Eighteenth Mountain Peak
"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shah not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee." (Read the full chapter) Isaiah 43:1-3.
HFRE. YOU HAVE a glimpse of two mountain peaks. When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour He has a double claim upon us. First the Lord is our Creator, and secondly our Saviour.
He has made us. He is our Creator, but He has also paid a very high price to redeem us and to forgive us our sins. He is doubly precious to us, because He is our Creator and also our Saviour and Redeemer. He undertakes to protect us from every harm and danger. Though we may have to go through many hardships, sufferings, temptations and difficulties, for, without exception, every one of us must go through some hardships, trial; and sufferings of some kind. Here the Lord says in v, 2 "when you walk in the fire you will not be burned". The Lord shows His power among His people at different times and in different ways. When Israel came out of Egypt they had to go through the Red Sea. Exodus 14: 6 to 29, tells us how the Lord brought them safely through the Red Sea. It does not matter, how the enemy may pursue after us, finally. his devices will be brought to naught. We as believers must be prepared to be hated and despised and persecuted by those in the world. The Lord reminds us (John 15:19) that we must expect to be hated whether in school or hospital or neighbourhood. We are bound to be hated by those in darkness, and they will try to take away our rights, and will go on pursuing us with bitter opposition. But one day you will see the enemy swallowed up by the power of God Himself.
In Daniel 3:25 we read of three men who were cast into a burning furnace, but not a single hair was singed. The hair of the-body catches fire more easily than anything else in the body, but in this case not a single hair was even singed by the fire. God's promise to believers is that even though enemies come up against us to deceive us spiritually, they will not succeed in doing any harm. They may do some harm materially sometimes, .but they cannot succeed in doing spiritual harm to believers. In due course all will be compensated. and this promise can be fulfilled in all of us all the time,
Isa. 43:4 "Since thou wast precious in my sight". Here is the other mountain peak of Salvation. We are unto Him very precious, extremely so, even though before our fellowmen we are ordinary weak and foolish human beings. We are so weak that when people get angry with us they call us fools. Wives call their husbands fools, if they don't do what they tell them; but our Lord will not call us by that name. We remain precious before God.
v. 4 "Since thou wast precious..." The Lord Jesus Christ paid a very high price to redeem us. In Matt. 13:44-46, to buy us as His treasure He sold all that He had. In the same way to make us a pearl of great price, He gave all that He had. So it does not matter how many mistakes we make, we are yet, in His sight, very precious. His love is great for us and He will never change. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself paid the price to redeem us, to cleanse us and to purchase us. He gave all that He had and that is why. to Him. we are precious.
Now upon earth, we are bound to make mistakes because of our poor wisdom, but the Lord is saying to us, "Unto me you are very precious", and He will make every possible provision to help us to overcome our follies. "I have loved thee therefore I will give men for thee" v. 4 He will be sending messengers and servants to help us whenever we require help. It is wonderful how He sends us messengers from many parts of the world. How many servants of God have been sent to us from many parts to encourage us. to warn us. and to keep us from going away from the Lord. They have been prepared for this through many trials and sufferings and we are now profiting and benefiting by their lives and ministry.
In the same way, people are now praying for us in many parts of the world, I found it very surprising to find people in many countries which I visited saying to me: "We have been praying for you for a long time and for your work". We are being upheld in prayer by God's people everywhere, and Thus protected from many dangers, because we are precious to Him. When a baby looks very dirty, the mother will immediately pick up the child and wash it again and again. An aunt will not do that. She may do it once or twice at the most, but after that she will tell the mother of the child that she will not take the responsibility. Only the mother can bear it. The Lord says to us "Thou art precious to me".
For example, Lazarus was in the grave. When the Lord Jesus came. Martha and Mary were weeping for Lazarus, and said to Jesus: "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died". When Jesus came to the grave. He said "Take away the stone", but Martha said: "Lord, by this time he stinketh". While the Lord was standing near the grave, the sisters stood at a distance. They could not bear the smell, but the Lord Jesus still loved Lazarus though his body was stinking, and though his own sisters were saying: "Lord, he stinketh by now, please don't ask them to roll away the stone". Only the Lord Jesus can bear with our folly; our friends cannot. They may mock at us. but unto Him we are very precious, and He has made every provision to help us to recover.