It is also the section where the Servant Songs appear although this is not one of them.

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1 Do not fear The resurrection EASTER DAY Isaiah Corinthians /5 Evening Praise 27 th March 2016 Isaiah 43 is one of the most reassuring chapters in the Scriptures. It is in the section of Isaiah where the Lord is reassuring his people in exile that he still loves them he has not forgotten them and he will restore them. It is also the section where the Servant Songs appear although this is not one of them. He reminds his people (Jacob, Israel) that he is the God who created them. He uses the tender language of forming them in the womb. And then this wonderful assurance: b ) Do not fear, for I have redeemed you: I have summoned you by name, you are mine. That was Old Testament. Of course, today we are very much New Testament, as we celebrate Easter Day, and the resurrection of Jesus. But the message is the same. The death and resurrection of Jesus is very much a new Exodus, as God acts at Passover time to redeem his people from bondage to Sin and Death. Just as the return from the Exile was seen as a New Exodus.

2 2/5 Evening Praise 27 th March 2016 So these parts of Isaiah the trumpet blast of Isaiah 40 Comfort, comfort my people says your God. and the voice of one calling in the wilderness. The Servant Songs, with their accurate portrayal of the crucifixion. This psalm of comfort and assurance Do not fear, for I have redeemed you - All tie in very neatly with the whole Easter experience. Easter is an end of wrath and punishment and the beginning of grace and forgiveness. Easter is the LORD God keeping his promise and coming himself as the Servant of Israel to bring them back to God, if they will listen and turn. Easter is supremely God s gentle song of assurance and welcome to a people going through tough times but with the promise of deliverance and safety.

3 3/5 Evening Praise 27 th March 2016 So Isaiah 43 continues with the metaphors of difficult times. (v2) When you pass through the waters I will be with you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned. For I am the LORD, your God the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. As so often in later parts of Isaiah there is a declaration of God s uniqueness. Is b -11 Before me, no god was formed nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no saviour. I do not know how anyone can read these words or so many like them in the Scriptures, and still claim that Jesus, is just one way to God. You can believe what you like but you cannot claim any authority for that belief. The Old Testament, the New Testament, even Jesus himself claimed a uniqueness for God, and for Jesus as his Son and his Saviour. So at the heart of this passage is God s assurance (v 1 b again) Do not fear, for I have redeemed you I have summoned you by name. You are mine.

4 4/5 Evening Praise 27 th March 2016 This is, of course, also the universal theme of the New Testament. And it centres on the Easter events remember. remember God at Passover time redeeming his people from bondage to Sin and Death. And it is all demonstrated, proved true, by the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus brought healing where there was sickness he brought hope where there was despair he brought forgiveness where there was guilt and of course he brought life where there was death. These are not symbols or literary forms. These are facts. Lame people walked, Blind people saw, etc, etc. Even dead people were brought to life. So how could Jesus not come back to life? How could Jesus not be victor over death? If the stories they told were true. And of course, if the resurrection story is true, then almost anything could be true of God, as long as it is agreeable with God s nature. In a sense, the resurrection proves all the other stories. And this is where Paul is coming from in 1 Corinthians 15 He tells the whole story of Jesus. And every bit is important.

5 5/5 Evening Praise 27 th March 2016 Christ died for our sins he was buried he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures he appeared to many he appeared to Paul This story Paul calls it the Gospel was the means by which his readers, the Christians in Corinth, were saved. And if they cease to believe they are throwing away their salvation verse 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For Paul, faith without Easter is no faith. No salvation. No forgiveness. No hope. If you take away any part of Easter cross and resurrection then you have nothing left. Everything flows from the empty cross. Saint Paul says to his congregation at Corinth, and to every congregation, if you were saved by hearing this Easter gospel, by the preaching of the cross, and Jesus raised from the dead. DO NOT EVER LET GO OF THAT GOSPEL. It is truth. It is life. It is God connecting with us. //