I am with you; You are mine.

By: Ross Jelgerhuis

Isaiah 43

43 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
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.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
6 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 end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

Redeemer, I want to share a few thoughts from this well-known passage (Isaiah 43:1-7) to encourage our hearts as we continue to navigate 2020.

Isaiah 43 appears in the section of Isaiah that is written specifically with the Babylonian exile in view (ch’s 40-55….~600bc). It is thus a word of commentary and hope to a people enduring great difficulty.

One striking aspect of the immediate context of this passage is that at the end of Isaiah 42, God reminds Israel of their sinfulness and weakness that had eventually occasioned their exile – the reader is left discouraged and despairing as ch 42 ends with “he poured on him (Israel) the heat of his anger and the might of battle…”

With this setting in view, the words “But now…(43:1)” are a welcome (dramatic) transition to a more full picture of how God will deal with his people. In God’s covenant dealings with his own, wrath never has the final word – he will never go back on what he has promised (Lev 26).

Notice what it is that leads to the transition in 43:1, it is not the works of the people, but the grace of God – he has redeemed them and called them by name. I love the crescendo of verse 1 – it builds from God creating them, forming them, redeeming, calling by name, leading to the wonderfully intimate “you are mine.” Though God allows difficulty into our stories, we can rest knowing we are his – his fatherly affection is driving his dealings with us.

In rather vivid imagery, Isaiah continues this idea further in verse 2. Notice the severity of the water and fire: we pass through them seemingly shoulder deep, we feel the intensity of their heat. We are not promised their removal, but the ability to endure them. How? “I will be with you” God says. How like our God to incarnate into our pain with us, to join us in the trenches.

While this sounds comforting, maybe you wonder if this is true – especially if you have struggled to experience God’s nearness in the depths of your reality. How can we have confidence that God is here and at work? Look at vs 3-7.

Isaiah begins by looking backward in vs 3 to the Exodus from Egypt, reminding them of God’s mighty deliverance from the then-world-power Egypt – Babylon who? Covid-who?

Verse 4 then speaks for itself. We are precious to God: highly valued, costly. We are honored and loved. This is seen in that “I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life” – someone else is going to experience the ultimate wrath they deserve. Someone else is going to walk through the river and be overwhelmed, through the fire and burned, abandoned by God – we know this was Christ of course. God loves us so much he would rather die than live without us.

Isaiah can then state the obvious in verse 5: “Fear not! For I am with you.” If God could save his people from Egypt, and esteems his people more than life itself – fear has lost its foothold.

The passage ends by looking forward in vs 5-7 to the hope of eternity as another reason not to fear. These verses look beyond the Babylonian captivity to a day when God’s people will be scattered all through the earth, and envisions a world-wide regathering of God’s people at the coming of the Lord. Assumed in this language of “withheld” (v6) is an exile for God’s people in the world – affirmed by Peter in the New Testament (1 Pet 2:11) – and experienced in our current reality. Captive to our own sinful hearts, to a world at odds with Christ, to division, disease, and death. I know for me I have thought of heaven more in 2020 than any other year. What a hope to know in addition to being present with us through it, one day God will call us out of this exile from the East, West, North, and South to his forever presence when he comes again (v5-7).

Friends, with you I am beyond ready for some return to normalcy. Moving in the midst of this pandemic obviously hasn’t helped either. My fears have been more sensitive, my patience has waned, and my energy has not always been there. How might we navigate this cultural moment differently if we believed this passage was true?  Hopefully with more anchoring. I need the nudge to fear not, the promise that God is with me, and that I will not be overwhelmed. In the midst of growing divisiveness, I need the reminder that we as God’s people are all precious in his eyes – no matter our political leaning, skin color, convictions on masks, etc. And finally, the hope that Christ has been given as a ransom for us, and that God is preparing us for his home in glory.