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Isaiah 44 is filled with the assurance “fear not.” It is
specific and concise counsel given divinely and miraculously
to a group of people who were then living in captivity; and
it speaks of Cyrus who was going to bring these people out
of bondage 180 years before it actually happened.
The chapter begins with a “yet,” a changing tone seeking to
assure God’s people despite their fears. To understand the
context, we need to read the last few verses of Isaiah 43.
Take note of the word “curse” in verse 43:28: The sons of
Israel and Judah were then living in the consequences of
their sins, in sickness, sorrows, disappointment, despair
and death. In fact, verse 27 reminds us that they were
enduring the consequences of the sins of their fathers, as
the people were then 70 years into their exile, and the
first generation would have already died. This is, in fact,
similar to what we are having today. Many are not born into
Christian families, and some are even born into difficult
and sinful ones.
Another verse back in verse 26, we see an earnest plead for
justification. Indeed, we need peace with God, and we need
His justification. And we will not find peace from this
world, but only He is able to grant us peace. Isaiah 43:25
reads that only He can blot out our transgressions, just
as if we have never sinned, and it is for His own sake
that He does so, not because we deserve it, or that we have
done better than others, or that we have given more money or
even come faithfully to church every Sunday. All are given
because of His grace.
With that, we are ready to look at Isaiah 44. In verse 2, we
see God calling His people by the name “Jesurun” which means
“my beloved one.” God is speaking lovingly to His people and
building up the confidence of His people in His grace. Many
of us have not fully grasped the meaning of “grace” and what
it means to be “gracious.” Paul’s epistles often open and
close with phrases like “grace to you,” or “the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ”; they actually shows us God’s infinite
and unfailing love. Human nature is such that we tend to
concoct the idea of a god of anger who is always ready to
punish people, but that is not the God of the Bible. The
Christian God is full of grace.
In verse 3, we read of the reason for the people’s fears:
dry ground. Indeed when God’s wrath is kindled, He can shut
up the heaven so that it gives no rain (Deut 11:17), which
often results in famines. And indeed, when a Christian sins,
the Holy Spirit will depart from him. During these difficult
moments, we often ask ourselves, “Will God ever bless us
again? Or will He shut up the heaven forever?” If we look
down history, we can find these seemingly “gloom and doom”
periods, but God has actually sustained us through them. In
the 1600s, we saw the Puritans leaving England in
disappointment, but revival came to the land with Wesley and
Whitfield in the 1700s. In the 20th Century, we
saw the First World War and straight after, the Spanish flu
pandemic which claimed millions of lives, and we saw the
rise of Hitler in the Second World War, then thought by many
to be the anti-Christ, but the fact is, we have gone through
all these calamities and today, God is still dealing with
His rebellious people according to His grace. In fact, there
are more Christians in this world today than any time in
history, and we depend on God to pour down His grace in
preserving His church, so that the gates of hell will not
prevail against it (Matt16.18).
In the same verse, we also read of the remedy of the
people’s fears: water. In fact, what we find in the verse is
parallelism, whereby we see two different vivid pictures,
one enhancing the understanding of the other: water here is
the work of the Holy Spirit and God is where this reservoir
of grace comes from. It is from Him that the living waters
go to the dry and thirsty. As much as the world keeps on
taking from us, God keeps on giving to us, even loving us so
much that He sacrificed His only begotten son for the
remission of our sins. He is a gracious God, we pray
to our gracious Heavenly Father, and in the
Benediction, we pray for the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ to be with us.
Perhaps some of us have not been living in the fullness of
the gospel. Some may have given up on prayers; some have
become lukewarm; or some may even think that God has
changed, and thus lack the joy of a victorious Christian.
What we need to do is to continue to do His work and to
believe in Him, for the scripture has assured us, if we do
so, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water (John
7:38). And these waters are in great abundance. We read in
verse 4 about the willows, which are plants that can only
grow in places with plentiful and constant supply of water.
Seek this assurance and eternal security, for as we have
read in Romans 8:30, those whom He justified, them he also
glorified.
Those who claim that they are Christians for one day or one
month are never saved in the first place, for a justified
Christian has eternal and everlasting life. And it is God
who makes him thirst for His Word and have a strong desire
to know more about Him. Increase our thirst for God’s Word
by giving ourselves to the means of grace through worship,
Bible study and prayers; and God will supply His bountiful
grace. In the congregation, learn to see more of Christ
instead of yourself; hold on to the simple, personal faith,
and call upon Him to give you the grace, assurance and
peace.
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