Isaiah 43 · The Lantern

But now, says the Lord your Maker, O Jacob, and your life-giver, O Israel: have no fear, for I have taken up your cause; naming you by your name, I have made you mine.

(Verse 1) And now, thus says the Lord, the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. LXX: And now thus says the Lord who made you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine.

The things said here are of a quite different tenor from what was said in the previous passage about the people of the covenant, where he called them blind, deaf and plundered. Now the message here is of the better condition of those believers of the covenant who belong to a better order. For the former ones were those who were suffering.

And now thus says the Lord. Here he shows them divine love through the remedies which he granted them among their difficulties.

When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.

"Even if we cross over, they shall not slip, says the Lord." We shall not slip into corruption, we who are crossing over into incorruption, because he himself will support us. For so he himself has said and so he has willed.

Even when the compassionate God disciplines, he does not abandon mercy.… For, he says, "judge, consider, take heart." Now God strengthens those who were reduced to slavery in Babylon. And since they bore the title "the people of God," it was appropriate that God addressed the people in this way: "I have called you by your name.

He sets out the promise: when you shall pass through the waters, the Egyptians; the rivers, the Chaldeans; the fire, the Greeks; the flames, the Romans: for they were not entirely consumed: we have passed through fire and water (Ps 66:12).

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your saviour; I have given Egypt as a price for you, Ethiopia and Seba for you.

Because of your value in my eyes, you have been honoured, and loved by me; so I will give men for you, and peoples for your life.

(Verse 4) From the moment you became honorable and glorious in my eyes: I loved you, and I will give men for you, and peoples for your soul. LXX: Since you have been honorable and glorified in my sight: and I have loved you, I will give men for you, and princes for your life.

God renders the summary of benefits in which they take pleasure. It is because I love you, he says, and because I have chosen you that you have become respected and glorious. "And I will give men for you, and princes for your life." He means to speak of the Babylonians, whom he has delivered over to Cyrus.

And he assigns the reason, namely, the love of God itself: since you became honorable, that is, I made and reckoned you honorable; I will give men for you, for your liberation: surely Ephraim is an honorable son to me (Jer 31:20).

Have no fear, for I am with you: I will take your seed from the east, and get you together from the west;

(Verses 5-7) Do not fear, for I am with you: I will bring your descendants from the East, and gather you from the West. I will say to the North, give up: and to the South, do not withhold: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. And everyone who calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory, and I have formed him and made him.

"I will destroy those warring with you on account of the gospel, both people and leaders." He encourages them in this way. "And your children, which you have sown by God and which you have begotten throughout the world, I will gather to my heavenly city, raising up those airborne, through the air, like birds made light by the winds," that is, the angelic forces.

Third, he promises them every kind of liberation from tribulation. First, he promises the benefit of liberation: fear not; from the east, for they had been dispersed in every direction, above: he shall assemble the fugitives of Israel (Isa 11:12); behold I will bring them from the north country (Jer 31:8).

I will say to the north, Give them up; and to the south, Do not keep them back; send back my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth;

Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me.

Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever.

If it is necessary for some to be marked by name, then I will make it clear to them all that they are now "those who have been called by my name." From where else did the name of Christians come than from the name of Christ? For it was he who foretold such a thing through the prophet.

Second, he sets out their fitness for liberation: and every one that calls upon my name, I will lead into my glory, that he might glorify me, and that I might appear glorious in him: every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved (Joel 2:32).

Send out the blind people who have eyes, and those who have ears, but they are shut.

If they seemed to have the eyes of the soul and a human mind, they were still nonetheless blind to the deceit of idolatry. But what then happened to them provides the basis for Isaiah's message. For the former blind and deaf were gathered together into the church of God even as the rulers of the nations opposed the people of God.

(Verses 8-9) Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. Let all the nations gather together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among you will declare this, and show us former things?

Third, he promulgates the command of liberation: bring, O Cyrus, forth, out of the land of their captivity, the people, namely, of the Jews: hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not (Jer 5:21).

Let all the nations come together, and let the peoples be present: who among them is able to make this clear, and give us word of earlier things? let their witnesses come forward, so that they may be seen to be true, and that they may give ear, and say, It is true.

You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have taken for myself: so that you may see and have faith in me, and that it may be clear to you that I am he; before me there was no God formed, and there will not be after me.

If Christ is Son, Christ is certainly after God. But after God there is nothing comparable to him. Christ is therefore not comparable to God; or if he is not after God, certainly he is with God; for in no way can he be before God; therefore he is consubstantial (homoousion) … substance as substance, especially if it is a homogeneous substance that is realized in two or more ind…

(Verses 10-11) You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I am, I am the Lord, and there is no savior without me.

He gives testimony, assigning men to give testimony: you are my witnesses, my servant, the people of Jacob, or Christ: you shall be witnesses (Acts 1:8); setting out the manner of knowing: that you may know, as to those things which can be known about God by natural reason, and believe, as to those things which are above reason, and thus, understand, for unless you believe, you…

I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no saviour but me.

If you want to have me as a witness to your verdict, then be the first to render witness to my truth. In this case, I will not be alone in bearing witness, but there is also my chosen servant. Now it is neither Moses nor another of the prophets who is referred to here, but Christ our Master.

It has been sufficiently demonstrated that God exists and that his essence is incomprehensible. Furthermore, those who believe in sacred Scripture have no doubt that he is one and not several. For the Lord says at the beginning of his lawgiving, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

And that he alone is Lord: I am, singularly, I am, preeminently: neither is there salvation in any other (Acts 4:12).

I gave the word, and made it clear, and there was no strange god among you: for this reason you are my witnesses, says the Lord.

(Verses 12-13) I have declared and saved; I have made known, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God, and from the beginning I am myself, and there is no one who can rescue from my hand. I will work, and who can turn it aside? LXX: I have declared and saved: I have rebuked and there was no stranger among you.

I not only made the predictions; I have also brought them to their conclusion. "I reproached, and then there was no strange god among you." The three interpreters have rendered the word "I have reproached" by the verb "I have made to understand," which comes back to saying, I have born witness.

Second, he gives a sign of his divinity: I have declared, there was no strange one among you, by which you could know: O Israel, if you will hearken to me, there shall be no new god in you: neither shall you adore a strange god (Ps 81:8–9). Here he shows the truth of his divinity as to power.

From time long past I am God, and from this day I am he: there is no one who is able to take you out of my hand: when I undertake a thing, by whom will my purpose be changed?

The Lord, who has taken up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, Because of you I have sent to Babylon, and made all their seers come south, and the Chaldaeans whose cry is in the ships.

(Verse 14.) Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your king.

"I have brought down all the runaways and the Chaldeans," that is, "For your sake I will send you to Babylon" and will make the Medes rise, in order to deliver you from captivity. And when the Babylonians fly from you in every manner, through the land and the sea, they will be captured in "their ships" and be imprisoned.

Thus says the Lord. Here he sets out the sign of his love, that he destroyed for them the Babylonians, who gloried in their ships because of the multitude of their waters: I sent, namely, my wrath: the Lord has both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon (Jer 51:12).

I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Maker of Israel, your King.

This is the word of the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a road through the deep waters;

Although these things were done to the Babylonians and Chaldeans, prophetically speaking, the future things that are "not yet" shall be as if already accomplished. God has completed these by himself, comparing the present events with those that happened earlier: I showed my divinity to those in Egypt and led my people through the Red Sea.

How has he led chariots and horses? It is clear that Pharaoh pursued Israel by his own decision, for God had already spoken in this way to him: "I have raised you up as to show my power in you and so that my name might be made known throughout the earth." Thus in a marvelous way God saves those who are fleeing from the desire for earthly things as they are pursued by the devil.…

Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea. Here he recalls his past benefits to confirm their hope for future benefits. And concerning this, he does two things. First, he recalls his past benefits in directing them when they came out of Egypt: in the Red sea (Exod 14); in the mighty waters, in the Arnon (Num 21), in the Jordan (Josh 3).

Who sends out the war-carriages and the horses, the army with all its force; they have come down, they will not get up again; like a feebly burning light they are put out.

Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds.

See, I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it? I will even make a way in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country.

The Word says, "Look, I am doing something new, which no eye has seen, no ear heard, no human heart felt." These are to be seen, heard and grasped by a new eye, a new hearing and a new heart when the Lord's disciples speak, listen and act in the Spirit.

But He, although He took on Him our flesh, although He was made man that He might redeem man, and recal him from death, still, as being God, came upon earth in an extraordinary way, that as He had said, 'Behold I make all things new,' so also He might be born of an immaculate virgin, and be believed to be, as it is written, 'God with us.' But from their perverse ways they are i…

Because of the newness of these things: behold I do new things, unheard of: behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5); and because of their determination: I will make a way, for those going to the feasts, in the wilderness, that is, the land of the Jews, which was formerly a desert; rivers, of consolation: he has turned a wilderness into pools of waters (Ps 107:35).

The beasts of the field will give me honour, the jackals and the ostriches: because I send out waters in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country, to give drink to the people whom I have taken for myself:

Even the people whom I made to be the witnesses of my praise.

But you have made no prayer to me, O Jacob: and you have given no thought to me, O Israel.

For there was no mention at all of such things required from you in the laws of the new covenant that I established through my servant whom I chose. But you did not offer these things to me. If it had been necessary to say such things, you still probably would have done something contrary.

In the section we examined and read previously, he delivered a prophecy of the covenant in Christ and the graces bestowed by him, for he said that he would "make a way in the desert and rivers in the dry land," and because of this he would be blessed by "all the wild animals of the field." The praise-giving is to be understood as a spiritual sacrifice and fruit of the new coven…

But you have not called upon me. Here he excludes the merits of the Jews for attaining such benefits. And concerning this, he does three things: first, he excludes their merit; second, he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance (Isa 43:26); third, he removes a certain way of responding: your first father (Isa 43:27).

You have not made me burned offerings of sheep, or given me honour with your offerings of beasts; I did not make you servants to give me an offering, and I did not make you tired with requests for perfumes.

You have not got me sweet-smelling plants with your money, or given me pleasure with the fat of your offerings: but you have made me a servant to your sins, and you have made me tired with your evil doings.

I, even I, am he who takes away your sins; and I will no longer keep your evil doings in mind.

For now the devil urges us to sin and also accuses us when we do sin. If, therefore, in this life we anticipate him and are ourselves our own accusers, we escape the wickedness of the devil, our enemy and our accuser.… Does he [the prophet] not evidently show the mystery that we are dealing with when he says, "you speak first" to show you that you ought to anticipate him who wa…

"Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." Whoever then desires to obtain forgiveness of his sins, should study to fit himself for it by these means.

Third, he shows that the benefit is given freely: I am: for your name's sake, O Lord, you will pardon my sin (Ps 25:11); it is not for your sake that I will do this (Ezek 36:22).

Put me in mind of this; let us take up the cause between us: put forward your cause, so that you may be seen to be in the right.

And it is ours to flee to God. And let us endeavor after this ceaselessly and energetically. For he says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And prayer and confession with humility are voluntary acts.

We are just when we acknowledge that we are sinners, and our justice depends not on our personal merit but rather on the mercy of God, as holy Scripture says: "The just is an accuser of himself in the beginning of his plea." And in another place, "State your sins, that you may be justified."

Put me in remembrance. Here he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance, as if to say: consider what I have done for you, tell if you have any thing, to excuse yourself, or to accuse me, to justify yourself, that is, that you should be judged to be just: if you have any thing to say, answer me, speak: for I would have you to appear just (Job 33:32).

Your first father was a sinner, and your guides have gone against my word.

Your chiefs have made my holy place unclean, so I have made Jacob a curse, and Israel a thing of shame.

Isaiah43