Covenant Memory in a Time of Amnesia Text: Isaiah 63:7-14
Introduction: The Duty of Remembrance
We live in an age of manufactured amnesia. Our culture is not just forgetful; it is actively at war with its own past. We are told that history is a catalog of embarrassments, that our forefathers were unenlightened rubes, and that every tradition is a chain to be broken. The goal is to create a deracinated people, a people with no story, no heritage, and therefore no future. A man who does not know where he comes from cannot know where he is going. And a church that forgets what God has done is a church that will soon forget who God is.
Into this deliberate fog, the prophet Isaiah speaks a word of radical defiance. That word is "remember." The text before us is an act of holy recollection. It is a determined effort to rehearse the faithfulness of God in the face of the unfaithfulness of man. This is not sentimental nostalgia. This is not a pining for "the good old days." This is covenantal memory, and it is the essential fuel for faith. When the present is confusing and the future is dark, the saints have always looked back. We look back to see the character of the God who holds our future. We look back to trace the footsteps of His lovingkindness, His hesed, so that we might have confidence to follow Him into the unknown.
Isaiah is writing to a people who have experienced the sharp end of God's discipline. They have known affliction. They have known what it is for God to turn and fight against them. And in that moment of crisis, the only way forward is to look back. The prophet models for us the fundamental discipline of the Christian life: to bring to remembrance the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh. He is teaching us how to preach the gospel to ourselves, using the hard evidence of history as his text. This is what we must do when our circumstances scream that God has forgotten us. We must, by an act of sheer, stubborn faith, remember Him.
The Text
I shall bring to remembrance the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh, According to all the ways that Yahweh has dealt bountifully with us, And the abundant goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has dealt bountifully to them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses. And He said, “Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior. In all their distress He was distressed, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the ancient days. But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy; He fought against them. Then His people remembered the ancient days, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who split the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble; As the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of Yahweh gave them rest. So You led Your people, To make for Yourself a glorious name.
(Isaiah 63:7-14 LSB)
The Foundation of Faith: Recalling God's Goodness (vv. 7-9)
The prophet begins with a resolute declaration.
"I shall bring to remembrance the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh, According to all the ways that Yahweh has dealt bountifully with us, And the abundant goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has dealt bountifully to them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses." (Isaiah 63:7)
This is a conscious act of the will. "I shall bring to remembrance." Faith is not a passive feeling; it is an active discipline. The word for "lovingkindnesses" is the great Hebrew covenant word, hesed. It means steadfast love, covenant loyalty, unfailing mercy. It is a love that is not based on the loveliness of the beloved, but on the character and promises of the lover. Isaiah piles up the language here: lovingkindnesses, praises, bountiful dealings, abundant goodness, compassion. He is building a case. He is stacking up the evidence of God's character before he gets to the evidence of Israel's failure. This is the only proper way to view our sin, against the backdrop of His grace.
And on what basis did God extend this hesed? Verse 8 tells us it was based on His fatherly expectation and His covenant adoption.
"And He said, 'Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.' So He became their Savior." (Isaiah 63:8)
This is the language of covenant initiation. God declares them "My people," His "sons." This is not a statement of their inherent righteousness, but of His gracious election. He speaks of them as He intends them to be. Of course, the tragic irony is that they will, in fact, "deal falsely." But God's initial posture toward them is one of love and trust. He enters into relationship with them, and in so doing, "He became their Savior." Salvation is not an abstract concept; it is a personal relationship with a personal God who acts.
Verse 9 gives us one of the most tender descriptions of God's character in all the Old Testament.
"In all their distress He was distressed, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the ancient days." (Isaiah 63:9)
Our God is not a distant, stoic deity, untouched by the pains of His people. He is a sympathetic Father. "In all their distress He was distressed." This is the doctrine of divine compassion. He enters into our sufferings. But His compassion is not passive pity; it is active rescue. The agent of this rescue is "the angel of His presence." This is no ordinary angel. This is a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. This is the same Angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the one in whom is the very "presence" or "face" of God. This is the Word who would one day take on flesh and dwell among us. He saved them, He redeemed them, He lifted them, and He carried them. This is a picture of a shepherd carrying a lamb, a father carrying a child. This is the history of God's relationship with His people.
The Tragic Turn: Rebellion and its Consequences (v. 10)
After that soaring description of God's love, verse 10 lands like a punch to the gut. It is the great "But" of the story.
"But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy; He fought against them." (Isaiah 63:10)
Here is the consistent, tragic story of Israel, and the consistent, tragic story of every human heart. In response to steadfast love, we offer stubborn rebellion. Notice who they sinned against: "His Holy Spirit." The Spirit is the one who applies the love of the Father and the grace of the Son to our hearts. He is the one who broods over us, who convicts, who comforts, who guides. To grieve the Spirit is to spurn the most intimate and personal work of God in our lives. It is to take His love and throw it back in His face.
And the consequence is terrifying. "He turned Himself to become their enemy; He fought against them." This is one of the hardest truths in Scripture for modern, sentimental Christians to swallow. God is not a divine pushover. His love is a holy love, and His holiness requires that He oppose sin, even, and especially, in His own people. When we choose to make ourselves enemies of His grace, He will, in a very real sense, become our enemy. The same power that delivered them from the Egyptians at the Red Sea is now turned against them. This is the principle of covenant lawsuits. The blessings of the covenant are great, but the curses for breaking it are equally severe. God's opposition is a form of severe mercy, designed to drive His people to repentance.
The Fruit of Discipline: Remembering the Way Back (vv. 11-14)
God's discipline works. The heat of His opposition causes them to remember. They are driven back to the very history that the prophet began with.
"Then His people remembered the ancient days, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them..." (Isaiah 63:11)
This is the cry of faith in the dark. It is a series of rhetorical questions, the answer to which is the foundation of their hope. "Where is He...?" The question is not one of location, but of action. It means, "Will the God who did all that, act for us again?" They remember the Exodus, the ultimate Old Testament act of redemption. They remember the sea, the shepherds (Moses and Aaron), and the Spirit who empowered them.
The memory continues, focusing on God's mighty power and ultimate purpose.
"Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who split the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;" (Isaiah 63:12-13)
God's "glorious arm" is His manifested power. He is the one who split the waters. And why did He do it? For their sake, yes, but ultimately for His own sake: "to make for Himself an everlasting name." This is the ultimate purpose of all things, the glory of God. Our salvation is a means to that greater end. This is a profound comfort. If God saved us for our own sakes, our salvation would be as fickle as we are. But because He saved us for His own name's sake, it is as secure as He is. His reputation is on the line. He led them with such care that they were like a sure-footed horse in the flat desert, never stumbling.
The passage concludes with a beautiful image of rest and a restatement of God's ultimate goal.
"As the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of Yahweh gave them rest. So You led Your people, To make for Yourself a glorious name." (Isaiah 63:14)
After the terror of the wilderness, the Spirit led them into the rest of the promised land, like cattle descending into a lush, well-watered valley. The Spirit who was grieved is also the Spirit who gives rest. And again, the final note, the great doxological theme: "So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name."
Conclusion: From Memory to Hope
So what is the point of all this remembering? It is to fuel present faith and future hope. The people in Isaiah's day were in distress. They felt the sting of God's opposition. And the only way out was to remember His character and His past actions. The same is true for us.
We too must remember the "ancient days." But our ancient days are anchored not just at the Red Sea, but at the cross of Calvary and the empty tomb. We look back and see a greater Exodus. We see the Angel of His Presence, not just leading through the water, but hanging on a cross, bearing our sin. We see the ultimate expression of "in all their distress He was distressed." God the Son, in His own body, absorbed the full measure of our affliction and the full fury of God's holy opposition to our sin. He became the enemy of God so that we, the true enemies, might be called sons.
When we rebel, when we grieve the Holy Spirit, we must not despair. We must do what Israel did. We must remember. We must ask, "Where is He who brought His own Son up out of the grave? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit not just in the midst of us, but within our very hearts?" The God who split the Red Sea to make a name for Himself is the same God who split the tomb to make an even more glorious name for Himself. He who led Israel through the depths without stumbling will lead His church through the depths of this dark age. He who gave them rest in Canaan gives us a greater rest in Christ, a rest that is a down payment on the final, eternal rest to come.
Therefore, when you are tempted to spiritual amnesia, when your feelings tell you that God is distant and angry, defy your feelings. Pick up this ancient practice. "Bring to remembrance the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh." Preach the history of redemption to your own soul. Remember the cross. Remember your baptism. Remember the Lord's Supper. Remember His hesed, His steadfast, covenant love, which does not fail. For He has led His people, and He will lead His people, all for the sake of His own glorious name.