55. Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Five
Isaiah Chapter 55 The prophet now issues an invitation to come and partake of the spiritual provision made by the Lord for those who are willing to turn from their own devices and activities and listen diligently to His voice. The invitation is to “every one that thirsteth,” and the provision made consists not of the material benefits of water, wine and milk. These are metaphorically used of higher things than the natural products. The spiritual significance of water has been mentioned in Isaiah 44:3, where the reference is to the Holy Spirit, as in John 7:38. Similarly in regard to wine (see Isaiah 25:6-7). So we must understand the mention of milk (see 1 Peter 2:2, where the reference is to the Word of God). In Scripture the Spirit of God and the Word of God are often associated.
Moreover, the purchase is to be made “without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). This is all of divine grace. The possession of the spiritual blessings is, from the point of view of the recipients, dependent solely upon a sense of need and a readiness to accept them. With this invitation we may compare the words of the parable in Matthew 22:4, and the contrast, expressed in Isaiah 55:2, reminds us of the contrast between grace and works in Romans 11:6. The paradox of buying without money is suggestive of spiritual bankruptcy. Israel was spending money and labor upon idols. Hence the solemn appeal of the opening word of the chapter; for the exclamation “Ho” is not simply a matter of invitation, it casts a reflection upon the state of those who are adopting their own devices instead of listening to the voice of the Lord. The Lord follows His remonstrance with the gracious words “hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness” (Isaiah 55:2). Often in Scripture where two commands are given the second suggests the good result of obeying the first (cp. Genesis 42:18). The satisfaction of the soul can be obtained only in the path of the obedience of faith. By diligently listening to the voice of God and fulfilling His will we can enjoy real spiritual delight. Moreover, what the Lord here holds out is something more than meeting our need. He designs to give us an overflowing satisfaction. This is indicated by the word “fatness” (see, for instance, Psalms 36:8 and Psalms 63:5). This is “the riches of His grace.”
He now bids His people to incline their ear and come unto Him, to hear, that their soul may live (Isaiah 55:3) or revive (cp. John 14:6). Much the same thing was said later to the church in Laodicea. In such conditions the Lord calls upon the individual to hear His voice (Revelation 3:20), and the provision He makes for the responsive heart is to find in Him the very life and sustenance of the soul.
There is much in these first three verses of the chapter that affords matter for a Gospel message, but the appeal is directly to the backslider, whose soul needs the reviving that can be effected only by returning to the Lord.
“And I will make,” He says, “an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” In human affairs a covenant is made and ratified by each of the parties to it. Here the Lord undertakes the obligations Himself, and the covenant is virtually a promise. So in Galatians 3:17-18, where “covenant” and “promise” are used interchangeably. Moreover, the Greek word there used, diatheke, does not in itself contain the idea of joint obligation, it denotes that which is undertaken by one alone. The sole condition for the recipient is that he shall incline his ear and come. He will not thereby be putting his signature to a covenant; his acceptance of the invitation ensures the fulfillment of the “covenant of promise.” The phrase “the sure mercies of David” receives its interpretation in Acts 13:34, which quotes from the Septuagint: “I will give you the holy and sure blessings [lit., things] of David.” Paul uses this as the second of three quotations from the O.T. to prove that they were fulfilled in the Person of Christ, the first foretelling His birth (Acts 13:33, see the r.v.; there the raising up of Jesus speaks of His being raised up in the nation, in His life on earth, cp. Acts 13:23), the second foretelling His resurrection, the third His incorruptibility. What God promised to David (e.g., in 2 Samuel 7:16), and will yet be fulfilled to him in the future earthly Kingdom, can be established in that day only in and through the Person of Christ Himself, by reason of His resurrection and exaltation, and in the glory of His Millennial reign.
David was, and yet will be, God’s appointed “witness to the peoples” (the nations), and their “leader and commander” (see Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 37:24). Israel, possessed of worldwide dominion, will “call a nation that they knew not” (referring to Gentile peoples in general), and the nation that knew not Israel will run to them (indicative of swift means of travel), “because of Jehovah their God,” and “for the Holy One of Israel.” Now there is no such reciprocal recognition; the opposite is the case. But in the day of Messiah’s reign, Israel will be glorified by Him (Isaiah 55:4-5). In Isaiah 55:6 there is a general appeal: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.”
What follows is an appeal to the backslider; he is called upon to forsake his way and his thoughts, and to return unto the Lord. A return implies the retracing of one’s steps to that which was formerly enjoyed. The unregenerate man can turn, but a return is for him who has gone back from that fellowship with God which he once experienced. He waits to have mercy upon him and to “pardon abundantly” (lit., “He will multiply to pardon”), Isaiah 55:7. The foregoing appeal to forsake their own way and thoughts, and, by returning to God, to yield themselves to Him, is urged by reason of the fact of the utter difference between the ways and thoughts of God and the self-willed and foolish ways and thoughts of men (Isaiah 55:8-9; cp. Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 9:14). The waywardness of the backslider plunges him into unbelief and misery. He finds that his purposes are frustrated by a mightier power than his, and the thorny path that he has chosen brings him into spiritual gloom and uncertainty. To all this God sets His actings and decrees in striking contrast. Just as He has absolute control over the rain and the snow and the produce of the earth, and man can do nothing to alter that which God has established by His creative power, “so shall My word be,” He says, “that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void [or, fruitless], but it shall accomplish [or, “till it has accomplished”] that which I please, and it shall prosper in [or, “has prosperously carried out”] the thing whereto I sent it.” That is to say, it will not return without having achieved the purpose for which the Lord sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11). His Word is His messenger (see Isaiah 9:8; Psalms 107:20; Psalms 147:15-19). His Word is here personified. It runs like a swift messenger, accomplishing God’s will with its vital power both in nature and amidst humanity. A word is the expression of thought. It is part of the person himself. So Christ is called the Word of God. He had declared Him (told Him out), John 1:18. “Everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord” provides spiritual food by which man lives (Deuteronomy 8:3). Just as what comes from the soil of the earth is produced by the rain and the snow, so with the soil of the human heart and the Word of God.
How great a responsibility therefore devolves upon one who is God’s messenger! If the messenger’s heart is in full communion with the One who sends him, his message will accomplish God’s pleasure and prosper in the object for which it is sent. In Isaiah 55:12 the Lord graciously applies the principles relating to His Word to the promise of unspeakable blessing for Israel in the coming day. “For ye shall go out with joy,” that is to say, life’s activities will be carried on without the haste of fear (cp. Isaiah 52:12), “and be led forth with peace”: they will never again have to fight their way through foes or flee from them: “the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Nature will be brought into unison with God’s purposes of grace toward His people (cp. Psalms 98:8, where the clapping of the hands is applied to streams and billows of water). There will be a sympathy, so to speak, between nature and the joyous hearts of God’s redeemed. No longer will the natural creation be subjected to vanity. The creation itself “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21, r.v.).
“Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree [or cypress], and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree,” a humble, sweet-smelling, beautiful evergreen; from the Hebrew word for it comes the name Hadassah, the original name of Esther (Esther 2:7): “and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign (or memorial) that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13). What God will bring about in the blessedness of the Millennial Kingdom will have a twofold effect: it will tell forth His glory and will be a constant reminder to His people of His attributes and actings of grace and power.