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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 43:8 - 43:13
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Jehovah The True God And Only Savior
v. 8. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears, namely, to appear before the tribunal; for in spite of their spiritual blindness the children of Israel have had the opportunity to observe certain facts with their senses, to which they may now testify.
v. 9. Let all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled, the Gentiles from all over the world; who among them can declare this and show us former things? The heathen are challenged either to prophesy in the same manner as the Lord or to bring proof of the fact that events have come to pass according to their prediction. Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified, namely, by submitting adequate proofs which others would be bound to acknowledge; or, in case they are unable to do this, let them hear and say, It is truth, namely, that presented on the Lord's side.
v. 10. Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My Servant whom I have chosen, for the purpose of bringing Israel to the knowledge of the only true God, that ye may know and believe Me, by virtue of the testimony of their own eyes, and understand that I am He, have a clear and convincing comprehension. Before Me there was no god formed, He alone was God from eternity, neither shall there be after Me, since He is in exclusive possession of the deity.
v. 11. I, even I, am the Lord, the isolation of the sentence bringing out its emphasis all the more strongly, and beside Me there is no savior, He is the only one who can bestow deliverance from sin, death, and the power of the devil, the one in whom the salvation of mankind is found.
v. 12. I have declared, announced in advance, and have saved, in accordance with His prophecy, and I have showed, let them hear another prediction, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God, they had had a sufficient number of incontrovertible proofs and could testify accordingly.
v. 13. Yea, before the day was, I am He, literally, "from this day," that is, He would be the same unchangeable God in the future as in the past, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand; I will work, and who shall let it? Who would be strong enough to hinder or frustrate His plans? The works of the Lord speak for Him, reveal Him, as in the past, so in the future.