◄ Isaiah 43:3 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Goodness Of God To Man
Isaiah 43:3-7
W. Clarkson
The abounding grace of God to the children of men is brought out very strikingly here. It is seen in -

I. THE HIGH PURPOSE FOR WHICH HE CREATES US. "I have created him for my glory." There is no end so lofty in itself and so elevating in its influence for which God could have made mankind as this. It is for this, primarily, that the very highest intelligences in the heavenly spheres have their being.

II. THE PROFOUND INTEREST HE TAKES IN US. "Thou wast precious in my sight... I have loved thee." God regards the children of men (Psalm 33:13, 14). He attends to their requests, and meets their wants (Psalm 145:15, 19). He pities them in their griefs (Psalm 103:8). He yearns over them with parental love (see Isaiah 31:20; 2 Peter 3:9). He disciplines them with parental solicitude (Hebrews 12:5-11).

III. THE HONOUR WHICH HE CONFERS UPON US. "Thou hast been honourable." In Christ Jesus we are honoured in many ways. We are "made priests and kings unto God." What manner of honour as well as of love the Father hath shown us, that we should be called the sons of God; and that we should also be made his heirs, and also "labourers together with him" (1 Corinthians 3:9)!

IV. THE SACRIFICIAL MEANS HE EMPLOYS ON OUR BEHALF. "I gave Egypt for thy ransom... I will give men for thee." That which is of immeasurably greater value than gold or silver, than property of any kind - men, human lives, God would give for Israel. For us he has given that which is of far greater account than any nation or any multitude of men - his own well-beloved Son: "God so loved the world," etc.; "He spared not his own Son;" "He gave himself" for us.

V. HIS PURPOSE TO GATHER HIS CHILDREN TOGETHER to one place of rest and joy (vers. 5, 6). - C.

Biblical Illustrator
For I am the Lord thy God.
Isaiah 43:3
Jehovah's valuation of His people
I. THE LORD'S DECLARATION OF HIS OWN NAME. "I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." He gives His name thus to distinguish Himself from false gods. He also sets forth His name at large, for the comfort of His people. There is something in every name of God which may breed faith in our souls. I think He also does it to excite our wonder mad gratitude. Let us devoutly think of each of these names separately.

I. "Jehovah, thy God." Jehovah, the glorious I AM, signifies self-existence. He borrows nothing from others; indeed, all live by His permit and power. He is as complete without His creatures as with them. Jehovah, again, is a name of immutability. "I AM THAT I AM" was His name to Moses. Furthermore, Jehovah means sovereignty. "Jehovah reigneth, let the people tremble."

2. The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. What a New Testament combination this is — "The Holy One, thy Saviour"! It reminds us of the words — "Just, and the justifier of him that believeth." Here we have one so holy as to be separate from sinners and yet the Saviour of sinners. Since "the Holy One of Israel" is our Saviour, we are confident that He will save us from all sin. The glorious Lord, who here styles Himself "Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour," the Creator of all things, and their Preserver, is come very near to you. In the next verse He saith, "Since thou wast precious in My sight thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." Mark, "I have loved thee." It is not enough that He thinks kindly, and deals tenderly; but He loves! Remember also that this Holy Lord is working upon you still, that you may reflect His glory. "I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (ver. 7). He has begun our new creation, He is carrying it on, and He is completing it.

II. THE LORD'S ESTIMATE OF HIS PEOPLE. Whatever we may think of the Israel of God, the Lord thinks more of it than words can express. "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee." When the Lord chose a nation to be the depository of His sacred oracles, He might have selected Egypt if He had willed to do so. Egypt was in the known world the oldest nation. Egypt contained the wisest and most civilised people of early times. Its very ruins are the wonder of the ages. Its records show an extraordinary progress in literature, architecture, and the arts and sciences. Egypt was also the most powerful of empires in the olden times. Before the banners of Assyria and, Babylon and Medo-Persia came to the front, the dragon of Egypt was a mighty ensign. Yet the Lord did not choose the sons of Ham, but passed by Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba. The Lord chose the seed of Abraham, and the family of Jacob: He multiplied them, and instructed them, and made them to be His own peculiar people. In the course of history the claims of various countries came into collision with those of Israel, and Egypt proudly oppressed Israel. What did God do? Did He hesitate as to which of the two peoples should be preserved? No; the Lord brought out Israel, and turned His artillery upon Egypt. In the days of King Asa, the Ethiopians came up against Judah to the number of a million of men; but "they were destroyed before the Lord, and before His host": thus was Ethiopia given for Israel. Cambyses conquered Egypt, and destroyed many of its cities, and never since has there been a native prince sitting upon the throne of Pharaoh. God gave to the King of Persia, Egypt and the neighbouring cities as the ransom price of His people. Thus the Lord did of old on the behalf of His literal Israel, and what does this fact say to us? It means this — God's chosen are immeasurably precious in His sight. They are the centre of God's design. God's intent was to produce a race that should be honourable in His sight, and well-beloved of His soul. This design would be costly, even to Jehovah Himself. To carry out this purpose, men, having fallen, must be redeemed by blood. To carry out His Divine resolve He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. But even then men could not be saved unless the Holy Ghost should condescend to come and live in .their bodies. Henceforth everything shall be sacrificed for us. God will give all that He has to save His beloved ones. He will make the whole o nature and providence subservient to the complete salvation of His chosen. Kings shall be born and buried; empires shall rise and fall; republics and systems shall come and go; and all shall be the scaffold for the building of the house of God, which is His Church. It is God's grandest, highest purpose to gather together in one the whole company of His redeemed in Christ Jesus their Lord. and to make them like their Head.

III. THE OUTCOME OF THIS.

1. If it be so, that the glorious God has really and of a truth loved us, His people, and valued us at a mighty price, then see how secure His people are!

2. Note, next, the honour which God puts upon them. God has put us poor sinners among His honourables. I know one who, in her unconverted state, had fallen into sad sin, and the remembrance thereof was painful; but the Lord removed the shame by laying home to her soul these gracious words, "Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable."

3. The certainty of the Lord's gathering together all His people. "I will bring thy seed," etc. (vers. 5-7). If God has determined to glorify Himself by us and in us, let us be in accord with Him. What love we ought to bear to God!

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I gave Egypt for thy ransom
God's redemption of Israel
J. A. Alexander.
An amplification of the phrase, "I have redeemed thee" (ver. 1).

(J. A. Alexander.)

Egypt, Ethiopia, Seba
Prof J. Skinner, D. D.
"I give Egypt as thy ransom." The meaning appears to be that Cyrus will be compensated for the emancipation of Israel by the conquest of these African nations which did not belong to the Babylonian Empire. As a matter of fact, the conquest of Egypt was effected by Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus, although it is said to have been contemplated by Cyrus himself (Herod. 1:153), and it is actually (though wrongly) attributed to him by Xenophon.

(Prof J. Skinner, D. D.)

Seba
Prof J. Skinner, D. D.
(Genesis 10:7; Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 45:14) was, according to Josephus, Merge, the northern province of Ethiopia, lying between the Blue and the White Nile.

(Prof J. Skinner, D. D.)

People
Babylonians, Isaiah, Jacob, Seba
Places
Babylon, Cush, Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem, Seba
Topics
Appointed, Atonement, Cush, Egypt, Ethiopia, Exchange, Holy, Price, Ransom, Savior, Saviour, Seba, Stead
Outline
1. The Lord comforts the church with his promises.
8. He appeals to the people for witness of his omnipotence
14. He foretells them the destruction of Babylon
18. And his wonderful deliverance of his people
22. He reproves the people as inexcusable

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 43:3

     1150   God, truth of
     1513   Trinity, mission of

Isaiah 43:1-3

     5480   protection
     6721   redemption, in life

Isaiah 43:1-4

     6722   redemption, OT

Isaiah 43:1-5

     6109   alienation

Isaiah 43:1-7

     7388   kinsman-redeemer

Isaiah 43:1-13

     5805   comfort

Isaiah 43:2-3

     5566   suffering, encouragements in

Isaiah 43:3-4

     5974   value

Isaiah 43:3-5

     6714   ransom

Library
The Grace of God
TEXT: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."--Isaiah 43:25. In looking over an old volume of Sermons preached by H. Grattan Guiness, forty-five years ago, I came across the message which he delivered with this text as a basis. So deep was the impression made upon me by my first reading of the sermon that I have taken Mr. Guiness' outline and ask your careful attention to its development. If one should enter a jewelry store and …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

Thy Name: My Name
'I have called thee by thy name.'--ISAIAH xliii. 1. 'Every one that is called by My name.'--ISAIAH xliii. 7. Great stress is laid on names in Scripture. These two parallel and antithetic clauses bring out striking complementary relations between God and the collective Israel. But they are as applicable to each individual member of the true Israel of God. I. What does God's calling a man by his name imply? 1. Intimate knowledge. Adam naming the creatures. Christ naming His disciples. 2. Loving friendship. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

February the Fourth Spiritual Buoyancy
"When thou passeth through the waters they shall not overflow thee." --ISAIAH xliii. 1-7. When Mrs. Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was dying, she quietly said, "The waters are rising but I am not sinking." But then she had been saying that all through her life. Other floods besides the waters of death had gathered about her soul. Often had the floods been out and the roads were deep in affliction. But she had never sunk! The good Lord made her buoyant, and she rode upon the storm! This, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

October the Eighth God's Glorious Purpose
"I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." --ISAIAH xliii. 1-7. That is surely a superlative honour! "I have created him for My glory." I stood before one of Turner's paintings, and a man of fine judgment said to me, "That is Turner's glory!" He meant that in that picture the genius and the power and the grace of Turner were most abundantly expressed. And it is the will of God that man should express His glory, and by his righteousness and goodness witness to the …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Forgiveness
We shall notice first, this morning, the recipients of mercy--the persons of whom the Lord is here speaking; secondly, the deed of mercy,--"I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions;" thirdly, the reason for mercy--"for mine own sake;" and fourthly, the promise of mercy-- "I will not remember thy sins." I. We are about to see who are THE RECIPIENTS OF MERCY; and I would have you all listen; peradventure there be some strayed in here who are the very chief of sinners--some who have sinned …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

North and South
At this moment, my brethren and sisters, we who follow the footsteps of King Jesus are soldiers of an army which has invaded this world. This land belongs to our great Leader, for he made it. It was right that everywhere, all round the globe, his name should he honored, for he is the King among the nations, and the governor thereof: But our race has revolted, set up another monarch, and bowed its strength to support another dynasty--the dynasty of darkness and death. Our race has broken the good …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Fire! Fire! Fire!
We shall talk of three things, this morning, as the Holy Ghost may enable us; first of all, a terrible pathway,--walking around the fire; secondly, an awful danger,--the danger of being burned and utterly consumed; and thirdly, a double insurance,--"Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the fire kindle upon thee." I. First, then, let us speak a little upon this TERRIBLE PATHWAY. The sacramental host of God's elect has never had an easy road along which to journey. I see the fields on fire, the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

Redeemed Souls Freed from Fear.
A TALK WITH A FEW FRIENDS AT MENTONE. "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee."--Isaiah xliii. 1. REDEEMED SOULS FREED FROM FEAR. I WAS lamenting this morning my unfitness for my work, and especially for the warfare to which I am called. A sense of heaviness came over me, but relief came very speedily, for which I thank the Lord. Indeed, I was greatly burdened, but the Lord succoured me. The first verse read at the Sabbath morning service exactly met my case. It is in Isaiah xliii. 1: "But now thus saith …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

How to Make Use of Christ for Steadfastness, in a Time when Truth is Oppressed and Borne Down.
When enemies are prevailing, and the way of truth is evil spoken of, many faint, and many turn aside, and do not plead for truth, nor stand up for the interest of Christ, in their hour and power of darkness: many are overcome with base fear, and either side with the workers of iniquity, or are not valiant for the truth, but being faint-hearted, turn back. Now the thoughts of this may put some who desire to stand fast, and to own him and his cause in a day of trial, to enquire how they shall make …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Nature of Justification
Justification in the active sense (iustificatio, {GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA}) is defined by the Tridentine Council as "a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Means to be Used with Sinners.
Text.--Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.--Isaiah xliii: 10. IN the text it is affirmed of the children of God, that they are his witnesses. In several preceding lectures I have been dwelling on the subject of Prayer, or that department of means for the promotion of a revival, which is intended to move God to pour out his Spirit. I am now to commence the other department: MEANS TO BE USED FOR THE CONVICTION AND CONVERSION OF SINNERS. It is true, in general, that …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

Mirrors of God
... That ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness ...'--1 Peter ii. 9. The Revised Version, instead of 'praises,' reads excellencies--and even that is but a feeble translation of the remarkable word here employed. For it is that usually rendered 'virtues'; and by the word, of course, when applied to God, we mean the radiant excellencies and glories of His character, of which our earthly qualities, designated by the same name, are but as shadows. It is, indeed, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

Eleventh Day. The Holy one of Israel.
I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. I the Lord which make you holy, am holy.'--Lev. xi. 45, xxi. 8. 'I am the Lord Thy God, the Holy One of Israel, Thy Saviour. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.'--Isa. xliii. 3, 14, 15. In the book of Exodus we found God making provision for the Holiness of His people. In the holy …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

A Call to Prayer and Testimony
Mark well, beloved, how he would have his people to be in tune with himself! He will have no rest till salvation work is done; and he would not have us take rest; but he would have us stirred with passionate desire, and fired with holy zeal for the accomplishment of the divine plan of grace. Till he holds his peace he will not allow us to be silent. You that have the Revised Version will be struck with the more literal and forcible rendering of our text--"Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

His Legacy.
BLESSED and ever precious are the words, which came from the lips of our loving Lord, before he went to the cross. His own were gathered around Him; before He ever comforted them and poured out His loving heart, He manifested that love by serving them. He arose from the supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. What a sight the Son of God girded! "After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Epistle xxx. To Venantius, Ex-Monk, Patrician of Syracuse .
To Venantius, Ex-Monk, Patrician of Syracuse [138] . Gregory to Venantius, &c. In addressing to you the greeting which is due I was intending to speak of what I suffer. But I think I need not relate to you what you know. For I am tormented by pains of gout, which, afflicting not dissimilarly both me and you, while they increase upon us exceedingly, have caused our life to decrease. In the midst of them what else should we do but recall our faults to mind, and give thanks to Almighty God? For we …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

God's True Treasure in Man
'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.'--DEUT, xxxii.9. 'Jesus Christ (Who) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--TITUS ii. 14. I choose these two texts because they together present us with the other side of the thought to that which I have elsewhere considered, that man's true treasure is in God. That great axiom of the religious consciousness, which pervades the whole of Scripture, is rapturously …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Works of Providence
Rom. xi. 36.--"For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen."--Psal. ciii. 19.--"The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all."--Matt. x. 29.--"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." There is nothing more commonly confessed in words, than that the providence of God reaches to all the creatures and their actions, but I believe there is no point of religion …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How they are to be Admonished who Lament Sins of Deed, and those who Lament Only Sins of Thought.
(Admonition 30.) Differently to be admonished are those who deplore sins of deed, and those who deplore sins of thought. For those who deplore sins of deed are to be admonished that perfected lamentations should wash out consummated evils, lest they be bound by a greater debt of perpetrated deed than they pay in tears of satisfaction for it. For it is written, He hath given us drink in tears by measure (Ps. lxxix. 6): which means that each person's soul should in its penitence drink the tears …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Fifth Day. Holiness and Redemption.
Sanctify unto me all the first-born.'--Ex. xiii. 2. 'All the first-born are mine; for on the day I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified unto me all the first-born in Israel: mine they shall be: I am the Lord.'--Num. iii. 13, viii. 17. 'For I am the Lord your God that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.'--Lev. xi. 45. 'I have redeemed thee; thou art mine.'--Isa. xliii. 1. At Horeb we saw how the …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

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