You Are Mine

Isaiah 43:1-7 (NKJV)

You Are Mine

May 19, 2024

Before the kingdom was overthrown by Assyria, then by Babylon and then by Persia the children of God had stopped calling upon the LORD. The Israelites had grown weary of Him (verse 22). Their worship may have been lavish but was often only outward and formal. In exile, Isaiah prophesied a generation would grow up without the burden of the sacrificial system. God did not weary them with ritual, but they burdened Him with their sins, and wearied Him with their iniquities (verse 24). Yet, with or without the temple and its worship, the LORD remains the same. He blots out His people’s transgressions for no other reason than the glory of His own name. In chapter 40 there is a dramatic shift in the prophecy where God calls upon Isaiah to write, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,” saith your God. Judah still had 100 years of trouble and disobedience before Jerusalem would fall, and then 70 years of exile. So God tells Isaiah to speak tenderly and to comfort Jerusalem. The seeds of comfort often take root in the soil of pain. This prophecy of Isaiah is during a very dark time in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, but out of the darkest of times, God’s Word comes as a message of hope to them thru Isaiah. Chapter 42 ends with God's sorrow over the spiritual decay of his people, but in chapter 43, God says that despite the people's spiritual failure, He will show them mercy, bring them back and restore them. He would give them an outpouring of love and not wrath. Then the world would know that God alone had done this.

I. v. 1, 3-4 THE PAST – God reminds Israel of what He has done for them. It was there said that Jacob and Israel would not walk in God's ways, and that when he corrected them for their disobedience they were stubborn and laid it not to heart; and now one would think it should have followed that God would utterly abandon and destroy them; but no, the next words are, But now, fear not, O Jacob! O Israel! I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine. God's goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20). In Ephesians 2:2 it says, Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). Notice 3 great ministries God has performed for every believer in the past. “I have redeemed thee” – They are the people of his purchase: he has redeemed them. Out of the land of Egypt He first redeemed them, and out of many another bondage, in His love, and in His mercy; How much more will he take care of those who are redeemed with the blood of his Son?!?! They are His peculiar people, whom He has distinguished from others, and set apart for Himself: And yet the Apostle Peter says, (1 Peter 2:9) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; So, when we came to Him by faith, He was willing to receive us just as we were and through pure grace forgive us and save us. “I have called thee by thy name” - When God says He called them by their “name” it implies an intimate knowledge of who they were and what they are now! When they became His, He changed their name because He had changed their relationship. The same is true with us. What were we called in times past? – lost, children of the devil, sinners, the wicked, the children of wrath, the damned. BUT, what are we called now? – Saints, Children of God, The Redeemed, Saved, Citizens of Heaven. John 10:2 says But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When we think of what we were and what Jesus has made us, it ought to cause us to shout! “Thou art mine” - God reminds the Israelites that He has taken possession of them, and they are His alone. Just like us, when we came to Jesus, we were received just as we were, John 6:37 says, “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out!” At the very moment of salvation, Jesus took possession of our lives and now, we belong to Him – And nothing can ever change that status. 2 Timothy 2:14 says, He “who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all sin and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”