We might have expected therefore that chapter 43 would have contained further warnings and judgments; but it opens rather on a note of grace. The Apostle Peter wrote to the scattered Jewish believers of his day how “the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you”, which grace meant “salvation” (1 Peter 1:1010Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (1 Peter 1:10)); and here is a case in point. In the presence of their evil, God falls back upon His original purpose and His redeeming work. Redemption by power was what the people looked for, and was mainly the theme here, as the succeeding verses show; but presently there will come before us the far deeper work of the suffering Servant redemption by blood.
The whole chapter is characterized by two things. First, by the declaration of what God will do in His sovereign mercy for His poor blind and deaf people, who were set up to be His witnesses to the other nations. He will bring down their foes, be they Babylon and the Chaldeans or other peoples, and He will deal with their sins, as indicated in verse 25. How He will do this in righteousness is not revealed in this chapter; but the result will be that this people whom He had formed for Himself will ultimately show forth His praise, as stated in verse 21.
But second, though all this grace is so strikingly promised, the existing state of the people in rebellion and sin is not glossed over. They are again made to face their fallen state. There is the promise of a regathering of their seed from the east and west, from north and south, but at the moment they had turned from the Lord, as verse 22 Says; they did not honor Him with offerings and sacrifices, but wearied Him with their iniquities. As their first father— Adam— had sinned, so they had followed in his footsteps. Because of this the curse and reproach lay upon them, imposed by the hand of God.
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