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“But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
    Israel, whom I have chosen.
² This is what the Lord says—
    he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
    and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
    Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants.
⁴ They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
    like poplar trees by flowing streams.
⁵ Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’;
    others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
    and will take the name Israel.

Just one further thought on this glorious passage. It comes from Barry Webb’s commentary on Isaiah in ‘The Bible Speaks Today’ series (p.180):

‘All this, of course, is exactly what was promised to Abraham: a great name, many descendants, blessing overflowing to all the families of the earth. How remote the fulfilment of that promise must have seemed to the small, humiliated remnant in Babylon. The purpose of this passage is to remind them, when they had reached the depths of that bitter experience, that God had not forgotten his promise to Abraham, or with drawn his call from their descendants. Beyond the dark days of exile they would flourish again and become the blessing to the nations that he had always intended them to be. The final word of encouragement to Israel rests upon the bedrock of God’s faithfulness, and strongly reaffirms his commitment to fulfilling his promises to them and through them. There would be many twists and turns in the road ahead, but it would not be a dead end. All God’s promises would eventually find their resounding ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Christ, to the glory of God.’

(See Gen.12:1-3; 2 Cor.1:20).

Writing a diary piece in last week’s ‘Spectator’, Richard Dawkins wrote:

‘If anyone merits a good biography, it’s Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Her autobiography, Infidel, chronicles her extraordinary life, from childhood in the Islamic hell (for women) of Somalia, her escape to the Netherlands where she swiftly learned Dutch and became an MP; then the all-too-credible threat from the jihadist murderer of her colleague Theo van Gogh, in a note pinned with a dagger to his corpse. After moving to America, this valiant, charming intellectual warrior became a stalwart of the atheist movement, on a par with Christopher Hitchens, Dan Dennett and Sam Harris. But now, in an astonishing volte-face, she has announced her conversion to Christianity. Imagine the Pope suddenly becoming an atheist – or, worse, an Orangeman – and you’ll get an idea of the fluttering in atheistic dovecotes caused by Ayaan’s tergiversation.”

Although, in the next paragraph, he seems to question how fundamental Ayaan’s Christian beliefs her, his love and admiration for her shine through.

It reminds me, that by the power of the poured out Holy Spirit, many can be/will be converted. God is still fulfilling this great Scripture. It can even happen to Richard Dawkins. We should pray it does.

I seem to remember there was this guy named Saul, from Tarsus…

Hmm…it makes you think, doesn’t it?

(FOR FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT: I can highly recommend this podcast series, hosted by Justin Brierley, and based on his recently published book: ‘The surprising rebirth of belief in God.’)

⁶ This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:

“I am the First and the Last;
    there is no other God.
⁷ Who is like me?
    Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I have done since ancient times
    when I established a people and explained its future.
⁸ Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
    Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
    No! There is no other Rock—not one!” (New Living Translation).

”These verses give the very essence of these chapters, with their emphasis on God as Israel’s champion (Redeemer,6;cf. 41:14), their explicit monotheism (6b,8b), their stress on prediction (7b) and their reassuring tone toward a diffident Israel” (Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p,658.

Once again, fulfilled prophecy is produced as evidence for the reality of Israel’s God and the falsity of all other idols. Who of them are able to accurately foretell the future? This is a repeated theme in Isaiah.

”The fulfilled prophecies of the Bible. We could just believe that the Bible is the Word of God on this one point alone. This is staggering. Say, do you realize that at the time the Bible was written 27% of the Bible was prophetic?

There are some 1,817 prophecies of some nature in the Bible at the time the author wrote the Scripture. A prophecy is pre-written history. Only God knows the future and the reason that God knows the future is because God has foreordained the future. God’s not looking down the tunnel of time to see anything because God already knows everything. And God has already foreordained everything. And He records some of it for us in the Scripture.” Steven Lawson.

“Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.
² Thus says the Lord who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³ For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
⁴ They will spring up among the grass
Like willows by the watercourses.’
⁵ One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
Another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
Another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
And name himself by the name of Israel.

This wonderful promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit has repeatedly encouraged Christians in their prayers for revival. I believe it fuelled prayer in the days prior to the outbreak of the Hebridean revival, which took place on the Scottish Islands of Harris and Lewis (1949-53). It remains an encouragement to us today.

We have here a glimpse of the New Covenant (see Je.31:31-34; Ezek.36:26,27; Joel 2:28,29).

We also have a foretaste of Gentile conversions (v.5; see Ps.87:4-6). ‘These new offspring (3) of Israel will mark the flow of God’s living water, just as a line of trees marks the course of a river (3-4). The book of Acts traces part of this current of life through the thirsty land.’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.658.

So, whenever this promise is fulfilled there are many new converts.

Do it again, Lord!

PRAYER: Lord God, I am thirsty for your blessing. I live in a spiritually dry land. I pray for water; I ask for floods. I long to see many people declaring their allegiance to you. Please cause this to be a day of supernatural harvest.

‘But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
    Israel, whom I have chosen.
² This is what the Lord says –
    he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
    and who will help you:
do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
    Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

This chapter opens surprisingly, with a stark contrast to what has preceded it at the end of chapter 43. We must ever remember that although God warns of judgment, He longs to be merciful.

The ”But now” reminds me of the way Ephesians 2:4 is rendered in the ‘New King James Version’: But God, who is rich in mercy…’ This has been described as ‘a mighty adversative’.

We find in the opening of chapter 44 the reaffirmation of ungrateful Israel’s calling as both ”servant” and ”chosen”. The latter word appears in both verses. Also note the use of the affectionate ”Jeshurun” (meaning upright). See Deuteronomy 33:5; but also take a look at Deuteronomy 32:15. It is significant in the context of Israel’s failure and rebellion.

Even so, God goes on to promise greater things to come – as we will see next time.

We must never presume upon the amazing grace of God, but may we never lose sight of the truth that He loves us, and longs to be merciful to us when we stray. The prodigal, however, must come home.

²² “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help.
    You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
²³ You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings.
    You have not honored me with sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and wearied you
    with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
²⁴ You have not brought me fragrant calamus
    or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied me with your faults.

²⁵ “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake
    and will never think of them again.
²⁶ Let us review the situation together,
    and you can present your case to prove your innocence.
²⁷ From the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me;
    all your leaders broke my laws.
²⁸ That is why I have disgraced your priests;
    I have decreed complete destruction for Jacob
    and shame for Israel. (New Living Translation).

At the heart of this passage, God’s desire and willingness to forgive the sins of His people sparkles. It shimmers as a gold nugget of truth.

But we also see the stubborn unwillingness of Israel to turn to Him in repentance in faith, and the tragic role of many of their spiritual leaders in the destruction of God’s flock (and their own downfall). Verse 27b reads in the New International Version’:

    ”…those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.”

PRAYER: Lord God, we pray for all who carry the awesome responsibility of shepherding your people. Keep them true to your truth. May love and faithfulness always guard them. We pray especially for those who are re-writing your Word to fit with the times, and are leading people into sin. In your grace and mercy please save them. Pull them back from the brink. But if they will not repent, please remove them and replace them with those who will speak only your truth.

Note: Tom Hale points out that in spite of the final words of chapter 43, ‘…we know that God will preserve a remnant of Israel, through which His eternal purposes will be fulfilled (Isaiah 6:11-13; 10:20-23).’ ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1043.

“Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,
    you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel.
²³ You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,
    nor honoured me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with grain offerings
    nor wearied you with demands for incense.
²⁴ You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me,
    or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied me with your offenses.

“When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, he trembles as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.” R. A. Torrey.

But who can be bothered?!

I remember reading a book in which the author referred to one particular hymn that says, ‘It is not by trying but by trusting.’ His point was, as I recall, that it’s not a matter of either/or but both/and. There are a number of words used in the New Testament which describe the intense effort disciples need to invest in the Christian life. It has been said that grace is opposed to works, not to effort. There is nothing we can achieve by our own unaided strength, but in the power of God all things are possible.

In today’s reading God says that His people have ”wearied” Him with their sins, but they have not ”wearied” themselves in seeking Him.

I am thinking about Epaphras, as he is described by Paul in Colossians 4:12,13:

 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. ¹³ I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

It seems that one of the ways he was ”working hard” was in prayer.

In Luke 4:9,10 Jesus teaches on prayer:

 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Such prayer is certainly not lazy! We have to put our backs into it – with God’s strength of course.

“Oh, men and women, pray through; pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down.” R. A. Torrey

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
    and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,
    in the ships in which they took pride.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator, your King.”

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says—
    he who made a way through the sea,
    a path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷ who drew out the chariots and horses,
    the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.
²⁰ The wild animals honour me,
    the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
²¹     the people I formed for myself
    that they may proclaim my praise.

God is going to do a ”new thing”. It will be a second, and greater ‘exodus’ than the first from Egypt. Once again He will lead His people through the wilderness, and abundantly provide for them on their journey home from Babylon to Israel.

However, as Derek Kidner points out in the ‘New Bible Commentary’ (p.658), for the real fulfilment of this passage ‘we must look beyond the modest homecomings from Babylon of the sixth and fifth centuries BC, although these are certainly in view, to the exodus which the Son of God accomplished at Jerusalem (Lk.9:31; cf. 1 Cor.10:4,11), which alone justifies the language of this and kindred passages.’

God’s saving work in our lives, through the Cross of Jesus, is ”to the praise of his glorious grace…for the praise of his glory…to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14. Compare this with Is.43:21).

 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9,10)

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
    and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,
    in the ships in which they took pride.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator, your King.”

“Through pride the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice, it’s the complete anti-God state of mind.” C. S. Lewis

One of the best known Bible sentences says that pride goes before a fall. A lot of people will quote it without knowing that it comes from the Scriptures. Actually, it is a paraphrase. Proverbs 16:18 in fact reads:

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (King James Version).

God’s Word calls repeatedly for a humble posture before Him.

The things in which a person may take pride: for example their wealth, their physical strength, their intellectual prowess, their sporting ability, will fail them eventually. For the Babylonians, in our reading, it was their ”ships”. They had a mighty navy, but they couldn’t fight God.

God’s law of gravity says that ‘what goes down must come up.’

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:6).

 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 5:10).

Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
    who have ears but are deaf.
⁹ All the nations gather together
    and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold this
    and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
    so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
    nor will there be one after me.
¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord,
    and apart from me there is no savior.
¹² I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³     Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
    When I act, who can reverse it?”

There is only one true God and Saviour, and His people are ”witnesses” to this truth; whereas the false gods are unable to produce ”their witnesses” in order to authenticate them.

Under the New Covenant, it remains the privilege and responsibility of Christ’s people to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).

I was thinking, simply by living (or trying to live) a Christian life, we are witnesses to Jesus. This is not to excuse a non-verbal approach. Of course words are important, and as with Paul (see Col.4:2-4), I regularly pray for ‘open doors’ for conversation about Jesus. I don’t want to be silenced by cowardice. But who can tell the influence of a godly life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit? Somebody spoke about ‘our unconscious influence impregnated with the fragrance of Christ.’

‘To me, ’twas not the truth you taught, to you so clear, to me so dim;

But when you came to me you brought a sense of Him;

And from your eyes He beckons me, and from your heart His love is shed,

‘Til I lose sight of you, and see the Christ instead.’

Here’s another thought that occurred to me recently. I was attending a small gathering of Christians in our village, and it struck me what a counter-cultural thing it is in these days, to just attend church. It is in no small sense, I believe, a part of our witness.