What's Going on in Israel Right Now? (A Look at Isaiah chapter 11 & God's Promises in Isaiah 43)

The Burt (Not Ernie) Show

Well hey there, hello to ya. Thanks for dropping by the podcast today. It’s a good one, this episode, as we take a look at a promise from the book of Isaiah. What a book - am I right? What. A. Book.

Alexandra Bowman Photography

You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show Podcast, part of the Spark Network, playing via the Edifi app. This episode is sponsored by Alexandra Bowman Photography, located in south central Kansas, and a link to see her work is right here in the show notes. This is episode number 176.

Every book a promise.

How many promises are there in the Bible, exactly? I’ve read that there are over 6000. That’s something like one promise a day for 16 plus years. It’s a book of promise, it’s a book of hope, the Bible is living and active, so says Hebrews. And all those promises? They are all yes and amen for those of us who are in Christ. That’s very good news for us today, don’t ya think?

And so this series, looking at a promise from each and every book of the Bible, all 66 of them, from Genesis to Revelation, well, it’s a good series because it’s so filled with the hope of those promises. God’s track record at keeping His promises is perfect, absolutely perfect. Of course it is, seeing as He is perfect. Total perfection, nothing less.

Isaiah, however, is a big, full, rich book. Sixty-six chapters and so many promises, especially once Isaiah turns a corner in chapter 40 and the hope just pours out. If you haven’t read much of the book of Isaiah in a while, you won’t regret diving in and reading, applying to your life, choosing to believe what is says.

I decided that it would be pretty near impossible for me to truly do a good job, or even a moderate job, of touching on the promises in Isaiah in just one single episode. So today I’m going to share a promise from chapter 43, a really amazing promise, and then I am going to have another episode with other promises. Because we need it, right now, in our current day and age. We need to hear God’s promises spoken aloud, we need it. It’s like oxygen - this is not the time to be holding our breath. This is the time to be breathing deeply and getting life from God’s promises.

Isaiah 43, verses 1, 2 and 3.

CSB

Now this is what the LORD says - the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel - “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.”

Who created and formed Israel? It was the Lord God who created and formed Israel. God was intentional when he formed Israel, when He changed Jacob’s name to Israel, in all His dealings with His chosen people, He has always been intentional. And this understanding of the intentionality of our God reminds us that He is not, nor will He ever be, unintentional with us. He is working in our lives and all around us, and He does so with loving and careful intention.

Your God is intentional. And He is intentional about you.

Do not fear.

These three words are repeated again and again to us all throughout the Bible. And aren’t you glad for that? That the Lord says this to us, for us, again and again and again? I know I am!

God’s call to us to fear not comes with a promise attached. He knows how we are made, that we are but dust is says in the Psalms. And so, He knows what we can and cannot do in our own strength. (Spoiler alert: we can do basically nothing in our own strength and we need Him for every single thing, every single breath, every single moment.) He doesn’t tell us not to be afraid and then leave us with no way of actually not being afraid. He calls us to a life of no fear and then He makes it possible. Do we need faith, do we need to actually believe what the Bible says? Yes. So choose faith, choose belief, choose to obey the Lord on a daily basis. And when you are scared about something, remind yourself, preach to yourself, that God does not want you to be fearful and then pray and ask Him to do what seems like it’s impossible - to truly make you not fearful. He doesn’t say, “Do this,” or “Don’t do that,” and then leave us unable to do or not do said things. Your God is a good God, and your God loves you so very much, and He will enable you, empower you, to not be afraid.

He says here that He redeemed Israel. And in Jesus, we who are not of the nation of Israel are also redeemed. Do we live like we’re redeemed? Are we behaving like a redeemed people? Just food for thought today. God wants us to understand in the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds that we are redeemed…from death, from hell, from all that a sinful and broken world brings at us, and He wants us to live a changed life as a result of knowing that we are a redeemed people. Does that make us look a bit different than those who don’t know Jesus personally and thus aren’t redeemed as of yet? Well, yes. But isn’t that actually good? Doesn’t that difference, that oddness, us being a peculiar people as it says in the New Testament, doesn’t that give other reason to look at us and maybe, just maybe, some will do more than look, they’ll study us a bit and who know? Some will come to know Jesus for themselves because you and I, we are different because we’ve been redeemed. You could look up the word redeemed in the dictionary and check out the definition and see if it describes you as a follower of the Lord Jesus.

He calls us by name. He knows us all, and He knows us each one, and He knows us well, better than we know ourselves. He calls us by our names. Personal? Yes, your God is personal. He knows. Whatever it is that is weighing on you, maybe a skeleton in your closet, maybe someone really did you dirty and you have not talked to anyone about it…God knows. In His knowing of us, we can rest and we can receive His peace and we can just set it all down, lay it down, and receive what He has for us. You are known, because He calls you by your name. Not a stranger, but one whose name is known and whose name is called.

You are Mine, is says next. You are called by your name and the One calling you by name says this: You are Mine.

When God says something or someone is His, who are we to argue?

But we do sort of argue, don’t we?

I don’t feel like this is true (oh, those fickle feelings, always messing with us and playing tricks on the way we think, which ends up impacting the way we live our lives…)

Listen, if He says something is so, then it is. Period. Your input, my advice, the counsel of the billionarist of all billionaires is irrelevant, it is not needed, He never asks for it.

What God says, that’s that. That’s it. Case closed.

You are Mine. Says who? Who says that? God. That’s who. And that’s that. Once He says you are His, well, just let that be settled here in your life on earth as it is already settled in heaven.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

So, sometimes we are gonna go through some stuff. No way around it, gotta go through it, and that’s how it is. But you aren’t alone, far from it, God has said here, promised here, that He will be with you. Okay then. God’s with me as I pass through those waters? Alright. That changes everything!

And through the rivers, they won’t overwhelm you.

You won’t drown in this situation, because that’s the promise here.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.

I guess we’re fire walkers, aren’t we? Things will be hot sometimes, but God has said we won’t be scorched, the flame won’t burn us because, and here is the promise, because he is the Lord our God, the Holy One of Israel, now think on that for a moment. Think of God doing all those miracles in Egypt, think of it! The Holy One of Israel, that’s who says you won’t be scorched or burned. He is your Savior.

No political candidate is your savior. No job, career, inheritance is saving you. Good health, you’re a marathon runner, a super athlete, got all these friends around you, live in an underground bunker compound or whatever, nope. That’s not the promise. That’s not where it’s at.

The Lord is your Savior.

Will you rest in that promise today?

You won’t drown, you won’t get scorched, you are called by name, you are His, He will be with you and He is your Savior.

Now that’s quite a promise.

Remember, next week we will look at Isaiah again because the promises in this book, they are for you and for me and so let’s know what they are, and let’s believe them.

He’s got you, and He will not let you go.

And I'm adding Isaiah chapter 11 to the show notes to make it super easy for you to read and pray through.

ISAIAH 11 A Branch from David’s Line 1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. 6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. 7 The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. 8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. 10 In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people— those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. 12 He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth. 13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not be rivals anymore. 14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west. Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east. They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab, and Ammon will obey them. 15T he Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot. 16 He will make a highway for the remnant of his people, the remnant coming from Assyria, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.

I’ll see you next time!

Bye bye!