Isaiah 63:16 Study Bible: For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn't know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.

◄ Isaiah 63:16 ►

Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

Study Bible

Yet You are our Father
This phrase emphasizes the intimate relationship between God and His people, portraying God as a caring and protective parent. In the Old Testament, God is often depicted as a father to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:6, Psalm 103:13). This fatherly image underscores His authority, guidance, and love for His people, despite their disobedience.

though Abraham does not know us
Here, the text acknowledges a disconnect between the current generation and their patriarch, Abraham. This may reflect a period of spiritual decline or a sense of alienation from their ancestral roots. Abraham, the father of the nation, is seen as distant, highlighting the people's need to rely on God directly rather than solely on their heritage.

and Israel does not acknowledge us
"Israel" here likely refers to Jacob, also known as Israel, the father of the twelve tribes. The phrase suggests a feeling of being forgotten or unrecognized by their forefathers. This could symbolize a loss of identity or a departure from the covenantal faithfulness expected of them. It underscores the importance of a personal relationship with God rather than relying on ancestral connections.

You, O LORD, are our Father
Reiterating God as Father emphasizes His role as the ultimate source of identity and belonging for His people. This repetition serves to affirm their faith and trust in God, despite feeling disconnected from their patriarchal lineage. It also highlights the covenant relationship, where God remains faithful even when His people falter.

our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name
This phrase identifies God as the eternal Redeemer, pointing to His role in delivering and saving His people throughout history. The concept of redemption is central in the Bible, foreshadowing the ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ. The term "from Everlasting" emphasizes God's eternal nature and unchanging character, assuring believers of His perpetual presence and salvation. This connects to passages like Isaiah 44:6 and Revelation 1:8, which speak of God's eternal existence and sovereignty.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is the author of the book that bears his name. He prophesied to the Kingdom of Judah and is known for his messages of both judgment and hope.

2. Abraham
The patriarch of the Israelites, Abraham is often referred to as the father of faith. In this verse, he symbolizes the ancestral lineage and covenant promises.

3. Israel
Referring to both the person (Jacob, who was renamed Israel) and the nation, Israel represents the chosen people of God. In this context, it signifies the collective identity of the Israelites.

4. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and unchanging nature. He is recognized as the true Father and Redeemer of His people.

5. Redeemer
A title for God, highlighting His role in delivering and saving His people. The Hebrew word "Go'el" implies a kinsman-redeemer, one who restores and protects.

Teaching Points

God as Our True Father
Despite earthly lineage or recognition, God is our ultimate Father. This relationship transcends human ancestry and is rooted in His eternal nature.

Identity in God
Our identity is not solely based on our heritage or the recognition of others but is firmly established in our relationship with God as our Redeemer.

The Eternal Redeemer
God's role as Redeemer is timeless. He has been, is, and will always be the one who saves and restores His people.

Faith Over Ancestry
Spiritual lineage is more significant than physical descent. Faith in God and His promises is what truly connects us to the family of God.

Recognition and Assurance
Even when we feel unrecognized or forgotten by others, God knows us intimately and claims us as His own.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does understanding God as our Father change the way we view our identity and worth?

2. In what ways can we rely on God as our Redeemer in our daily lives?

3. How does the concept of God as a kinsman-redeemer deepen our understanding of His relationship with us?

4. What are some practical ways we can live out our identity as children of God, especially when others may not recognize it?

5. How can we encourage others to find their identity and assurance in God rather than in human recognition or lineage?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Deuteronomy 32:6
This verse also refers to God as a Father, emphasizing His role in creation and guidance of His people.

Psalm 103:13
Illustrates God's compassion as a father has compassion on his children, reinforcing the paternal relationship between God and His people.

Galatians 3:29
Connects believers in Christ to Abraham's seed, showing that faith, not just lineage, defines the true children of God.

John 8:39-41
Jesus discusses the true children of Abraham, emphasizing that actions and faith, not just ancestry, determine one's spiritual lineage.

Sermons

God the Redeemer	F. Sessions.	Isaiah 63:16
God's Fatherly Regard for His People	F. Delitzsch, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
Good News Concerning God	R. Tuck	Isaiah 63:16
Our Redeemer	W. Birch.	Isaiah 63:16
The Assurance of God's Fatherhood	J. Ker, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
The Creed of the Optimist	Basil Wilberforce, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
The Cry of the Orphaned Heart	J. Ker, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
The Jewish Church a Spiritual Body	J. A. Alexander.	Isaiah 63:16
The Jewish Sense of Orphanhood	J. Ker, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
The Redeemer of Israel	A. B. Davidson, D. D.	Isaiah 63:16
An Appeal to God	J. Lyth, D. D.	Isaiah 63:15-16
Our Father -- God	J. Lyth, D. D.	Isaiah 63:15-16
Whither Did Our Lord Ascend	Dean Goulburn.	Isaiah 63:15-16
The Unvarying Father	W. Clarkson	Isaiah 63:15-17
The Church's Prayer	E. Johnson	Isaiah 63:15-19

People

Isaiah

Places

Bozrah, Edom, Zion

Topics

Acknowledge, Age, Cause, Doesn't, Doubtless, Earliest, Everlasting, Gives, Ignorant, Knoweth, O, Recognize, Redeemer, Though

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Isaiah 63:16

     1040   God, fatherhood
     1315   God, as redeemer
     1349   covenant, at Sinai
     2321   Christ, as redeemer
     5682   family, significance
     6609   adoption, nature of
     6722   redemption, OT
     7115   children of God
     7141   people of God, OT
     8603   prayer, relationship with God

Isaiah 63:15-16

1030 God, compassion

Library

Mighty to Save
'Mighty to save.'--ISAIAH lxiii. 1. We have here a singularly vivid and dramatic prophecy, thrown into the form of a dialogue between the prophet and a stranger whom he sees from afar striding along from the mountains of Edom, with elastic step, and dyed garments. The prophet does not recognise him, and asks who he is. The Unknown answers, 'I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.' Another question follows, seeking explanation of the splashed crimson garments of the stranger, and its answer …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sympathy of God
'In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them'--ISAIAH lxiii. 9. I. The wonderful glimpse opened here into the heart of God. It is not necessary to touch upon the difference between the text and margin of the Revised Version, or to enter on the reason for preferring the former. And what a deep and wonderful thought that is, of divine sympathy with human sorrow! We feel that this transcends the prevalent tone of the Old Testament. It is made the more striking …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Winepress and Its Treader
'Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone.'--ISAIAH lxiii. 2, 3. The structure of these closing chapters is chronological, and this is the final scene. What follows is epilogue. The reference of this magnificent imagery to the sufferings of Jesus is a complete misapprehension. These sufferings were dealt with once for all in chapter liii., and it is Messiah triumphant who has filled the prophet's vision since …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Mighty Saviour
That he is mighty we need not inform you; for as readers of the Scriptures you all believe in the might and majesty of the Incarnate Son of God. You believe him to be the Regent of providence, the King of death, the Conqueror of hell, the Lord of angels, the Master of storms, and the God of battles, and, therefore, you can need no proof that he is mighty. The subject of this morning is one part of his mightiness. He is "mighty to save." May God the Holy Spirit help us in briefly entering upon this …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Where is the Lord?
"Then he remembered the days of old Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Organic and Individual.
"Where is He that put His Holy Spirit among them?" --Isa. lxiii. 11. The subsequent activity of the Holy Spirit lies in the realm of grace. In nature the Spirit of God appears as creating, in grace as re-creating. We call it re-creation, because God's grace creates not something inherently new, but a new life in an old and degraded nature. But this must not be understood as tho grace restored only what sin had destroyed. For then the child of God, born anew and sanctified, must be as Adam was in …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Temporary Hardening.
"Lord, why hast Thou hardened our heart? "--Isa. lxiii. 17. That there is a hardening of heart which culminates in the sin against the Holy Spirit can not be denied. When dealing with spiritual things we must take account of it; for it is one of the most fearful instruments of the divine wrath. For, whether we say that Satan or David or the Lord tempted the king, it amounts to the same thing. The cause is always in man's sin; and in each of these three cases the destructive fatality whereby sin poisons …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Additional Note.
(Passage not easy to identify, p. 390, note 14.) Easy enough, by the LXX. See Isaiah lxiii. 3. kai ton ethnon ouk estin aner met' emou. The first verse, referring to Edom, leads our author to accentuate this point of Gentile ignorance. …
Tertullian—The Five Books Against Marcion

The First Thing Suggested at the Very Outset Is...
The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec. 17-19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons in Christ? He being the true Son, …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Other than in the Old.
"By His Spirit which dwelleth in you."--Rom. viii. 11. In order to understand the change inaugurated on Pentecost we must distinguish between the various ways in which the Holy Ghost enters into relationship with the creature. With the Christian Church we confess that the Holy Spirit is true and eternal God, and therefore omnipresent; hence no creature, stone or animal, man or angel, is excluded from His presence. With reference to His omniscience and omnipresence, David sings: "Whither shall I go …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Perea. Beyond Jordan.
"The length of Perea was from Macherus to Pella: the breadth from Philadelphia to Jordan." "The mountainous part of it was mount Macvar, and Gedor," &c. "The plain of it was Heshbon, with all its cities, which are in the plain, Dibon, and Bamoth-Baal, and Beth-Baal-Meon," &c. "The valley of it is Beth-Haran, and Beth-Nimrah, and Succoth," &c. The mention of the mountains of Macvar occurs in that hyperbolical tradition of R. Eleazar Ben Diglai, saying, "The goats in the mountains of Macvar sneezed …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Some Man May Say: "If There be not in the Dead any Care For...
17. Some man may say: "If there be not in the dead any care for the living, how is it that the rich man, who was tormented in hell, asked father Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers not as yet dead, and to take course with them, that they should not come themselves also into the same place of torments?" [2750] But does it follow, that because the rich man said this, he knew what his brethren were doing, or what they were suffering at that time? Just in that same way had he care for the living, …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

God Seeks Intercessors
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."--ISA. lxii. 6, 7. "And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor."--ISA. lix. 16. "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered, and there was none to uphold."--ISA. lxiii. 5. "There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

His Passion and Crucifixion.
AS all active virtues meet in Jesus, so he unites the active or heroic virtues with the passive and gentle. He is the highest standard of all true martyrdom. No character can become complete without trial and suffering; and a noble death is the crowning act of a noble life. Edmund Burke said to Fox, in the English Parliament, "Obloquy is a necessary ingredient of all true glory, Calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph." The ancient Greeks and Romans admired a good man struggling with misfortune, …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Sense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son.
For whereas man sinned, and is fallen, and by his fall all things are in confusion: death prevailed from Adam to Moses (cf. Rom. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. Ps. xlix. 12), while the devil was exulting against us;--then God, in His loving-kindness, not willing man made in His own image to perish, said, Whom shall I send, and who will go?' (Isa. vi. 8). But while all held their peace, the Son [441] said, …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Malachy's Pity for his Deceased Sister. He Restores the Monastery of Bangor. His First Miracles.
11. (6). Meanwhile Malachy's sister, whom we mentioned before,[271] died: and we must not pass over the visions which he saw about her. For the saint indeed abhorred her carnal life, and with such intensity that he vowed he would never see her alive in the flesh. But now that her flesh was destroyed his vow was also destroyed, and he began to see in spirit her whom in the body he would not see. One night he heard in a dream the voice of one saying to him that his sister was standing outside in the …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Ascension of Messiah to Glory
Lift up your head, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. T he institutions of the Levitical law were a "shadow" or "sketch" of good things to come. They exhibited a faint and general outline …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin?
That we may give some satisfaction to this question, we shall, 1. Shew what are the ingredients in this case, or what useth to concur in this distemper. 2. Shew some reasons why the Lord is pleased to dispense thus with his people. 3. Shew how Christ is life to the soul in this case. 4. Shew the believer's duty for a recovery; and, 5. Add a word or two of caution. As to the first, There may be those parts of, or ingredients in this distemper: 1. God presenting their sins unto their view, so as …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

A Divine Colloquy Between the Soul and Her Saviour Upon the Effectual Merits of his Dolorous Passion.
Soul. Lord, wherefore didst thou wash thy disciples' feet? Christ. To teach thee how thou shouldst prepare thyself to come to my supper. Soul. Lord, why shouldst thou wash them thyself? (John xiii. 4.) Christ. To teach thee humility, if thou wilt be my disciple. Soul. Lord, wherefore didst thou before thy death institute thy last supper? (Luke xxii. 19, 20.) Christ. That thou mightst the better remember my death, and be assured that all the merits thereof are thine. Soul. Lord, wherefore wouldst …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

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