Isaiah Chapter 43

(God is talking to Israel here, but Gentiles are grafted into Israel through Jesus Christ)

I really needed encouragement today, and God provided as I was reading his word. I hope this will give someone else encouragement as well.

FEAR NOT, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU (verse 1)
Who redeems us? Do we redeem ourselves through our own works? NOPE. “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
Can other people save us? NOPE. “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him–the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever and not see decay.” (Psalm 49:7-9)
Sounds like we’re up the creek, unless God himself is willing to do the deed. “But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.” (Psalm 49:15)

That is the best possible news! But I know what a horrible, wicked, ugly person I really am. Why would God be willing to redeem ME?

I HAVE SUMMONED YOU BY NAME, YOU ARE MINE (verse 1)
What is this telling me? Only that God knows me and you each personally, to him we are not just a blur in an ocean full of faces. He knows us each by name and says we belong to him. God in his omniscience knows every last detail about me — the good (not much) and the bad (tons). Yet he says I belong to him. I am his possession and he owns me spirit, soul, and body. People generally love the things that belong to them, so wouldn’t God love them even moreso?

YOU ARE PRECIOUS AND HONORED IN MY SIGHT (verse 4)
God is with us through all the hard trials of our lives, through flood and through fire (verse 2). Although in punishment God’s people were sent into exile, he never forsook them, never forgot them. It was all part of his long plan of redemption. He reminds Israel (and us) again in verse 3, “For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel, your savior.” He’s trying to get it through our skulls that he alone is our savior, he wants to do it and he will do it. Ultimately in Jesus Christ he HAS done it. But why???

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (verse 4)
Well, I know I am not lovable by nature, so God must have made a conscious choice to give me his love, anyway. That means his love is unconditional. We don’t earn the love he gives us, it is not dependent upon our performance or our natural charms. God won’t love you any better if you were a more holy person, or if you were prettier or smarter or stronger. He loves you completely, with everything he has to give, because it is his will to do so and he’s never going to take it away even if you screw up 100 times a day like I do. I don’t know about you, but that is a huge burden off my shoulders.

GOD IS MAKING A POINT AND WANTS US TO PAY ATTENTION
“I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” (verse 11) Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We don’t save ourselves, God alone saves us, and he does that through Jesus (for details read the Gospels).

GOD NOT ONLY FORGIVES OUR SINS, HE FORGETS THEM
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (verse 25)
We don’t deserve anything from God except his wrath and an eternity separated from him and everything good. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way,” (Isaiah 53:6), but God himself takes care of our sin problem. He paid a debt he did not owe in order to save us from a debt we could never repay. “The Lord has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6).

Why on earth would God save us? Because he loves us. Why does he love us? Because he made the choice to do so. Not only that, but God loves us with all of Himself, he holds nothing back. He gave us everything that he had to give. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17). Jesus gave us everything he had to give us when he laid down his life to save us from the eternal death we bought for ourselves.

God doesn’t just love you, he loves you with all of himself. A love so big, so wide, so deep, so high, that our little human selves can’t even begin to comprehend it. But it is amazing! If you are a Christian, be encouraged and uplifted by remembering what God has done for you. If you do not yet belong to Christ, all you have to do is ask him in and all this forgiveness, new life, love, and joy can be yours right now.

“…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for ‘Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved’. ” (Romans 10:9-13)

Thank you, Jesus! Please come for us soon.

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