REDEEMED! – part 1
Isaiah 43:1–44:5 (43:1-7)
March 10, 2024
This morning we begin looking at this glorious truth of redemption.
If you were with us LAST WEEK you know Israel has found herself in trouble.
• She was disobedient.
• She was idolatrous.
• And as a result she has found herself in captivity.
Isaiah 42:23-25 “Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter? Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey? So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.”
God was angry, He sent Nebuchadnezzar, and He sent them to Babylon.
And the temptation might be
For Israel to assume that it is all over for them.
We have been abandoned and rejected by God.
Sometimes we are tempted to think that way,
Especially when trials come, or when we are disciplined for our sin.
• I have blown it, my trials are evidence of God’s anger,
• I have no right to expect that God will deliver me or save me.
IF YOU FALL INTO SUCH DESPAIR,
Then you need to learn what it means to be redeemed.
Isaiah 43 is addressed to the very same people
Whom God promised punishment to at the end of chapter 42.
SO HOW WONDERFUL IT IS
To come across those first two words of chapter 43, “But now…”
• The story of God’s departure from Jerusalem was not Israel’s final story.
• The story of their exile into Babylon was not their final story.
• There is another chapter to be written.
God has more in store for them.
In fact this chapter says that God is going to bring them home.
Look down at verse 6, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,”
Israel was in a rough place to be sure, but there is good news.
In chapter 43 we not only discuss the nature of that good news,
But also the reason for it.
WHY IS GOD GOING TO DELIVER ISRAEL BACK FROM BABYLON?
• After all, they deserved it.
• After all, it was God who sent them there.
Why is God going to bring them back?
And the answer:
BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN REDEEMED.
I did not say that God is going to redeem them,
though in a sense even that is true.
God is going to bring them home because He already redeemed them.
In verse 1, redemption is spoken of in past tense.
“I have redeemed you”
What we are talking about here church is
The nature and benefit of God’s redemption.
• What does it mean to be redeemed?
• What does redemption look like?
• Who is it for?
• How did it happen?
• What are the benefits?
IT IS PURE DELIGHT OF THE SOUL TO UNDERSTAND REDEMPTION.
So in Isaiah 43 and the first 5 verses of chapter 44
We’re going to look at 5 realities of God’s redemption.
This morning we’re going to look at the first reality of God’s redemption of His people.
#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7
If you are someone who likes to read and study theology
And especially if you are someone who likes to debate theological topics, THEN YOU KNOW THAT THIS TITLE IS LOADED.
We call it a Particular Redemption to indicate that it is a redemption which is for a particular people.
• Sometimes it is referred to as an Actual Atonement.
• Sometimes it is referred to as Limited Atonement
But ultimately what we are discussing here is the question of:
WHO DID GOD REDEEM?
Universalism says that God redeemed the whole world and therefore the whole world is saved and going to heaven.
Arminianism (repackaged today as Provisionism) says that God redeemed the whole world, but some rejected it and therefore only those who accept it are going to heaven.
We would say that every single person whom God redeemed is going to heaven, but He did not redeem them all.
He redeemed a particular people for Himself.
And IF THIS IS THE FIRST TIME you’ve ever heard this,
It is likely hitting you sideways.
The methodology of the past 150 years has confused the church.
Typically the invitation of Christianity today likes to go something like this:
“Why don’t you accept Jesus to be your personal savior? He has already paid for all your sins. He has already died. The price for your salvation has already been paid, now why don’t you accept what has already been done?”
• And then you know the organ music is played,
• The lights are dimmed,
• We grease the slide
• And we seek to coerce sinners to just let Jesus save them.
That has been sort of the norm in evangelism for many years.
But, as we have said before, we have a problem here if that is the case.
1) It makes man sovereign over salvation instead of God.
• Salvation then becomes a decision that the sinner makes
• Instead of a decision that God has made.
• This is not only unbiblical (it wasn’t Abraham that chose God),
2) It means that God’s redemption has no ultimate power.
• There you have God supposedly redeeming everyone, but not everyone ends up redeemed.
To which we have to ask, then what did He actually do?
It is a redemption that doesn’t necessarily save anyone, unless they agree to it.
3) It ends up putting people in hell whose sins have been atoned for.
• The offer is made that Jesus paid for all your sin,
• Then sinners reject that and go to hell where they also suffer for all their sins.
• Again we wonder what Jesus did then?
Arguers would say, “No, they only go to hell for rejecting Jesus.”
But is unbelief not a sin? And did Jesus not pay for all sins?
4) It presents a possibility where Jesus might have died and shed His own blood and no one gets saved at all.
• If it is all up to the sinner.
• What if no sinner ever accepted it?
5) It causes believers to misunderstand what it means that God has redeemed them.
• That view means that Jesus did the exact same thing for those who are in hell as He did for those who are in heaven.
• The only difference was those in heaven responded better.
SUCH A VIEW ROBS THE CHURCH
Of understanding and rejoicing in what Christ has done for them.
(that’s what we want to talk about this morning)
6) It allows men to take some credit for their redemption
• Under a universal atonement the reason they are redeemed while other men aren’t is because they were smart enough to accept it.
THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS.
A universal might initially sound good, and it might be a popular and unoffensive way to say it, but it is terribly problematic.
Instead, what the Bible teachers is that
God’s redemption is not universal, it is a particular redemption.
He is redeeming a specific or particular group of people.
YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT REDEMPTION IS.
• It will strengthen your faith.
• It will increase your hope.
• It will delight your soul.
• It will motivate your worship.
NOW, DON’T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT,
Let’s look at what God has to say here
About His redemption to His children and you can see it for yourself.
Let me show you 4 realities or effects of this particular redemption.
1) YOU ARE MINE (1)
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”
In this verse, God is clearly addressing Israel.
• He’s talking to the same people, who according to ch. 42, He sent into exile.
• He’s talking to the same people who feel that strained relationship with God.
By the end of chapter 42 they had to be wondering
If God was finished with them.
And then we saw the, “But now…”
It is an indicator that
God is doing something for you that you do not deserve.
And God begins to expound this message of grace to His people.
We that God references 3 realities in their life.
“thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob”
The first reality God calls attention to is that HE HAS CREATED THEM.
Obviously this is true for all people, not just Israel.
• This is why Scripture can say that “we are all God’s children”
• We are all the children of God because we were all made in His image.
• We are all the children of God because we are all created by Him.
• This is true of every man.
• Certainly it is true of Israel.
“And He who formed you, O Israel,”
The second reference is to God MAKING A NATION out of them.
Now, God has done that for all people too.
We see it in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel
• Where God confused the language of all people
• And divided all peoples into separate nations.
• They all originated from God.
He created us all, and He made distinct peoples of us all.
At that point all of humanity is still universally all in the same boat.
BUT THEN we see God doing something for Israel
That He DID NOT DO for all the other nations.
What God did for Israel is why they do not have to fear
That their relationship with Him is over.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;”
Now first, let’s just examine what it means to be “redeemed”.
“redeemed” translates (GAW-AL)
And it is a word that speaks of being “bought back”.
You have heard the term “kinsman redeemer” (Ruth).
• That was the close relative who would buy back your land or marry your widow in order to keep that which was given to you by God.
Sometimes it is translated “avenger”
• As in the blood avenger who was that close relative who would avenge your life if someone struck your down in murder.
It is a word that simply speaks of buying back that which was lost.
It is a purchase.
And God tells Israel here that
The reason they do not have to fear being totally alienated by God
Is because God has “redeemed you;”
• I have bought you.
• I have purchased you.
We go on to read, “I have called you by name; you are Mine!”
So we talk here about ownership.
We talk here about possession.
God bought them and He now owns them.
We sing it when we sing “Victory in Jesus” – “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.”
When we sing “The Church’s One Foundation” – “From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride, with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.”
This is what it means to be redeemed.
It means to have been purchased.
1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”
You see that we were bought.
We belong to Him.
We are to be no one else’s.
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”
And this is the redemption of Christ.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”
• He bought us from the curse by being a curse for us.
• That was the payment that was made.
Titus 2:13-14 “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
• He “gave Himself for us to redeem us”; to buy us back.
Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”
There we read how Christ took His own blood into the actual presence of the Father to pay the debt of His people.
• He redeemed.
• He purchased.
• He bought us.
This is what it means to be redeemed.
It is NOT LIKE a food bank or a coat closet
Where excesses of coats or foods are stored
In case someone sometime might need it and want to go and get a coat.
That is place where coats or food is purchased for no one in particular and might or might not ever be used.
That is not redemption, that is benevolence.
God is benevolent to all men, for sure.
But we are talking about redemption
Where He specifically redeemed or bought His people,
And as a result of redemption, “You are Mine!”
The effect of the purchase is ownership.
• Because I bought you, you are Mine.
• If you are not mine, then I have not bought you.
Does that make sense?
THAT IS REDEMPTION.
Now let me show you THE BENEFIT of having been redeemed.
Why it is a good thing that God has bought you.
2) YOU ARE SAFE (2)
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”
Here we are talking about trials and tribulation.
We love to sing, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace has kept me safe this far and grace will lead me home.”
Here God is explaining to Israel that
Even though they have in effect passed through the fire of Babylon,
That DOES NOT MEAN that He has abandoned them.
• I know your temple was burned.
• I know your city was destroyed.
• I know you have been exiled.
• I know life has been difficult in Babylon.
But I have not left you, and I will not leave you.
WHY?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
You don’t belong to Nebuchadnezzar, you belong to Me.
The presence of trials or hardships in your life
Are not evidence of Me giving you up.
I would not have bought you if I had intended to give you up.
We are taught to look at trials
• Merely as refinement and sanctification.
• Not as the absence of our Father’s love, but rather the expression of it.
Hebrews 12:5-8 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”
God is not abandoning you, He is sanctifying you.
We sing the song “How Firm A Foundation” “Though through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt you, I only design, thy dross to consume to and thy gold to refine.”
God did not send them to Babylon to destroy them, but to sanctify them.
And the whole time they were there, He never left them.
AND HE NEVER WILL.
(2) “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”
Why does God make such a promise?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
Do you understand that church?
• You have been purchased.
• You belong to Him.
You have been redeemed.
You are safe.
Jesus said:
John 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
We love what Paul told us:
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
WHY?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
He bought us and we are His.
He protects what He has purchased.
Now, all we have done so far
Is talk about what redemption is and what the benefits of it are.
We still HAVE NOT ADDRESSED
This issue of it being a particular atonement.
Many would still just say that
What God did for us, He has done for everyone.
• He purchased everyone.
• He protects everyone.
• Sure, some have rejected it, and therefore do not receive the benefits,
• But God bought all men.
We have already read passages that prove this false.
Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”
• He didn’t redeem every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
• But rather He purchased men “from” every tribe and tongue and people.
• He didn’t purchase all.
Acts 20:28, which we already read says He purchased the church.
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
So we’ve already seen it.
But even if those didn’t convince you, let’s keep going here in Isaiah 43
Let me show you another aspect of what it means to have been redeemed.
You Are Mine; You Are Safe
3) YOU ARE PRECIOUS (3-4)
(3-4) “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.”
Now here is where it gets extremely interesting.
SO FAR, we have spoken about how God purchased us.
And we know that ultimately that purchase is going to come through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
• It is Jesus who will shed His blood.
• It is Jesus who will die upon the cross.
• It is Jesus who take His blood to the Father on behalf of His bride.
WE KNOW THAT.
But here in Isaiah THAT HAS NOT YET been discussed.
We know that God told Israel that He redeemed them up in verse 1,
But nothing was said about the price of that redemption.
Nothing was said about what God gave up for them.
And this might surprise you when you read what Isaiah here says that cost was.
(3) “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.”
• God makes it very clear here that He is Israel’s savior.
• He is very specific as to who He is redeeming and saving.
BUT DID YOU CATCH THE PRICE?
“I have given Egypt as your ransom”
“ransom” translates (KO-FER) – it literally represents the “price of a life”
Exodus 21:30 “If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.”
Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.”
A ransom is how much it costs to buy a life.
How much does it cost to buy a life?
Well here, what does God say?
“I have given Egypt as your ransom”
What was the cost of Israel’s life?
• Egypt.
• He says that He gave “Cush and Seba in your place.”
• “I gave them for you.”
When did that happen?
We have all read the story of the Exodus.
• God crushed Egypt that He might deliver Israel.
• God drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptian army that He might deliver Israel.
He did not redeem them both.
• He gave Egypt (a people He created and a nation He set apart)
• In exchange for Israel.
You see the same thing when God says “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated”
You see that God sent away Ishmael that He might give the inheritance to Isaac.
Can you see that God’s redemption of Israel was a particular redemption?
• Out of Egypt, God only redeemed Israel.
• Israel was purchased, Egypt was the price.
That is NOT TO SAY that Israel didn’t need Christ, certainly they do.
Christ was typified in that Passover Lamb
Which Israel needed to be forgiven before God.
BUT THE POINT to be made here is that
God’s redemption was particular.
So why did God do that for Israel?
(4) “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I loved you…”
“precious” is the word (YAW-KAR) and it is a word that speaks of value.
1 Samuel 26:21 “Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again because my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have committed a serious error.”
Psalms 49:8-9 “For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay.”
GOD SAYS THAT HE REDEEMED ISRAEL
Because they were valuable to Him and because He loved them.
And here is where our minds are overflowing with gratitude.
• We know that in Adam we are a fallen race.
• We know that we are corrupt and sinful and have fallen short of the glory of
God.
• We know that we did not fear God nor do good and thus there is nothing about
us that deserves redemption.
WE KNOW THAT.
Therefore we know that as sinful people
We have no intrinsic value that would warrant salvation.
But, we have tremendous APPLIED VALUE which comes to us from God.
1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
We are not valuable in and of ourselves.
Our value is applied because of how God valued us
Based upon what He paid to redeem us.
AND NOTICE WHAT GOD SAYS TO ISRAEL HERE.
• Not only did I give up Egypt for you,
• But you are so valuable to Me
• That I will also give up Babylon.
(4b) “I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.”
God is presently sending Cyrus of Persia to destroy Babylon
Because Cyrus is the one who will set God’s people free.
“I will destroy them to save you.”
WHY?
Because: “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
You see God’s redemption was not universal, it was particular for Israel.
He gave up Egypt for them.
He gave up Babylon for them.
You need to understand the nature of God’s redemption.
IT IS A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION.
• He actually pays for and purchases His own.
• They are His.
• Not all are purchased, not all are His.
• And those who are redeemed, are redeemed not because they are valuable, but because God valued them.
He placed a value on them beyond what they are worth.
We are all saying, “Why me?” to this.
We all know we don’t deserve it.
But why Abram? Why Jacob? Why Ruth, Why Gomer?
Why any of us?
Because God chose to redeem us.
Now there is one more point here to this particular redemption.
4) YOU ARE RETURNING (5-7)
(5-7) “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
Because you are Mine.
Because I have bought you.
Not only am I protecting you in Babylon, but I am bringing you home.
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name.”
LISTEN TO ME HERE:
God bought them and He will have them.
What God purchases, He receives.
This is why universal redemption is such a ridiculous notion.
In that view you have God supposedly loving and purchasing a people
That He does not protect and whom He will not receive.
How strange is that!?!
NO!!! God chose to love a people, He bought those people, He protects that people, and He will have them.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
He bought us and He will have us.
John 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
His redeemed are coming home!
There is no chance that they are not coming home!
WHY?
BECAUSE: “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
And don’t miss this last point.
It is the explanation of it all.
It explains why God would choose and love and redeem the unlovable.
(7) “Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
FOR MY GLORY!
• God redeemed the undeserving…
• God bought the unworthy…
• So that His grace would be glorified!
If you see your salvation as a definitive proof of your great worth
You don’t understand a thing about salvation.
Your salvation is definitive proof of His glorious grace!
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
CHURCH DO YOU SEE IT?
How do you know you will be safe through the fire?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
How do you know that when God destroys the world He will save you?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
How do you know God will bring you safely home?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
He bought you and He will have you!
YOU ARE REDEEMED.
