Isaiah 43,1-7. 6. Trinity

 Isaiah 43,1-7  3623

6.  Trinitatis 52 

Ruth 11^th c. bc

16. Juli 2023 

1. ℣ Yahweh is the Strength of His people: 

℟ He is the saving Strength of His anointed (Psalm 28,8). 

O Yahweh, Thou Everlasting God; have pity upon Your servants, so that we remember that You are our dwelling place.  Amen. (Psalm 90,13.1.2c Gradual). 

2. »But now thus says Yahweh, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: „Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you will not be burned, and the flame will not consume you. For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north: Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.“«  

3. In chapter 42 of Isaiah we hear the Prophet speak about the Servant of Yahweh, in whom God has chosen and delighted in. Who is this Servant, how does He fulfill His mission and what does this mean for us? 

4. Throughout the Old Testament, the term servant applies to different people in different contexts. There are at least 60 references where God refers to someone as My Servant: Abraham (Genesis 26,24), Job (1,8; 2,3; 42,7), Jacob/Israel (Isaiah 41,8.19; 43,10; 44,1; 49,3; Jeremiah 30,10; 46,27; Ezekiel 28,25; 37,25), Moses (Numbers 12,7; Joshua 1,2.7; 2. Kings 27,8; Malachi 4,4), David (21 times), Isaiah (20,3), even the Gentile pagans Nebuchadnezzar  (Jeremiah 25,9; 27,6; 43,10) and Cyrus the Great [Persian king 559-30 b] (Isaiah 44,28)—Cyrus is even called God’s anointed/messiah (Isaiah 45,1).  

5. The Servant of Isaiah speaks of is the Messiah—Jesus Christ. He is Judah’s Redeemer. In the Old Testament, a redeemer is a close family member responsible for helping other family members who had lost their property, liberty or lives by buying them out of their bondage or avenging their death. By Isaiah’s day, Judah had become ensnared by idols; in doing so they had forfeited their possession of the land given to them by Y. Isaiah says the people will be exiled into captivity for their idolatry (Isaiah 5,13; 43,14). 

6. Yahweh is Judah’s Redeemer who would deliver them from Babylonian Captivity. He restored them to the land 70 years after their banishment. He promised them: »I will bring you from the east and gather you from the west.«, and He fulfilled His promise in 538 bc (2. Chronicles 36,22-23; Ezra 1,1-4; Cyrus Cylinder [1]). 

7. 700 years after Isaiah, Judah is still living in the land, but they are a province in the Roman Empire. They had a local king, but that king and the people ultimately answer to a Roman prefect. The people longed for true independence and awaited for their Messiah to liberate them from Rome.  

8. God the Father sent His Son to be Judah’s Messiah. Jesus taught that the Messiah is for the blessing of Judah and the Gentiles (Matthew 15,24; 28,19-20). He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19,10). He is still the Messiah and Christ for Israel and the Gentiles today. People still have sins that bear a heavy burden upon them. People still have trials and tribulations that afflict them. Nations still act wicked and oppress other nations and people. Mankind’s inhumanity to man still runs rampart across the face of the earth. This is the fallen world in which we live and suffer. 

9. The apostolic gospel is short and sweet. You were lost, but Jesus found you. You were in exile, but Jesus brought you home. You were tossed about on the stormy sea of life, but Jesus has calmed the raging storm. You were orphaned, but Jesus adopted you. You had no name, but Jesus gave you His name. You were condemned to hell, but Jesus saved you. This gospel is for both Jews and Gentiles, the righteous and the sinner, the wise and the foolish, the knowledgeable and the uneducated and the rich and the poor. This gospel is for all people and all nations, for Jesus desires to save everyone and thus redeemed everyone. Jesus has redeemed you, called you by name and has declared you to be His (43,1). 

10. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6,11) and your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, for Jesus has given you His righteousness (Matthew 5,20). Jesus has redeemed you, He has called you by name, and given you His name, in Holy Baptism and you are His. No one snatches you from His hands. No one. 

11. With great joy I shall proclaim:

Baptized into Christ I am,

Though my human frailties remain

Yet a child of God I am.

I need no earthly treasures, 

Since I possess in fullest measure 

Which gives me salvation freely

And blesses me eternally. (Lasset mich voll Freuden sprechen elkg 214,1 2021 Erdmann Neumeister 1718). 

This is most certainly true. 

14. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

15. Let us pray. O God the Father, good beyond all that is good, fair beyond all that is fair, in whom is calmness, peace and concord, do Thou make up the dissensions which divide us from each other, and bring us back into a unity of love, which may bear some likeness to Thy Divine Nature; and as Thou art above all things, make us one by the unanimity of a good mind, that through the embrace of charity and the bonds of affection we may be spiritually one, as well in ourselves as in each other; through that peace of Thine which maketh all things peaceful, and through the grace, mercy and tenderness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen. (6. Trinitatis, 2. Vespers Collect. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover. 

The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House. 

[1] From [Babylon] to Aššur and (from) Susa, Agade, Ešnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centers on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there, to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings. In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon. (lines 30-33)