Isaiah 43: You Are Precious in My Sight

Introduction

Many people struggle with their sense of worth. Because of sin, we wonder whether we are truly lovable. Because of suffering, we wonder whether our lives mean anything. Tyler Conrad of the First International Baptist Church Copenhagen admits he knew these thoughts well, especially as a teenager and a young adult.

God answers these doubts plainly: "Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you" (Isaiah 43:4). The preacher walks through Isaiah 43:1-7 verse by verse, then focuses on two things: the assurance of God's love and our response to that love.

Message Outline

1. A Great Light in Our Darkness

Self-hatred, self-contempt, doubts about our worth and importance: these are real struggles. The preacher remembers many dark days when he wrestled with these thoughts.
But whatever we have thought or felt, a great light comes to meet us in our deepest darkness: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Psalm 23:4).
No abyss is too deep, no darkness too strong, no sin too great to separate us from the love of Jesus or to keep him from saving us. This is the assurance of the gospel.
The one who saved us through his suffering and death says to us: "You are mine." We may doubt our worth, but God is very clear: we are loved.

2. Created, Redeemed and Called by Name (Verse 1)

"But now thus says Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: 'Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.'" This verse sums up the story of salvation.
God is the sovereign Creator of his people, both individually and collectively. His people exist because he desired their existence.
He also redeemed them from their spiritual blindness. Despite injustice piled on injustice and unfaithfulness toward God, he says to them: "Don't be afraid." Like a heroic and compassionate husband, he calls his wayward bride by name and says: "You are mine."
God creates a people for relationship, he takes the initiative in that relationship, he restores it when it is broken and he preserves it. He does so because he is a God of love.

3. Through the Waters and the Fire (Verse 2)

"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 burned, and flame will not scorch you."
First meaning: because he loves us, God is with us in every danger and every trial. When the waves of life seem to sweep us away, and those waves are sometimes our own tears, he is near. He gives us solid ground to stand on: himself.
Second meaning: water and fire recall the story of salvation. God brought Israel through the Red Sea and led them through the desert nights with a holy fire, to draw them to himself.
In the New Testament, the preacher sees a foreshadowing of baptism and the Holy Spirit. When we pass through the waters of baptism, God is with us. When the purifying flame of the Spirit fills us, we are not consumed: we are made holy for fellowship with him.

4. "You Are Precious in My Sight" (Verses 3 and 4)

"I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place." In the historical context, the Lord probably turns aside the anger of Israel's enemies toward other nations. God's love is implicit in verse 3.
In verse 4, it becomes explicit: "Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life."
The preacher speaks directly to the congregation: these words are addressed to you. Scripture often speaks of God's people as his treasure, his most precious possession.
The people are "honored" because God freely chooses to shower them with blessings. And because he says "I have loved you," he commits himself to always seeking the good of his people.
These words reach their full depth in the gospel. Because we are precious in God's sight, Jesus came to be despised. Because we are honored, he came to be humiliated. Because we are loved, he came to be rejected and hated.
The Father does not merely give other nations: he gives his Son in our place. "But God commends his own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

5. Don't Be Afraid, I Am with You (Verses 5 to 7)

These verses portray the Church as a mother who gives life, in harmony with her divine husband. Together, they have many descendants gathered from the east, the west, the north and the south.
For the second time, the Lord says: "Don't be afraid." He is not trying to make us tremble; he wants to draw us to himself in a love that is returned.
"I am with you": we are never alone. Even when we sin again and again, he does not leave us and always invites us to return.
"Everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made" (verse 7). Our lives are not an accident. We were formed by deliberate acts of God's love, and created to make his greatness known, now and for eternity.

6. The Assurance of God's Love

There are many reasons to doubt this love: we imagine it to be as changeable as human love, we heard little about it at church, spiritual authorities neglected or abused us, no one ever loved us well, or we believe ourselves unworthy because of our sins and our insignificance.
All of these thoughts are false, because God's love is absolutely certain: "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). A love with no beginning and no end, faithful, perfect, ready to sacrifice.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
"Who will separate us from Christ's love?" Paul asks in Romans 8. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God shown in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Deuteronomy 7, God explains why he chose Israel. As the preacher sums it up, it was not because they were better, more righteous or more powerful than others, but "because Yahweh loves you." A circular argument, the preacher points out: God loves because loving is in his nature. "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
The preacher shares a family testimony. His mother, raised in a Christian home, had drifted away from Jesus. For about eighteen months she repeated the same prayer in secret: "I know you can't love me, I've done too much to disappoint you."
One day, as she picked up photos she had had developed, she found a picture she had not taken: children on a stage, a woman who looked strangely familiar off to the side and, beside the group, three words, "God loves" followed by her first name. She never knew where that photo came from. The Lord was showing her that he had heard her prayer. She never doubted God's love again, and she went from lukewarm to passionate for Jesus.
Not all of us will receive a photo, the preacher acknowledges, but the Lord testifies to his love in many ways. And Christ on the cross is the certainty of God's love: the cross can only be understood through love.

7. Our Response: Behold His Love and Live It

Behold. Paul prays that believers, "being rooted and grounded in love," may "comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:17-19).
Just as we dive to see what lies at the bottom of the water, Paul wants us to swim in this love. Eternity will not be enough to measure its greatness. It is not a matter of hearing it in a sermon and forgetting it by the afternoon, but of meditating on it in prayer, in Scripture, in reading, in conversation and in service.
Live. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:10-11).
Created for his glory (Isaiah 43:7), we will not reflect that glory if we do not love as he loves. To love God is to love what he loves, and he loves the Church.
Love is never easy. It requires patience, endurance and sacrifice: our resources, our time, our efforts, our prayers and our lives. Because we are precious in God's sight, we must see others as precious and worth our sacrifice, without isolating ourselves from the Church, from sinners or even from our enemies.

Key Takeaways

God says to his people: "You are precious in my sight, you are honored, and I love you." Any thought to the contrary is a lie.
God creates, redeems, calls by name and preserves the relationship with his people, because he is a God of love.
In the waters and in the fire, he is with us: he himself is the solid ground on which we stand.
The cross is the certainty of God's love: the Father gave his Son in our place.
Our response is twofold: to behold this love and to live it by loving as God loves.

Personal Application

What most leads you to doubt God's love: your past, your wounds, the image you have of yourself?
What changes for you today when you hear God say to you: "You are precious in my sight"?
What "waters" or what "fire" are you going through right now, and how can you lean on the promise "I will be with you"?
What time do you take to behold the love of Christ, in prayer, in Scripture or in meditation?
Who around you do you need to see as precious and worthy of your time, your prayers and your effort?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "you are precious in my sight" mean in Isaiah 43:4?

For Tyler Conrad, God here expresses his heart for his people openly and without ambiguity. His people are a treasure to him, a precious possession of immense value. These words reach their full depth in the gospel: because we are precious in God's sight, the Father gave his Son in our place.

Why can we doubt God's love?

The preacher gives several reasons: we imagine God's love to be as changeable as human love, we have heard little about it, spiritual authorities neglected or abused us, no one ever loved us well, or we believe ourselves unworthy of love because of our sins. All of these thoughts are false, because God's love is absolutely certain (Jeremiah 31:3).

How do we respond to God's love?

Tyler Conrad highlights two responses. First, to behold this love, in prayer, Scripture, reading, conversation and service, as Paul asks in Ephesians 3:16-19. Second, to live this love by loving as God loves (1 John 4:10-11), even at the cost of our resources, our time and our lives.