Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1666

December 29, 2024

Isaiah 43.14-21        Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“People of God”

 

 ¹⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. ¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” ¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: ¹⁸“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, ²¹the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

 

 

• Your Redeemer, the Holy One

 

As we come to the time to celebrate the passing of one year and the expectation of the next, we can take some time to consider the blessings we have received from the Lord. We can rededicate our time and effort toward a closer relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We can recommit energy to meditate on Scripture and learn the ways of God’s path. One of the questions I sometime get is about where to start in Scripture for just such an occasion. Whether it is someone who is just starting out in the Bible or a “seasoned” believer, the Bible is a vast oceanic sized reservoir, a beautiful treasure that sometimes causes us to pause about where to start. At least for today and for a new year coming up, Isaiah is a good place to start.

The prophet reveals titles of God that describe characteristics and actions of God that affirm for us God’s love, power, faithfulness, and His “unlike any other” being and personality. The fancy term for God being unlike any other is incommensurate. It is a great word to know but I often forget it so I just say like a good southerner, “ain’t no god like our God!” Isaiah reveals four particular characteristics in this passage.

First, God is our Redeemer. The redemption of God is seen throughout the Bible. The promise of redemption begins in Genesis 3.15 where God is speaking to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This verse sets the stage for Israel’s expectation of the coming Messiah. God will redeem His people from the sin that came with Adam and Eve’s rebellion. God’s redemptive purposes are sown all through the Old Testament from Genesis 3.15 on, and that final redemptive blessing is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. Genesis 3.15 establishes the covenant of grace by which the Messiah would redeem all things in heaven and earth. The serpent would be crushed and the Messiah would be bruised. This is certainly a reference to the shed blood on the cross.

This narrative account in Genesis reveals the whole picture of sin and redemption that is repeated through history. People sin and God redeems, God saves, God rescues us in smaller terms of pulling us out of the pit of despair from time to time, but more incredibly pulling us out of the deathly consequence of sin and death through Christ our Redeemer. The end is known from the very beginning, that God’s kingdom will rule and the gates of hell will not prevail over the church of Christ.

 

Second, God is the Holy One. This one gets repeated, used in verse 14 and 15. When something gets repeated in the Bible, pay close attention! Biblical language, particularly Hebrew doesn’t use words like “very”. So that the language would not say that God is very holy. Instead it will say that God is holy holy. God is One set apart from all others. God is unlike any other god, little g, and God is holy beyond anything humanly possible. And yet we are called to be holy as God is holy (Lev 11.44-45; 1 Peter 1.16).

 

Isaiah is a good place to start, (6.1-3):

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” I mentioned the repetitive emphasis when something is repeated, but even more when the repetition is three times! Holy, holy, holy! God is the Holy One, the Lord of hosts, and the whole earth is full of His glory!

 

 

• The Creator, Your King

 

The third attribute is God the Creator in Isaiah 43.15. God is known as the Creator of all that is. Again, we turn to Genesis and remember the grand story of God speaking into existence light and stars and dry land and seas, animals, plants, and man in His own image. Isaiah specifies that God is the Creator of Israel. They are His own people, chosen among all peoples to be set apart and to show all other nations who God is. They are not created and chosen for their own sake but to reveal the glory of God and the holiness of God by becoming holy like God. And this creation leads to the fourth title, God is their King.

God is ruler over Israel and God is ruler over all. We speak of the kingdom of God to which we are called to live. Jesus first preached about God as king in Matthew 4.17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” God’s kingdom has come in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the sovereign ruler of this earth and heaven and of the spiritual realm, over all that is.

 

• Behold, a New Thing

 

This God, the Redeemer, the Holy One, the Creator, and the King, is the only One who can do a new thing! God can make possible what we see as impossible. For we see in Scripture that God can and God has and God is and God will. When we look to a new year we might consider what new thing God might be doing in our midst, for this is the God of new things – new life – new possibilities – new creations – new hopes and dreams and the God “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Rom 4.17). The God who has redeemed, called, the God who is present, the Holy One, the Creator King, this is the God who loves us, gathers us, has chosen us, and the God who is doing a new thing. We see God’s new things all over Scripture. The Word leads us to new life, new creations for those in Christ (2 Cor 5.17), the new covenant (1 Cor 11.25), and even the smallest of new things like a new day or a new year.

With every thought of something new, there is the opportunity for new things. Even the very end of the Bible is about a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21.1). New, new, new. Can God do a new thing? The resounding answer is yes, God can and God has and God is and God will. This is why we always have hope and peace and confidence, because the God who embodies all these attributes and titles seen in Isaiah 43 is the God who is constantly doing new things. God has worked something new into our lives. He has reconciled us to God. Jesus Christ has transferred us out of sin and death and darkness and into the kingdom of His glorious light (Col 1.13). This is the story we tell, of the new things God has done, and especially in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We tell this story and all these stories of the Bible in order to impact people and impact our community. We may not see the results today or tomorrow, but God will work new things out of efforts to share the good news of Christ crucified, Christ risen, and Christ coming again. We trust that God is at work, doing new things in people’s lives in ways we cannot imagine.

The beauty of God’s things, old and new, is that they are always new in the sense that God is working something new even out of the old. The Old Testament, the old covenant, those too old to bear children like Sarah or Elizabeth. In a new year we can seek to renew our trust in the God who promises something new. We step out in faith, start a new path, for this is a new day and a new year God’s new things.

 

• People of God

 

In the end we are created for one purpose - ²¹the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. We are redeemed, created, called to be holy, and ruled by the King for the sake of glorifying Him, praising Him. All that we do is to be done to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10.31). I often emphasize the Psalms when thinking about prayer and the issues of life, and I’m going to do that again! The Psalms take us through much if not all of life’s ups and downs and give us the language of prayer and worship so that we might praise God in all things. To that end the Psalms end as we should end...in praise. Not that we wait to the end of life to praise God but the Psalms show us how a life well lived is lived throughout, that is, in praise. The end of the Psalter is praise, praise, and more praise.

 

Psalm 146.1-2, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! ²I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

 

Psalm 147.1, Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

 

Psalm 148.1-6, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! ²Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! ³Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! ⁴Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! ⁵Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. ⁶And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

 

Psalm 149.1-3, Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! ²Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! ³Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!

 

Psalm 150.1-6, Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! ²Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! ³Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! ⁴Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! ⁵Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

 

I believe is it by design that the Psalms end this way. They end this way because of revelations like that of Isaiah 43.21, ²¹the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. We are the people of God because it is God who has redeemed us, this God who created and formed us, this God who is Holy Other to us, this God who is King. We have been created and reformed for the sake of declaring His praise. That is our primary purpose, to glorify Him in praise, in faith, in discipleship, in all things.

This is the God who does new things. New covenant, new life, new birth, new year, who makes a way where no way appears to exist, for nothing is impossible with God. Behold 2025, behold the God who does new things for the people who praise Him and glorify His name. Amen.