Sermon: Called by Name Text: Isaiah 43:1-7

Transcription

1 Pastor Chris Matthis Epiphany Lutheran Church, Castle Rock, Colorado Baptism of Our Lord, Series C Saturday, January 9 th, 2016 Sunday, January 10 th, 2016 Sermon: Called by Name Text: Isaiah 43:1-7 Focus: Yahweh is our Redeemer who calls us by his own Triune name in Holy Baptism. Function: That they would not fear God s prior judgment on their sin. Structure: Text-Application Locus: I believe that Jesus Christ has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person that I may be His own (SC, 2 nd Article of Apostles Creed). Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The Word of God that engages us today is our Old Testament lesson, especially these words: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine (Isa. 43:1b, ESV). 1 At first, these words sound merely like sweet sentiment, especially if we hear them out of context. Yet within the wider context of Isaiah s prophecy and the history of the nation of Israel, they are astounding for their power and grace. These words communicate the unending mercy and love of the LORD God, Yahweh, for his people, Israel, as well as a deep, intimate knowledge of the people he created and formed. Isaiah 43 is startling and refreshing after the harsh judgment spoken against Israel at the end of chapter 42. In the verses just prior to our reading this morning, Yahweh calls Israel spiritually deaf and blind (42:18-19) because of the people s idolatry and apostasy. Rather than listening to God s Word, believing his promises, and obeying his commandments, they exchanged the Creator for the image of a creature, worshiping idols and other false gods (42:24). And so God handed them over to their enemies, the Babylonians, who plundered and imprisoned 1 All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.

2 Matthis 2 them (42:2). Acting as agents of his wrath, the Babylonians punished the faithlessness of God s people by burning down the Temple, destroying the walls of Jerusalem, and carting them off hundreds of miles from home and forcing them into a life that was little better than slavery. Through Babylon, God poured on [Israel] the heat of his anger and the might of battle (42:25a). The Babylonian captivity was a horrifying event in the history of Israel second only to their 400 years of slavery in Egypt. But now, writes Isaiah at the start of chapter 43. All of that ends right here! But now thus says the LORD, 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 (Isa. 43:1). The relationship between Yahweh and the nation of Israel is much closer than the counterfeit relationship that exists between a false god and someone who worships idols. When we worship idols, whether they re made of gold, silver, stone, or our own imaginations, we worship a crude thing that reflects our own thoughts and desires. But the people of Israel indeed, all true believers are created by Yahweh, lovingly formed and fashioned by him. What is more, God knows them personally, calling them by name and claiming them for himself: You are mine! The literal Hebrew is strongly emphatic: Mine you [are]! Yahweh s people are precious in [his] eyes (43:4). In the Exodus story, he called them his treasured possession (Ex. 19:5). He loves them and will spare no cost to rescue and redeem them. Redemption is a very technical process in the Old Testament. To us moderns, the word redemption seems synonymous with salvation, no doubt due to overuse and lazy preaching that fails to distinguish the nuances. Indeed, redemption is one of the ways that God saves us, but redemption is an entire, beautiful metaphor. In the ancient Near East, if someone defaulted on a debt and couldn t repay the loan, then his property in particular, his house,

3 Matthis 3 fields, and animals would be sold in order to pay the debt. If that foreclosure were still not enough to repay the creditors, then the debtor and his family would be sold into slavery. In the culture of the day, all of that was perfectly acceptable and commonplace. But God doesn t want his people to be slaves. So he setup the process of redemption, by which a kinsman-redeemer could pay a price of money to buy back your freedom and your property to rescue you from slavery and keep you in your home and on your land. It was important to keep things within the family, and so the kinsman-redeemer was your most closelyrelated male relative who could pay the price of redemption, be he your father, brother, uncle, son, or cousin. The one who pays the price is the kinsman-redeemer, and the one who is set free from slavery or debt is the redeemed. So when Yahweh calls himself Israel s redeemer throughout Isaiah s prophecy, and in particular, here in chapter 43, when he says, Fear not, for I have redeemed you, what God is really saying is that he has such a deep love and close relationship to the people of Israel that he regards them as family. Indeed, in another place, God calls Israel his son (Hos. 11:1). Yahweh is Israel s Redeemer because he has the same care and concern for them as a Father would have for a dear child in trouble with creditors or the law. So Yahweh, in his great love, promises to rescue and redeem the people of Israel from exile in Babylon. He will not abandon them to their debt of sin or slavery to Babylon. Indeed, he promises to bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth (43:6). No matter what kind of trials they endure, even if they pass through fire and water (v. 2), through thick and thin, God promises to be with them. Yahweh s character, God s very nature, require him to do no less. For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (43:3a).

4 Matthis 4 God loves his people so much, that he will even exchange entire nations even mighty Egypt as ransom to redeem his people. In the last verse of our Old Testament lesson, Yahweh says something truly remarkable. He calls Israel by his own name. He places the name Yahweh upon his people. Whereas in verse 1, Yahweh called them by their own name (literally, I have called you by your name ), here he takes it one step further and gives them his own name. In our worldly experience, there are only two times when you receive another person s name: adoption and marriage. When a child is adopted into a family, he or she receives the last name of the adoptive parents. And when a woman marries a man, the bride traditionally takes the same last name as her new husband. So by placing his own name upon the people of God, Yahweh claims them as his own: adoption and marriage all rolled into one! For a faithless people who rebelled against God and did everything they could to despise and anger him to suddenly be joined to his name, they must have a truly amazing and forgiving God. Truly, Isaiah 43 is a turning point in the relationship between God and Israel. It is a new beginning! So what?! What does Isaiah s prophecy about Israel from the 8 th century B.C. have to do with you and me? We are not exiles from the land of Israel, that is true. But we are all of us exiles of Eden, driven away by our sin into the wilderness far away from the presence of God. Yet just as Yahweh could not bear to see Israel waste away in Babylon, so also he cannot bear to see you waste away in your sins. He loves you too much. He calls you by name and claims you as his own: Christopher, Lisa, Benjamin, Michael, Ila, [insert other names here] whoever you may be! You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14). God knows everything about you! He knows when you sit down and when you rise (Ps. 139:2). Before a word is on your tongue, he already knows what you re going to say (Ps. 139:4). He even knows the number of

5 Matthis 5 hairs on top of your head (Matt. 10:30). Or, in the case of some of you, he knows how few hairs are on top of your head! Because God made you and loves you, he would pay any price to keep you as his own. No matter what you face or what you re going through in life in good times and bad he is with you and for you! You are precious in his eyes (cf. Isa. 43:4), a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession (1 Pet. 2:9). Instead of giving the nations of Egypt, Cush, and Seba for your ransom, he gives you his only-begotten Son. And in order to redeem you from slavery to sin, death, and the devil, he took on human flesh so that he could say with a straight face that he truly is your kinsman-redeemer, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11). From every corner of the earth, the Gospel call goes out and God gathers his people, making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). You see, the Lord Jesus not only calls you by your name; he also calls you by his own name, the Triune name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, placed on you in Baptism. The Holy One of Israel makes you his holy child by water and the Word. He makes you, names you, claims you, redeems you, washes you, gives you a new name his name! and makes you anew. Not even the storms of life can drown and overwhelm you. Even when you pass through the waters, he will be with you (Isa. 43:2). The Lord Jesus also passed through the waters for you, receiving John s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and standing in the place of sinners with sinners and for sinners. It really doesn t matter how far you ve wandered or how violently you have rebelled against God and his Commandments. He loves you all the same, and he refuses to give you up. For there is nothing in all creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God in

6 Matthis 6 Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). Fear not, Jesus says, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine (Isa. 43:1). Fear not, he says again, for I am with you (Isa. 43:5). Fear not, Jesus says, because you are called by his wonderful, precious, most holy name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of T the Holy Spirit. Amen.