Isaiah 44:8 Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses… Boldness for God, and boldness in dealing with God, should form part of the Christian character; and the Word of God encourages this Christian boldness. We are repeatedly exhorted to "fear not," to "be of good courage." I. WHY ARE WE TO EXPECT THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD WOULD BE LIKELY TO FEAR? 1. They have always been a persecuted people. 2. Many a man, before he is decided for God, finds out that, if he makes up his mind to enter into the service of the Lord, his worldly interest is nearly sure to suffer. 3. Others, again, know their personal interest for their worldly circumstances. They know, for instance, their birth, their wealth, their talent. Then perhaps they are called of God to think seriously about their eternal state; and the result is, that they feel in their own minds, "If I forsake all this outward display of means, and show that I do not value it as I have hitherto done, my influence amongst others will very greatly suffer." 4. There is many a man, if he would serve the Lord, must make a sacrifice of many of his personal and worldly comforts. 5. Then, take the case of doctrines. There are many who imbibe from their earliest days the idea that religion is gloomy, that God is an object of terror, that death must be misery; they live in no thought of the Lord's coming again in joy and happiness, and heaven itself, with its delights and its pleasures, is never really considered. Now, all these things frequently produce fear in our minds. II. THE REASON WHY WE SHOULD NOT FEAR. The reason is, that the Lord thus argues with us: "Have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it?" That is, God challenges man to deny this fact, that He knows the end from the beginning, and has proved that He knows it by foretelling the end from the beginning. This is the manner in which God argues in other passages. (Isaiah 42:9). God knows the end; God foresees the means, and foreseeing the means He exercises control over those means — everything that happens therefore, great or small, is under the control of God, who "orders all things after the counsel of His own will," and consequently we have nothing to fear, because we are in His hands who "doeth all things well." This is the manner in which we find the argument used in Isaiah 51:12. III. Having thus stated the Christian's duty as well as his privilege — not to fear; and having seen what the reason is, that God has foretold all things, and therefore decreed and settled all things from the beginning, HE THEN CHALLENGES HIS PEOPLE in these words — "Ye are even My witnesses," and therefore urges upon them, by the strongest possible personal appeal, to bear testimony to the fact that the Lord He is God, and our God too, for ever and for ever. (M. Villiers, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. |
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