Fear not, for I [am] with thee I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
For the second time in six verses God says "Fear not." The reason He gives is not better circumstances but His own presence. The promise that follows reaches every point of the compass. Who is it for, and when?
One writer hears this word as a note repeated through the whole second half of Isaiah, spoken to a chastened people near despair.
Last of all, the guilty people will be bowed under the judgment of God — chastened and repentant, but near despair. At the end of their time of trial they will hear these words: "Comfort, comfort My people!" Then we hear this word "Fear not" repeated and multiplied, echo after echo. Fear not, My love will comfort you, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will be with My servant. Have I not redeemed you? Am I not with you? Fear not, I will refresh you. Fear neither shame, nor insult, nor reproach. You are Mine, and I have received you in grace. The whole last part of Isaiah has this comforting word from God as a refrain.
The comfort is remarkable because of who receives it. The chapter does not praise Israel's record; it sets God's steadiness against their failure.
Israel had been unfaithful to His name, and that brought the fury of Jehovah on them. They did not understand it and did not feel it, because idolatry had blinded them. Yet in this chapter He proclaims His faithfulness — He who had called Israel by their name and made them His own.
God gives "I am with you" as the whole answer to fear. One writer weighs that same promise where it appears elsewhere. He shows why it settles fear, and why it also moves people forward.
As we have seen, fear of their enemies stopped the people from building the Lord's house. Now comes the cure. Think how often we read in Isaiah, "Fear not; I am with you." And the Psalmist cries out, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" Nothing drives out fear like the assurance of the Lord's presence. But it is comfort and encouragement together. It reminded the people that if the Lord called them forward into danger, He Himself was among them. He would go before them to show them the way, as He had done in the wilderness.
The verse names east and west; the next verse adds north and south. One writer takes that scope as the reason the promise is still future.
Isaiah 43 is about Israel's relationship with Jehovah. It looks not at their sins and their punishments, but at His unfailing faithfulness in sovereign grace. This still awaits fulfilment, because it goes far beyond any partial fulfilment in the past... Jehovah will certainly stand by Israel, and more openly in the future than in the brightest event of the past. He will bring their offspring from the east and the west, from the north and the south (verses 5, 6). This goes far beyond the return from Babylon. Not Gentiles, but Israelites only are in view here.
Some read promises like this as transferred to the church. One writer tests that reading against the details, and the pieces do not fit.
In one of these passages God speaks of making Israel a sharp threshing tool. In another He speaks of gathering her sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. In a third He speaks of her return to Him with her transgressions forgiven. All this fits Israel's state exactly. But is the Church a sharp threshing tool? Has the Church ever been scattered to the ends of the earth? Does anyone ever speak of the Church as estranged from God and then coming back forgiven?
The gathering itself belongs to Israel. Yet one writer points to the assurances inside it as words any believer may hold onto.
Note the many declarations Jehovah makes. "I have redeemed you," "I will be with you," "I have loved you," "I have made him," "I am the LORD, I will make a way in the wilderness." All God's people can lay claim to these blessed words of promise and assurance. In the end Israel will have and enjoy these great blessings.
One writer applies it to a faithful remnant still to come, pairing it with words of faith from Psalm 23:
How precious to His faithful remnant will be the promise of the Great Shepherd in Isaiah 43:5, "Fear not, for I am with you." It is addressed to them — and in a general way to us all — in answer to the words of faith in Psalm 23, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me."
- Refrain — "Fear not" echoes through the whole second half of Isaiah, spoken to a chastened people near despair.
- Ground — the reason is His presence, not better circumstances. Nothing drives out fear like knowing the Lord is there.
- Grace — God speaks it after their unfaithfulness, so what shines is His faithfulness, not their record.
- Reach — east, west, north, south: a gathering far bigger than the return from Babylon, and still to come.
- Claim — the regathering is Israel's; the promises inside it — redeemed, loved, kept — belong to all God's people.
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth,
God speaks here to the points of the compass as if they were jailers, ordering them to hand back what they hold. Who are these scattered sons and daughters, and what does their return mean for readers today?
God gives the order to the regions holding His people, not to the exiles themselves. The reason for the gathering lies in how He values them.
In the past, God gave Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba over to judgment to ransom God's people from their power. So in the future, He will give up to judgment the nations that have persecuted Israel. He does this because, in God's sight, His people are "precious," and "honourable," and "loved" by God. So, despite all their failure, God is with them, and will gather them back to their land from the ends of the earth. They bear God's name, and He created them for His glory. So in bringing Israel into final blessing, God is acting for the glory of His great name.
The Hebrew words behind "south" also show how Israel pictured the map.
Two other words are yamin and teman. They mean 'the right hand.' Translators render them 'south' because the Israelites pictured themselves facing East when they spoke of the points of the compass.
"From the end of the earth" is not poetic exaggeration. No one today can point to where Israel's scattered tribes went. Some have claimed to find them in a modern nation, and one writer answers that from this promise.
Again, you can see that He gathers His people Israel from all nations. So I think the idea that the British nation is the ten tribes is foreign to Scripture. I think this expression, "out of all nations," should at once dispel the illusion. The truth is that no one knows where they are, except God Himself, and when the time comes, He will find them, and bring them, in His own way.
Some read every promise like this one as a picture of the church instead of the nation. One writer tests that reading against the words themselves.
But again, in one of these passages God speaks of making Israel a sharp threshing instrument. In another He speaks of gathering her sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. In the third He speaks of her return to Him with her transgressions forgiven. All this exactly fits Israel's state. But is the Church a sharp threshing instrument? Has the Church ever been scattered to the ends of the earth? Or does Scripture ever speak of the Church as estranged from God and coming back forgiven?
The next verse gives the reason: God calls them by His name and created them for His glory. That same reason explains His pardon, and the way He deals with sin through Christ.
But now He delivers and saves them (Isa. 43). He created them for His glory... The Lord had formed this people for Himself. But the people had grown weary of their God, and had, as it were, made Him serve with their sins. But now He pardons it all for His own glory. What a glorious and striking testimony of Him! In grace to the sinner, when the sin becomes unbearable, He puts away the sin instead of the sinner! This is what God has done through Christ.
Paul borrows the phrase "sons and daughters" from this verse. He joins it with lines from other Old Testament passages when he writes to Christians.
Here again the Holy Spirit led the apostle to borrow words from various parts of the Old Testament. The passages include Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, 2 Samuel 7:8, 14, and Isaiah 43:6... Here He says, "I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me." It is our new relationship in positive blessing, and it assumes God has given us the divine nature.
Paul's version adds a name for God that Isaiah did not use.
"Lord" and "Almighty" are the two Old Testament names of God. He was "Almighty" to Abraham, and "Lord" to Israel; and now He says "Father" to you, and you are My sons and daughters.
- Claimed. God calls them His sons and His daughters. The gathering rests on His claim, not on their record.
- Commanded. The order goes to north and south, not to the exiles; God tells the nations holding them to let them go.
- Found. Where no one knows the scattered tribes, God knows, and He will bring them back in His own way.
- Glory. He gathers them for His own name and glory. The same grace runs through the gospel: God puts away the sin instead of the sinner, through Christ.
- Father. Paul borrows the phrase for believers and adds a name Isaiah did not use: God receives them as Father.