Isaiah chapter 43

CHAPTER XLIII.

God’s Witnesses.

The forty-third chapter, which ought not to be divorced from its context by the chapter division, goes on to say that the end of Jacob’s being given for a spoil is marked, and the redemption of Israel from the robbers assured. Who is covered by these terms, Jacob and Israel? And what manner of time does the spirit of Christ in Isaiah signify by the expression: “ But now, thus saith the Lord?

As regards the first question, we are instructed by Paul that “ they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children ; but * In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God ; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed ’ (Rom. ix. 6, 7). Again, “ As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes : but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes ” (Rom. xi. 28). And elsewhere he tells us that “ He is not a Jew which is one outwardly but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ” (Rom. ii. 29). And if we ask “ How can a man be a Jew inwardly ? ” he answers, “ By being baptised into Christ,” for, “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise ” (Gal. iii. 29).

When, therefore, we read these prophecies of Isaiah concern­ing Jacob and Israel, we must bear in mind the divine distinction between “ the children of the flesh and the children of the promise.” The former will indeed be the subjects of a national vindication and redemption “ for the fathers’ sakes,” in fulfilment of the ancient covenants. But the latter only will experience the highest and individual redemption, and enter upon “ eternal inheritance ” in the kingdom of God.

So then “ Jacob ” and " Israel ” cover first, Christ and his brethren, and secondly, the national Israel, “ the children of the flesh ” of Abraham. Christ has already personally passed through the waters (Psa. xviii. 16 : lxix. 1, 2, 14), by which, however, he was not fatally submerged. He has individually passed through the fiery trial and come forth as gold. His people, from that time forth, have been in process of suffering the same experience. And nationally Israel has been going through fire and water for the last twenty centuries or more. What is to be the end of it all?

This brings us to the question of the time signified by the "now.” This is indicated in this place not arithmetically (as it is in others); but inferentially, by historical allusions that are elsewhere defined to be related to a divinely determined repetition of history. That is to say, we are not here told that the vision shall be for 2,400 years, or any other arithmetically measured time , but that it relates to certain developments in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, and North, South, East, and West, in relation to Israel, which, when they should happen, would herald the redemption of Israel, both “ the children of the promise ” and the children of the flesh, and their return to the covenanted land, that the throne and kingdom of David might therein be established for ever according to the divine covenant.

Apostolic allusion indicates this beyond question. Thus, Paul says that, " Blindness in part is happened to Israel (the blind servant ——Isa. xlii.), until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them when 1 shall take away their sins ” (Rom. xi. 25-27). The advent of the Deliverer, then, is the time alluded to in the “ now ” of Isa. xliii. 1.

And this Deliverer, the manifestation of the Father in Israel, is “ the Holy One of Israel, the Saviour ” (Isa. xliii. 3), to whom it is given to bring Jacob again to God ” (xlix. 5). But what relation has he to Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba,, and to North, South, East, and West in the national “ regeneration,” in which he promised his apostles “ twelve thrones ” ? (Matt. xix.). Christendom would say, “ No relation at all ; it is a grossly carnal conception of a spiritual kingdom.” But the most ardently “ spiritualizing ” preacher of Christendom would have to admit that Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, and other countries, have had very much to do with Israel’s redemption in the past national history. The question is, leaving out of account the “ blind servants of a Laodicean Israel or Christendom : Is the allusion here historic only, or prophetic ? And if the latter, How does past history afford a precedent for the fulfilment of the prophecy?

The answer to the first question is that it is both historic and prophetic, and invites “the children of the promise” to a study of historical deliverances as an earnest of the greater and complete redemption that is to come. As to the second question : Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba have already in some measure been given for Israel’s ransom, as the Bible and profane history testify.

And first as to the Bible. Abram himself went down into Egypt at the first because of the famine in Caanan ; and Pharaoh, having taken possession of Sarai, was plagued because of her, and there­fore restored her to Abram, and sent him away (Gen. xii.). Thus God rebuked a King of Egypt for Abram’s sake. Joseph was sold into Egypt, where he was made perfect by suffering, and exalted to lordship over the Land preparatory to the settlement of Jacob and his whole family in the Land of Goshen. After this, in process of time, God gave Egypt for Jacob’s ransom when he plagued the people, with great plagues, slew their first­born, executed judgment upon their gods, and finally drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, which Israel crossed in safety, and were “ baptised in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea.” ' This is the great typical deliverance, forshadowing what is coming under Jesus, the prophet like unto Moses.

Long after this, even after Isaiah’s time, Egypt was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, as both Jeremiah and Ezekiel testified it should be (Jer. xliv. 30). That was a time of Israelitish apostasy and worship of the Egyptian “ Queen of Heaven.” 

But as the result of the overthrow “ a small number ” escaped the sword and returned to the Land of Judah, and knew that the word of the Lord stood fast. Afterwards came the Persian dynasty that pro­claimed Israel’s return from Babylon, some of the proclama­tions being recorded in the Bible (Ezra and Nehemiah). Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba were given to the Persians for Israel’s ransom, as it were. Cyrus conquered Ethiopia, and put it under tribute, as Xenophon informs us. And afterwards Cambyses conquered the whole country, and brought to an end the line of Egyptian kings. Henceforth Egypt became “ a base kingdom,” in harmony with the word of God (Ezek. xxix.).

So far we see the historical bearings of the matter before and after Isaiah’s time up to the advent in the flesh of “the Deliverer.” When he appeared he was brought out of Egypt in his infancy, just as the nation had been under Moses his prototype. But fiom that day to this, there has been no ransom of Israel comparable at all with the days of the Exodus or the Return from Babylon. Israel is more widely scattered than ever, and there has as yet been no bringing from the East, gathering from the West, compelling the North to “ give up, ’ and adjuring the South to “ keep not back,” but to bring the dispersed from afar to Mount Zion (Isa. xliii. 5-6).

Yet there are many signs that this is about to be accom­plished, and the lands of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba are manifestly associated with the divine purpose of the latter days. It is, of course, notorious that these countries are now occupied by Britain, and that the Khedivate and Turkish suzerainty are practically mere formalities that cannot hide the fact that Britain is virtual ruler of the country. In fact, Britain may now truly be said to occupy at once the positions of latter-day Tyre and Egypt, or “ the King of the South ” of Dan. xi. 40. In 1882, and during subsequent and recent years, Egypt, Ethiopia, and and Seba, have been very much mixed up with British military enterprise, and most of the territory corresponding to these ancient names is now in British occupation. And Britain alone among the Powers is amicably related to oppressed Israel. (Many changes since 1907. Author, 1923.)

The bearing of these things was clearly discerned over fifty years ago by Dr. Thomas, who wrote as follows, in Elpis Israel, in 1849:— “Britain will not interest itself in behalf of the subjects of God’s kingdom from pure generosity, piety towards God, or love of Israel; but upon the principles which actuate all the govern­ments of the world—upon those, namely, of the lust of dominion, self-preservation, and self-aggrandizement. God, who rules the world, and marks out the bounds of habitation for the nations, will make Britain a gainer by the transaction. He will bring her rulers to see the desirableness of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, which they will be induced, by the force of circumstances, probably, to take possession of. They will, however, before the battle of Armageddon, be compelled to retreat from Egypt and Ethiopia; for “ the king of the north shall stretch forth his hand upon the land of Egypt, which shall not escape ; and the Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” Hence, these will become the battleground for a time, until the seat of the war is removed to the mountains of Israel, where, by the Autocrat s discomfiture, the war is brought to an end between the image-giant of Assyria and the Lion of the north and east.

“The possession, or ascendancy of Britain in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, will naturally lead to the colonization of Palestine by the Jews. Thus the proverb will be verified which saith, The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.’ Though generations of the Jews have been ‘ stiff-necked and perverse,’ yet their nation is a holy nation, which other nations are not, inasmuch as Israel is the only nation God has separated to Himself for a peculiar people. In view of what has been presented, Jehovah saith to them, Fear not, O Israel • for I have redeemed thee ; I have called the by thy name : thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not over­flow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned • neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour ; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by my name: for I have created Israel for my glory; yea, I have formed him; yea, I have made him ’ (Isaiah xliii. 1-7).

" Thus the Lord disposes of nations and countries as it pleases Him. ‘To the land shadowing with wings,’ which shall proclaim their return to the dust of their fathers, He will give Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba as their ransom ; and enable them, through its power, ' to lay their hands upon Edom and Moab ’ ; and to obtain the ascendancy over ‘ the children of Ammon.’ Thus they will settle in these countries of the Red Sea ; to which they will be attracted by the riches to be acquired through their connection with the commerce of the east ; which will then resume its channel of the olden time, when Israel and the British, like Solomon s servant and the men of Tyre, will drive a thriving trade between the Indian and China seas, and the nations of the west.”—(Elpis Israel, pages 398-9).

From this it will be perceived how well “the hope of Israel ” was understood from the prophets by Dr. Thomas seventy years ago. The events of the past half-century have entirely justified his expectations, and proved, like all preceding centuries, that the sure word of prophecy is indeed “ a light that shineth in a dark place.”

At the risk of some little repetition, it may be permissible to recall the circumstances of Israel’s position when Egypt was given to Nebuchadnezzar for wages for his army, because of his service for the Lord against Tyre (Ezek. xxxix.). At that time Egypt was the confidence of Judah, who were in a state of national apostasy, despising the word of the prophets, and worship­ping the Queen of Heaven. To carry out the latter-day repetition of the history (which is divinely proposed), Russia must receive Egypt for her humbling of Britain, in whose shadow Israel vainly trusts, while rejecting the prophecies concerning his “ Deliverer,” and being befuddled with the latter-day Gentile theology, which is the direct lineal descendant (through Alexandrian philosophy) of the ancient Egyptian superstition concerning “ the Queen of Heaven.” It is certain that Israel will never be converted to the truth and the acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and “ Deliverer,” until he does actually deliver them after the types of Joseph and Moses of old, each of whom in his turn was rejected and despised of his brethren.

As to the type of Cyrus and the Return from Babylon, we have seen in a previous chapter, that Cyrus was a figure of Christ himself, whose special function it is to bring Jacob again to God.

Egypt, Ethiopia (or Cush), and Seba are in many other places associated with the latter-day deliverance of Israel. Psalm lxviii., speaking of the triumph of God in Christ and the restoration of Israel, says, “ Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God ” (v. 31). Joseph, Moses, Jesus, and many subordinate “ princes ” will have to do with the second Exodus. And as to the forwardness of Ethiopia, it is to be remembered that even now there exists in Abyssinia a corrupt form of Christianity, sprung from the planting of the gospel through the Ethiopian eunuch, the servant of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles (ch. viii.). Isaiah, in ch. xi., associates the second Exodus from Egypt and Ethiopia, (Cush) and other countries with the standing up of the Root of Jesse for an Ensign. In ch. xix., upon which more light is to be anticipated in the near future, he speaks of the Lord’s advent in a time of commotion and civil war, in which, at length, the land of Judah becomes a terror to Egypt, and the country itself is at last delivered and turned to the Lord with Israel and Assyria. Again, in ch. xxvii., he speaks of the “ out­casts in Egypt,” and of the trumpet of Jubilee, that shall cause them to return to their possessions and “ worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem.”

Zephaniah, speaking of the latter-day “ indignation,” says that Yahweh’s suppliants shall come from beyond the rivers of Cush, or Ethiopia (ch. iii.). And Micah says (ch. vii.) that the latter-day performance of the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham shall be “ according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt,” and that by reason of the judgments executed, the nations shall he confounded at Israel’s might.

It is superfluous to add more. The time and nature and place of the coming deliverance are established beyond question, although to Israel and the nations all these are absolutely unknown. This, indeed, is contemplated in the prophecy :—“ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things ? Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified ; or let them hear and say: It is truth ’ (verses 8-9). But neither Israel nor all the nations are now in a mood to do either. Both are under the vail. “ Strong delusion ” prevails over them, and their case is hopeless until the Lord Himself is made known in judgment.

“But ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my Servant whom I have chosen ; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he : before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared and have saved, and I have showed when there was no strange God among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? ”

Where Israel and all nations are impotent, the Eternal Father thus reveals Himself as the Fountain and Source of all things, and the Revealer of His purpose with man. The " I ” so often repeated in this proclamation is a challenge to all the gods of the heathen, not excepting the Trinitarian phantom of Anti-Christendom. The Unity of God is the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets, and Jesus and the Apostles consistently throughout the Scriptures, and a more emphatic declaration of it than this passage could not be conceived.

The “ witnesses ” are of different orders. “ The children of the flesh, ” are witnesses of one order, in their experiences of suffering and deliverances in all their history. They are impassive and involuntary witnesses, and are at the present time, even in their dispersion, somewhat complacent over the matter. “ Israel is the prophet among the nations ” is the sentiment. And, in a sense, it is true. But “ the children of the promise ” are witnesses of a higher order. With them the covenants of God are made and they “ witness ” in a higher manner by faith and obedience, “ showing forth the praises of Him who has called them.” Of this class are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and all the prophets; and, above all, the Lord Jesus Christ, “ the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the earth." The worthy dead, from Abel downwards, are apostolically described as "a great cloud of witnesses,” who, by a figure, are said to " compass us about.” And the exhortation apostolically based upon the prospect is: “ Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

For the sake of these witnesses, the word of God continues !— “ Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel : For your sakes have I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.” And the passage goes on to declare that the hosts of Israel’s enemies “ shall lie down together, they shall not rise, they are extinct, they are quenched as tow,” or as flax, or a wick; contrast the unquenched “ smoking flax ” of ch. xlii. 3.

But whatever extinguishing there was of Israel’s enemies in the fifth century before Christ, in the overthrow of Babylon and the subsequent liberation of the captives ; there was nothing at all comparable with the “ quenching ” that is here foreshadowed, and the subsequent gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the earth. Moreover, ancient Babylon and Chaldea was not anything of a maritime power by comparison with mystical Babylon of the latter-days,” who sitteth upon many waters.” There are literal and mystical elements combined here ; but without confusion. “ Whose cry is in the ships ” points to the naval scramble of the latter-days, when Tarshish has to put to all his strength to keep pace with the growing navies of European Babylon. “ The king of the north,” says Daniel, is in the time of the end to come against the king of the south “ with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships” (Dan. xi.). In 1877, in the Russo-Turkish war, there was an endeavour to see the fulfilment of this prophecy, or at least an incipient fulfilment, in the Russian employment of many boats to cross the Danube There were premature expectations in those days. Now, how­ever, there are “ many ships ” with a vengeance, and their number is still growing. What a veritable “ lake of fire ” in the midst of the earth will the Mediterranean be in the crisis that looms in the future! Imagine, off the ancient Tyrian shore, the combined navies of Russia, Austria, Germany, France, and Italy, on the one side, and Britain, the United States, and Japan on the other, and we see something like the vision that the prophet spoke of. Both Tyrian and Babylonian powers are doomed, for “ the Lord of Hosts hath purposed to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth ” (Isa. xxiii. on Tyre). But mercantile Tyre will survive, and be subjected in humble alliance with the greater than Solomon, according to the ancient type. But " Babylon the Great ” will be overthrown like Sodom, and “ every shipmaster ” and all the company in ships ” will bewail her irretrievable fall , while the apostles and prophets will correspondingly rejoice (Rev. xviii. 17). Thus the Lord will “make a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters.” ” For the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters (whereon Babylon the Great sits), yea, than the mighty waves of the sea ” (Psa. xciii.).

But Israel remembered not the former things, neither con­sidered the things of old, which were but typical of his final and world-wide deliverance. Therefore God, as He had beforetime revealed through Moses, now through Isaiah again declared that He would be honoured even by the unclean beasts of the Gentiles ; “ Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth : shall ye not know it ? I will even make a way in the wilder­ness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall know me, the dragons and the owls : because I gave waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself: they shall show forth my praise. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel ” (Isa. xliii. 19-22).

Here the “ now ” points to the days of the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. When he appeared in the " wilderness,” he said, " I am the way .... no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” And when he ascended into heaven, and the Word had been rejected by Jacob (though a goodly “ remnant ” responded to the Gospel), God specially revealed to Peter, on the housetop at Joppa, about a.d. 40, by vision from heaven thrice repeated, the divine purpose to cleanse the wild and unclean beasts of the Gentiles, that they, with the faithful in Jacob, might “ honour ” Him, and become " witnesses ” that He is God, and wait for the consolation of Israel. This is written in Acts x.-xi., and is further argued out and endorsed by the Holy Spirit in chapter xv. Hence, as we have obtained “ like precious faith ” by the apostolic word, we find our­selves included in the gracious purpose of God here spoken by the prophet, and take the words as an exhortation to “ remember ” and “ consider ” our past and present estate, and to “ honour ” God accordingly in obedience and waiting for His Deliverer.