-- Remember not the former things, neither consider the ancient things
Isaiah 43 has just recalled the Red Sea, where God made a way through the water and brought Israel out of Egypt. Then He tells Israel to forget it — why would God ask His people to drop the very rescue He performed for them?
Earlier in this chapter God names Himself: Israel's Redeemer, their Holy One, their Creator, their King. One writer connects those titles with the people God formed for Himself:
Isaiah 43 says of this people, "the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise," and, "whom I created for my glory." God had already made Himself known to them as their "Redeemer" (see verse 14). He had brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Their Redeemer was "the Holy One of Israel," their "Creator," and their "King."
So the call to stop dwelling on the old wonders is not a call to forget God. It comes from the same God who worked those wonders.
Commentators differ on the reason. One says the coming blessing will outshine what came before, so the old wonders fade from view:
It was for Israel's sake that He had sent them to Babylon and brought down their pride. The new things should make the old wonders fade from memory. God gives water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for His chosen people, formed for Himself to declare His praise.
Another says Israel should use the past, not drop it. Past rescues become the ground of present trust:
Let Israel remember what God did for them in the past. Then let them trust Him for the "new thing" still to come. In the past God made "a way in the sea." In the future He will make "a way in the wilderness" so His people can return to their land.
Both agree on the direction of travel: the eye is to move off the old rescue and onto the greater one still ahead.
The two miracles are opposites. First God removes water so His people can walk. Then He supplies water so they can drink. Neither taxes Him:
Later He gave them "water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert," to quench their thirst for the whole journey. That was no harder for the LORD than making a path through the mighty waters; but it was He Himself who did it.
Isaiah's new things belong to one place — the earth:
As far as Isaiah is concerned, the new things predicted are connected with blessings on the earth. The new song they stir up comes from land and sea, from far-off islands, from the wilderness and the mountain tops. For heavenly blessing we have to go on to the New Testament.
One person alone brings that age in, and that fact carries a warning:
The Lord Jesus Christ will bring in this golden age, and His work alone will do it. Let us fix that in our minds. Then we will not get drawn into present schemes to bring such an age about, whether political or otherwise.
The chapter does not stop at the promise. It turns at once to what God received from the people He had formed for His praise:
As the chapter goes on, we come to the sad facts of their history. They show up man's failure despite all God's goodness. God looked for praise, but they brought Him only sins. "You have burdened Me with your sins," He says, "you have wearied Me with your iniquities" (verse 24). … Then He steps in again and does what no one else could do: "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (verse 25).
How God can do that righteously is not spelled out to Israel here, but it is not hidden from us:
Before that day dawns, we already know what is still a secret to them: the great salvation by His grace. That grace is the only way He can deal with the guilty like this and stay just. Christ, the cross, is the only key.
- Same God — the voice that says "forget" is the voice that parted the sea. He names Himself Redeemer, Holy One, Creator and King before He asks anything.
- Same way — He made a way in the sea; He will make a way in the wilderness. The setting changes, the method does not.
- Same ease — giving rivers in the desert cost Him no more than opening a path through deep water, and He did it Himself.
- Same agent — Isaiah's new things are blessings on the earth. Christ alone brings them in, and our own schemes cannot hurry them.
- Same purpose — a people formed to declare His praise brought Him sins instead. He still blots them out for His own sake, on the ground of the cross.
behold, I do a new thing; now it shall spring forth shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the waste.
Just before this verse, God reminds Israel that He once made a road through the sea. Then He tells them to stop looking back. The promise that follows raises two questions: what is this "new thing," and why would God ask a people to forget the rescue He has just recalled?
Verse 16 calls God the One who made a path through the sea. This verse promises something different. One writer sets the two side by side and shows the shift from water to dry ground:
Let Israel remember and consider God's deliverances in the past, and so trust God for the "new thing" about to take place in the future. In the past God made "a way in the sea" (verse 16); in the future He will make "a way in the wilderness" for His people to return to their land. He will refresh and sustain them on their journey with rivers in the deserts, and protect them from "the beast of the field."
The call to forget is not a criticism of the past. It is a claim that what is coming will be big enough to overshadow it. One writer traces that promise back to God's own reason for acting:
The new things should make the old wonders fade from memory. God gives water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for His chosen people. He formed them for Himself, to declare His praise. God once disgraced the leaders and people of Israel because of their sins. Now, for His own sake, He will blot out their sins and justify them. That day has not come yet. But we already know the great salvation by His grace, which is still a secret to them. Only that salvation lets Him deal with the guilty and remain righteous. Christ, and the cross, is the only key.
Neither the road nor the rivers come from human effort. A commentator notes that supplying a desert is no harder for God than parting a sea, and that both were His own doing:
Later we find that He gave them "water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert," to quench their thirst all along the journey. That was no harder for the LORD than making a path through the mighty waters. And it was He Himself who did it.
The drink given in the desert is not the end of the story. Two verses later, God states His purpose for the people He formed. One writer points out that this purpose is still unfulfilled:
In an earlier chapter we have read what God's purpose for the people of Israel was: "The people whom I formed for Myself that they might declare My praise" (Isa. 43:21). They have never truly done so yet. But in that coming day they will, and they will become a centre of attraction on earth.
Isaiah comes back to this theme of newness again and again. A writer who traced it through the book marks out the boundary of what Isaiah promises:
Isaiah ties the new things he predicts to blessings on the earth. The new song they stir up comes from land and sea, from far-off islands, from the wilderness and the mountain tops. For heavenly blessing we have to go on to the New Testament.
The same writer draws a practical warning from this. If the new order is God's work, it is not ours to engineer:
The Lord Jesus Christ will bring in this golden age, and His work alone will do it. Let us hold that clearly in mind. It will keep us from meddling with today's schemes to produce such an age, political or otherwise.
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches. One writer applies the phrase to how a believer walks today — a route through this world that belongs to another world:
There is a path in this world that comes from God's will and is shaped by it. No sharp eye has ever spotted it. Christ walked it perfectly. God gives the believer a path through this world that has nothing to do with the world. Instead it shows the character of Christ. "I will make a way in the wilderness" (Isa. 43:19) — that is the Christian's path.
- The Maker of ways. The same God who cut a path through the sea now promises a path through the desert. One is no harder for Him than the other. Both are His own doing.
- New over old. God tells Israel to stop going back over the old rescue. The one coming will make those wonders fade from memory.
- Water for the way. The rivers are supplies for the journey — refreshment and protection for a people God is bringing home.
- The end is praise. God formed this people for Himself so they would declare His praise. Commentators note that this purpose still waits for its day.
- His work, not ours. Isaiah's new things are blessings on earth, and Christ alone brings them in. That rules out schemes of our own. Yet the way through the wilderness is already the believer's road today.
The beast of the field shall glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I will give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the waste, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
Israel is about to be carried off to Babylon. God tells them to stop looking back at the old rescue through the sea and to look forward. The odd part: jackals and ostriches, creatures of the waste places, are the ones who honour Him, and water is the reason.
The verse sits in a short block, verses 18 to 21. One writer traces its movement:
(Verses 18–21). Let Israel remember and consider God's deliverances in the past, and so trust God for the "new thing" about to take place in the future. In the past God made "a way in the sea" (16); in the future He will make "a way in the wilderness" for His people to return to their land. He will refresh and sustain them on their journey with rivers in the deserts. He will protect them from "the beast of the field." So, at last, they will "show forth" Jehovah's praise. That is the purpose they were formed for.
Israel does not find this water. God gives it, and it costs Him no more than opening the sea did:
Later we find that He gave them "waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." That quenched their thirst along the way, the whole journey through. That was no harder for the LORD than making a path through the mighty waters. But it was He Himself who did it.
The two animals are not decoration. Older versions call the second one an "owl." Its Hebrew name and habits say otherwise:
A related Hebrew word (preceded by bath, meaning the female), bath yaanah, "daughter of howling," is translated "owl" eight times, including Leviticus 11:16, Job 30:29 and Isaiah 43:20. It belongs to the unclean birds. It lives in waste places and has a wailing cry, and both fit the habits of the ostrich well. Some of these passages may seem to point to the owl, but the ostrich is doubtless meant in all of them.
So the honour comes from creatures whose home is desolation and whose voice is a wail. Commentators differ here. The verse has the wild animals honouring God, while Hamilton Smith reads it as God protecting His people from them.
God gives the drink to "my chosen people." The next verse says why they exist, and that purpose made them a target:
On earth Israel are the people. They have their own special links with Christ as Son of Abraham and Son of David, and in Him the blessing of all the nations of the earth is secured. They were a family, a nation God chose out of the system of nations that make up the world. He chose them to be Jehovah's witnesses and the vessel of His blessing to all the families of the earth… Of Israel God has said, "The people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise" (Isaiah 43:21). No wonder such a people were the objects of Satan's deadly hostility.
The verses just after this turn to Israel's failure: they had not called on God and had grown weary of Him. So the water in the desert is no reward:
New things should make the old wonders forgotten, when God gives water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for His chosen people. They were formed for Himself to show forth His praise. It was God who once, for their sins, "profaned the princes" and people of Israel. It is He who for His own sake will blot out their transgressions and justify them. Before that day dawns, we already know what is still a secret to them: the great salvation by His grace. By that grace alone can He deal righteously with the guilty. Christ, the cross, is the only key.
The return from Babylon does not exhaust this promise. Its scale reaches further:
Isaiah 43 is about Israel's relation to Jehovah. It looks not at their sins and their punishments, but at His unfailing faithfulness in sovereign grace. This still awaits fulfilment, since it goes far beyond any partial fulfilment in the past. Some make the fatal error of limiting prophecy to the near future. No wonder they cannot see or explain the truth, and must call the inspired vision sheer exaggeration, to say the least. But the fault lies in themselves alone.
- Cause. God gives the water. Making rivers in a desert is no harder for Him than making a path through the sea, and He did both Himself.
- Gift. The drink is grace, not wages. God blots out the sins of a people who had grown weary of Him, and He does it for His own sake. The cross is the key to how He can do that and stay righteous.
- Reach. The gift spills past the people to the wilderness itself. Even jackals and the "daughter of howling," creatures at home in waste places, give God honour.
- Purpose. God waters "my chosen" — a nation taken out of the nations. They are His witnesses and the channel of blessing to every family of the earth.
- Result. They were formed to declare His praise. The promise still waits. It goes far beyond the return from Babylon, and reading prophecy as if it must end soon hides that from you.
This people have I formed for myself they shall shew forth my praise.
God is speaking to a people whose sin is in full view, and here He says why they exist at all. The verse answers two questions: who made this people, and what He made them for.
God is not simply naming a nation. He shaped it for Himself, and the names He has just used of Himself carry the weight of that claim.
In Isaiah 43 we find the words: "This people have I formed for myself." … "I have created him for my glory." … "They shall show forth my praise." God had already made Himself known to them as "Redeemer" (see verse 14). He had brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Their Redeemer was "the Holy One of Israel," their "Creator," and their "King."
Note: the writers quote an older English translation, so their wording differs from the ESV above. The sense is the same.
What makes the verse striking is where it sits. After chapters of warning, the reader expects more of the same.
We might have expected Isaiah 43 to contain further warnings and judgments. Instead it opens on a note of grace… In the presence of their evil God falls back upon His original purpose and His redeeming work. The people were looking for redemption by power, and that is the main theme here, as the verses that follow show. But soon we come to the far deeper work of the suffering Servant — redemption by blood.
Being "formed for Myself" is the same thought that runs through the chapter's opening words. Rescue was never the end point; ownership was.
God says: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; YOU are MINE." And again, "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." (Isa. 43:1, 21.) In the same way, after He had fully delivered the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, God sent them this message through Moses: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you TO MYSELF."
The praise is not private. God means this people to be seen by others — and the same chapter does not pretend their record is clean.
In the forty-third chapter we learn that sovereign grace establishes Israel in blessing (1–7). That grace will then make them a witness to the one true God before the nations, to show forth His praise (8–21). At the same time we learn that God is not indifferent to the sins of His people — sins that His grace will blot out (22–28).
Israel's history raises an obvious question: has this purpose ever been met? The answer here looks forward, not back.
An earlier chapter told us God's purpose for the people of Israel: "This people have I formed for Myself: they shall show forth My praise" (Isa. 43:21). They have never yet done this in any real sense. But in the coming day they will, and so they will become a centre of attraction on earth.
This people did not stay faithful. The way God answers that failure is the heart of the passage — and it reaches far past Israel.
The LORD had formed this people for Himself, but the people had grown weary of their God. It was as if they had made Him serve with their sins. But now He pardons it all for His own glory. Glorious and striking testimony of Him who, in grace to the sinner when the sin becomes unbearable, puts away the sin instead of the sinner! This is what God has done through Christ.
At the Red Sea, Israel's praise took a concrete shape.
God's purpose in redeeming them, and so caring for them, was that they should "show forth His praise" (verse 21). As a result, their God-inspired song expressed the need to prepare a "dwelling place" for the LORD. They sang it while the deliverance He had worked at the Red Sea was still fresh. He had become their "salvation," and He was their fathers' God. They felt that God must live among them.
- Formed — the people did not make themselves. Their Redeemer, Holy One, Creator and King formed them, and He formed them for Himself.
- Freed — rescue is the doorway to the purpose. God brought them out of Egypt and brought them "to Myself," so praise rises from a people who belong to Him.
- For witness — the praise faces outward. A rescued people stand before the nations as witness that He alone is God.
- Forgiven — they grew weary of Him, yet He pardons it all for His own glory. He puts away the sin instead of the sinner, and this is what He has done through Christ.
- Future — they have never yet done this in any real sense. In the coming day they will, and they will draw others to Him.