The text is found in the chapter
that we read, Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 14. Isaiah chapter 41 verse 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob and
ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. We do find many fear-nots in
the book of the Prophet Isaiah and we have a number here in
this particular chapter. Previously at verse 10, Fear
thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Again in verse 13, For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee."
There was much to make the people afraid in the days of the Prophet. Here in this particular chapter
we have reference to those enemies that would come And often, of
course, those enemies came from the East. You can think in terms
of those mighty empires that appeared for a period. There
would be the Assyrians under Sennacherib, and then after that,
the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, all to the east of Jerusalem. And then, how that great Babylonian
empire would be overthrown by the Medes and Persians under
Cyrus. And certainly there is reference
to these great and mighty emperors in what we have at the beginning
of the chapter. God says, keep silence before
me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength, let them
come near, then let them speak, Let us come near together to
judgment, who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him
to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him ruler
over kings and so forth. As I say, these empires, they
came from the east, but they came as those who were
ultimately serving the great purpose of Jehovah. the God of
the whole Earth, the God of Israel. But as they came from the East,
normally as they came to attack Israel, they didn't come direct
through desert and wilderness, but they would follow that crescent, that fertile crescent
that took them up and round and came upon Israel from the north
and so later in the chapter at verse 25 we have mention of one
coming from the north I have raised up one from the north
and he shall come from the rising of the sun that is the east shall
he call upon my name and he shall come upon princes as upon water
and as the potter treadeth the clay how these enemies were there
time and again massing as it were ready to come and to fall
upon Israel and to fall upon Judah but also upon the other
nations round about and so here we see how that the Prophet speaks
of the vanity of those nations whose trust was only in their
idols. We have it here at verse 6, They
helped everyone his neighbor, everyone said to his brother,
Be of good courage, so the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith. And
he that smoothest with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying,
It is ready for the soldering. And he fastened it with nails,
that it should not be moved. They looked to their idols, And
time and again Israel, influenced by these heathen people, they
wanted idols like those nations round about them. But how futile
it all was to look to such idols who could never move, who were
but dumb idols. And so in verse 8, But thou,
Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed
of Abraham my friend. How Israel, O Judah, should be
those who are looking only to the Lord God. And so God addresses
them. and encourages them as he speaks
these gracious words as he gives them these various fear nots
and see here in the 10th verse how emphatic it is he doesn't
just say fear nots but there we also have the pronoun and
it's a singular pronoun fear thou how God will address each
one of his children individually and personally. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. Well, here is the comfort of
those who are the people of God. Well, this is something of the
context in which we see this word first being given in the
days of the prophet Isaiah. But as we turn this morning to
consider the content that we find in particular here in verse
14, I trust that we will see that this is a word that also
belongs to all of God's children, all those who are the true spiritual
Israel of God. Fear not thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." I want to divide what I'm going
to say into three parts. First of all, to say something
of Israel. Who is this Israel? To observe
also that the true Israel is but a few, it's a remnant, it's
a small component. but then secondly to consider
something of the Word of God, that firm Word, that faithful
Word, and then finally to consider Him who is referred to as the
Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel. First of all then, the
few men of Israel. If you observe the reading here
in the margin, we see that it literally says fear not they
were not Jacob and ye few men ye few men of Israel the emphasis
here is very much upon the fact that these people feel their
insignificance, who are they? and what are they compared with
those who are their enemies as we said just now those mighty
Empires that rose up from the East, and one empire following
the other empire. First the Assyrians, then the
Babylonians, and the Chaldeans, and the Medes, and the Persians.
Great and mighty empires. And yet here is Israel. And now these people are those
who feel themselves to be, as nothing in comparison, so insignificant. Look at the statements that we
have, how God addresses His people, Thou worm Jacob, He says. Thou worm Jacob and ye few men
of Israel. Or worm Jacob. Remember Jacob,
the very name of course reminds us of his origin. He was a supplanter. He was the one who in the womb
of his mother, as those twins came to the birth, took hold
of the heel of his brother, Esau. Esau was the firstborn. But our
Jacob, even as they came forth from the womb, as we have it
recorded back in Genesis 25, takes hold of the heel of his
brother. He will usurp the position of
the firstborn. He is the supplant. There's much
that is so unattractive, really, when we consider something of
the history of that man. And those who are his descendants,
the Israel of God, are not to forget. What does it say in the text?
Thou worm, Jacob. Thou worm, Jacob. Later in chapter
51, God says, Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness,
ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock when she are
hewn, and to the hole of the pit when she are digged. Look
unto Abram your father, and unto Sarah that bear you. For I called
him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. Yes, and to remember
that they are those who are the seed of Abram. But they're not
only to remember that they're descended from Abraham, the friend
of God, but they're those also who are descended from this man
Jacob. This is the hole of the pit from
whence they had been digged. Oh, what a people they are! Later
again, in the 63rd chapter, as we come to the end of the book,
and there at verse 16, doubtless thou art our Father it says,
though Abram be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not,
thou O Lord art our Father, our Redeemer thy name is from everlasting. Oh there is so much that is despicable
about them, they are so few and they are those who are so often
despised and yet this is God's people the few men of Israel. Or we are told in the New Testament
quite clearly that they are not all Israel that are of Israel. We know even from what we are
told in the book of the prophet here that God's true Israel was
ever a remnant. Isaiah is ministering before
the Babylonian exile, before they are taken away into captivity. But it was only a little remnant
that was taken away and preserved there for those 70 years of exile. And isn't the Prophet told us
much when he receives his call? In chapter 6 we read about this
man was called to exercise this office when the Lord God appears
to him And he sees that remarkable vision in the temple, he sees
something of the glories that belong unto Jehovah. Whom shall I send, he says, who
will go for us? And the Prophet responds, here
am I, send me. And then he says at verse 11,
Lord how long? And he answered, until the cities
be wasted without inhabitant. and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord hath removed men
far away, and there be a grave forsaking in the midst of the
land." He's speaking of those terrible judgments that are going
to fall upon the people when God comes and visits their iniquities
and their idolatries upon them. And there's a scattering. when
Jerusalem is to fall to the armies of the Babylonians. But then
in that 13th verse, but yet, but yet in it shall be a tent,
and it shall return, and shall be eaten. There's a tale tree
and there's an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves. So the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof. There would be that seed that
God would preserve, that true Israel. But it's only a tent,
it's only a time. Though it is very much the few
men of Israel, they're not all Israel that are of Israel. Remember a guy in the language
of the apostle, when he writes there at the end of the second
chapter in his epistle to the Romans concerning those who are
the true circumcision. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly neither is circumcision that which is outward in the
flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise
is not of men but of God. all God's spiritual people and
this is the people that God is addressing the fear not's to this fear not means something
to these poor people who feel their fewness, who feel their
insignificance doesn't God say in another of the prophets I
will also live in the midst and afflicted and poor people and
they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Oh, are we those
who are that poor people, that afflicted people, in our day
and generation, those who are trusting in the name of the Lord,
though we feel our fewness. Thank God that we have set before
us here in Scripture this precious doctrine of the remnant. There
is a remnant. And the Lord God preserves His people and encourages
His people. We can think of the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Fear not, he says to his disciples,
fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom. Here is the comfort of that little
flock. It is the purpose of God. It
is God's good pleasure. It is the doctrine of the sovereignty
of God. It is the truth that God himself
is God in the midst of all those things that seem to be so contrary
to his children. And there we see it time and
again in the ministry of this prophet Isaiah and the way in
which he so faithfully addresses the nation of Israel. You turn
back to the opening chapter and look at the language there concerning the remnant, in verse
9, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been of Sodom, and we should have been like
unto Gomorrah, those cities of the plague that God visited terrible
judgments upon. And then he goes on, hear the
word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom, and give ear unto the
Lord of our God, ye people of Gomorrah." Why? He addresses
the rulers of Israel as if they are of Sodom and Gomorrah. You
see, they are not all Israel. They are not of Israel. But all
the remnants, and how small a remnant it is. Except the Lord of Hosts
is left unto us, it says, not just a remnant, nor a small remnant. Now look
at the language. A very small remnant it says. A very small remnant. And yet this is the people of
God and God will preserve that people. He will preserve their
testimony in the midst of all the darkness and all the deadness
that is round about them. These are those who are the blessed
of the Lord, even when the Lord Jesus Christ pronounces those
Beatitudes at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount. What
is the last of those Beatitudes? And do you know the significance
of the word that's used, blessed? And it's a plural word, blessednesses. and it has the meaning of happiness,
these are that blessed people, that happy people and the last
of the Beatitudes Christ says, blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad
for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they, the prophets
which were before him. And the Lord goes on, You are
the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing
but to be cast out and be trodden on the foot of men. You are the
light of the world. The city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under
a bushel, but on a candlestick. And you give us light unto all
that are in the house, let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father which
is in heaven." All this is that remnant, they're salt. In society
they are those who are as light shining in the midst of all the
darkness of this world. And the Lord God takes account
of them and speaks these gracious and comforting words to them,
fear not Thou worm, Jacob, and ye few men of Israel." And how
this godly remnant sometimes even begin to misjudge God. How they fail to understand the
Lord's dealings with them. And they conclude that God is
Himself disowning them. How often they find themselves
in a confused state. Look at the language that we
have in the previous chapter, verse 27, Why sayest thou, O
Jacob, and speakest thou Israel? My way is hid from the Lord,
and my judgment is passed over from my God. Oh, are we not often
guilty of such false reasonings as that, imagining that the Lord
Himself has turned against us. We fear our fewness, Everything
seems to be against us. And yet the Lord God comes and
utters these gracious words to those who are that godly remnant,
the true Israel of God. The words have belonged to the
few men of Israel, the Lord's godly remnant. And what is the
word that God gives them? Tremendous word really, fear
not. Fear thou not. And it is a faithful
word of God. It's the firm word of God. And
that is so evident in what we read here in the very midst of
our text. God says, I will help thee. I
will help thee saith the Lord. The significance. of that word
Lord as we have it set before us in our authorised version
and spout with capital letters. It reminds us that this is the
covenant name of God. This is that name that is derived
from what he said to Moses at the burning bush when Moses was
called and commissioned to be the deliverer of the children
of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. When Moses asks after
God's name, he tells him, I am that I am. Oh, he is the great
Jehovah. And in comparison by the gods
of the nations, they are but vanity. All the nations round
about, all they do is to make their own gods. They worship
idols. Again, God says to his people in verse
25 of the previous chapter, to whom then will you liken me or
shall I be equal? There's nothing to compare with
the great God, the only living and true God. Again there in
chapter 40 verse 18, to whom Then will ye liken God, or what
likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman mounteth a graven
image, the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth
silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. Out time and again we see the
Prophet exposing the vanity of these idols. As we've already
said here in this 41st chapter, at verse 6, they helped everyone
his neighbor. Everyone said to his brother,
Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith. He that smootheth with the hammer,
him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering.
And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
All these gods of the nations are no gods at all, they are
but vanities. Again, look at the end of the chapter, verse 23, "...show the
things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are
gods, ye do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed. And
behold ye together, behold, ye are of nothing." and your work
of naught and abomination is he that chooseth you." There's
a contrast. And God is the God of this remnant. And that is the comfort of the
remnant. All the other gods of the nations are but idols. Now,
we live in a day when we don't see men worshipping such idols
as the Prophet might be speaking of, but still there is idolatry
on every hand. We're told in the New Testament,
are we not, that covetousness is idolatry. When Paul writes
there in Colossians 3 verse 5, covetousness, he says, which
is idolatry. Thou shalt not covet is the 10th
commandment. What is covetousness? it is setting
the heart, the affections upon a certain object and desiring
it above and before everything else or thou shalt have no other
gods before me God is to be that one who is our chief delight
the guy, the apostle When he writes to the Philippians, he
speaks of those whose end is destruction, whose God is their
beloved, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Are our affections only set upon
the things of this earth? We are to set our affections
on those things that are above, where Christ is at the right
hand of God. There is a contrast I say then
here between all forms of idolatry and that God who is the only
living and true God. He who is the great God of the
covenant. And how that covenant stands
so fast. You all remember how the Prophet
speaks of it later in chapter 55. He says, I will make with
you an everlasting covenant. even the sure mercies of David. Oh yes, there's some reference
here to King David that man who when he comes to the end of his
days finds all his comfort in that covenant remember what he
says on his dying bed there at the end of the second book of
Samuel although my house be not so with God yet he has made with
me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure this is
all my salvation and all my desire that we make it not to grow so
much to dismiss David when he considers the situation amongst
his own family, his own children and how he had brought the sword
upon his own house because of his sins because of his adultery
and his murder the sword would never depart out of his house,
he acknowledges it although my house be not so with God, his
comfort is in God who made with him that covenant which was ordered
in all things and sure but when in chapter 55 Isaiah makes some
reference to that covenant he has in mind not so much King
David but David's greatest son he who is the true one who is
the beloved of the Lord I will make with you an everlasting
covenant even the sure mercies of David,
he says. Oh, that is that covenant that
was made with the Lord Jesus Christ. That eternal covenant,
that great covenant of redemption, that covenant that is outworked
in God's gracious purpose here upon the earth. Oh, how we need
to remember these things look at what we find later how God
speaks of his great purpose in chapter 46 verse 9 he says remember
the former things of old for I am God and there is none else
I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done
saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. He goes on at verse 11, Yea,
I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed
it, I will also do it. Oh, here is the comfort for that
little remnant, those few men of Israel. It is in God, it's
in that great purpose of God. It's in that sovereign grace
of God. Why, He is the Holy One of Israel. Is that not the name that we
find given to Him here in the text? Fear not thou worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer. The Holy One. He is the Holy
One of Israel. God is not a man that He should
lie, nor the Son of man that He should repent. As He said,
He shall not do it. Oh, hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? This is where we have to look.
We have to turn our eyes away from the things of time and the
things of sense. And we have to look to Him and
that great purpose of God, which is laid up in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus. For I am the Lord, He says. I
change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, I
am not. concerned. Oh, it is God who
says it, you see. Fear not. Fear thou not, for
I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. Or to turn from idols. Remember
those Thessalonians When Paul addresses them there at the end
of his first chapter in the first epistle to the Thessalonians,
he reminds them what they once were. Ye turn to God from idols,
he says, to serve the living and true God. Oh God, deliver
us from all our idols. And we do need to be delivered.
We need that gracious keeping of God. Why is it that when we
come to the end of that first general epistle of John, He says
to those whom he is so tenderly concerned for and addressing
little children, keep yourselves from idols. God deliver us, or that we might
be those who not only say that we believe in God, not only acknowledge
the sovereignty of God, but live it. But live it. I think I've
said this before, but I remember Many years ago now, when one
had much contact with David Fountain, there at Spring Road Evangelical
Church in Southampton, when we first came into these parts,
we were assistant pastor with him. But I remember, and he'd
had a great deal of contact with our late friend Sidney Norton,
when David Fountain was an undergraduate at Oxford. He attended at Switchie
Lane. And previous to that, When he was a boy at Dulwich College,
he'd gone off to Westminster Chapel, he sat at the feet of
Dr. Lloyd-Jones and so forth, he went up to Oxford, and in
due course he found his way out to Somertown, to Squitchy Lane,
and met Mr. Norton. And this was his testimony,
a remarkable testimony, he said, you know, when I met Sidney Norton,
I realized I met a man who was living the sovereignty of God.
and that stuck with me and we, many of us were favoured to know
dear Mr Norton and he did, he lived the sovereignty of God
he lived it and that was an impression that must have been made upon
David Fountain many many years ago in the early 1950's it ought
to be those who are living by the grace of God the truth of
his divine sovereignty were to walk by faith and not by signs. Fear not thou worm Jacob and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Here is the comfort
then of God's little remnant that they have that Word of God,
that sure Word, that firm Word, that faithful Word And God is
the one who does the thing that He has said. But then finally
this morning, to say something with regards to the Redeemer. Well, here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself set before us in the text. Thy Redeemer. It's the word goael. Literally, it's the kinsman. It's the kinsman Redeemer and
how we see it so remarkably in that lovely account of Ruth in
the book of Ruth let's turn briefly to what he said there concerning
the relationship of Boaz to Ruth Boaz was kinsman kinsman to Marlon
and of course Ruth was Marlon's widow and there in chapter 3 verse 12 here are the words or
verse 11 the words of of Boaz to Ruth and now my daughter
he says fear not fear not I will do all I will do to thee all
that thou requirest for all the city of my people doth know that
thou art a virtuous woman and now it is true that I am thy
near kinsman and the word kinsman there is the same word exactly
the same word as we find in Isaiah 41 14 Redeemer And now it is true that I am
thy near kinsman, albeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tell
him this night, and he shall be in the morning, that if he
will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman well, let him do
the kinsman's part. But if he will not do the part
of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to
thee, as the Lord liveth. Lie down. until the morning. Now, what was the part of the
kinsman? Well, he was to raise up seed
for his dead brother. And that was what was required
of the kinsman in the law, in the law of Moses. In Deuteronomy
chapter 25, I apologize for these various references, but they're
important references. In Deuteronomy 25 and verse 5,
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die and have no child,
the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger.
Her husband's brother shall go unto her, and take her to him
to wife, and perform the part of her husband's brother unto
her. and it shall be that the firstborn
which he beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which
is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel." That is the
law that is being referred to by Boaz in that third chapter
of the book of Ruth. And the Lord Jesus Christ, you
see, is there because Boaz is a remarkable type of Christ.
Christ is the kinsman, redeemer of his people. Well, how Job
speaks of him, remarkable. I know that my redeemer, the
same words, go out, the kinsman, redeemer. I know that My Redeemer
liveth, and He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
and though after My skin worms destroy this body, yet in My
flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for Myself, and not another,
and shall behold, although My reins be consumed within them." It's the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is the Kinsman, He is the Redeemer, And how He has come, how He has
identified with His people, how He has become bone of their bone,
flesh of their flesh, their brother. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, we're told, He likewise took
part of the same. Verily He took not on Him the
nature of angels, He took on Him the seed of Abraham. All we read of God sending Him.
When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem, to redeem
them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. Well, how does He identify? Why,
we're told in Romans 8, of God sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin. That's how He redeems. He identifies all together with
His people. He becomes one with them. He takes their sin upon Himself
and as their substitute He bears the punishment that was their
just desert. That is the great doctrine of
substitutionary atonement. Is Jacob a worm? We see it here
in the text this morning. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. Is
Jacob a worm? Why the Lord Jesus Christ himself
becomes such a worm. Remember the 22nd Psalm, that
great Messianic Psalm. The opening words, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? are words that the Lord Jesus
himself utters upon the cross that Calvary, there is no disputing,
reads through Psalm 22, it is evident a prophetic psalm, it
speaks of Christ and what do we see there in verse 6, Christ
says, I am a worm oh is Jacob a worm here is the Lord Jesus,
I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people
how He is all together bound up with His people, identified
with His remnant, His poor and afflicted people. Well, this
is the way in which God has come to save His people. It's all together in Christ. It's such a blessed union, the
vital union between Christ and His Israel. that spiritual people. This is the way God has saved
his people, pardoned their sins and justified their persons.
Job asked that question, how then can a man be justified with
God? How much less man that is a worm
and the son of man which is a worm and yet you see these worms These
despised people are the very ones that God justifies. He accounts
them righteous. He makes them holy. And it's
all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ought to be those who are part
then of this blessed remnant often fearful. They must be those
who are often afraid Because we know that not one word of
God is spoken in vain. Every word in Holy Scripture
carries weight and authority. The Lord Jesus said that men
must give account for every idle word. Well if that is true, surely
it follows that God Himself never speaks idle words. Why fear not? Because God's children so often
are a fearful people. They see so much about them which
causes them to be dismayed, downcast, dejected. But God comes and He
addresses them, fear thou not. For I am with thee, be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. For I the Lord thy God will hold
thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. May the Lord bless
his word to us.