In December of 1934, John and Betty Stam, a young American missionary couple assigned in China, were captured by Communists and eventually martyred for their faith. Captured with them was their baby daughter. One of the other prisoners, as he was being released from Jingde Prison, overheard the soldiers discussing what to do with the Stams’ baby. The men didn’t want to listen to her constant crying, and could see no use in preserving her life, so they decided to kill her for their own convenience.
The prisoner, whose name remains unknown, stepped forward and said, “Why kill her? What harm has she done?” “Are you a Christian?” shouted one of the Reds. “No, I am not,” was the answer. “I am a prisoner you just released.” “Will you die for this foreign baby?” they asked. “I will,” answered the strange prisoner. And as the Stams hugged their baby tighter, they saw this prisoner hacked to pieces before their eyes. Thus little Helen Priscilla’s life was spared because of the sacrifice of the life of this Chinese prisoner.(1)
She was given another chance at life, a new beginning; and this is a picture of the new beginning that we receive in Jesus Christ, because Jesus took our place in death so that we might live. I have entitled our message for this evening, “A God of New Beginnings,” and there are many people who wish they had a new beginning and a new lease on life; to those experiencing trials and hardship, and those who are suffering from poor choices; to those who are lost and dying in their sin.
The Lord Is Our Redeemer (v. 1)
1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.”
We see something significant in this verse, which is the fact that God wants to “redeem” Israel. So, what does the word “redeem” mean? It means, “to buy back,” “to recover,” “to fulfill a pledge or promise,” and “to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom.”(2) The Lord wanted to restore Israel from some kind of wayward path or bondage, and to give the people freedom and victory. So, why did Israel need redeeming? Well, it’s a long story, so I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that Israel was invaded and placed under control by the Assyrians around 721 B.C. The root cause was that Israel, under poor leadership (such as King Ahab and Jezebel), was worshiping foreign gods and idols.
The Israelites made some poor choices which led to bondage. A similar thing happened to Israel around 587 B.C. when the people were taken captive into Babylon. In Psalm 137:1-2 and 4, we can hear the cry of a people trapped in spiritual bondage, when they declared, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it . . . How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Israel was held in bondage and the people felt lost without hope; however, the Lord was gracious and wanted to show His favor and kindness to His people and give them a chance to repent and be restored.
The Lord is still in the redeeming business today, and He wants to give us a new lease on life. In Job 19:25, we see where Job spoke a prophecy concerning the coming of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, whenever he stated, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.” In Galatians 4:4-5, the apostle Paul said, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons,” and then in Titus 2:13-14, we are told about, “Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people.”
God wants to redeem us as He wanted to redeem Israel; and just as He called Israel by name, He addresses us by name. In John 10:3-4, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, told us concerning our relationship with Him, “The sheep hear His voice; and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them; and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.” Wherever you are right now, and whatever bondage you presently find yourself in, your Redeemer is calling you out by name. Will you listen to His voice and run to Him?
The Lord Is Our Savior (vv. 2-3)
2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
We just read of how the Lord is our Redeemer; however, I also want to emphasize that He’s also our Savior. First of all, we read here where the Lord said, “When you pass through the waters I will be with you.” Right here, God reminded the people of how He had been with them during difficult situations in the past, and He was referring to how He parted the Red Sea. Israel had been trapped against the sea during the exodus from Egypt, and the people had nowhere to go. Pharaoh’s army was closing in fast; therefore, God commanded Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea (Exodus 14:15-16); and Exodus 14:21-22 tells us, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night . . . So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground.”
God did a great miracle for Israel and revealed His power to save. In Psalm 77:19-20, we read of the Lord, “Your way was in the sea, your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” When Israel waked through the Red Sea, the Lord Himself was with them between those towering walls of water; and though unseen, He was the one guiding them.
This phrase that we encounter of “the waters” is a metaphor for the crashing waves of life; and whenever we feel as though we’re drowning in a deluge of difficulties, we need to remember that the Lord is walking with us and His “footsteps are not always known” to us (Psalm 77:20). In Mark 4:35-41, we read the story of where Jesus and His disciples were crossing the sea on a boat in the middle of a raging storm. The disciples thought they were going to perish; however, Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, as though nothing was the matter. Whenever we’re enduring a tempestuous sea of trials, we may not know it, but Jesus is right there in the boat with us. We may be fretting and pacing the deck, but Jesus is undisturbed and reclining peacefully, because He knows who’s in control: He is!
When the disciples came running to Jesus, they cried out in fear, and said, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (v. 38). Many times we feel as though the Lord doesn’t care about us; but guess what, He does! The Scripture tells us, “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (v. 39). Our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, wants to calm the raging storms in our life. He’s right there beside us in the midst of those storms, storms that just seem to happen for no reason at all; and if we cry out to Him, then He will declare, “Peace, be still!”
Next, the Lord said, “When you pass . . . through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.” In this statement the Lord reminded Israel how He had parted the Jordan River. Israel was promised a land of abundance, but the people were blocked by a flooded river. They encountered a huge obstacle that prevented them from reaching the Promised Land. Under inspiration of the Lord, Joshua told Israel to prepare to cross over the flooded river in order to posses the land which the Lord had promised to give them (Joshua 1:10-11).
In Joshua 3:15-17, we are told, “As those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water . . . that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap . . . and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.” There are many of us today who feel blocked from abundance in the Lord; however, God wants to perform a delivering miracle in our life as well.
The Lord will deliver us if we allow Jesus to cleanse us from all sin. You see, sometimes we are hindered from a life of abundance because we are not fully committed to the Lord. David said in Psalm 32:5-7, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near Him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” If you’ll acknowledge the Savior as your deliverer from sin, then He will make a pathway through the flood.
The Lord then said, “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.” Here, the Lord reminded Israel of how He had guided the people in the heat of the wilderness. God proved to be Israel’s Jehovah Jireh; however, the wilderness was a refining experience and it was meant to be difficult. In Ezekiel 22:17-22, we are informed of how the Lord will sometimes allow us to endure trials to mold and shape our character, in what’s called the Refiner’s Fire. Metaphorically, the heat of the wilderness is a reference to the trials and hardships of life; however, these are the hardships we experience as we’re being purged from sin. This fire, though, serves to refine us into precious metal, and it’s not meant to harm us, and that is why God says, “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.”
Whatever trials we are enduring, whether they are trials that just seem to happen for no reason (the waters); trials that occur because of disobedience when we’re not fully committed to God (the rivers); or trials that take place in order to purge the sin in our life (the fire); the Lord wants to rescue us and be our Savior. We read here where the Lord declares, “I am the Lord your God . . . your Savior.” The Lord becomes our Savior through His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent to be the Savior of the world. Luke 2:11 declares of Jesus, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Jesus became our Savior when He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, and the penalty for sin is spiritual death (Romans 6:23). We read in Acts 5:30-31, where Paul stated, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, and through His resurrection, we have the forgiveness of sins; and instead of death, we gain eternal life in God’s kingdom (2 Peter 2:11). The Lord wants to be our Savior, and He will be known in this way through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Lord Will Do a New Thing (vv. 16, 18-19)
16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters . . . 18 “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
The same God who made a way in the expanse of the sea and a pathway through the mighty Jordan, is also able to make a road in the wilderness experiences of our life, and bring forth rivers of refreshing and renewal. Whatever sin we may have committed, or whatever form of disobedience that has led to difficulty in our life, the Lord tells us, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.” Don’t hang on to the past and dwell on those hard times, but look ahead to brighter days in God’s future. In Philippians 3:13-14, the apostle Paul declared, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
God wants to do something new in our life, and He does it through Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new,” and in Revelation 2:17, we’re told that through Jesus Christ we receive a brand new name. This God of miracles wants to do a great miracle in our life by erasing the past, and giving us a bright future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
The Israelites lived in sin and disobedience worshiping foreign gods and idols, and their sin led to painful consequences as they were taken over and oppressed by a foreign nation. Many of us today are living in sin and disobedience to God, and we’re suffering from spiritual bondage. In Hebrews 2:14-15, we’re told that Jesus came to “Destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Through Jesus Christ we no longer have to be subject to the bondage of sin, and the consequence of sin, which is spiritual death. If we confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer, we will be forgiven of our sins and inherit eternal life in God’s kingdom.
In fact, our sins will be remembered no more. In Psalm 103:12, we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” In reference to Israel, Micah 7:18-19 says, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
Our God is a God of new beginnings, and I must once again emphasize how our new beginning is found in Jesus Christ. When God declared, “I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,” this was actually a reference to Jesus, the Messiah. We read in Isaiah 35:6-7, “Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.” In Isaiah 35:8-9, we read, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there.”
What’s being described in these verses from Isaiah is the spiritual newness and renewal that Jesus, the Messiah, would bring with Him. In reference to the “streams in the desert,” Jesus said in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,” and in reference to the “road in the wilderness,” which is a “highway of holiness” on which the “redeemed shall walk,” Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (NIV).
Time of Reflection
God is a God of new beginnings. The refreshing of our heart and the road to eternal life is found in Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The way in which we receive eternal life, according to Romans 10:9, is this: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We must believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. We must also believe that He rose again from the grave in order to prove Himself victorious over sin and death.
If we believe in what Jesus did for us and confess our faith in Him, then we too will be victorious over sin and death, and will inherit eternal life. In Romans 6:4, we are told, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (6:4b). Therefore, I want to encourage you to come this evening and receive a brand new life!
NOTES
(1) “Bibles at the China Border,” taken from the Internet in January of 2007 at http://fireon thealtar.com/7/bibles/1130/China+Martyrs:+John+&+Betty+Stam.html.
(2) “Redeem,” Dictionary.com Unabridged, version 1.1, taken from the Internet in December of 2006 at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redeem.
