chapter eleven, coming from the four corners or directions of the earth. You and your offspring; I will gather you—I will bring your offspring. "To the north, give up." Just like Moses said to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." This implies some kind of bondage in the north. In the north are where the ten tribes were taken captive. Which implies that in the north there will again be some kind of bondage, or captivity from which the ten tribes must be rescued. And so we have a confrontation between the king of Assyria in the north, and the Servant, light versus darkness, the righteous ensign versus the wicked ensign. [This sentence is unclear] It implies that some who are locked in are let go. "To the south, Withhold not!" This implies bondage in the south, which was, traditionally, Egypt. In chapter fifty-two it talks about the governors of the Lord's people taking them over. 43:6–7 Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth—all who are called by my name, whom I have formed, molded and wrought for my own glory. Sons and daughters, of course, can be literally his offspring, the offspring of God. It can be the sons and daughters of Israel whom he adopts as his own sons and daughters. But in a proper, technical sense, in the book of Isaiah, "sons and daughters" means a covenant relationship, a vassal relationship with the Lord, the God of Israel. They are his servants and his sons. They are his handmaidens and his daughters, in that covenant relationship. "From the ends of the earth--" There is a gathering motif again. As we saw in chapter forty-one, they come from the ends of the earth like Abraham into the Promised land. There, too, he said, "Don't fear." "All who are called by my name, whom I have formed, molded and wrought for my own glory." They have gone through at least three steps to be formed, molded, and wrought for God's glory. When a potter makes a vessel he forms it with his hands, and he shapes it, afterwards, to add various ornamentations, and then he puts it in the furnace to fire it. These people are called by his name. He has called them by name, also. They're his covenant people. They qualify, spiritually, for this physical deliverance, also. He has formed them, molded them, and wrought them for his own glory. Because when they magnify the law of God they glorify God; they praise him. The whole purpose of his creation, as we saw in chapter forty, was to bring people to this point, that they might glorify God. 43:8 Let go the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears. There, again, we have the release from bondage, or from captivity, that we talked about in chapter forty-two, that Isaiah talks about there that is the Servant's job. So who is it that is saying this: "Let the people go," like Moses said it to Pharaoh?" Who is saying this? The Servant is. It is his job, in chapter forty-two, verse seven: "to free captives from confinement, from prison those who sit in darkness, to open the eyes that are blind." That mission is going on, or is being described and manifest in various ways all through these chapters. Who is he saying this to? To the north and to the south, and perhaps to the east and to the west, to whoever's there, having power over the people of God, who are keeping them down. "Let go the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears." I their blind and deaf state they can't be delivered. It's again the same idea that we saw in chapter forty-two, verse sixteen: "I will lead the blind by a way they not know," and so forth. His first job is to preach to them, as we'll see in the next few chapters, and to teach them the law and the word of God. Then they will be let go. But, at the same time, he is asking and supplicating for release from bondage for these people, because that's part of God's plan. If the Servant came along and started teaching the law and word of God to the people, would they respond? Moses' first job was to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" And then the Israelites heard about it. And when they heard that Moses was asking for their release, then they began to sit up and listen to him. Then they began to respond to the other things that they needed to do, to renew their covenant, at least in their hearts, with the God of Israel, so that they could qualify for that letting go. The release from bondage in Egypt didn't happen immediately. It happened after the covenant idea sank into their hearts and they became, in their hearts, the people of God. Then that was formally announced upon them in the Sinai wilderness when they formally adopted the covenant. And so it is here. The Servant comes, proclaiming release from bondage, at the same time teaching the law and word of God. Where does he do this? Well, perhaps in the United Nation, even. 43:9 When all nations unitedly assembled, when the peoples were gathered together, who among them foretold these things, or predicted events that have come to pass? Let them bring their witnesses and justify themselves, that those within hearing may say, It is true. Remember, that the Servant's mission is to all nations. God empowers him so that all nations will be compelled to listen. Where would be a better place for such a confrontation than in the United Nations building itself? And what goes on when the Servant comes there? He says, "Who among them foretold these things, or has predicted events that have come to pass?" Who said that there was going to be an exodus? Was that ever on the agenda of the United Nations, that there should be a worldwide destruction, and an exodus of God's people from the destruction? I don't think anything could be further from their minds, right? And when the Servant comes along and starts talking about these things how are they going to respond? Did they, in fact, ever predict anything that has come to pass? It is the same idea we saw earlier, where the Servant makes caricature of those guides who can't predict anything. We had that twice, so far, in chapters forty-one and forty-two. " Let them bring their witnesses and justify themselves, that those within hearing may say, It is true." These heads of nations, or these representatives of nations, don't even have any witnesses. And because they never predicted the truth it means that they were never of God. And if they're never of God then they're not justified. They're just human authorities there, trying to do their own thing. They're not legit. "Let them bring their witnesses and justify themselves, that those within hearing may say it is true." 43:10 But you are my witnesses, says the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen, to the end that you may recognize it and believe me, and perceive that I was the one who foretold them—before me no god was formed, nor shall one exist after me. That is talking to his people, Israel who are among the nations, who are in fact, in some kind of bondage to these United Nations, as it says they're in captivity, they are blind because they obeyed these nations who are united who are in authority of some kind. "But you are my witnesses, says the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen." That is, the corporate servant, his people Jacob, or Israel. "To the end that you may recognize it and believe me, and perceive that I was the one who foretold them: 'before me no God was formed, nor shall one exist after me.'" These are no Gods that sit in council, here, at the United Nations. "These idols, these works of men's hands are no gods." There are no other gods before the true God, the God of Israel, and there will not be one after him. There is only the God of Israel. And that God of Israel has made prophecies, or predictions through his servants. And he has predicted the end of the wicked world and the beginning of a new world. He didn't name the year 2,000, like some named for their agendas. But he has his timetable. He's calling back to a recognition of who they are, a sense of self-identity of his people Israel and Jacob who are among the nations, who are oppressed by the nations and saying, "It's your God, who's the God, the only God. It's your God who has all power. And if he's your God and he's calling you then why don't you start fulfilling your role? You're his witnesses. And he's chosen you." 43:11–12 I myself am the Lord; apart from me there is no savior. It is I who foretold and wrought salvation, making it known when there was no strange god among you. Now there are strange gods among you, modern idols, even human idols, or authorities. They're not saviors; they're not going to save you. Maybe they have a plan for the world. Maybe they have their own version of salvation. But that's not salvation, by God's definition. The only Savior is the Lord God himself. And he's going to save you in an exodus from destruction, if you are his. How do we know? It was made known, anciently, from the beginning when there was no strange god before you. Your ancestors were men of God; they were prophets. It was known, then. And now, you've lost your identity as people of God, and you're into idolatry. You're in an alienated state; you're blind, you're deaf, you're subject to oppression as a result of your sins. You're under a state of covenant curse from which, now, you can be delivered if you'll recognize God, if you'll be his witness. 43:12–13 You are my witnesses, says the Lord, that I am divine, that from the first I have been present—from my hand none can deliver; when I work, who can thwart it? He has always been present. It is we who have departed from him. "From my hand none can deliver." Which hand? Both hands. No one can deliver anyone from the king of Assyria, the Lord's left hand, if the Lord gives him power over the wicked. They can't deliver themselves. If he launches a nuclear war none of the wicked will be able to deliver themselves from it. The other hand is the right hand, the Lord's Servant. If the Lord's servant delivers his people, no one can thwart it. As Moses delivered God's people out of Egypt could Pharaoh do anything about it, with all Pharaoh's armies? No. "From the first I have been present—from my hand none can deliver; when I work, who can thwart it?" In Isaiah that's a word link. The work of the Lord is two-fold: a destruction of the wicked and a deliverance of the righteous. No one can change that--not all these nations unitedly assembled and gathered together, not Pharaoh, not the king of Assyria, nobody. 43:14 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer: For your sake I launch an attack on Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Chaldeans, they who sing the praises of shipping. How does he redeem? It says in Isaiah that he redeems his holy ones, or that he delivers his holy ones who are like him. "For your sake I launch an attack on Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Chaldeans, they who sing the praises of shipping." This is very much like the plagues coming upon Egypt. So, there will be an attack on Babylon. Isaiah defines Babylon in chapter thirteen as the world at large, and its wicked inhabitants. They're coming down as fugitives, meaning that, as we saw earlier, the wicked retreat in utter confusion. They suffer covenant curse. The Chaldeans are the inhabitants of Babylon. It's just another way of saying "Babylonians." So, in the book of Isaiah you have deliverance for Zion and destruction for Babylon. And basically you have these two entities; if you're not one, you're the other. In Isaiah's structures there's that dichotomy, that juxtaposition between these two. "They who sing the praises of shipping--" That part of the Babylonian empire, which is an idolatrous, militaristic, world dominion, is the idea of shipping. We saw that in chapter twenty-three in connection with Tyre. It's a shipping empire where the works of men's hands are traded back and forth between countries. It's an entire social/economic system. And that is Babylon. If you're part of that you'll be destroyed with it. If you sing the praises of shipping then you'll be singing the praises of idols. 43:15 I the Lord, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, am your King. Here, again, we have the chaos creation—the bringing down of the fugitives, and the creation of Israel. Israel is created. Our of that chaos of Babylon Israel can be created, just as Israel was created out of the chaos of Egypt when the plagues came upon Egypt. He is your king, or your covenant Lord, the Suzerain King, the Emperor King which whom the vassal makes a covenant. 43:16 Thus says the Lord—who provides a way in the Sea, a path through the mighty waters, So, in connection with that creation motif in verse fifteen, of the idea of God who is Creator of his people, he creates them to be a new entity or they're reborn, as it were. They experience rebirth on a higher rung of the spiritual ladder. Every time you ascend a spiritual ladder you are born again--in connection with that creation motif, or that born-again state, as the exodus motif in verse sixteen, "The Lord who provides a way in the sea, a path through the mighty waters," like the Exodus out of Egypt. That was the birth of the nation of Israel as a social, political, unit. In Egypt there were merely the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When God manifested his power over Egypt, and destroyed the Egyptian army, then and only then could then could Israel be born. Otherwise Pharaoh would have come and destroyed them because they were still his people; Pharaoh still had some kind of dominion over them. They were Egyptian subjects at that time. So, Israel's created, and born again at another Exodus, in the latter days, also through the sea, the mighty waters, the powers of chaos, as this is a conquest of chaos, or over chaos. And they not only come through the waters, as we see here, but also, in verse two, they come through the fire or through whatever elements of opposition that may stand in the way. This is an Exodus motif. And, in chapters forty, through forty-six, where we have this series of chaos and creation motifs, this is the middle of a chiasm of these motifs. There's' a great, chiastic structure of chaos and creation motifs that begin in chapter forty and end in chapter forty-six. And this, right here in verses sixteen and seventeen of chapter forty-three is the centerpiece of that chiasm. Why would it be the centerpiece? Because it shows exactly where the creation takes place. It is the heart of creation; it is the exodus from bondage and the creation of a new people of God. 43:17 who dispatches chariots and horses, armies of men in full strength; they lie down as one, to rise no more, they flicker and die, snuffed out like a wick— Just like Pharaoh's chariots and horses, and his armies. "They lie down as one, to rise no more, they flicker and die, snuffed out like a wick." And here we have that identification with the Babylonians and the wick; they're snuffed out. They all die. Their light was dim anyway. Otherwise they wouldn't be in that situation. They were the ones who did not respond to the Servant's light. And so we have that creation and that exodus, or that rebirth, right in the midst of the destruction on either side where the Lord launches an attack on Babylon and brings down the fugitives, the Chaldeans, when he dispatches chariots and horses. And that very birth, that very rebirth is happening at the time that of the death of Babylon. In Isaiah Zion is reborn and rises from the dust at the time that Babylon descends into the dust. Zion ascends her throne, from the dust, and Babylon descends from her throne, into the dust. And that great reversal happens simultaneously. And it shows it right here, also. That which is Babylon is destroyed and that which is God's covenant people is then delivered. It's a concurrent set of events. 43:18 Never mind the prophecies of bygone events; do not dwell on things of the past. Here, Isaiah is saying, Yes, there was an exodus in the past. It was prophesied and it came to pass. Moses prophesied it and so forth, and there are many things like that, that happened, anciently, that were prophesied. That's not where it's at. We're not dealing with the past, now; we're dealing with the future, or with present events. "Never mind the prophecies of bygone events; do not dwell on things of the past." 43:19 See, I do a new thing; it is now springing up. Surely, you are aware of it: I am making roads through the desert, streams in the wasteland. What happened in the past is only a type and shadow of the future. We don't have to limit ourselves when we study the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets, saying, "Well, all that happened in the past; it doesn't concern us, today." But it does. It concerns us as a prophecy for the future. Because the Lord will do new things, new versions of old events He will do. Just like this new exodus he's just been talking about. This is not the exodus out of Egypt, verses sixteen and seventeen. It's a new exodus out of Babylon. Babylon is defined in Isaiah as the whole world and its wicked inhabitants. And that whole world is destroyed in a Sodom and Gomorrah type of destruction, by an Assyrian army who conquers it. That never happened anciently. That's an event still in the future. So it's ? in the future, a new thing. "It is now springing up. Surely, you are aware of it: I am making roads through the desert, streams in the wasteland." 43:20 The wild beasts do me honor, the jackals and birds of prey, for bringing water to the wilderness, streams to the dry land, that I may give drink to my chosen people, "The wild beasts do me honor, the jackals and birds of prey," That also alludes to non-Israelites, who acknowledge that what is happening is the Lord's doing. "for bringing water to the wilderness, streams to the dry land, that I may give drink to my chosen people." The Jews, but not only the Jews—all God's people, the Ten tribes and other scattered inhabitants of Israel, may also be a part of this. 43:21 the people I formed for myself to speak out in praise of me. There is this close identification between God and his people. If they are the people of God then they must be speaking about him, and not keeping their identity hidden under a bushel. If they are not doing that then they cannot claim to be his people. 43:22 But you do not call upon me, O Jacob; you have grown weary of me, O Israel. And here we have the Jacob/Israel category again, which is a covenant category of the Lord's people, but it is an ambivalent category. Some of these people respond to the servant's message and ascend to the next level, and others don't. "You do not call upon me, O Jacob, you have grown weary of me." One of the things that identifies a covenant people is that they call upon God, just like Abraham called upon God's name. They pray, they petition God for things: their deliverance, the fulfillment of the promises of God upon them and upon their posterity. They call upon God for themselves and for those who are theirs. They have not done that, they have grown weary of him. Weariness is a chaos motif in Isaiah and elsewhere. So they are going back, they are backsliding into a situation of chaos, blindness, and so forth. 43:23–24 Yet I required not that you bring me offerings from your flocks or pay me homage by sacrificial slaughter; I have not burdened you with oblations or wearied you with burning incense. Nor have I burdened you to buy me the fragrant calamus or sate me with the fat of immolations. The ordinances of sacrifices that were instituted by Moses and the Law of Moses, he hasn't required of them. Since he scattered them from the temple among all the nations of the world, there was no temple in which they could sacrifice, so he no longer required it of them. And he no longer requires it of them now. As the prophet Samuel said, "The sacrifice that the Lord requires of his people is a broken heart and a contrite spirit," and that has power with God. But even though he hasn't required that of him, they have still grown weary of him. They are still not calling upon him, not even in their prayers. That they have left: they can worship God in their prayers, with their hearts. 43:24 Yet you have burdened me with your sins, wearied me with your iniquities. He hasn't burdened them, but they have burdened him, "wearied me with your iniquities." That is in fact what the Lord does. He takes upon himself his people's sins, as we see in chapter 53. They are a burden on him, and he bears that burden for them. And that is how he redeems them, as we will see. 43:25 But it is I myself, and for my own sake, who blot out your offenses, remembering your sins no more. When he takes upon himself their sins, then he blots them out—if they repent. If they don't repent their sins remain with them. But if they do repent and return to God, then their sins are blotted out. As Isaiah says, "thus they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and repent and be healed." Chapter 53 says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities. The price of our peace he incurred, and with his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, had gone astray, each of us headed his own way. The Lord brought together upon him the iniquity of us all." And there we see how he was burdened and was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was a sacrifice made for them. 43:26–28 Recount for me the past; let us plead each our case. Speak up and vindicate yourself. Your first father transgressed; your spokesmen sinned against me. Therefore I let the holy cities be profaned; I gave Jacob to be ostracized, Israel to execration. In their sins and their iniquities, Israel or Jacob, that category of the Lord's people, the sinner category, come under covenant curse. Just as the Jews were in Nazi Germany. They were ostracized, they were in execration. "The holy cities will be profaned," or desecrated, or the people of God who were his covenant people but didn't keep covenant. Father Adam was the first father; he transgressed in the Garden of Eden. "Your spokesmen," or the prophets, "sinned against me." Like Paul said, he was ill-pleased even with his prophets, for the most part. So really, we ourselves are nothing, or his people are nothing. They really don't have anything of themselves that they could put forward and say that they are doing anything or that they are good. That beautiful phrase in Isaiah says, "Even all that we have done, thou hast done for us, O Lord." So we really don't have much to plead for ourselves or to vindicate ourselves with. When it comes down to it, it is the Lord himself who is good, who has taken our iniquities upon himself. All that we can say for ourselves is that we are sinners, transgressors. And by repenting, we can be delivered of those things. We can be forgiven, cleansed, become his people and be blessed. "It is I myself, and for my own sake, who blot out your offenses, remembering your sins no more." That expression, "for my own sake," throughout Isaiah identifies a proxy role of one on behalf of others. Remember, "for my servant David's sake, Jerusalem was delivered in the days of King Hezekiah," because Hezekiah kept the covenant that the Lord had made with King David. For Hezekiah's sake the city was delivered because of the things that he suffered for his people. But this is on a much higher level, this is on a spiritual level. This is not talking about physical deliverance, but a spiritual deliverance. "It is I myself," because he is the only Savior, the only God, "and for my own sake, who blot out your offenses, remembering your sins no more." We cannot do that. We cannot blot out our own offenses. Moses can't blot them out. He can't pay for them. Only God himself can.