Episode 7 | Called by Name: Reclaiming the Wilderness

Who has the right to give you a name? The voices and powers that want to destroy you, or the God who created and redeemed you? What new thing is God doing in your life that outshines all other things? Why would a holy God continue to pursue and desire to restore a people who have repeatedly fallen short and failed him?

In this episode of The Deep Waters Way, we turn to Isaiah 43:16–44:5. We explore how God speaks through the prophet to answer these profound questions, reminding His people of His character and declaring that He is doing a new thing. We see that God will not, indeed cannot, be put in a box. He is different — holy — and His actions flow from His unchanging character in ways that often surprise us.

We examine God’s declaration that He has created, formed, and redeemed us — calling us by name and claiming us as His own. We see the dramatic contrast between Yahweh and the powerless gods of the nations, and we witness God’s promise to do something new: making a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, and ultimately pouring out His Spirit.

Depth of Insight

• Prophecy Beyond Headlines: We must move past the tendency to treat prophetic writings merely as coded current events or direct pointers to Christ, and instead see them as a revelation of the unchanging God who stands outside of time.
• Identity vs. Domination: A profound contrast exists between the Legion of Mark 5, which overwrites identity, and Yahweh, who calls us by name. God does not destroy our identity; He works within it to bring our character into alignment with His own through the uncovering of His image in us.
• The Exodus Filter: God often uses Exodus language to remind His people of His power to make a way through the sea, yet He warns that He is not bound to act in the same way. The new thing may involve unexpected methods.
• Reclaiming the Dry Places: In ancient thought, the wilderness and desert represent untamed chaos and the dry places where unclean spirits roam. God’s promise to put rivers in the desert is a declaration that He is reclaiming these untamed spaces and making them holy and habitable.

Core Takeaways

1. The Right to Name: Our identity is not defined by the voices that seek to destroy us or the legion of past failures, but by the God who created, formed, and redeemed us.
2. The Trustworthiness of Otherness: God is trustworthy because He is holy — different; His character is the foundation of our hope.
3. Release of the Former Things: True transformation requires a refusal to cling to the shame of the past or to be constrained by how God has acted previously.
4. Spiritual Outpouring: The ultimate new beginning is not just a change in physical circumstances but a spiritual one, where God pours His Spirit upon the thirsty land of a dead spirit to breathe new life into it.

Featured Scripture

These passages are explicitly cited by book, chapter, and verse number, in addition to Isaiah 43:1–44:5:

• Ezekiel 36:22: Cited as a parallel, noting that God acts for the sake of His holy name rather than human merit.
• Deuteronomy 6: Cited regarding the command to bind God’s words to the hands and heads, echoed in the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit.

Theological Connections

These are the passages mentioned as essential context or thematic parallels that help us grasp the deeper implications of the text.

• Mark 5:1–20: Contrast between the identity-theft of Legion and Yahweh calling us by name.
• The Exodus and the Red Sea: God’s greatest activity toward Israel and the primary historical filter through which the nation was defined.
• Joel and Acts 2 (Pentecost): The promise and fulfillment of the outpouring of the Spirit.
• Ephesians 2:8–9: Salvation is a gift of grace through faith, not a result of works.
• Romans 11: The metaphor of the wild olive being grafted into the cultivated olive.
• Romans 10:9: Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord.
• Hebrews 13:8: God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• Isaiah 45: Alluded to in the discussion of God raising up a servant from among the Gentiles.

Scholarly Context & Commentary

• Chalmers, Aaron: Identifies the two common problems when engaging prophetic texts: treating them as coded current events or as direct pointers to Christ that ignore the original audience.
• Oswalt, John N.: Argues for the unity of Isaiah and emphasizes that God’s revelation is wholistic, touching the entirety of the human personality.
• Cockerill, Gareth Lee: Cited regarding the character of God as the foundation of hope and the amazing demonstration of God’s love through restoration.

Call to Action What new thing does God want to do in your life? Rest assured, no matter how far you’ve gone, He can bring you out, and pour out His Spirit upon you to give you a new beginning. When He does that, you will be like those described in Isaiah 44 — writing a new name on your hand, the name given by the God who created, formed, redeemed, and transformed you.

It’s time to slip the moorings and head for the deep waters.

God will not, indeed cannot be put in a box. He cannot be manipulated into acting because of what he has done in the past. Nor is he constrained to act as he has before.

The Deep Waters Way: Where Scripture, Theology and Transformation Meet.

Welcome once again to the Deep Waters Way. I'm Ray Cooper and I want to thank you for joining me today. And if you're joining us from outside the US I want to extend a special welcome to you.

For the last several weeks we've been looking at the idea of new beginnings and the transformation that God can bring into a life surrendered to Him. Today we're going to break the pattern of New Testament texts that we've been going through to look at Isaiah and see what this Old Testament prophet has to say about the topic.

So grab a cup of coffee or hot tea and settle in. It's time to slip the moorings and head for the deep waters.

Who has the right to give you a name? The voices and powers that want to destroy you, or the God who created and redeemed you?

What new thing is God doing in your life that outshines all other things?

Why would a holy God continue to pursue and desire to restore a people who have repeatedly fallen short and failed him?

Now, these are not random questions. They are questions that sit at the heart of the gospel message. And they are questions that not only Isaiah but all the prophets of the Old Testament address repeatedly. We're going to be looking today at Isaiah 43:1-44:5 and how God spoke through Isaiah to answer those questions.

Before we do, though, let me address a couple of things that sometimes come up regarding prophecy in general and Isaiah specifically.

First, there are two tendencies that routinely show up when we engage with the prophetic writings. We either read every prophecy as a coded preview of current events. That is, we start trying to make prophecy line up with the headlines.

Or we often treat every prophecy as though it points directly to Christ. This treats the original audience and their circumstances as placeholders, with the real meaning being seen in the incarnation.

Now, both of these tendencies contain something true. Prophecy does indeed resonate forward through history, and it does find its fulfillment in Christ.

But when either approach becomes the only lens we view prophetic writings through, we tend to flatten the text and ironically, we end up with the smaller God.

Here's what I think is closer to the truth. The prophets were writing to specific people in specific places about specific events. And while that is true, it is not necessarily limited to that alone.

Prophecy can and often does have multiple layers of fulfillment, and God often uses real events his people are dealing with to foreshadow a greater truth he wants to reveal. But we need to recognize, ultimately, prophecy is about him and his plans, not our headlines.

That is what gives prophecy a reach beyond its original moment. Not that every prophecy has a hidden modern fulfillment to unlock, but that the God revealed through them never changes.

When we look at Isaiah specifically, there's another issue that arises, and that involves when and by whom the book was written. The prevailing view throughout history has been that Isaiah ben Amoz wrote the entirety of the book bearing his name during the mid-700s B.C.

Scholars who support this view agree that the first 39 chapters fit within Isaiah's lifetime. However, when the second half of the book turns to events beyond Isaiah's life, it is said that writers in later periods wrote about it as prophecy and then attributed it back to the historic Isaiah.

While both views have support today, John Oswalt in particular argues in his commentary on Isaiah that there is no objective evidence requiring multiple authors. He goes on to say that there is, however, evidence that points to a single author living in the mid 8th century B.C.

More importantly, treating it as multiple authors actually weakens the power of these chapters. It removes the stunning reality that the same God who spoke to Isaiah in the 8th century BC was already declaring exactly what he would do 150 to 200 years later in Babylon, and pointing even beyond that to the ultimate redemption of all creation through the Messiah.

Both of these points, the nature of prophecy and who wrote Isaiah, may seem to be unrelated, but they actually point in the same direction. These are not merely academic footnotes. They proclaim the reality of the God who stands outside of time telling his people the end from the beginning. And that is the foundation for everything that Isaiah tells us in response to those questions I asked earlier.

So now let's turn to the text and see what God says through Isaiah about new beginnings.

Chapter 43 begins with God declaring to Israel who He is and reminding the people of his relationship to them. He says,

"But now thus, says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine."

This sets up a dramatic comparison of God with the gods of the nations: the principalities, powers, and rulers that Paul talks about in the New Testament. God specifically uses his covenant name, proclaiming that he is Yahweh, the One who is. This is a declaration not just of his identity, but his character.

Specifically, he reminds Israel that He is the one who has created the nation as a people for himself, that he formed them and redeemed them. Crucially, we see as well, He comforts them, saying fear not. This is a direct contrast to the pagan gods who want the nations to be afraid of them. Likewise, those gods of the nations never claim to create, form or redeem any people. Instead, what we see repeatedly is that they exercise dominion over over them through the very fear that Yahweh seeks to dispel in his people.

Additionally, God says that he is the One who gave them their identity. Now, a couple of weeks ago we looked at Mark 5:1-20 and the Gerasene demoniac. There we talked about the fact that Legion, the demons that had taken possession of the man, subsumed his identity under their own. They did not allow him to speak for himself when Jesus asked His name. Instead, they gave their collective self identity as though his name and identity meant nothing.

Notice the contrast here to Yahweh. Yes, he gives Israel their identity as a nation, but he calls them by their name, he doesn't overwrite their identity, and he works within it to bring their character into alignment with his. And even when he does change their name, as in Jacob becoming Israel, it's about transformation and adoption, not replacement or domination.

This is the uncovering and building upon the image of God inherent in all humanity that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. He takes that which he created, redeems us and restores his image in us to prominence, gives us his identity through adoption and sanctification, and then through his grace enables us to live out that perfected holy love that marks his own character. Even in our brokenness, His grace draws us to him. And then through the sanctifying work of His Spirit, he produces in us Christlikeness.

The God who created and formed us in his image, redeems us, transforms us, and empowers us to live holy lives. This is not the behavior or the character of the gods of the nations, of the pagan gods. And in fact, as God continues speaking, we see this divide become even more clear. God declares to Israel that He will bring them back out of captivity and from the farthest reaches.

And he says that in doing so they will become his witnesses to the world about what he is capable of. Then he drops the gauntlet. In verses 8 and 9, God says to "bring out the people who are blind yet have eyes, who are deaf yet have ears. All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this and show the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right. And let them say it is true."

Notice the language of verse 8. While God is here speaking of the nations, this is the same language the prophets as a whole use to speak about the gods of the nations. They say that they have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouths but cannot speak. God is actually challenging the pagan gods here, and he's asking them to declare what they have done for their people.

And it's a challenge that doesn't have an answer. They can't tell what they have done because they haven't done anything. They've never redeemed their people from anything, and they've never even made a claim to have created them.

But God is different. He is the Holy One of Israel. And repeatedly throughout Scripture, he uses that word, holy, to describe himself. At its core, it means different. Where the pagan gods appear to be larger than life, stronger humans, full of capriciousness and embodying all of our worst characteristics, Yahweh says, I am different. And it is precisely this difference that makes God trustworthy. He is not capricious, but acts continuously in line with his character.

Gareth Cockrell says in Christian Faith in the Old Testament, "the character of God is the foundation of our hope...God will teach Abraham and his descendants that he cares for human beings, that his power is sufficient to bring restoration, and most of all, that he is absolutely dependable."

Because God is not like us, and even his way of thinking is different than ours, we can rely on him to carry out that which he has made known to us. And we can trust that the character he reveals through creation is the same character with which he acts now.

But that is also the problem. Because he is different. He acts in ways that don't always make sense to us, and yet we are still called to trust and follow him, just as Abraham did when God told him to leave his father's house and go to a land he did not know, or when he promised to make a childless, hopeless old man into a great nation through which the whole world would be blessed.

It is through this otherness and the consequent trustworthiness that we come to truly know who God is. It is in his actions that he reveals his character to us. Cockrell says, "Creation is an illustrious disclosure of God's love. Restoration, however, is the amazing demonstration of its unfathomable greatness."

God's love is poured out in his creative work, but that same love is shown to be never ending through his redemptive work in our lives. And that in itself is something that doesn't make sense to us. When we would have long since abandoned that, or those, which we consider unworthy. God is just getting started.

And as Oswalt writes in his commentary on Isaiah, speaking primarily of that first verse, "he has not merely revealed truth about Himself, nor has he merely saved them, nor has he merely proclaimed the meaning of what he has done. He has done all three together and simultaneously, so that his revelation is a wholistic one, touching the whole of human personality."

He doesn't just partially redeem us. He doesn't just grant us knowledge. He doesn't just help us to understand what has taken place in our lives or even to know what is yet to come. He has done all this and more so that no part of us is left outside of the bounds of his grace and mercy.

So when he begins to declare what he is going to do for the nation of Israel, we begin to get a sense that what he has in mind is not just related to freeing his people from physical captivity in another land. No, he has something even bigger in mind. And as we move further into our passage, that becomes even more clear.

Those prophetic utterances given to a specific people with a specific need point not just to them and their circumstance, but to a work greater than anyone, them or us, could begin to express.

In verse 13, God declares that there is none who can deliver from his hand, that when he acts, only he can effect what he does.

Then in verse 14, he declares specifically what he is about to do: bring down the Babylonians for the sake of his people.

In verse 15, he reminds them again who he is, Yahweh, their Holy One, the Creator of Israel, their king. It is a direct callback to verse 1, making plain who is in control and what his relationship is to his people, emphasizing his otherness.

And then in verses 16 and 17, God reminds the people what he has done.

This is a very condensed rehearsal of his activity, but it points to what is considered the God's greatest activity toward Israel, the exodus from Egypt. This is what historically can be seen as God's creative act toward Israel, where He begins to define them as a nation.

And it is where his covenant relationship begins, not just with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but with Israel as a nation. God reminds the people that he is the one who is able to make a way in the sea and a path through mighty waters.

That regardless of what the rulers of the nations believe, it is God who is in control of armies and the outcomes of battles. This is a clear reminder of the fate of Egypt's chariots and army as it pursued Israel through the Red Sea.

And it is precisely the kind of thing Israel would expect to hear as a reminder of what God has done in the past. It is also exactly what they would expect towards Babylon in light of God's declaration in verse 14. It's what 1st century Israel expected of the Messiah, and it's what we expect in our lives today. We expect God to show up, declare his sovereignty and might, and rout our enemies.

God has chosen specifically to use Exodus language here because it's what his people expect. But Israel in Isaiah's day and 150 years later in Babylon, and God's people today need to understand something about God. And it goes back to him being different than the pagan gods.

God will not, indeed cannot be put in a box. He cannot be manipulated into acting because of what he has done in the past. Nor is he constrained to act as he has before. Just because God's character doesn't change, just because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, it does not follow that the way he acts will always be the same. Nor is he required to act to the same extent as he has before. And that is precisely what he says in verses 18-21.

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise."

God says, don't cling to the past. And we can take this in two different ways and both apply equally well.

First, while we are to remember the things God has done for us, we shouldn't cling to those things or to the shame that comes with our past. Once God has delivered us, our past does not have to continue to define our future. We are free because of what he has done. And if we keep returning to that shame and discouragement and failure, we cannot move forward in his grace.

Second, while we are to remember the ways God has acted in the past, we need to understand he is not required to do those things again. Yes, his future dependability is built upon his past faithfulness, but that doesn't mean he has to do the same things over and over again.

Unlike the pagan gods of the nations, God doesn't operate in a never ending cycle. He is the sovereign creator who is free to act in new and creative ways. The interesting thing is this new thing God wants to do has similarities. It looks a lot like the old thing. That's why he uses Exodus language. It's not because that is the defining moment for his people's existence. It is because he's going to deliver them once more. But what he's going to do makes what he did before pale in comparison.

When God delivered Israel from Egypt, he brought Moses, an Israelite raised in a pagan culture, matured in the desert of Midian, out to lead them. As Isaiah begins to talk about what God is going to do for Israel in bondage to Babylon, he tells them that he will raise up a servant from among the Gentiles to deliver them. This is different. It is not how God has acted in the past, using a pagan, Gentile, non-believer to act on behalf of his people.

Nor is it the way the world works. Conquerors don't let people go. They dominate them, they use them. They ultimately destroy them. And yet it is the same deliverance story. God acting in history to put to shame the rulers and and powers and principalities that exercise dominion over the nations. It's just bigger and more grand. Before, God made a way through the sea, now he says, I will put water in the desert.

What you have to understand is that the desert and the wilderness are physical opposites of the sea. But they still represent wild, untamed, uninhabitable chaos. The dry places are the places the unclean spirits roam. This is land claimed by rebellious and evil forces opposed to God's rule. And God says, not only will I deliver you, I will make those untamed, uninhabitable spaces livable. I will make streams in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, so that my people whom I have created can praise me.

But. And it really seems like there's always a but. There's a problem and there's always a problem, right?

God has just been speaking about what he has done and will do for his people so that they will praise Him. But now in verse 22, he begins to bring a legal charge against Israel.

"Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me, O Israel.

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with frankincense you have not bought me sweet cane with money or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities."

God says, despite all I have done, you have ignored me. You have not held up your end of the covenant. And while the specific language of the covenant is more complex, it can be reduced to I will be your God and you will be my people. That simple statement, though, is loaded with expectations on both sides. And God makes the case against Israel that while he has upheld his end of the covenant, they have grown weary of him and have wearied him with their disobedience.

He continues with the charges in verses 25 through 28, saying, "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us argue together. Set forth your case that you may be proved right.

Your first fathers sinned and your mediators transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling."

God says it is for his sake and not Israel's that he blots out sin. He isn't doing it for them or in response to anything they have done. God's grace is not something to be earned or bargained for. Relationship with God is not something that can be reduced to a transaction. That is the way the pagan gods operate. And remember, God is different.

And Paul uses this same language, writing to the Ephesians, Gentile Christians who would have been steeped in the language and understanding of the pagan gods. "It is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast."

God's redemption of his people is ultimately about the glory of his name, not ours or what we have done or failed to do.

And this is where grace begins to enter the picture. Despite the case against Israel, despite centuries of repeated violations of the covenant by Israel, God continued to uphold his side. And when he finally did release Israel to the consequences of the nation's rebellion, he did not do it to destroy them. He did it to bring them back to him and to bring glory to his own name among the nations.

And then, just as he had already done with Israel, calling to mind the Exodus and promising to do a new thing, he once more expands the promise. All of that was not enough, he says, I'm still going to make it bigger. It's no longer just about Israel. It's no longer just about the physical, or judgment and restoration from the consequences of rebellion.

God intends to fix the root of the problem, not just soothe the symptoms. In chapter 44, verses 1-5, God says this

"But now hear, O Jacob, my servant Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water in the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.

I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, I am the Lord's.

Another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand the Lord's and name himself by the name of Israel."

Notice how this starts in the exact same way that chapter 43 does. The reminder that God has chosen and formed Israel. The admonition to not be afraid, the promise of help. God is saying he's not done with Israel. And then he says, I will pour out water on a thirsty land.

There's the repeated promise to make the desolate places inhabitable. But this isn't just about a physical desert. This is now becoming spiritual. That gets made clear in the next phrase, "I will pour out my spirit on your offspring." That's the exact same language that we see in Joel and that we see Peter quoting in his sermon to the people gathered in Jerusalem on Pentecost.

It is not just a promise to transform a dry wilderness. It's a promise to breathe life into a dead spirit. It's the promise to take broken people who know the depth of their failure and not just redeem them, but enable them to live redeemed lives, no longer bound to sin and failure, but freed to live in harmony with God's holiness.

Notice as well the idea of writing the Lord's name on the hands and calling on the name of the Lord. This language is explicitly mirroring the language of Deuteronomy 6, where Israel is told to bind God's words to their head and their hands. And it is echoed by Paul when he says that those who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord will be saved.

God's redeeming work isn't just about freedom from the consequences of sin. It is ultimately about freedom from the inevitability of sin and the ability to be holy, as our Father in heaven is holy. It is about a new identity: "I am the Lord's," And even about, as Paul would say, the wild olive being grafted into the cultivated olive. It is about transformation and a new beginning.

Because of the work of Christ on the cross and the outpouring of the Spirit upon those who call upon God, the wilderness can be transformed. The dry, barren lands, roamed and ruled by unclean spirits, can be transformed and made into holy places where God's Spirit rules and people are redeemed, restored, and remade.

What new thing does God want to do in your life?

Rest assured, no matter how far you've gone, he can bring you out and pour out His Spirit upon you to give you a new beginning. And when he does that, you will be like those described in Isaiah 44, writing a new name on your hand.

Not one imposed on you by the forces of chaos and destruction or even by your own rebellion, but one given to you by the God who created, formed, redeemed, and transformed you.

Thank you for joining me again today. Don't forget to subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And check out our website thedeedwatersway.com where you can find all of our episodes and extensive show notes for each episode.

Thank you and I'll see you again next week.

It's time to slip the moorings and head for the deep waters.

The Deep Waters Way: Where Scripture, Theology and Transformation Meet.