Translation and Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 29 June
7. I will cause to remember the lovingkindnesses of Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah,
as upon everything which Jehovah has awarded us,
even the great goodness to the house of Israel which He awarded
according to His compassions
and according to the greatness of His lovingkindness:
8. And He said, “Surely they are my people, sons will not be untrue,
and He became for them a savior.
9. In all their oppression no oppressor,
but the messenger of His face caused to save them.
In His love and in His pity
He himself redeemed them,
and He took them on and carried them all the days of way-back-when.
10. But they? They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit,
and He was changed into an enemy toward them; He Himself fought with them.
11. But He remembered the days of way-back-when, the drawer-forth of His people.
Where is the one who causes to go up from the sea with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is the one who places in nearness to it His Holy Spirit,
12. causing His beautiful arm to proceed for the right hand of Moses,
cleaving the waters away from their faces to make for Himself an everlasting name,
13. causing them to walk through the depths?
14. Like the cattle go down into the cleft, the Spirit of Jehovah has settled them down,
thus you led your people to make for yourself a beautiful name.
15. Look down from the heavens and see from the mansion of your holiness and your beauty.
Where is your zeal and your exploits?
The moaning of your inner parts and your compassion toward me has been restrained.
16. For it is You who are our father,
for Abraham did not know us and Israel will not recognize us.
You, Jehovah are our father; from way-back-when your name has been our Redeemer!
17. Why do you cause us to stray, Jehovah, from your ways,
You cause to harden our heart from the fear of you.
Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
18. For a little, they possessed your holy people; our oppressors stepped on your sanctuary.
19. They have gotten away from way-back-when;
you have not ruled among them;
Your name has not been called upon them;
O that you had torn heaven and come down!
2 Kings 21:1-9 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem... 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. 6 And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practised fortune-telling, and used enchantments, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever…” 9b Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.
Isaiah probably wrote this prophecy when Manasseh was king of Judah. In v. 17ff he writes, “Jehovah, why do you make us wander from your ways and cause to harden our heart from the fear of you?... our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. They have gotten away from way-back-when; You have not ruled among them, Your name had not been named upon them.” Things were at a low point for the nation of Israel. Isaiah was tempted to be discouraged. Have you ever felt like everything has gone wrong and God is not showing up? When Isaiah surveyed the awesome blessings he had prophesied over the last couple of chapters, he must have wondered if they could ever come true.
There were two basic problems. One was outside of them and the other was inside of them:
Chapter 63 deals with both of these problems, starting with the exterior problem in vs. 1-6. Don’t worry folks, God will take care of your enemies. The second problem is not so easy. It involves changing ourselves, and if you are dead in your sins and trespasses, you can’t really do that. On the other hand, it is very easy for God to change us, and so Isaiah begins by exercising that faith and trust that God calls for and begging God for the revival that will be necessary before the blessings can come down.
v.7 “recount/make mention of/remember the steadfast love/mercy/grace/lovingkindness of Jehovah”
o Isa 12:4 Praise Jehovah, call on His name, declare His deeds among the people, and cause to remember that His name is exalted.
o because when you forget the God of your salvation and do not remember the rock of your strength, you go off track Isa 17:10
o That’s why God set up watchmen like Isaiah to keep Him in rememberance (Isa 62:6)
o That lovingkindness/mercy/steadfast love of God is what was promised in His covenant with David (55:3) and would be renewed in the kingdom of Jesus Christ (16:5), for “my lovingkindness will not depart from you” says the Lord in Isa 54:8.
v.7 “praise/works that bring praise/matters for which He is to be praised”
o Isa 42:10 Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea and its fullness, the coastlands and their inhabitants… 12 They will put glory toward Jehovah, and relate His praise in the coastlands.
o Isa 43:21 This people I formed for myself will recount my praise.
o 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
v.7 accordingly upon all which Jehovah has granted/bestowed/done/dealt bountifully/benefited/ awarded/allowed to ripen and then given
and great good to the house of Israel which He awarded to them
v.7 “according to His compassions, according to the greatness of His lovingkindness”
Is God’s compassion great?
Is God’s lovingkindness great?
Then we should greatly remember these things!
Remember especially the way He has worked in such a was as to mature blessings for you and give you good things.
v.8 Surely/only they are my people, children will/must not be untrue/deal falsely/lie
o Yet they did lie and deal falsely: Isa 59:3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken falsehood; your tongue mutters wrong. (see also Isa 9:15;28:15; 32:7; 44:20 ; 57:4 )
o
Israel was called the people of
God and He saved them from Egypt (Ex. 14:30,15:2), but they rebelled against
Him and became “not my people” (Hosea 1). But there was a new covenant people
coming who would be true forever:
Hos 2:16-23 In that day, says Jehovah, you will call me “my man,” and will
no longer call me “Lord.” 17 For I will take away the names of the Baal-idols
out of her mouth... 18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them … and
I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will
make them to lie down safely. 19 And I will betroth you unto me for ever;
yes, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness,
and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness;
and you shall know Jehovah… 23b and I will say to them that were not my people,
You are my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
o “And so He became their savior,” says Isaiah. Not the savior of every person indiscriminately but of their savior - these people, the church!
v.9 lit. “In all their oppression no oppressor”
o The Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that this was the original reading,
o However, Masoritic scribes around 1000 AD suggested that the phrase “to him” could be substituted for the original word “no” since both words (“to him” and “no”) sound the same in Hebrew even though they are spelled differently.
o Every English translation has gone with this suggestion and gone on to change the noun “oppressor” into a verb so as to get “in all their oppression He was oppressed.”
o This is easier to make sense of and can be used as an illustration of the close relationship between God and His people such that He feels pain when we hurt.
o This is true: Judges 10:16 says that God was grieved in the misery of Israel, and Isa 53:4 says that Jesus “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
o I suggest, however, that the original phrase be kept as “no oppressor” and that “oppressor” then forms a contrast to the word “savior” which describes God just before. (Likewise it contrasts with “saved and redeemed” which occur just after.) In other words, God is not an oppressor of His people but rather a savior of His people.
o The word “affliction/oppression/distress” is generally used throughout Isaiah to describe the pressure that foreign nations put upon Israel, such as when the Assyrian army marched in to conquer (37:3). When they were in slavery in Egypt, God did not join along with the oppressors, but rather delivered His people.
v.9 “the messenger/angel of His face/presence caused to save them”
I believe this is speaking of Jesus in pre-incarnate form:
o The word angel literally means “messenger” and what does a messenger do? Brings a message; fleshes out the word of the sender to the recipient. Jesus is the word of God who came to earth!
o Jesus is also the one who “saved” His people from their sins. His very name Jesus/Y’shua means “He saves!”
o
Jesus was present as the “angel
of God’s presence/messenger of Jehovah’s face” during God’s mighty acts of
deliverance throughout the Old Testament too. Often the “angel of God’s
presence” was related to the pillar of cloud and fire that led Israel through
the wilderness:
Exo 23:20-23 Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you in the
way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Take heed
before him, and listen to his voice; do not provoke him; for he will not pardon
your transgression: for my name is in him. 22 But if you will indeed listen
to his voice and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto your
enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries. 23 For my angel shall go before
you, and bring you in….
o Mal 3:1 Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes, says Jehovah of hosts.
o In v. 8, it says that Jehovah “became their savior,” and then in v. 9 it ways that this “messenger… saved them.” The messenger is therefore God Himself and must be Jesus!
v. 9 b In His love and in His pity He himself redeemed them and he took them up and carried them all the days of old/way-back-when
o Isa 43:4 you are precious in my eyes, you were honored, and I myself loved you … (cf. 41:8)
o Deut. 7:8 because Jehovah loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore unto your fathers, Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt… 32:7-12 Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations: Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pinions. 12 Jehovah alone did lead him, And there was no foreign god with him.(cf. Lot in Gen 19:16)
v.10 But they? They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit
o Note here all three persons of the Godhead:
o It was Moses and Aaron specifically who “rebelled” by striking the rock & speaking to the people harshly instead of speaking to the rock and bringing glory to God. (Num 20:23-24 – Aaron; 27:14 - Moses)
o The people of Israel “rebelled” later by becoming frightened by the spies’ report of giants and not going into the promised land. Deut. 1:26 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God… 32 in this thing you did not believe Jehovah your God, 33 who went before you in the way, to seek out for you a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
o From then on, Israel and Judah continued to rebel against the Lord, all the way down to Isaiah’s day, where he says in 3:8 that the tongue and the actions of Jerusalem were against the Lord to rebel against His glory.
o Psalm 78:37-43 For their heart was not right with Him, Neither were they faithful in His covenant. 38 But He, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yes, many a time He turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath. 39 And He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come along again. 40 How often did they rebel against Him in the wilderness and grieve Him in the desert! 41 And they turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remember not His hand, Nor the day when He redeemed them from the adversary; 43 How He set his signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan,
v.10b And He was changed toward them into an enemy and He Himself fought with them.
o As kind and gracious and compassionate and loving as God is as a savior, He does not brook rebellion. He will fight against those who do not trust Him as their enemy rather than their savior.
o Eph 4:30-32 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.
o Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; 11 As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. 12 Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14 for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end… 10:28-38 A man that hath set at nought Moses law died without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: 29 consider of how much sorer punishment shall he be judged worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has grieved the Spirit of grace? ... 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings... 37 For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. 38 But my righteous one shall live by faith...
o Do not respond to God’s grace with ingratitude and rebellion! Every time we ask God to forgive our sin, rejoice in His forgiveness! That’s why we sing after our time of confession of sin in worship.
v.11 Then he remembered the days of way-back-when, the drawing out of His people/Then His people remembered the days of old [namely, those of] Moses.
o The LXX, Vulgate, and Targums, KJV, and ESV interpret the one who remembers as God, whereas all the modern versions pull the phrase “His people” from later on in the verse and make it the subject of the first word in the verse, “remembered.” While it does make sense to connect the questions “Where is he…” from the latter half of verse 11 with the people remembering God and wondering where He is, there are also places in scripture where God is said to remember His people:
o Psalm 106:32-47 They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes; 33 Because they were rebellious against his spirit, And he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. 34 They did not destroy the peoples as Jehovah had commanded them, 35 But mingled themselves with the nations and learned their works 36 and served their idols, which became a snare unto them. 37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons, 38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood... 40 Therefore was the wrath of Jehovah kindled against his people, And he abhorred his inheritance. 41 And he gave them into the hand of the nations; And they that hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were brought into subjection under their hand. 43 Many times did he deliver them; But they were rebellious in their counsel, And were brought low in their iniquity. 44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress, When he heard their cry: 45 And he remembered for them his covenant, And repented according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. 46 He made them also to be pitied by all those that carried them captive. 47 Save us, O Jehovah our God, And gather us from among the nations, to give thanks unto your holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.
o The name “Moses” is a participle of the word “draw out” – for Pharaoh’s daughter “drew out” Moses from the Nile river. Ibn Ezra is almost alone in translating it this way, but it makes the most sense to me, as long as we understand the “drawer-outer” to be a reference to Moses.
o It has been God’s way throughout history to raise up a Godly leader to lead God’s people out of trouble as He did with Moses and the Judges and the prophets and several of the Kings, climaxing, of course, in Jesus who would be the apex and archtype of all these lesser deliverers.
o 5 participles follow, speaking of the characteristic action of our savior: remembering Jehovah
1. Causing them to go up (out of the sea) (v.11)
§ an allusion to the crossing of the Red Sea from Ex. 13:18 and Judges 11:16
§ The shepherds (the plural is correct)
§ Asaph interprets with divine authority the leaders of the flock of Israel as Moses and Aaron in Psalm 77:20
2. Placing/putting (His Holy Spirit) close to them (v.11)
§ God did this for Moses and the leadership of Israel: (Num 11:16-17, Neh. 9:18-21)
§ God did this with David: 1Sa 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon David from that day forward.
§ And God promises to do it again for His people in the new covenant: Eze 11:19 …I will put a new spirit within you… (cf Isa 4:4, Ezek 36:26-27)
3. Making his arm go at the right hand of Moses (v.12)
§ This is a quote from Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided… 29 And the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
§ When Moses stretched out his right hand, the arm of the Lord worked miracles
4. Dividing/cleaving the waters from before the faces of His people (v.12)
§
This singular event of the
crossing of the Red Sea is repeatedly remembered throughout the Bible.
Asaph wrote a similar remembrance later on in Psalm 77:5-20 I have
considered the days of old, The years of ancient times. 6 I call to
remembrance my song in the night… 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? … 8
Is His lovingkindness clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for
evermore? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut
up his tender mercies? (Selah) 10 And I said, This is my infirmity; But I
will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. 11 I
will cause to remember the deeds of Jehovah; For I will remember Your
wonders of old… 15 Thou have with Your arm redeemed your people…
16 The waters saw you, O God; The waters saw you; they were afraid…
19 Your way was in the sea, And Your paths in the great waters, yet
your footsteps were not known. 20 You led your people like a flock,
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(cf. Ps. 78, 95, 104, 106, 114, Acts 7 – Stephen, Hebrews 11)
§ The purpose that always drives God’s actions is to make His name glorious
§ What singular miraculous turning point of your salvation should you repeatedly come back to?
5. Causing them to walk/leading them through the depths (v.13)
§ This is also a quote from the song that Moses and the people of Israel sang when they had crossed the Red Sea, which they also called the “deep” in Ex. 15:5-8.
§ “Stumbling” (v.13) is something that happens to people when God isn’t helping them or when God is punishing them, as we see throughout Isaiah (3:8; 5:27; 8:15; 28:13; 31:3; 35:3; 40:30; 59:10; 59:14; 63:13).But they walked through the wilderness as easily as a horse walks, and didn’t even wear their shoes out in 40 years of walking! (Deut 29:5)
§ “Stumbling” is contrasted with “rest/settling down” like cattle when they go down into a sheltered cleft or valley where there is water and grass. This “rest” is pictured throughout Isaiah as a blessing from God (57:2, 28:12; 14:1-3). It is the promised land according to Psalm 95:11.
§ And once again, the point is that God’s name will be glorified.
§ Are there low points in your life that God brought you though without stumbling? Remember these!
§ Illustration: John Newton wrote of how God brought him through many dark years as a slave-ship captain: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home!”
This is the essence of the faith to which Isaiah’s whole book calls us; remembering and believing that God is this kind of a savior. Isaiah is recounting the marvelous events of the Exodus to bolster his faith. What events should we remember to bolster ours?
Now strengthened in his faith by remembering God’s lovingkindness that forgives sin and saves His people and blesses them, He moves on to the request in v. 15 “Look at us and see; we are mourning over the loss of your glorious presence… return for the sake of your servants… rend the heavens and come down!”
§ Isaiah remembers God’s promised zeal from 59:17 and He put on righteousness as the breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head, and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal like the cloak. and says, “O.K. Lord, so where is this zeal?”
§ Isaiah remembers God’s promised mighty exploits from 28:5 In that day Jehovah of Hosts will turn into the crown of beauty and into the diadem of glory for the remnant of His people, 6 and into a Spirit of justice to the one who sits over justice and into the strength of those who turn battle towards a gate. and he says, “O.K. Lord, so where is this might?”
§ Isaiah remembers that God’s promised compassion from the letter he helped Hezekiah write in 2 Chron 30:9 For if you turn again unto Jehovah, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive, and shall come again into this land: for Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if you return unto Him. and Isaiah says, “Where is your compassion?”
In v. 16, Isaiah acknowledges God as the Father and Redeemer of His people. Abraham and Jacob/Israel are long dead and can’t deliver or take care of God’s people. God must come through with a deliverer who will last for all time, and that deliverer would be Jesus Christ!
When everything is going wrong, God does not want us to raise up our own deliverer like the people of Israel elected Saul to be their king. He will provide His deliverer in perfect time. What we must do is trust in Him/remember Him and intercede in prayer like Isaiah did.
Notice how Isaiah in v.17 gives God two reasons to act soon in bringing deliverance and revival:
We can use this pattern in our prayers. Pray for your spouse, pray for your children, pray for our city. Pray for the return of Christ and the fulfillment of the promises. Remember the past triumphs of God in your life and throughout history and let that spur you on to pray boldly for the fulfillment of all His promises!
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions
Christ the Redeemer Church website - Sermons