I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isaiah 44 has just mocked the man who bows down to a block of wood. God now turns to His own people and speaks about their sins. What He says is startling in its order: the guilt is dealt with first, and the call to come back follows after. (The commentators quote an older translation. Where the ESV has "like a cloud… like mist," it reads "as a thick cloud… and as a cloud.")
The whole chapter mocks the making of idols. One writer traces the line from the useless block of wood to the song of verse 23:
Idols prove powerless, and are abandoned for the true God. An idol is "a block of wood!" "An abomination!" (Isa. 44:19). But Israel knows God, the God who has "blotted out as a thick cloud" her transgressions (Isa. 44:22); therefore "Sing, O heavens; … the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and GLORIFIED HIMSELF IN ISRAEL" (v. 23).
Why choose a cloud to describe forgiveness? One writer puts the question to his readers directly, and lets the sky answer it:
Isaiah spoke for God, no doubt looking forward to Christ's sacrifice. He said, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins." (Isa. 44:22.) Perhaps no words could show more forcefully how completely our sins are cancelled. Where, I ask, is the thick cloud we were looking at yesterday? You will reply, "It is gone, and gone for ever." True, and our sins are now blotted out by God just as completely; for He says He will remember them no more.
The same writer insists this is not a receipt handed over at death. He points to what Jesus said to people still standing in front of Him:
Did He not say to a paralysed man, "Take heart; your sins ARE forgiven"? And to a broken-hearted woman at His feet, did He not say, "Your sins ARE forgiven"? Not "shall be when you come to die," but "are forgiven." (Luke 7:48.)… In fact, the gospel is preached to make this known. It is God's present proclamation… so to deny the present knowledge and enjoyment of sins blotted out is to deny the true character of the gospel of the grace of God.
"Return to me" comes second, and the reason given is a redemption already accomplished. One summary of verses 21–23 keeps that order: forming, remembering, blotting out, redeeming, then singing:
God calls Israel to remember this. These idolaters form their own gods, but the Lord has formed His people to serve Him. Having formed them, He will not forget them. He will blot out their sins, redeem them from the power of the enemy, and glorify Himself in Israel. As a result the heavens and the earth will join to sing His praises.
One writer describes a soul that has stopped defending itself and has nowhere to stand except God's own glory. Israel, he says, will be brought to the same place:
He has given up any thought of justifying himself: "My iniquity is great." If God does not forgive me for His own glory's sake, He cannot do it at all. And He will not leave one spot of sin, either for the comfort of my own heart or for the glory of His name. So we see for Israel by and by in Isaiah 44:22 and following. They are made to rest in absolute mercy, in sovereign grace. Grace is perfect in getting rid of the sins.
Isaiah's word "redeemed" belongs to a long chain of such promises about Israel's future deliverance. One writer gathers them and then names the one foundation under them all, adding that the return from exile in Babylon was only a foretaste:
The same principle applies to the very frequent use of redemption in the Psalms and Prophets for the future deliverance of Israel for His kingdom on earth. See Ps. 103:4, Ps. 106:10, Ps. 107:2; Isa. 35:9, Isa. 41:14, Isa. 43:1, Isa. 44:22-23, Isa. 48:20, Isa. 52:9, Isa. 63:9… All however rests on His blood-shedding. The return from Babylon was an outward sample and pledge.
Commentators differ on how far such promises reach. One argues that the wording fits the nation and no one else, since it describes a people who wandered away and are brought back pardoned:
In one of these passages God speaks of making Israel a sharp threshing instrument. In another He gathers her sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. In the third she returns 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? Is the Church ever spoken of as having drifted away from God and coming back forgiven?
- Idols first. The verse follows the mockery of the block of wood. The God who blots out sin stands against gods that people make.
- Gone. The image is yesterday's thick cloud: not faded, not filed away, but gone and gone for ever.
- Now. Sins blotted out is a present announcement, not a promise kept back until the deathbed.
- Then return. The call to come back stands second. It rests on a redemption already made, and that rests on blood-shedding.
- Then sing. Mercy that is all God's own ends in song. Heaven and earth sing, because He has glorified Himself in the people He forgave.
Sing, ye heavens; for Jehovah hath done it shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, the forest, and every tree therein! For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
God has just told a nation of idol-makers that their sins are wiped away, and the call to sing goes to the sky, the depths, the mountains and the trees, not to Israel. Why is redemption spoken of as already done, and why does creation have a stake in one nation?
The chapter has been taking idols apart. The song begins where Israel leaves them for the God who forgives:
The powerlessness of idols is seen, and they are abandoned for the true God. An idol is "a block of wood!" "An abomination!" (Isa. 44:19). But Israel knows God, the God who has "blotted out as a thick cloud" her transgressions (Isa. 44:22); therefore "Sing, O heavens, … the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and GLORIFIED HIMSELF IN ISRAEL" (v. 23).
The verses just before it give the reasons.
(Vv. 21–23). Israel is called to remember that, in contrast to these idolaters who form their own gods, Jehovah has formed His people to serve Him. Having formed them He will not forget them: He will blot out their sins, redeem them from the power of the enemy, and glorify Himself in Israel. As a result the heavens and the earth will join to sing His praises.
The tense of the verb carries the weight. The heavens are not told to sing about something God intends; they sing about something settled. One writer presses this on the person with no strength left:
Yes, when you are brought to this: guilty, lost, without power or strength to be better. Unless God undertakes for me I am lost for ever… Oh what a fact! The eternal Son of God has undertaken the lost, guilty, helpless sinner's redemption; and He has done it! "Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it." (Isaiah 44:23.) It is not He will: He has done it! "It is finished." "Peace to you."
Isaiah uses "redeemed" here of a rescue Israel had not yet seen. One writer sets it among a family of promises about Israel's future, and names what they all rest on:
The same principle applies to the very frequent use of redemption in the Psalms and Prophets for the future deliverance of Israel for His kingdom on earth. See Ps. 103:4, Isa. 43:1, Isa. 44:22-23, Isa. 52:9… All of it, however, rests on His blood-shedding. The return from Babylon was an outward sample and pledge.
The second half of the verse says where God means to display His glory. Older translations read "glorified Himself in Israel," where the ESV has "will be glorified in Israel." One writer finds the same pattern in the book of Ruth, where a rich relative named Boaz buys back a dead man's land:
Boaz, dealing with the nearer relative, seems to bind himself not to redeem the inheritance of Elimelech except by taking this poor and afflicted stranger as his wife. In the same way the Son of Man has joined Himself to Israel. He will not stand up to claim the earth and its fullness, the world and its kingdoms, as His own, except as "King in Zion," as "Son of David," as one with that nation. Long ago He had set that nation apart for Himself as the portion of His inheritance (see Ps. 2:6-8). For it is in Israel that He will glorify Himself (Isa. 44:23); as He says through Isaiah, "This people I formed for Myself that they might declare My praise" (Isa. 43:21).
Scripture ties the joy of heavens, mountains and forest to two things, and one writer notes who announces each:
All this joy of creation the apostle hangs on "the revealing of the sons of God" (Rom. 8), and the prophets hang it on the redemption of Israel. (Isa. 44:23, Isa. 49:13, Isa. 55:12) These distinct testimonies match the different ministries of apostles and prophets. In one place the Psalmist connects the two in a few words. He touches the chord where their harmonies lie — "when the Lord builds up Zion, He will appear in His glory." (Ps. 102:16)
- Cause. God blotted out Israel's sins "as a thick cloud." That is what puts a nation of idol-makers into the choir.
- Gift. God formed His people and will not forget them. He blots out their sins and redeems them from the enemy's power.
- Grounds. "Redeemed" looks on to Israel's future rescue. The return from Babylon was only a sample and pledge, and it all rests on His blood-shedding.
- Reach. The prophets tie creation's joy to the redemption of Israel. The apostle ties it to the revealing of the sons of God — one harmony, two testimonies.
- Result. God glorifies Himself in Israel. The verb is already past: not He will do it, but He has done it — "It is finished."