Rose Garden - Martin Luther quote
July 19, 2017
Isaiah 43:14-21
Title: A New Creation - The Old Adam is not who you are and is not helpful now that you have received redemption.
14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
Terms:
Re·deem
compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something).
"a disappointing debate redeemed only by an outstanding speech"
gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment.
"his best suit had been redeemed from the pawnbrokers"
Holy
1. exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2. divine - for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9 (King James Version)
3. devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity a holy temple holy prophets
This is a prophecy referring to the end of the Babylonian/Chaldean Captivity. But more than that too.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:1-5)
16 Thus saith the LORD, 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.
This is crossing the Red Sea and the death of Egypt’s army.
18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
You are a different person now that you are baptized and believing in the LORD. The former things are those things from your old nature. You are enticed to go back to them just as the Israelites were enticed to return to Egypt. But the former things are passing away. Your sinful thoughts, words, and deeds do not help you live in the new things. And all those former things are passing away.
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.
The New Song sings of these new things. Moses’ Song in Exodus 15. David’s Song 2 Samuel 22. Revelation 4:11. The TeDeum. Etc.
As if to say, “In the past I performed miracles for you. I gave you water to drink, I fed you with manna, I gave you streams in the desert, etc. This I will do again.” Our seas and desert are of a different nature. Our church is in the sea and in the desert—in the world, in heresy, sin, Satan, etc., as Paul says (cf. 2 Cor. 4:8): “We are destitute, we hunger and thirst.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 17: Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 17 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 97.
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.
The Lord doesn’t promise to take away the wilderness or the desert. But He adds waters and rivers to them so His people may survive in the wilderness or the desert.
How does God choose His people? Through the means of grace which are His Word and Sacrament.
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
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