The Gospel is of infinite value and yet it cannot be purchased. The poetic expression of the Gospel in Isaiah should cause us to value it even more.
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
Isaiah 55:1-4
After the revelation of the Suffering Servant in the last chapter we now have God calling the Church into existence.
Those who thirst and hunger in poverty are called to water, wine, milk, and bread that truly satisfy. We have the Living Water (John 4:10), the wine of Communion (John 2:10; Luke 22:19-20), the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2), and the Bread of Life (John 6:35). After feeding the multitude and quoting from this passage, Jesus identifies Himself as the Bread of Life. He is all these things for our thirst and hunger.
God commands that we be healthy and delighted at His provision that our souls may live and we may take part in the everlasting covenant with all the promises of the Davidic Covenant fulfilled in Christ who will be an eternal witness, leader, and commander for all people. These verses reminded me again of the statement that Piper made that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Ask God to keep your appetites holy so that your hunger and thirst are right appetites and not something you try to satisfy with things that are not nourishing.
These promises are not just for those who are ethnically Israel.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:5-7
Here is our fusion with the Old Testament saints. Most of us are from nations that were unknown to Isaiah and from nations that did not know the One True God. But we were called and we ran to be part of the Body of Christ because of the Lord our God and the Holy One of Israel.
God, in His faithfulness, "has glorified you" or in other words has made the Church beautiful. We can't make the Church attractive (if we are preaching the Gospel) apart from what God does. He has promised to make church attractive and desirable. We need to stand against the spirit of our age that strips the Gospel out of church and makes it a club.
In this verse the word "seek" doesn't mean to wander around looking. It means to go to a place you know and get what you need. I hope it is falling out of style but many congregations have sought to be seeker sensitive. It is as if we want to convince fish to get in the boat with us rather than to rely on the net that God gives us and will fill for us. So what do folks do? Well some build bigger and bigger "livewells" until their boat sinks. The fish have to die. They are being moved from one realm to another on a permanent basis. There is no "catch and release" in Christ. You must die to self.
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). God clearly wants us to change the way we think and begin living for Him.
The Blood of Christ and His Cross will offend and it is a necessary offense because it is necessary to salvation. It was offensive in Jesus day and it is still offensive to those who are perishing (John 6:66). However, it will fill the net with those who God gives us.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:8-11
God knows what He is doing and has always built and protected the Church. The Sonoran Desert was, and is, a favorite place of mine. When it rains this time of year you know for certain that spring will be glorious. The rainfall ensures that the hillsides will be covered with flowers and grass. They have been getting rain this year and you can know for certain that it will water the earth and make it sprout. God says in these verses that His word will not fail any more than rain can fail. Every revival in the Church's history has been based on an awakening and love for God's Word producing hearts sold out to him. When God says we should seek Him then we know where to look and what to share with others.
"For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Isaiah 55:12-13
Every once in a while there is a temptation to fear that the Church will be swallowed up by the world and cease to be the Body of Christ. Certainly before the Reformation 500 years ago I think despair would have been a likely response. God has always kept a people but, as in Isaiah's day, it was a small group at times. Here we have the promise of God that He will keep us as an everlasting sign.
We will not be cut off and fail in a future generation. God has promised. Here too we see the truth repeated in Romans 8:18-19 that, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God." When the glory of what God has done is revealed at the end of time then all of creation will celebrate. There is a sense, as revealed in Romans, in which the whole of creation longs for the last days.
Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
Isaiah 56:1-2
Given that the redeemed stand right now in the Lord's salvation and our full justification, God calls us to live a life sanctified or set apart in righteousness. We don't earn our salvation or deliverance (justification) but we testify to our expectation of salvation and deliverance with our behavior.
The Sabbath is mentioned for more than one reason here. First of all we must not think of this day of rest as something we don't need. This is not Old Testament ritual law but something we need too. We typically don't observe a day of rest as we should. I think in part it is because we often do not really find our satisfaction in God. Ask God what activities He would have you participate in on Sunday and do what He says.
Secondly, the Sabbath rest points forward to the rest we have in Christ from a righteousness based on our own works. It is ironic that some folks will make the observance of the Sabbath on Saturday a work that is required (in their opinion) to be holy. The point of the Sabbath rest is that our righteousness is in Christ and not in works. It is particularly odd to pick Sabbath observance on a particular day as an essential work for salvation.
The main lesson for us is that we need a weekly Sabbath rest in which we focus on God and glorify Him by demonstrating our satisfaction in Him. Our rest in, and meditation on, the righteousness of Christ is part of that Sabbath.
Listen to the next few verses, remember that the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-39) heard them, and praise God.
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."
Isaiah 56:3-8
The Ethiopian would likely have been told he could never enter into the assembly at the Temple (Deuteronomy 23:1). So he would have always been a second class citizen regardless of his piety. But God promises to give him a heritage. Scripture says that he went on his way rejoicing after Philip shared the Gospel and I bet it was a glorious rejoicing too. It is important for us to keep this world in proper perspective as we live out our lives before an all powerful and merciful God. We need to live out our lives in holiness seeking to please God in all things because of the great mercy He has poured out on us in the covenant of Christ's blood.
Jesus quoted from these verses as He purged the temple. I pray we would seek to purge sin from our lives, not to add one bit to the justification purchased by Christ but rather to please our Father who has shown us such an amazing grace.
You have a living sacrifice to make to God (Romans 12:1) and you have an offering for God as well. The author of Hebrews says, "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
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