Fear Not

4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. 5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come. 6 Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. 12 You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. 13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah brings to Jerusalem’s mind that they have been taken captive in their past by foreign deities. Their false worship of other gods has brought God’s judgment on them. But God sustained them. Even while being allowed to be conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians, God is still greater and more powerful and they would still have a remnant. God will send the Messiah to lead. He tramples kings like their conquerors underfoot, they are dust, who has done this? God does. He is the first and the last. Everyone trembles before Him.

And God reminds His people that they will be upheld and not to fear. Fear not!

God’s people tend to be afraid. From the beginning of creation, their sinfulness causes them to fear. Why shouldn’t they be afraid? God is powerful! He has created the world; He could take them out of it. When they disobeyed, they were exiled from the garden. When they disobeyed again, God flooded the earth killing all but a small family in a boat. When they disobeyed again, God confused their language and communication and they were scattered to different places. When they disobeyed again, God destroyed their cities saving Abram and his small family. This is all just what we’ve learned in Genesis so far in our morning Bible classes (except we haven’t gotten to Sodom yet—spoiler alert!).

When Pharaoh takes Israel captive and Moses is sent to free God’s people, they saw the plagues. They saw the things God was able to do. Sinful people fear God!

But here in our text, we’ve jumped ahead in history at another instance of feeling alone and afraid. God says, fear not! Could it be that God always has a plan for His people even when they are not obeying Him? Could it be that our powerful Creator, Yahweh is thinking ahead? His purposes are far more mysterious and thoughtful than our own.