Isaiah 43:1, 2 says,

¹ But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.”

The prophet’s message was addressed to the Israelites that had already been exiled to Assyria. By this time, they were no longer a nation-state but were part of the population of Assyria. Ethnically speaking, they were known in the Assyrian records as Gimirri, or Gamira, a name derived from Ghomri (i.e., Omri). They probably did not realize yet that they would soon lose their old name, Israel, and that most of them would forget their origins.

They were destined to fulfill the prophecy of Joseph when he named his son Manasseh, “causing to forget,” a name derived from the root word nasha, “to forget, to be forgotten.” Joseph’s exile in Egypt served as a prophetic type of that which would befall Israel. But Joseph had another son, Ephraim, “double portion of fruit,” whose name prophesied that the Israelites would be fruitful and multiply in the wilderness (Hosea 1:10).

The Birthright

On the surface, both Joseph and Isaiah prophesied of the physical descendants of Jacob-Israel and what was to befall them during their exile in the wilderness. Yet, as usual, there was more than one layer of meaning, the deeper one having to do with the sons of God. This takes us back to the original nature of the birthright that was given to Joseph. It was the fruitfulness mandate given to Adam in Gen. 1:28. This mandate was the responsibility to bring forth the sons of God, which Adam failed to fulfill on account of his sin.

God’s purpose for creation was to beget sons of God, not merely physical children. It was to duplicate Himself in His children, creating them in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Using the earth as His “wife,” so to speak, God’s intent was to create children that had characteristics of both heaven and earth. This was later revealed in the meaning and purpose of the feast of Tabernacles.

In other words, our birthright is not merely heavenly but also earthly. The Kingdom of God is all that He created—heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1). When we inherit the Kingdom, we are given dominion in both realms. Hence, the nations are our inheritance (Psalm 2:8), and the meek will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).

But those who are merely biological Israelites are not qualified to receive this glorious inheritance. Although they have a promise for the future, they must follow a certain path to receive the inheritance. And, as we have shown previously, it is the same path that all men must follow in order to become the sons of God and to be called by the birthright name, Israel. Even Jacob himself was not an Israelite until he had followed that path through the wilderness.

Jacob and Israel

Isaiah 43:1 says that Jacob was “created” [bara] and that Israel was “formed” [yatsar]. This brings us back to the original pattern with Adam. Gen. 1:27 says, “God created man in His own image.” Later, we read in Gen. 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground.”

This was not meant to distinguish the two, as if they were different men, for Jacob and Israel too were the same man. On the other hand, spiritually speaking, Jacob was what Paul called the “old man,” while Israel was the “new man.” Legally speaking (that is, spiritually speaking, because the law is spiritual—Rom. 7:14), Jacob and Israel were two different people, even as a true believer is a new creature. The body has not changed, but one’s identity has changed.

Our old man was created to be in the image of God, but it lost that status when Adam sinned. Hence, the old man, like Jacob, was created but remained unformed until God took him by the hand and began to form His character so that he might be formed into the image of God. God forms the new man in the wilderness before bringing him into the inheritance.

So although the unworthy ex-Israelites were stripped of their birthright name during their exile, God’s intent was to bring them into His Wilderness Workshop to form them into His image. For this reason, He tells them, “Do not fear… I have called you by name.” In the wilderness, their spiritual name was Jacob; but God would yet call them Israel.

On another level, Jacob was a believer all of his life, but when he became an overcomer, his name was changed to Israel. This is the pattern which has been set for all men.

Protection in the Wilderness

Isaiah 43:2 promises protection to the ex-Israelites during their wilderness journey. God promises to be with them, even though they had been idolaters. Being under judgment, the law was to have an interest in their case for the entire time, correcting them through hard labor while in bondage to their sin. God’s judgments were never designed to result in loss. While there is temporary loss, God’s purpose is to restore all things to Himself, so that Jesus Christ loses nothing that was created for His purpose at the beginning of time.

The prophet uses the metaphor about God’s protection while crossing rivers and passing through the waters, much like what was seen when Israel crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River on dry ground.

The other metaphor was about God’s protection when walking “through the fire.” The book of Jasher relates how Abraham was cast into the fiery furnace by Nimrod, king of Babylon. God protected him in much the same manner as we read later in Daniel 3 with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

While those were literal examples of protection in the midst of fire, the broader meaning is that the judgment of God’s “fiery law” (Deut. 33:2, KJV) will not destroy them but purify their hearts. The baptism of fire kills the flesh and burns the chaff in our lives, as John the Baptist said, but we ourselves are not destroyed. So also is it with the ex-Israelites and with the creation as a whole.

Redemption and Ransom

Isaiah 43:1 tells Israel, “I have redeemed you.” The message is identical to Israel’s redemption from Egypt (Deut. 7:8). In the laws of redemption we find that a redeemer is one who pays the debt of a slave, and in return takes possession of the slave. The slave is not set free but is obligated to serve his redeemer (Lev. 25:53) until his debt is fully paid or until the year of Jubilee.

Isaiah 43:3, 4 adds another dimension to this redemption, saying,

³ For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom [kopher], Cush and Seba in your place. ⁴ Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life [nephesh, “soul”].

Here the prophet paints the picture of God striking a bargain. Israel’s sin was worthy of death, but God gave “other peoples in exchange for your life.” In this bargain, the devil remains nameless. Yet God is pictured using various nations to barter for Israel’s life. This seems terribly unfair and even unjust. But God, the Creator and Owner of all, does have this right. In the end all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28). We just need to understand the divine plan and His intent to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham.

The passage above is built upon the sovereignty of God. God created all things, including the nations, and He owns all that He created. The right of ownership establishes God’s right to sell nations in order to obtain Israel. If the story were to end there, and if Egypt, Cush, and Seba were to be owned by the devil forever, then we might have reason to complain of God’s injustice. However, there is more to it than meets the eye.

God called Abraham in order to bless all nations—including Egypt, Cush, and Seba. No nation will go unblessed in the end. God uses the few to bless the many, but first He has to train the few and bring them to spiritual maturity before they can truly bless the nations. For this reason, the present age has focused upon calling a few from each generation. To those who are unfamiliar with the divine plan, God seems unconcerned with most of humanity. But that is only because most people do not know that in the end God intends to save all mankind and to reconcile all creation.

The bulk of the work of salvation will happen after the Great White Throne judgment. At that judgment, every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to Christ. They will become Spirit-filled believers, and they will enter the great baptism of fire, not to destroy them or lose them forever, but to bring them into spiritual maturity.

God’s “ransom” was intended to ensure that the chosen few would live and be able to fulfill their calling to bless the many. Hence, it was a matter of priority that God would trade other nations for Israel. If Israel survived, then the other nations could also be blessed and saved.

The Return of the Sons

Isaiah 43:5-7 says,

⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west. ⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, ⁷ everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

While one may argue that Israel was God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22, 23), no one is a son of God apart from being begotten by God. This is the message of Sonship that becomes clear in the New Testament. Isaiah should be interpreted in light of the New Covenant. The “sons” and “daughters” being gathered “from the ends of the earth” are not biological children of Adam (the “old man’) or even the physical Israelites. The sons of God are those “who were born, not of bloodline, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

These children of God come from every direction and “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). These are the “others” who are gathered with the redeemed Israelites (Isaiah 56:8) so that they too may worship the true God in the “house of prayer for all the peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). These are the people who are “called by My name.”