To understand the drift of the argument in Isaiah 44:1-5, we need to see it as a continuation from the previous chapter. In Isaiah 43, God gave reasons for Israel’s punishment. Nationally, Israel had demonstrated their lack of passion for God and had sinned against Him. Primarily the priests, “the official of the sanctuary”, had failed. God would allow them to be profaned and be brought to shame. God had to chastise Israel and told them to anticipate destruction. But it would not do justice to God’s faithfulness had the passage stopped at Isaiah 43:28. God’s covenant faithfulness would not leave His people in a lurch and be left for destruction, despite their unfaithfulness. Though He would punish them for their sin and irreligion, yet in His love for them and His faithfulness to what He had promised, God would not allow Israel to be terminated completely. So we see in Isaiah 44:1-5, His fresh assurance of rescue and restoration. He would come to their aid.
Isaiah
44:1 opens with God calling Israel to pay attention to what He would say to
them. The conjunction ‘but” connects the thought of the first five verses
of the chapter to what God had said in Isaiah 43:28. Israel was told, “So I
will profane the officials of the sanctuary, and I will turn Jacob
over to destruction and Israel to abuse.” This connective suggests
that though Israel should be punished and destroyed, yet they had nothing to
fear. Why? For as a nation, Israel was God’s Servant and His chosen. He had
made them and formed them from their inception. The question we need to ask
here is, who is this Jeshurun that verse 2 is
referring to? This name Jeshurun means “beloved and
upright people.” It is a name that has symbolically been used to refer to
Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. Though they had not reciprocated to
God’s love toward them or lived up to the privilege of that name, they
nonetheless were God’s dear and beloved people.
As
God’s dearly beloved people, Isaiah 44:3-5 then went on to promise blessings
upon their offspring and descendants. The two terms water and streams are
used to describe the promise of God’s abundant blessings upon them. It is
noteworthy that in the Bible, these terms also suggest the refreshing work of
the Holy Spirit. Here we see the promise of spiritual revitalization. Just
as the parched land would be revitalized by water and streams, the Holy Spirit
of God would be poured out on them and bring them spiritual vitality. And just
as field and plant would vibrantly flourish by the water, God’s Spirit would bring
about holy virtues among them. There would be a stream of people who would
affiliate themselves to Israel’s God. They would gladly be known as belonging
to the LORD. Like
them, we who now belong to God would gladly turn our lives over to Him to
worship and serve Him.
As
believers whom God has drawn to Himself in Christ, are we reflecting the image
of our LORD?
Do the ways we conduct our lives reflect our calling as His people? The
glorious truth is that Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to walk alongside us. We
have no excuse if we are living a barren life, spiritually speaking. Christ
Jesus has promised us that if we believe in Him, out of our inner being shall
flow abundance of living water. Learn to tap into the vast inner resources
that He has placed within us and live a victorious life. You will enjoy it!
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