43:22
A constant theme of Isaiah is this switching between what Israel is actually like, what they should be like, and what God is going to enable them to become like. All these promises were available, but Jacob had not called upon the Lord. Instead she went to idols, or to other nations for help. This often involved great effort and expense, but they had not spent anything on seeking the Lord. We should all apply this lesson to ourselves and to our churches.
43:23,24
In the Old Testament there are places where it says that sacrifices are not required, then there are others, like here, where it implies that they are. How are we to resolve this “contradiction”? The key thing is context and not applying a simplistic understanding (or, rather, a lack of understanding). The sacrifices as worship, as seeking genuine forgiveness were good in the Old Testament (not irrelevant because of the one true sacrifice). But they also needed to realise that a much greater sacrifice was needed. Here the key point is that the people were not demonstrating much if any devotion to the Lord. The only thing they did give God were their sins and offences.
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