The Gospel According to God
Introduction: God's Autobiography
We live in an age of spiritual amnesia. Our culture, and sadly, much of the church, has forgotten who God is. We have traded the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity for a manageable deity, a therapeutic friend, a divine butler who exists to meet our felt needs. We want a God who serves our story, instead of recognizing that we were created to serve His. But the God of the Bible will not be domesticated. He will not be tamed. And here in Isaiah 43, He gives us what amounts to His autobiography. He tells us who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and why He is doing it. And the central point, the blazing sun around which everything else orbits, is His own glory.
This passage is a thunderclap of divine self-disclosure. It is set against the backdrop of Israel's exile in Babylon. They are defeated, discouraged, and spiritually exhausted. They feel abandoned by God. Their predicament is a direct result of their own sin, their own covenant infidelity. And into this despair, God speaks. But He does not begin with their sin. He begins with Himself. He reminds them of His identity as Redeemer, Holy One, Creator, and King. He reminds them of His past works of salvation, not so they can live in the past, but so they can understand the future. He is about to do something new, something so grand that it will eclipse even the parting of the Red Sea.
But this grand promise of restoration is immediately followed by a sharp indictment. God turns the tables on them. They are weary, yes, but not from serving Him. They are weary of Him. They have burdened Him with their sins. The diagnosis is stark. And just when we expect the hammer of judgment to fall, the gospel breaks through with stunning, unexpected force. God declares that He, and He alone, will wipe out their transgressions, not because they deserve it, but for His own sake. This is the heart of the gospel. It is not about our worthiness; it is about His glory. It is not about our performance; it is about His name. This passage forces us to confront the radical, God-centered nature of our salvation. If we get this wrong, we get everything wrong.
The Text
Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring down those who fled, all of them, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they shouted for joy. I am Yahweh, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.” Thus says Yahweh, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The military force and the mighty man; They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been extinguished and quenched like a wick: “Do not remember the former things, Nor carefully consider things of the past. Behold, I will do something new; Now it will spring forth; Will you not know it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the wasteland. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the wasteland, To give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself Will recount My praise. “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel. You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you glorified Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins; You have wearied Me with your iniquities. “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. Bring Me to remembrance, let us enter into judgment together; Recount your cause, that you may be proved right. Your first father sinned, And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. So I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, And I will give Jacob to be devoted to destruction and Israel to revilement.
(Isaiah 43:14-28 LSB)
God's Resume (vv. 14-17)
God begins by reminding Israel who He is and what He does. This is His resume, His curriculum vitae.
"Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring down those who fled, all of them, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they shouted for joy. I am Yahweh, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.”" (Isaiah 43:14-15)
Notice the titles. He is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. He is their Redeemer, the kinsman-redeemer who pays the price to buy back His family. He is the Holy One, utterly separate from creation, utterly pure. He is the Creator of Israel, their maker. And He is their King, their sovereign ruler. This is a direct assault on the gods of Babylon. The Babylonians thought they were in charge. They thought their gods had defeated Yahweh. God says, No. I am the one who sent to Babylon. The exile was not an accident. It was not a sign of My weakness, but of My sovereign judgment. And just as I sent you into Babylon, I am now sending an army against Babylon to bring you out.
He will bring down the Chaldeans, the ruling class of Babylon, in the very ships they gloried in. Babylon was a great naval and trading power, and their ships were a source of national pride. God says He will turn their glory into their getaway car, and it will not work. This is what our God does. He takes the thing the world glories in and turns it into the instrument of their destruction. This is a preview of what He will do to that ultimate Babylon in the book of Revelation.
"Thus says Yahweh, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The military force and the mighty man; They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been extinguished and quenched like a wick:" (Isaiah 43:16-17)
Now He points back to His greatest hit, the Exodus. He is the God who made a dry road through the Red Sea. He is the one who lured the entire Egyptian army, the greatest military superpower of its day, into His trap. Chariot, horse, army, and warrior, all of them were extinguished like a candle wick. One moment they are a mighty army, the next they are snuffed out. This is the God they serve. He is reminding them of His power to save and His power to judge. This is the foundation for what He is about to say next.
The New Thing (vv. 18-21)
Having established His credentials, God now makes a startling announcement.
"“Do not remember the former things, Nor carefully consider things of the past. Behold, I will do something new; Now it will spring forth; Will you not know it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:18-19)
This is a staggering command. He just told them to remember the Exodus, and now He says, "Forget it." Why? Is God contradicting Himself? Not at all. He is saying that what He is about to do is so much greater than the Exodus that the Exodus will seem like a small thing in comparison. The first Exodus was from Egypt. This new Exodus will be from Babylon, but it points to an even greater one. This "new thing" is the work of the Messiah. The return from Babylon is a down payment, a type, of the great salvation that Jesus will accomplish.
He will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. This is re-creation language. He is going to reverse the curse. The wilderness, a place of death and chaos, will become a place of passage and life. This is precisely what John the Baptist preached: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight" (Matthew 3:3). The coming of Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. He is the road out of the wilderness of our sin. He is the living water that makes the desert of our hearts bloom.
"The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the wasteland, To give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself Will recount My praise." (Isaiah 43:20-21)
This new creation work will be so profound that even the wild animals will recognize it and give glory to God. The whole creation is groaning under the curse of sin, and it will rejoice at the redemption of God's people (Romans 8:19-22). And what is the ultimate purpose of this great salvation? "To give drink to My chosen people." And why does He do this? So that "The people whom I formed for Myself Will recount My praise." This is the ultimate end of all things. God saves us for His glory. He creates and redeems a people for Himself so that they will be a choir, endlessly recounting His praise. Our salvation is not ultimately about us. It is about Him.
Covenant Weariness (vv. 22-24)
After this soaring promise, the tone shifts dramatically. God brings a charge against His people.
"“Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel. You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you glorified Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins; You have wearied Me with your iniquities." (Isaiah 43:22-24)
This is a devastating indictment. Israel's problem was not that the sacrificial system was too difficult. God says, "I have not burdened you." The problem was not the cost or the effort. The problem was their heart. They had become weary of God. Religion had become a chore. Their worship was external, formal, and empty. They were going through the motions, but their hearts were far from Him. This is a constant danger for God's people in every generation. We can have all the right forms of worship, all the correct doctrine, and still be weary of God Himself.
And notice the terrible reversal. They were not burdened by His commands, but "you have burdened Me with your sins; You have wearied Me with your iniquities." Think about that. The omnipotent, all-sufficient God, who does not grow tired or weary, describes Himself as being wearied by the sins of His people. This is the language of a spurned lover, a grieving father. Our sin is not a small thing. It is an offense that burdens the very heart of God.
Grace From the Rubble (vv. 25-28)
After this indictment, we expect judgment. We have seen God's power against Egypt. We have heard His charge against Israel. The case is closed. But then, out of nowhere, comes the most glorious declaration in the entire chapter.
"“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25)
This is the gospel in its purest form. Who wipes out sin? "I, even I." God alone. It is a unilateral, sovereign act. And on what basis does He do it? Not because of their repentance, not because of their promises to do better, not because of some latent goodness in them. He does it "for My own sake." This is the bedrock of our salvation. God forgives sin to vindicate His own name, to display His own glory, to magnify His own character. His reputation is at stake. If He did not save us, His name would be profaned among the nations. He saves us because He is a saving God. He forgives because He is a forgiving God. It is all of Him.
And the result? "I will not remember your sins." This does not mean God has amnesia. It is legal language. It means He will never bring our sins up again as a basis for condemnation. When God forgives, He buries our sins in the depths of the sea. He removes them as far as the east is from the west. This is the promise that is fulfilled at the cross. God can forgive sins for His own sake and still be just, because at the cross, His justice was fully satisfied in the person of His Son.
God then issues a challenge, dripping with divine irony.
"Bring Me to remembrance, let us enter into judgment together; Recount your cause, that you may be proved right. Your first father sinned, And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. So I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, And I will give Jacob to be devoted to destruction and Israel to revilement." (Isaiah 43:26-28)
He says, "Let's go to court. You state your case. Show me why you are righteous." It is a rhetorical challenge, because He knows they have no case. Their entire history is one of rebellion, from their "first father" (Jacob, or perhaps even Adam) to their current leaders. Because of this deep-seated, generational sin, judgment is what they deserve. He will profane their priests and give the nation over to destruction. This is the reality of their situation apart from grace.
The passage ends on this note of judgment to magnify the grace of verse 25. God shows them the utter ruin they deserve, the bankruptcy of their own righteousness, so that the free, sovereign, for-His-own-sake forgiveness He offers shines all the more brightly. We must see the bad news of our sin and its consequences before we can truly appreciate the good news of the gospel. We must be brought to the end of ourselves, to the place where we have no case to plead, so that we will cast ourselves entirely on the mercy of the God who wipes out our transgressions for His own glorious sake.