Isaiah 43:21

Isaiah 43:21 says, This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.  God said that the people He had formed, which is everyone, should give Him praise.  As the church today, a fellowship of believers, we called into existence by the power God when He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, and for this we should always give Him the praise.  It shouldn’t be dependent on how well things are going in life, but it should be a continual attitude of praise to God. 

Verse twenty-two adds, But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.  Isaiah then said that God said that Jacob had not called on Him and He had become a weariness to Israel.  The people of Israel and Judah had started to completely ignore their covenant relationship with God, and called on idols for help while believing that putting faith in Him did them no good.  At times, Christians can fail to live by faith in God and doing what He calls us to do can become a weariness to us, but this should never be the case.  Even if everything in life seems to be going wrong, we as followers of Christ need to continue to live by faith in Him and give Him the praise.

Verse twenty-three continues, Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.  God said that the people of Israel had stopped bringing their sacrifices to Him.  They had become cheap in their worship of God, according to Matthew Henry.  They wouldn’t even bring the smallest sacrifices, much less the larger ones. It is not that God needed these things, but He did need the obedience of His people in offering them freely.  We as Christians should offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice every day.

Verse twenty-four states, Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.  God said instead of bringing Him sweet sacrifices, the people of Israel had tried to serve Him while they were still living in sin.   They were being hypocritical in other words.  Our empty worship, just going through the motions while we still continue to sin, will never be pleasing to God. 

Verse twenty-five adds, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.  God said He was going to blot out their transgressions and not remember their sins.  This only happens when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.  The people then did so by putting their faith in His coming, and we since He came put our faith in the fact that He did.  There is no other way to have our sins blotted out. 

Verse twenty-six continues, Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.  Matthew Henry says this could be seen as God calling on the Pharisees to remind Him of what they had done to have their sins blotted out, and the answer was there was nothing they could do, and neither can we.  He also said it could be viewed as the publicans asking God if their sins could really be blotted out, and the answer is yes.  Even if the people of the world or we ourselves remember our sins, God never will.  We may plead and reason with God that we of our own merit are good enough to be saved, but it will never be true. 

Verse twenty-seven says, Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.  Isaiah said that their first father, Adam, had sinned and that they had followed his example. I believe that we are all guilty by our own self-will leading us to sin, and we are not guilty by the sins of anyone else.  Isaiah also said that their teachers had transgressed against God, and people are still being taught by false teachers today, though we need to pray that they aren’t in the church as they were in the people of Israel were supposed to be God’s people in Isaiah’s day. 

Verse twenty-eight adds, Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.  Isaiah said because of the sins of the people that God had rejected them.  They were the ones who failed to live up to the covenant that they had made with God, and He could not just accept them based on anything other than that covenant.  If we fail to enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, our sins can never be forgiven.