Isaiah 43:10

Ye - You my people are able to witness for me, that I have given you plain demonstrations of my certain knowledge of future events. My servant - Cyrus who is an eminent instance and proof of God's foreknowledge: or, the Messiah, who is the most eminent witness in this cause.

): " You, O Israelites! all you that are called by my name, you are all my witnesses, and so is my servant whom I have chosen. " It was Christ himself that was so described ( ch. xlii. 1 ), My servant and my elect. All the prophets that testified to Christ, and Christ himself, the great prophet, are here appealed to as God's witnesses.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord,....

Ye--the Jews, to whom I have given predictions, verified by the event; and in delivering whom I have so often manifested My power (see Isa 43:3, 4; Isa 44:8). and my servant--that is, the whole Jewish people (Isa 41:8). believe--trust in. formed--before I existed none of the false gods were formed. "Formed" applies to the idols, not to God.

You, most of you, know that I am incessantly engaged every hour in the week either in preaching the Gospel or in endeavoring to discharge the multifarious duties connected with this immense Church. Now I always look upon my Saturdays as being consecrated, as far as possible, to meditation and study, that I may find something to set before you on the Lord's Day. But, unfortunately for me, I was served with a subpoena to attend the courts at Croydon and was compelled to spend the whole of yesterday sitting in a hot and crowded court.

You, most of you, know that I am incessantly engaged every hour in the week either in preaching the Gospel or in endeavoring to discharge the multifarious duties connected with this immense Church. Now I always look upon my Saturdays as being consecrated, as far as possible, to meditation and study, that I may find something to set before you on the Lord's Day. But, unfortunately for me, I was served with a subpoena to attend the courts at Croydon and was compelled to spend the whole of yesterday sitting in a hot and crowded court. There is a vast difference between the Throne of Grace and the bench of justice, and between communion with Heaven and converse with lawyers and witnesses! I tried to think, while sitting there, but I found the business so distracting that I went home with a headache and thought I should scarcely be able to preach to the assembled crowds on the morrow. It struck me, however, that if I could not preach about anything else, I must just try to get something out of the occupation of yesterday. Perhaps we may glean some profitable ears of corn among such unlikely stubble. Let me draw your attention to the text and compel my occupation of yesterday to yield a few illustrations to set forth its meaning. As the text stands, in its connection, we have before us a great assembly.

(Suggested by his being summoned to attend the police court as a witness). IT is some time since I have known what it is to be at leisure. One's time from morning till night is occupied in different departments of the Master's service and it has been peculiarly troublesome to me during the last week to be compelled to spend many hours in a police court. While sitting on the bench this text has again and again occurred to me—"You are My witnesses, says the Lord."

(Suggested by his being summoned to attend the police court as a witness). IT is some time since I have known what it is to be at leisure. One's time from morning till night is occupied in different departments of the Master's service and it has been peculiarly troublesome to me during the last week to be compelled to spend many hours in a police court. While sitting on the bench this text has again and again occurred to me—"You are My witnesses, says the Lord." A great trial is going on, of which all worlds constitute the jury—a great trial between the powers of evil and the one perfect Lord of Good. Slanders have been vented against the name and majesty of Heaven and plots have been invented with the intent to overthrow holiness and the Truths of God. The whole fraternity of Hell have stirred up their malicious craftiness to defame the God of Heaven and earth. We know which way the suit will be decided, for we know where the Truth lies, but lo, these many centuries the matter has been hanging in the balances. Sometimes it has seemed that Truth had gained the day, but at other times the powers of evil have come to the front. This trial is still proceeding. Satan brings up his witnesses, ready enough to lie and to establish the teachings of the Father of Lies and, on the other hand, the Lord brings up His witnesses to bear testimony for Truth and righteousness. There are many in this place of whom the text speaks. "You are My witnesses, says the Lord." We are summoned in this great trial of the ages to stand forward as witnesses for God. Very simply, indeed, let us talk of this matter. I. At the outset we will take the simple assertion that WE ARE WITNESSES and enquire what sort of witnesses we ought to be? I count it no small honor for the good Lord to call me as a witness in His case. Hence, I, for one, am a willing witness.

Ye are my witnesses - They were his witnesses, because, first, he had given in them predictions of future events which had been literally fulfilled: secondly, by his power of delivering them so often manifested, he had shown that he was a God able to save. Neither of these had been done by the idol-gods (compare Isa 44:8). And believe me - Or rather, confide in me. Before me there was no God formed - I am the only true, the eternal God. In this expression, Yahweh says that he was the first being. He derived his existence from no one. Perhaps the Hebrew will bear a little more emphasis than is conveyed by our translation. ‘Before me, God was not formed,’ implying that he was God, and that he existed anterior to all other beings. It was an opinion among the Greeks, that the same gods had not always reigned, but that the more ancient divinities had been expelled by the more modern. It is possible that some such opinion may have prevailed in the oriental idolatry, and that God here means to say, in opposition to that, that he had not succeeded any other God in his kingdom. His dominion was original, underived, and independent. Neither shall there be after me - He would never cease to live; he would never vacate his throne for another. This expression is equivalent to that which occurs in the Book of Revelation, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last’ Rev 1:11; and it is remarkable that this language, which obviously implies eternity, and which in Isaiah is used expressly to prove the divinity of Yahweh, is, in the passage referred to in the Book of Revelation, applied no less unequivocally to the Lord Jesus Christ.