Yes, today’s Text really seems “evangelistic!” I have been newly impressed with this Preacher, Isaiah the Prophet!

“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” Isaiah 43:1-3a

Wow!

Verse 1 reveals the Lord our God … both as Creator and Redeemer! (Using the verb “gaal,” with linkage to the “Kinsman-Redeemer” Motif of the Book of Ruth! God picturing Himself as Israel’s “Boaz!”)

Notice God calling the Jews by both their names, “Jacob” and “Israel.” I am so thankful he knows our name/names! He knows all about us!

In Verse 2 realize that God did NOT say His people would NEVER pass through the waters or walk through the fire! But God did promise safety in all the little nation’s travels, escapades! This would be a good verse to memorize! “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” No idol could ever promise such things!

This is parallel to Isaiah 54:17. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Israel as “servant” of the Lord! No wonder people love the Bible!

The God identifies Himself, clearly. (Like signing one’s name to a check, a promise, a commitment!) “For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour …” Verse 3a, don’t miss that noun “Saviour!” One reason why I titled today’s Lesson “the New Testament in the Old!”

Again I say it … “Isaiah, what a preacher!”

Or maybe better phrased … “Isaiah’s GOD, how Awesome!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Our Text (in verse 1) also employs the now familiar Bible admonition “Fear not!” Oh, how Jesus loved those words! An old writer once quipped … “Fear God properly, and all other fears will melt in His Presence!”

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We note verses 10-13 today … “Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. 11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. 13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.” Clearly a song of praise to our God!

Isaiah several times in his Corpus (his whole Book, its 66 chapters) spontaneously breaks into song! (Paul the Apostle occasionally does this as well. There’s just something about Jesus that makes one joyful!)

In today’s Text, after seeing Jesus as clearly as we have (read yesterday’s Lesson, if you missed it) … this kind of exuberance is highly appropriate!

Our Paragraph answers three basic questions … hence the singing.

To Whom shall we sing? “The Lord.” (He is worthy!)

And the singers are? “Ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.” Just about everybody! On sea and land! In country and city! Gentiles (Kedar) and Jews (Isaiah’s audience)! You mountain people too!

Why sing? Because of God’s great Victory! “The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.”

“Mighty Man” is the Hebrew word for “Champion!” And “jealousy” is “zeal, ardor, enthusiasm,” God being “on fire” to defeat evil!

Think Second coming!

Think Armageddon!

Think Millennium!

Think new heaven and new earth!

Think eternal bliss!

Why, I am about to sing!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Originally I had planned to write two Lessons on each chapter of Isaiah. But now that we’ve arrived in the “Sweetest” Portion of the Book (chapters 40-66 … so much of which depicts Jesus and Grace and Salvation, real “Comfort”) that my little plan may no longer apply!

As we learned in yesterday’s “Class,” Isaiah is here in chapter 42 foretelling the Coming of Jesus, the Messiah!

One “in Whom God is well-pleased!” In our beautiful King James Bible … God, taking about Jesus … “Behold, My Servant (Jesus) in Whom My Soul delighteth!” Isaiah 42:1 (The equivalent of God calling David “a man after Mine Own Heart!”)

One (Jesus) Who will not even “break a bruised reed.” (Verse 3) How tender! (A little hollow plant growing down by the riverside! Already trampled by some careless traveler … our Lord would try to salvage it! He certainly would not step on it again!)

And Jesus would not “quench a smoking flax” either! (Still verse 3.) Just a little “wick” on a candle, on a lamp to illuminate some corner of a poor man’s home! Already smoldering, nearly going out … Jesus would try to nurse it back to life, to usefulness!)

Yes, He is the Saviour!

Am I writing to any broken reeds out there? Or smoking flaxes? That is, UNTIL Jesus found you and restored you and saved you?

Last night I preached in a Camp Meeting in western North Carolina. My Text was Galatians 6:1. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ….”

Is that not exactly what Jesus does with those “bruised reeds” and “smoking flaxes?” He “restores” them! He “restores” us! (I wish I’d thought of this Verse last night!)

One writer, a Bible teacher, observed that the broken reed had been injured internally, crushed deeply! But that the smoking flax (wick) had been starved externally (no oil to fuel its flame)! Damage/deprivation inside or outside … Jesus can “fix” it!

No wonder our Lord characterized Himself … “meek and lowly,” and the “Giver of rest!” (Matthew 11:28 … “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”)

Wow!

What a precious Savour!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I have to confess! This dual word picture (“bruised reeds” and “smoking flaxes” are one of my favorites from Isaiah. Some time back I read a Sermon by F. W. Boreham on this Text. He said that the “bruised reed” (good for few things now that it has been so damaged) could easily have been fashioned into a primitive flute, a little musical instrument! One that would have made melody to its “deliverer!”

Hallelujah!

Sing to Him today!

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That big word means “the relationship between two passages, used usually of written literature.”

And Isaiah 42:1-4 gives a prime example. Our four-verse Text for today. Read it with me: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.”

The first question any of us would ask is “Who is this?”

And the answer is … JESUS!

And how can we be so sure of this?

The New Testament clearly identifies our Lord with Isaiah’s beautiful Prophecy here.

Matthew 12:17-21 …“That it might be fulfilled (in Jesus) which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. 21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”

Matthew particularly loves to either quote or allude to the Old Testament, applying specific Texts to our Lord! Matthew, who writes to the Jewish people!

So today we see dual Testimony that Jesus is …

God’s Darling Son!

Spirit-filled!

Meek!

Loving!

Gentle!

And, best of all, Saviour!

This is amazing!

And Isaiah is just getting started with his well-known “Servant” Texts!

There are more to come!

Jesus depicted, 700 years before His Virgin Birth in Bethlehem!

It’s a Miracle!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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The chapter ends with a “challenge” to the false gods of Isaiah’s day. Irony, sarcasm, from Almighty God, the Only True God!

Read with me God’s “invitation” to these (dead) man-made idols: “Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them(the false idols, gods) bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” Isaiah 41:21-23

Can an idol foretell the future? Our God can!

Can an idol interpret the past? Our God can!

You false gods/goddesses … DO SOMETHING … either good or evil! Show us your hands! Create something! Destroy something!

Yet they remain dormant!

While our God is active, still on the Throne … doing things every day!

Then the Lord gets even bolder! Here is His Verdict on those idols … “Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.” Wow, verse 24.

Paul repeats this truth in 1 Corinthians 8:4 … “We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.”

Note how God calls (verse 24) idol worshippers “abominable!” Something disgusting, sickening!

Then our chapter ends with God giving an illustration of His Ability (His Omnipotence and Omniscience) to control worldly events. To guide His creation. “I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.” (Verse 25) Speaking of King Cyrus who ultimately defeated the Babylonians and set Israel free. He stomped the Babylonians, in fact! (Prophesied many years in advance, by the way.)

God outperforming the idols!

Foretelling the future!

Arranging (what is now called) world history! And interpreting it properly!

(The very things aforesaid that idols cannot do!)

The Living God, our God!

And the chapter’s last verse … “Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.” Verse 29, back to the worthless idols, mere chunks of (eventually rotting) wood or tainted silver or inferior gold.

Wow!

Our God is (rightly so) a Jealous God indeed!

Beside Him, there is none other!

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:15

I adore Him, don’t you?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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