3.21.2021 Isaiah 43:1–7 (EHV)
1 But now this is what the LORD says, the LORD who created you, O Jacob, the LORD who formed you, O Israel. Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. 2 When you cross through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not set you on fire. 3 Because I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, I gave Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious and honored in my eyes, and I myself love you, I will give people in exchange for you, and peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Do not be afraid, because I am with you. From the east I will bring your offspring, and from the west I will gather you. 6 I will say to the north, “Give them back!” and to the south, “Do not hold them.” Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, everyone I created for my glory, everyone I formed, yes, everyone I have made.
The Trip to the Promised Land is Worth the Risk
This summer I am trying to plan a trip out to Maine with my family. There’s a place on top of a mountain called Knife’s Edge. It’s about a mile and a half trek on the rocky edge of a mountain, for a total of a 8 and ½ mile hike that can take anywhere from 8 to 10 hours. When we saw the video online it looked awesome to me, but my wife said, “Uh uh. I’m not doing that.”
One of the most memorable trips I have ever taken was years ago when we were invited to India for a wedding. We had a member from our church who was getting married in India, and my brother lived over there as well, so we jumped at the chance. It was very exciting, but it was also very scary. We were able to travel over there with another member of our church who also was from India. He knew where he was going and how to get from one place to the next. It definitely made the trip easier and more relaxing to have him with us as we went.
Such is the nature of life. You can’t stay at home forever. You have to go to school. You have to find a new job. You purchase a house. You get married. You have children. Sometimes you can’t WAIT to move on. You’re sick of school or you’re sick of living at home or you’re sick of your job. You move on at the first chance you get. Other times you are AFRAID of the change. You are enjoying life and you don’t want anything to change. Perhaps someone that has been with you through life is gone: your parents or your spouse die. You hoped to have many more years with them, but now you have no choice but to adapt to the change.
Problems occur when people are terrified of change or they try desperately to hang on when change is inevitable. They remain locked in where they are and they can’t move on. Then they get depressed. Feel like they’re stuck. I think about how many pictures we have taken of the kids through the years, but we never take time to actually look at them. We are too busy to stop and look back. But I don’t think that’s all bad. I’d rather have life go quickly than to be stuck and constantly looking back, wishing for what used to be.
Another problem can occur if all you ever want to do is move on. You don’t learn to live in the present. You get people that constantly quit jobs or end relationships because they’re constantly seeking the latest and the greatest. They’re never satisfied with anything.
God wasn’t satisfied with what happened to our world when Adam and Eve entered us into sin. He put a curse of death on this world. He wasn’t satisfied with seeing us living in darkness, only living for the here and the now. He wanted something better for us. He wanted perfection and holiness. He wanted heaven for us. So Jesus went on a journey, a dangerous journey, into the flesh of humanity, into the desert to fight against Satan, into Jerusalem to die on a cross. He came here to experience our death and our hell, to break open the gates that barred us from heaven. This is what Lent is about. God comes to man, God becomes man, God becomes sin and death, in order to give us forgiveness and life. We enjoy the journey every year as we follow Jesus to the cross. God entered our fallen world in order to save us.
When we are baptized into Christ, God places us on a journey. The Holy Spirit points our minds and hearts to heavenly things and a world where we live to be with Jesus. He says, “You’ve been rescued in Jesus! You’re living in a sinful body and a dying world. This world is corrupted and damned. But look at where you are headed! Jesus has died to prepare a place for you in heaven with no more crying, no more pain, no more death!” This is where God created us to be. This is where Jesus died redeemed us to be. It is where HE wants us. Paul said in Philippians 1:23, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” So this is how God wants us to live our lives – looking forward to the future, wanting to move on and hoping to move on.
Unfortunately, the journey on the way to heaven can be very dangerous. Isaiah talks to the Israelites about walking through waters, rivers, and fire. Fire and water are two natural elements that have caused lots of destruction in this world. We have a member whose house and all of her possessions were lost at Wixom Lake, and another member who also lost a lot during that flood as well. Life is full of disasters. Think about how many fires have ruined people’s homes and lives. God never said the journey to heaven would be an EASY journey or a PLEASANT ride. You might compare it to going on a roller coaster ride for free. It can be terrifying, but it can also be fun. It can be bumpy. Keep your arms and legs inside the ride. Make sure you are buckled up.
So our tendency is to play life as safely as possible, especially when we are comfortable. Don’t take risks. Stay in the safety zone. If I say something online or at work that might speak up against an immoral stance, then I might lose my job. If I come to church, I might get Covid. If I speak up against what my teacher is telling me at school, I may get a bad grade. At what point does this end? Where do we cross the line from living a life of healthy caution to foolish risks? When do we know it is time to live a life of faithless fear?
I don’t think that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego woke up that morning and said, “Wouldn’t it be neat if we were thrown in the fiery furnace today?” And they didn’t even know if God would rescue them or not. (Daniel 3:17) Yet they still wouldn’t back down from the King who had commanded them to bow down to a false idol. When the Israelites sent the 12 spies into the Promised Land, 10 of the spies said the people were too big. The obstacles were too great. It would have been foolish, by all accounts, for them to attack. Yet God told them to go, and two of them said, “God can do it.” Who ended up being right? Not the 10, but the 2. God was angry at them for not trusting that HE would conquer through the fight. That’s why they had to spend the next 40 years in the desert, because of the consequences of their living in fear.
In today’s text Isaiah was trying to encourage the Israelites to go back to the Promised Land after their 70 years of captivity were up. Sooner or later, it would be time. But now this is what the LORD says, the LORD who created you, O Jacob, the LORD who formed you, O Israel. Notice, first of all, how God reminds them of how they became Israel in the first place. God called them to the Promised Land. He stuck with them through their wrestling days, and made them into a great nation. He formed them out of nothing to be the people of God. This was all grace. God created you too. God formed you too. He put Trinity here at 1010 33rd St. He established this church. He built this building. He’s been with this church through two world wars and a great depression. He’s enabled this church to survive through the Spanish Flu. He also carried you into this church. Do you not think that He can take care of us through this pandemic too?
Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. Redeemed is a powerful word. It means to pay the price for someone or something. God shed blood for the Israelites. He put to death the firstborn of Egypt. He had many lambs put to death and their blood put over the doorposts. He saved them by breaking Pharaoh’s will and destroying his army in the Red Sea.
All of this foreshadowed the death of Jesus which would loosen the grip of Satan and death and sin from our souls. God’s wrath would be appeased through the blood of His One and Only Son. Our debt would be paid. Then God put His name on us in our baptism. He used water to wash away our sins and call us His own. He saved us through water, the water of baptism. We now belong to God. We are His precious children. He knows your name! He knows you inside and out! You are His precious child! You mean a lot to God! He paid for you with His own blood!
2 When you cross through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not set you on fire. 3 Because I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. WHEN. Not if. It is inevitable. But so is something else. Here’s a simple thing. God just says, “I’m God. I’ve conquered these dangers before, and I can conquer them again. I’m with you through it all. I’ll protect you from the danger of it all. How? Because I am the LORD your God. I’m your Savior.”
The Israelites had a history of having to go through dangerous waters in the Bible. When they were in slavery and escaping Egypt they had to pass through the Red Sea. When they were on the eastern edge of the Promised Land they had to pass across the Jordan River. But the point that Isaiah made was that God is more powerful than these things. Every time God worked a miracle to enable them to cross by parting the Red Sea and by diverting the waters of the Jordan in order to bring them to the Promised Land. Fire? God brought Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind with a chariot of fire. Even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to survive being thrown in the fiery furnace while they were in captivity in Babylon. So Isaiah was saying to the Israelites, “The way may be dangerous. But God can overcome any obstacles on the way and even use them to get you to the Promised Land. History proves this!” So even though they were in captivity in Babylon, many miles away from home, and even though their temple had been destroyed, God could bring them back! He could restore things!
Isn’t it interesting when we look forward to see Jesus deal with water and fire? When the disciples were freaking out because of a storm that was going to drown them, Jesus was fast asleep in the bottom of the boat. He wasn’t worried about it. He could simply command it to be still. He could also walk on it. When his enemies came out with torches to arrest him and put him to death, you don’t see Jesus panic. He goes right to it in order to conquer it! Even though Jesus suffered a terrible death on the cross, and even though He went through the fires of God’s wrath while hanging there, Jesus used it to pay for the sins of the world and came out alive. He died in confidence that He would rise. He fulfilled God’s demands. Nothing could hold Him back from opening up heaven for us and for our salvation. Nothing is impossible with God.
So it’s important for us to think about this. God is with us. In your baptism, God is with you. He doesn’t just watch over you from heaven. He doesn’t just send some angels to take care of you. The Holy Spirit is actually inside of you, dwelling within you, speaking to you through the Word, praying for you. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus actually gives you His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Think about how terrifying it would be to have to stand before a holy God who threatens to send thousands of millions of people to hell: who talks about sending fire on the earth on Judgment Day. But when we are baptized into Jesus, and when we trust in Jesus as our Savior, and when He is our defense attorney, then God promises we WILL NOT be burned. Why not? Because Jesus went through the fire for us.
What does this mean? How do you live your life when there are so many changes that happen and when we don’t know what is coming in the future? He says it in verse 1, and Isaiah says it again in vs. 5. Do not be afraid. There is no reason for it, not when God is with you. You have to fight against your sinful nature which doesn’t like danger and wants to be comfortable. There’s sickness and disease. You could get in a car accident. You could die any day. Demons are tricky and powerful. That’s true. But Isaiah reminds us that God is with us through it all. Your sins are paid for through it all. It reminds me of our trip to India. Just with one native man we felt so much more at peace. He knew where he was going. We trusted his direction. Doesn’t God know where you will go? Won’t He be with you too?
In Isaiah’s time, God had called the Israelites to return home to the Promised Land. He didn’t save them from Egypt so they would end up in Babylon. He did it so they would be in Israel and so that Jesus could be born in Bethlehem. So Isaiah was calling them on a dangerous journey home, out of their comfort zone. You might think, why would they want to remain in captivity?
There was a man who went to the bank and robbed it for $1. Why? So that he could get free health care in jail. He preferred jail to freedom, just so he could get health care. It sounds crazy, but it happens. God even had provisions in the Old Testament for slaves who could voluntarily remain slaves for life if they wanted to – if they liked being slaves. That’s what happens when you become comfortable in the slavery of this sinful world. You enjoy your food and drink. You like your home. You like your drinks and your drugs. You don’t want to repent. You like where you’re at. You don’t want to leave. You don’t want the change. The point is, don’t get too comfortable here. This isn’t what God created you for. This isn’t what Jesus redeemed you for. You were paid for with a price, to take you out of this world to heaven.
When it comes to going to Maine, I hope we can make the trip. It will be a long drive. I’m not sure how my feet will hold out. I’ll need to train a little bit before hand to try and get in walking shape. I believe that the view from the top of that mountain will be worth the effort and the risk.
How much more the trip to heaven! Jesus has died to bring us there. He’s laid out a pathway for us to follow in faith. He’s paid the price! So we follow on this journey of life and death. We don’t know how long it will take. We don’t know how hard it will be. We know the only way to get there is through faith in Jesus, and through death on earth. So it’s not an easy journey. It’s not always a fun journey. It’s full of danger, with floods and fires. But God is here with us, and He’s here guiding us and protecting us along the way. So ultimately, there’s nothing to fear. There’s everything to look forward to. It’s definitely worth the trip, difficult as it may be. Amen.
