ISAIAH
CHAPTER 43
To Israel the Lord says: I am thy God; I will gather thy seed; beside me there is no Savior; ye are my witnesses.
[ Several significant and appropriate titles of Jehovah the Messiah are used in this
chapter, including:
Lord (vs. 1, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16) - Most frequently used name for Jesus Christ in the Scriptures ,
God (3, 10, 12) - The only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwells; who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; without beginning of days or end of life;
and that in him every good gift, and every good principle dwells;
and that he is the Father of lights. In him the principle of faith dwells independently; and he is the object in whom the faith of all other rational and accountable beings centers for life and salvation. Lectures 2:2,
Holy One of Israel (3, 14) - see 2 Ne 9:41 "O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name." The application of the name here implies that Christ , the one who is without sin, was chosen, then consecrated of God, just as Israel was, to be the servant of the Father and to be the source of salvation to all the nations of the earth.,
Saviour (3, Il) - He has the exclusive assignment to save - or to bring salvation to as many souls as will accept him. It is he who will save men from hell, from death and from the grave see also 1 Ne 10:4; D&C 20:1; 76:1; John 12:47; 1 Tim 1:15; Matt 1:21; Alma 12:15; Moses 1:6,
Redeemer (14) - The Hebrew word for redeemer , goel, is defined as one who ransoms, redeems or revenges. He is the redeemer (Isa 41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 24), and his people geulim are the "redeemed one's". Without a redeemer there would be no redemption, resurrection or exaltation (Alma 12:25; 21:9; Hel 5:10-11; D&C 29:42-45; Alma 9:27),
your Holy One (15) - or the Holy One Of God; a denotation that he is set apart, sacred and has been consecrated to God in which he embodies the perfection of God in a most pure state,
the creator of Israel (15) - because of the providence of Jehovah's hand did the nation of Israel even exist anciently, and only by that providence will Israel be restored in the last days (Isa 43:14-15; Acts 1:6),
your King (15). - Christ is Israels King, and the church is his earthy kingdom - he reigns in righteousness (Isa 32:1) - to those of faith, Christ is their ruler, lawgiver, and sovereign in whom all power rests. ]
1 B
UT now thus saith
the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that
formed [ Molded, to make something perfect and beautiful. ] thee,
O Israel, [ The name in whom the covenant was made. ] Fear not: for
I have redeemed thee,< [ By the power of the atonement. ] I have called thee [ Given you the title. ] by
thy [ Most likely should read "my" name. ] name; thou
art mine.
2
When thou passest through the waters, [ Referring to Moses and the children of Israel in the red sea. ] I
will be with thee;
and through the rivers, [ Referencing Joshua. ] they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, [ Reference to the three Hebrew boys named: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. This event will not take place for another hundred years in the future. ] thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For
I am [ “The Hebrew, Ehyeh, signifying I Am, is related in meaning and through derivation with the term Yahveh or Jehovah. The central fact connoted by this name, I Am, or Jehovah, the two having essentially the same meaning, is that of existence or duration that shall have no end, and which, judged by all human standards of reckoning, could have had no beginning; the name is related to such other titles as Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” James E. Talmage. “Jesus the Christ ”] the L
ORD thy God,
the Holy One of Israel,
thy Saviour: I gave Egypt
for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I
am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
7
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8 ¶ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say,
It is truth.
10 Ye
are my witnesses, saith the L
ORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I
am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I,
even I,
am the L
ORD; and beside me
there is no saviour.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when
there was no strange
god among you: therefore ye
are my witnesses, saith the L
ORD, that I
am God.
13 Yea, before the day
was I
am he; and
there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and
who shall let it? [ means "who shall reverse it?" or, as the Joseph Smith Translation phrases it, "who shall hinder it?"]
14 ¶ Thus saith the L
ORD,
your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to
Babylon, [ the cultural, commercial center to the east ] and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry
is in the ships.
15 I
am the L
ORD,
your Holy One, the creator of Israel,
your King.
16 Thus saith the L
ORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18 ¶ Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold,
I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
[ LeGrand Richards has provided a possible interpretation for this verse: What is this new thing the Lord speaks of through the Prophet Isaiah? Could it not be the great system of "irrigation" which the Lord inspired His servants to teach to His people when they entered the valleys of the mountains? It was irrigation which caused the desert to "rejoice, and blossom as the rose;" to "make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." The great irrigation canals are larger than many rivers as they flow through the desert, bringing tens of thousands of acres of otherwise arid lands under profitable cultivation. (IDYK, p. 184.) ]
20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
22 ¶ But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25
I, [ The Savior. ] even I,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions [ The Lord "blotted out" the transgressions of men through their repentance and his atonement. In such instances, he has promised that he will remember the sins of man no more. (D&C 58:42.) ] for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.