Behold: God Is Doing a New Thing

Isaiah 43 steps into a turbulent season and speaks with God’s own voice, Behold. That word stops the room and opens eyes. God is not restoring an old thing. God is doing a new thing now, and the text says it will spring forth like a shoot breaking the soil. The image tells the story. What bursts up suddenly has been forming under the surface for a while. The silence was not empty. The stillness was not wasted. The unseen work is about to surface.

The first hindrance rises in verse 18. Remember not the former things. The text draws a line between honoring what God did and being stuck in what God did. Pain is real, yet eyes fixed on what was cannot behold what God is doing right now. Jesus adds, no one plows new ground while looking back. Change often airbrushes yesterday, like Israel longing for Egypt’s melons with a chain still on the wrist. God did not bring anyone out to go back. The new thing is ahead.

The second hindrance is tucked in the question, Shall ye not know it. Doubt often dresses like wisdom, caution, or discernment, but it still whispers, Are you sure. The text warns that beginnings can be missed because they look small. Faith sees the spring before the water is visible, the harvest before the seed breaks the soil, and says, Yes Lord, it is you.

The third hindrance is fear. Verse 2 does not remove waters or fire. It announces presence in them. Difficulty is already factored into the promise. Fear projects worst-case futures and then calls them reality, but the word counters, The rivers shall not overflow, the fire shall not burn, and there will not even be the smell of smoke on the other side. God is already in the water and the flame waiting to meet the faithful there.

Wilderness and desert name places no one expects roads or rivers, yet that is where God makes both. New wine needs new bottles. The new thing calls for a new container, a stretched capacity, an updated expectation. God makes a way. A way still requires a walk. Miracles wait on movement. Faith advances when God has spoken even while the route remains unclear. In apostolic cadence, a declaration is not a wish. It is agreement with what heaven has settled. Death and life are in the tongue, so mouths line up with the promise. This is not the wrong place. This is the prophesied place. God is doing a new thing, and it is happening right now.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Behold calls eyes forward now [26:06] The command does not ask for a glance. It interrupts old habits and demands attention for what God is unveiling in real time. Looking back may honor memories, but it blurs present mercy. The text refuses nostalgia’s grip so that sight can clear and hope can move. [26:06]
• 2. Recognize beginnings, reject disguised doubt [31:44] Doubt rarely shouts; it often nods, sounds prudent, and asks for more evidence than God requires. The new thing may look small enough to dismiss as coincidence. Faith reads the seed as a signal and treats the first trickle like a promise of the river. Discernment bows to the word before it bows to probabilities. [31:44]
• 3. God’s presence carries through fire [34:56] The promise does not bleach hardship out of the path; it braids divine nearness into the path. Fear screens worst endings across the mind, but the covenant answers with limits on the waters and a verdict on the flames. The outcome is not barely surviving but coming through without the smell of smoke. [34:56]
• 4. Become a new container [39:47] New wine splits old skins because grace expands what it inhabits. The call is not to force God’s next into yesterday’s frame, but to let capacity be stretched, vision freshened, and methods adjusted. Formation is part of the gift, and flexibility becomes an altar where the future is poured in. [39:47]
• 5. Declare what heaven already settled [43:12] A declaration is not wishful thinking; it is agreement with God’s verdict. When earth says what heaven has said, alignment dislodges what resists and makes room for what God wills. Words are not neutral, so speech must carry the promise rather than the panic. [43:12]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [22:08] - Seventy years and thanksgiving
• [23:40] - Turning to Isaiah 43
• [26:06] - Behold: stop and look
• [27:38] - The new thing will spring forth
• [28:36] - Hindrance one: looking back
• [31:44] - Hindrance two: shall you not know it?
• [34:56] - Hindrance three: fear in water and fire
• [38:24] - Rivers in deserts, ways in wilderness
• [39:22] - New wine needs new bottles
• [40:20] - A way still requires a walk
• [41:14] - Faith advances on God’s word
• [42:40] - Declarations align with heaven
• [44:18] - You are in the prophesied place
• [49:25] - Invitation and doxology

1. In Isaiah 43:2, what two challenges does God promise to be present in, and what specific outcomes does He guarantee?
2. What does Isaiah 43:18–19 contrast with the command to “behold” the new thing? How does the imagery of “springing forth” clarify God’s timing?
3. According to Luke 9:62, why is looking backward incompatible with faithful action?
4. How does Mark 2:22 illustrate the relationship between God’s “new thing” and human readiness?

1. Why might God command His people to stop “remembering the former things” (Isaiah 43:18) even when those memories include His past faithfulness or painful experiences?
2. The sermon mentions that doubt can disguise itself as wisdom or caution ([31:44]). How might this kind of doubt prevent someone from recognizing God’s new work?
3. Isaiah 43:2 says God’s presence is in the waters and fire, not that He removes them. What does this reveal about His purposes in allowing difficulty during seasons of change?
4. How does the metaphor of “new wine and new wineskins” (Mark 2:22) challenge our tendency to cling to familiar methods or structures in spiritual growth?

1. What “former things” (relationships, regrets, or even past successes) are you most tempted to fixate on? How could this focus hinder your ability to see God’s current work?
2. The sermon warns that doubt often demands “more evidence than God requires” ([33:44]). Where are you hesitating to trust God’s promises because something seems too small or uncertain? What practical step could help you shift from doubt to declaration?
3. Identify a current “water” or “fire” (crisis, fear, or transition) you’re walking through. How might embracing God’s presence in it—rather than praying for its removal—change your perspective?
4. What “old wineskins” (habits, mindsets, or systems) in your life might need to stretch or adapt to hold the new things God is doing? Name one way you could actively cultivate flexibility this week.
5. The sermon emphasizes that declarations “align with what heaven has settled” ([43:12]). What specific promise from Scripture can you start speaking over your situation, even if the evidence isn’t fully visible yet?
6. How can you encourage someone this week who feels stuck in nostalgia or fear? What part of Isaiah 43:2 or 43:18–19 would be most meaningful to share with them?