Isaiah 43:17
Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
Isaiah 43:17 belongs to Isaiah 41-45, where God gives the full revelation of His purpose for His people, and that revelation is to be prayerfully studied. It is part of that larger disclosure in which God makes known His purpose for His people. The verse declares that He who brings forth chariot and horse, army and power causes them to lie down together, extinct and quenched as tow, never to rise again. Chariots, horses, armies, and military power are thus brought to a complete end and cannot rise again.
The verse teaches that God, and not finite man, is the source of wisdom. His people are therefore to keep to His wisdom, to trust Him, and not to turn away from Him to look to finite man for wisdom. By showing the end of military power, it teaches trust in the Lord alone rather than reliance on human strength. The extinction of the army and its power is the ground of that trust.
The verse stands among the prophecies of Isaiah 43 that will be fulfilled. Its promises will be fulfilled for those who remain faithful to the Lord in the latter days, and in that setting the chapter is a source of assurance and encouragement. It belongs to prophecy concerning God's people for the time when His law is made void and His grace is manifested in the last days.
The verse displays God's work as well-cultivated and beautiful, producing a well-cultivated intellect and a well-disciplined character that can see God. The faithful person, created to stand as God's steward and partaker of the divine nature, reproduces that work by bringing the mind into harmony with the mind of God. That reproducing requires guarding every avenue of the soul lest Satan remove the fortifications, keeping the mind free from the rubbish Satan would pile into it, and laying it open to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. It is carried forward by faithfully planting and sowing and extending the vineyard with all entrusted faculties, by striving to reach the highest point of excellence, and by following the Lord's plan so closely as to know nothing of defeat or failure.