Isaiah 43:18

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"Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old."

Isaiah 43:18 (NKJV)

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."

Isaiah 43:18 (NIV)

"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old."

Isaiah 43:18 (KJV)

"But forget all that — it is nothing compared to what I am going to do."

Isaiah 43:18 (NLT)

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old."

Isaiah 43:18 (ESV)

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past."

Isaiah 43:18 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"Do not remember the former things, or ponder the things of the past."

Isaiah 43:18 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old."

Isaiah 43:18 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history."

Isaiah 43:18 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

The Past Is Not the Ceiling

God is not telling Israel to forget their history out of denial. He is telling them to stop using their past as the ceiling for what God can do next. The former things were the Exodus miracles, the greatest display of divine power Israel had known. And God says: do not make those the limit of your imagination. Because what I am about to do is greater. In the New Covenant, the application is the same. Do not let your past, whether glorious or shameful, determine what God can do now. The finished work of Christ is not a repeat of what came before. It is something entirely new.

A Command to Expectancy, Not Amnesia

Paul echoes Isaiah 43:18 in Philippians 3:13: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. The command to not remember is not a command to pretend the past did not happen. It is a command to refuse to let the past be the frame through which you interpret the present. In Christ, you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old has passed away. The command here is a command to expectancy: stop looking back long enough to see what God is doing right now.

Isaiah 43:18 is immediately followed by verse 19: "Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?" The command to release the past in verse 18 sets up the announcement of the new in verse 19. The two verses are inseparable. You cannot fully receive what God announces in verse 19 while you are fixed on the former things of verse 18. The release of the past is the preparation for the reception of the new.

Application for Your Life

Your History Is Not Your Identity

Whether your past includes shame, failure, or even spiritual accomplishment, God is not calling you to live there. In Christ, your identity is not formed by what you have done or endured. It is formed by what He has done and who He has declared you to be. Isaiah 43:18 gives you permission to stop rehearsing the story of who you were. You are a new creation. The old reference points no longer define you.

Open Your Hands for What Is New

You cannot hold the new thing while you are gripping the former things. God's command here is an invitation: let go of the past so your hands are open to receive what is coming. This is not passive. It is an active posture of faith, choosing to release the former things and stand in expectancy of what God has said He is about to do. What He is about to do is always greater than what He has already done.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I hear Your word: do not remember the former things. I release the former things today, the failures I have rehearsed, the victories I have clung to, the stories I have told myself about what You can do. I let them go. Not because they did not happen, but because they are not the measure of what You are about to do. I stand in expectancy. I open my hands. I am ready to receive what is new. In Jesus' name. Amen.