A New Exodus Promised (Isaiah 43:14–21)
Isaiah delivers an astounding word from YHWH. He declares Himself to be both Redeemer AND the Holy One of Israel. This is an amazing thing. The Holy One demands righteousness, purity, justice, and perfection. Holiness cannot tolerate sin. Yet God is also Redeemer. He who rescues sinners from their punishment. This picture of a Holy God who is also a Loving God is a paradox and a problem. How will God be both forgiving and just? How will He show love by both saving people from their sin AND punish the sins and injustice that they are committing against their neighbors?
The word reminds the reader of what God has done before. The Exodus event was the formative story of the people of God. He had intervened in history. He had performed miraculous deeds against Pharaoh. He had done it all to rescue a repressed and persecuted people. Now, God is talking about doing the same for a people He would send into exile for their sin. Not just them, but the whole of creation, all of humanity. He would show love and justice at once.
But wait! God is not just going to perform a cover of His greatest hit. He is about to do something wholly new. It will blow the Exodus out of the water. It will outdo anything God has intervened in creation to do before.
The word reminds the reader of what God has done before. The Exodus event was the formative story of the people of God. He had intervened in history. He had performed miraculous deeds against Pharaoh. He had done it all to rescue a repressed and persecuted people. Now, God is talking about doing the same for a people He would send into exile for their sin. Not just them, but the whole of creation, all of humanity. He would show love and justice at once.
But wait! God is not just going to perform a cover of His greatest hit. He is about to do something wholly new. It will blow the Exodus out of the water. It will outdo anything God has intervened in creation to do before.
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