🔥 Isaiah 43:2 | Connecting Dots: Isaiah, Exodus & Daniel

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📧 In today’s email…

• 🔥 When, not “if”

• 🔗 Connecting dots: Isaiah, Exodus & Daniel

• 🤓 Quotes from Redpath and Keller

• 📚️ Resources to help you connect further with Isaiah 43:2

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

When you ____ _______ ___ ______, I will __ ____ ___;

and _______ ___ ______, ____ shall not _________ ___;

when ___ ____ through fire you shall ___ __ burned,

and the flame _____ ___ consume ___.

Isaiah 43:2

🔥 When, not “if”

Yesterday, we learned that Israelites didn’t think about “waters” as the scene of a beach vacation (like many of us do today).

The sea often carried a negative connotation with it - one of chaos.

Now, let’s briefly layer in the second part of verse 2:

A few things to notice:

Verse 2 doesn’t say if you pass through waters or if you walk through fire -

- it says when you pass through the waters and when you walk through fire.

We don’t need to be surprised when we encounter difficulties.

• Sometimes they’re the result of our own sin and brokenness

• Other times, they’re because of others’ sin and brokenness

What verse 2 is encouraging us to rest in is this:

God is with us through it all.

Even when we sin, He doesn’t abandon us.

In fact, he does the opposite and pursues us.

🤔 Take a moment to let that sink in. When we mess up, we have a good Father who still looks at us with love and calls us His.

🔗 Linking Isaiah + Exodus

Immediately before verse 2, the Lord says:

So the command to “Fear not” flows from the Israelites’ identity as God’s possession.

Then, immediately after verse 2, He says:

Connecting Isaiah and Exodus 👀 

The statement, ‘I am the Lord, your God’ would remind every Jewish hearer or reader of Exodus 20:2, where God says:

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Now, remember the context we talked about on Monday:

The original audience of Isaiah 43 are thought to have been Jews in the southern Kingdom of Judah…

…who were in in captivity in Babylon.

So again, the Jews in Judah are not just placing their hope in a God who has yet to show up.

They have tangible examples from their past of God’s presence being with them while they walked through waters and fires.

And they could rest in His promise to liberate them again.

Apply & respond: Read Daniel 3 📖 

What story from Scripture comes to mind when you read the second part of verse 2 about walking through fire and it not consuming?

It certainly reminds me of the story in Daniel of the 3 men who are thrown into a fiery furnace in Babylon because they would not worship an idol.

The fire did not consume them and they were preserved by the presence of God (Daniel 3:19-25).

Read 📖 

Read Daniel 3 in its entirety today and let it bring new depth to Isaiah 43:2 as you memorize it.

Wisdom 🧐 

Alan Redpath (noticing the use of the word “walking” in Isaiah 43:2):

“Walking is the pace at which you go when you are not in a hurry, when you are not concerned or alarmed. When you are not burdened or anxious, then you walk.”

“…the fiery furnace does not automatically make us better. We must recognize, depend on, speak with, and believe in God while in the fire.

God himself says in Isaiah 43 that he will be with us, walking beside us in the fire. Knowing him personally while in our affliction is the key to becoming stronger rather than weaker in it.”

Dr. Tim Keller

Recommended Resources 🎙️ 

Here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into this week’s passage and topics:

• 📚️ Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund (link here)

• 📚️ Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live by David Platt (link here)

• 📚️ Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by Tim Keller (link here)

• 📹️ Bible Project: Overview of Isaiah (part 1 | part 2)

• 🎵 Isaiah 43 (Part 1) by Project Love to help you meditate on this Psalm (listen on Spotify | listen on Apple Music)

Answer key ✅ 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2