Isaiah 43:12, commentary and pictures

God alone foretold what would come, rescued His people, and displayed His power when no foreign or rival god was among them, so His people are His witnesses that He is God and He alone is God. The Lord who speaks is Jesus Christ, the eternal I AM, the Holy One of Israel, Saviour, Creator and King, whose name means eternal presence with past, present and future clear before Him, calling His people to know and believe and understand that He is He, that no God was formed before Him nor shall be after Him, and that beside Him there is no saviour whose working none can hinder. His witnesses are His chosen, peculiar people, separated from the world and its customs and ways by truth, called as His church to know and believe God and understand who He is. They become His witnesses by pure whole-hearted obedience to His law and by looking to Him in faith when the path is not plain, going forward in His strength without unbelief or discouragement, remembering what He has done, and letting their light shine in honest conduct and good works that manifest the power of redemption before heaven and an apostate world. This witness is given by openly acknowledging His goodness, faithfulness, power and saving works rather than enjoying His gifts in secret, for confession of His faithfulness and personal testimony of divine power in the life is Heaven's chosen agency for revealing Christ, turning souls from false worship, and Christ lays this calling on His disciples to testify of His suffering, death, burial and resurrection and to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations.

Meaning and Setting

God alone foretold what would come, rescued His people, and made His power known at a time when no foreign, rival, or strange god was in their midst, and for that reason they stand as His witnesses that He is God and He alone is God. That declaring and saving and showing, with no other god among them, makes them witnesses that beside Him there is no Saviour.

The One speaking is Jesus Christ, the eternal I AM, the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, Saviour, Creator and King. I AM means eternal presence, with past and present and future alike clear before Him. Isaiah saw Christ when he wrote, and the call to be His witnesses is to know and believe and understand that He is He, that before Him no God was formed and none shall be after Him, that beside Him there is no saviour, and that from before the day was He is He from whose hand none can deliver and whose working none can hinder. His divine identity as the One who declares and saves and reveals, with no other god among His people, is expressed by the name I AM.

The verse belongs to a section, together with chapters 41 to 45, in which God fully reveals His purpose for His people. That whole portion is a precious assurance from the Lord to be prayerfully studied, whose promises will be fulfilled when His people remain faithful in the latter days.

In that setting it calls them as His servants whom He will not forget, whose transgressions He has blotted out and whom He has redeemed. They are therefore not to turn away from His wisdom to finite human beings or to human strength for wisdom, but to seek wisdom from God, remember Him, return to Him, and look unto Him alone for salvation. For He is God and there is none else, and in Him alone are righteousness and strength and justification.

Called to Be Witnesses

The witnesses are God's chosen, peculiar people, separated from the world and its customs, maxims and ways by truth as by a mighty cleaver of truth, called as the church to know and believe God and understand who He is. He declared His word, saved His people, and revealed Himself and showed His love and power for them when no strange, rival or foreign god was among them, and therefore they are His witnesses that He alone is God.

This witness that He is God will continue in eternity. It is also witness that He is good and that goodness is supreme, including the ministry of sorrow by which their lives make God's goodness visible to angels and to people.

Becoming His witnesses is not by continuing in disobedience and transgression but by rendering pure, whole-hearted obedience to God's law and striving to uphold His law in the earth. Those who look to Jesus for spiritual knowledge must not hide the light under a bushel but let it give light to all in the house, in honest conduct and good works that lead others to glorify the heavenly Father. For God gave His Son as a light of the Gentiles to open blind eyes and to bring out the prisoners from the prison and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. When people let Him, He manifests Himself in them, and they become witnesses before the universe of heaven and before an apostate world making void the law of God to the power of redemption and that beside Him there is no Saviour.

They become His witnesses by looking to God in faith when the path is not plain and easy and going forward in the strength of the Lord God Almighty. This means refusing unbelief and discouragement, not magnifying difficulties, remembering what He has done in the past, and looking to Him in trusting faith when the way is rough. While they do so He is able to work for them and to make them fully able to go up and possess the promised land. Their witness thus declares to the world from the rising of the sun to the west that there is none beside Him.

Witness in Life and Prophecy

God asks His people to witness for Him that He is God by openly acknowledging His goodness, faithfulness, power, and blessings rather than taking gospel gifts by stealth or enjoying them in secret. Confession of His faithfulness is Heaven's chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. That witnessing includes acknowledging His grace as made known through the holy men of old, but the most effectual testimony is personal experience of His work and grace revealing in the life the working of a divine power. Because every life and experience is distinct from all others, God desires praise marked with individuality. Such grateful praise and account of His saving works, when supported by a Christlike life, has irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls. It helps turn people from false worship by showing them something better.

The witness language describes the work God appoints His servants to do as ministers of His will, even if they do not yet understand it fully. His appointed messengers are to proclaim clear, testing warnings that awaken people and testify to God's saving power and sovereignty. The work of presenting God's warning message to the world and explaining why believers hold their faith is a work foretold in Scripture. Christ applies this calling as witnesses to His disciples, who are to testify to His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection and to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations.

The chapter describes the work of one who partakes of the divine nature as God's steward, guarding every avenue of the soul and bringing the mind into harmony with the mind of God. Keeping the mind free from what Satan would pile into it and laying it open to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, he is able to see God with well-cultivated intellect and well-disciplined character. Faithful over little things and closely following the Lord's plan, he uses all entrusted faculties to reach the highest point of excellence. He presents his portion of the vineyard well-cultivated and beautiful by faithfully planting and sowing and extending his work by entering new lands.

The verse stands among the prophecies of the chapter that will be fulfilled in the last days, when God's law is made void and His people are robbed and oppressed and need His grace.