Exposition by Max A Forsythe
A couple of years ago I gave a set of my sermons to an English teacher friend, for proof reading before printing that summer series. Her first comment was on some of the regular phrases that kept turning up. Couldn’t I say it better, she wondered? One of those peculiar phrases was “And Now”, also just the word “and” or “now”. She wondered why I abused such words so regularly. Was it just like one of my first public sermons with two of my former elementary teachers in attendance? On that occasion I had mischievously begun my talk with every error they had ever corrected to make a point. That was all in fun, but why “And now”, “now” and “and”?
Once when my supervisor was sitting in my school class, I was a little nervous about the conservative content so I repeated a word that always grated on her mind whenever she listened to her teachers. At the end she said that I had used the word “okay” seventy-nine times; couldn’t I find something else to say? Well, yes I did, but she was so busy counting the “okays” she missed the point that my students heard. One of my bright students who sat in behind the supervisor, winked and shook her head as she walked out of the room!
In Seminary I figured out why I over use the word “and”, because that is the way the New Testament Greek and some English translations set apart thoughts. This week I came across the phrase “And now” in Dr Young’s translation at the beginning of this chapter of Isaiah. Someone once said that earlier generations of English writers were so filled with the language of the King James version that it was hard to tell where the Scriptures left off and their writings took up. This is one reason why the older classics and Shakespeare are being removed from the curriculum. So I guess I finally figured out where that strange “And Now” phrase comes from. I once heard a lady from the Ozarks, who spoke in perfect Elizabethan poetic rhyme all of the time because she had so filled her life with that particular form of literature. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of our daily actions, thoughts and desires were so easily framed from scripture?
Well, as my elementary teachers would not like to hear me speak. Well, Dr Young in his wonderful commentary suggests that these particular words, in the context of this chapter, form a logical, rather than a temporal, connection with the previous chapter. The phrase “And now” presents a contrast between the dismal present condition of God’s people and the glorious redemption that they are to enjoy in their God. Even more in the language of this first verse, the participle "creator" suggests, in the sense of Genesis One, the creation of Jacob and Israel out of nothing. These peculiar people are elected and set apart, Isaiah would tell us.
Now, there is even more in this wondrous first verse. See it there in the second strophe? “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Such is the wonderful personal touch of our Creator God’s divine mercy and grace. The expression of redemption here is one that the people cannot accomplish on their own. They will have to be set free at the cost of a redemption price.
Isaiah, in his language, is pointing beyond the mere physical nature of the Babylonian captivity, to a more common spiritual captivity, which no one is able to put away by their own efforts. An older commentator by the name of Reichel writes that “we cannot comprehend what an inexhaustible depth this [Hebrew word for ‘I have redeemed thee’] contains within itself.” Dr Young goes on to tell us that the verb here is in what is called the prophetic perfect, giving a certain sense that these very words will one day be fulfilled by the same God who revealed them.
Here we are already half done and we are only now getting to verse two. In this verse our God promises that He is with us through water and fire. No matter where the elect of God are led, they will not be swept away or burned. The reason is given in verse three. “I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” A little later in verse five we are again assured, so that we will not be afraid, “for I am with you”. No matter how far God’s elect are dispersed, they will one day be collected. From north and south, from east and west “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
The others, briefly mentioned in verse three and four, are allowed to go their own way. But from amongst that common crowd the great God of the universe tells us that the spiritually blind and deaf will be given a chance to state their case.
However, in verse ten we are instructed that we are to be His witnesses, we are to be His servants. We are to tell all the world that there is no other God, no not one. His claim is an exclusive claim, as was that of Jesus also: I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through me. Look at verse eleven to see this idea confirmed: “apart from me there is no savior.” “You are my witnesses”, declares the Lord, “that I am God.” Have I not been with your fathers He asks in verse sixteen through eighteen when He reminds them of the Exodus. Even so, in verses fourteen and fifteen, can’t the same Lord and God be with His people in Babylon ,to bring them home yet again?
In verse eighteen we are encouraged to forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. In the same way do I begin marriage counseling, when it is necessary. Unlike the worldly counselors, who enjoy probing into former sinful ways, it is our responsibility to imitate the Lord and consider what new things He can do in our lives.
Just this week I read that Alice Cooper and Glen Campbell are now Christian golfing buddies in Arizona. Both of them in their former lives were dismal prospects for accepting the gospel of grace. But, even now the Lord is completing a new work of grace in their hearts, and using their witness to call others home as well. What a wonderful thing it is to be called by God’s glorious plan of grace, mercy and redemption. But what is the reaction of God’s people in Isaiah’s time? Look at the shame of verses twenty-two through twenty-four.
Instead of tithes and offerings, instead of hearts and minds dedicated to the God of glory, His people have heaped up a pile of sins. Is that what the Church in our century has done as well? For many decades God has watched the decline of the West. The age of the fish, as some astronomers would have called the Reformational age, has given way to the new age of Aquarius. All by ourselves has mankind done this terrible reordering of society. And who have we done it to? None other than the God who in verse twenty-five tells us “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
What is the message that God gives to rebels who heap up sins instead of thanks, praise and honor? See what is planned for such people in verse twenty-eight? Disgrace, destruction and scorn; may those never be ours. May we each and every one resolve to hear His voice, repent and be kept from sin for His glory, honor and praise. Amen.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
28 August 1994
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.