A question came up in my small group about something God says to Israel in Isaiah 43:4, which reads, "Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.

The question is this: Why would God say they (Israel) are honored?

As Christians we all should be able to understand why God, deserves our honor. But why Israel? What was so special about them they God would declare them “honored?”

If we look closely at Isaiah 43, we find that it begins with the word “but” so, that tells us this section is in response to the previous section of Isaiah. Looking back to the beginning of Isaiah 42, we find God reminding Israel that they are His servant people through which His Word was entrusted and since the Book of Isaiah is a messianic prophecy of Christ, it is Israel by which the Gospel will be initiated and sent out to the world. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 3:1-2 saying this, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?  Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.”

Israel was entrusted with oracles of God. That is how much he thought of them. So, here in Isaiah, God is reminding Israel how precious they are to Him and also reminding them of His protection over them and reminding them that they need “fear not”, because he has in the past and will in the future deliver them from harm.

Look at the verses just before 43:4

Isaiah 43:1-3
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!  "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.  "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.

 

Now based on God’s deep love and choice of Israel, they can rest in faith that God is their protector and deliverer. Now, we get to verses 4 & 5.

 

Isaiah 43:4-5
"Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.  "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west.”

 

God would state this again in Isaiah 49:5
And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength)

 

Why can they live without fear? Because they are precious to them. They are honored by Him. They are loved by Him. He will be with them. And God says that “I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.” Is this not a picture of what God has done for us in sending Jesus to be our payment and substitution for our sins?

 

So, the question as to why God honors them? Simply because He chose them. One needn’t look all that hard at the history of the Jewish nation and it is easy to see that they failed God many times. Even Abraham, the forefather of all Israel, exhibited some horrible behaviors throughout his life, even lying about Sarah being his wife to save his own cowardly skin and he did so placing her at great risk. Israel constantly fell back into idolatry and even as Moses was getting the commandments from God, they were crying out for Aaron to make them gods to follow which lead to the making of the golden calf. Clearly Israel was not something special and holy that God felt compelled to reach out to.

 

The spiritual application here to us is that we, as the church, the bride of Christ has also been chosen to be His. Not because of anything we did, do, or will do, but simply out of His sovereign choice, we have been placed in a position of honor by the exchange of Christ’s righteousness for our unrighteousness as we read of in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

Like Israel, we fail God often. But like Israel, we can live without fear. We can know that we are so loved by God that he has bestowed upon us the honor that only Jesus deserves. Again, it isn’t our goodness that deserves this honor, it is God’s love, through His grace and mercy, and by which through His sovereign choice of both the nation Israel and His church, we are so precious in His eyes.  

 

The prophecies of Isaiah, speak as much to us as they did to the Jews. God has displayed His awesome love, His mercy, and His grace through His sovereign choice, not based on anything we are.

 

The honor bestowed upon all of is a result of the finished work of Christ on the cross. And even in the Old Testament is that wonderful truth of the Gospel found. As Isaiah prophesied so many years ago, God gave another for all of us. That was Jesus. In Him we are honored by God. So much that we have this great hope, “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 2 Thessalonians 2:14