To watch this service, click on the link to our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/930h1aAZaA4
Isaiah 55
Have you ever been to a busy market place where vendors are shouting at you to buy their wares? They may have a roll of fake goods. In a sense we see here the voice of God calling people to come to buy from Him, through grace, the way of salvation. From this passage of scripture we can learn four things:
- Verses 1-3, 6-7: Come. There is an urgent invitation. God is telling us what we must do in order to come to Him. God is summoning us to come to Him. The Almighty God is calling little me to come to Him. God is going to summon us to come back to Him.
- Verses 2-5, 7: A precious promise. This is a picture of what God does for unbelievers. God will satisfy our hunger for Him. There is a promise of free and wonderful salvation. 700 years before Christ, He is already talking of the promise of the gospel.
- Verses 10-11: The method God uses when reaching out. He will do this by the preaching of the Word.
- Verses 12-13: The glorious destiny. There will be a wonderful glory, a momentous event when God’s people are joined to be with Him.
- An Urgent Invitation
Isaiah the prophet speaks the Word of God. You can’t think of any richer food than wine or milk. There is nothing richer in God’s gospel, the promise of eternal life. There is a three-fold repetition – come, come, come. You must come. It’s not a suggestion, it’s a command. ‘Incline your ear’ make sure you are hearing properly. Lean forward because your life depends on this message of the gospel. God is speaking to us.
The price for the goods has already been paid. He is concerned for our eternal welfare. All of this urgency is shaped by you and I coming to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of sins and believing and trusting in Him. The problem God is addressing, why it’s so urgent, is to be seen in verse 2,
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.”
Don’t waste your life on things that don’t matter. In our brevity of life be prepared to meet with God. Unless you come in God’s way to God, you’ll shatter your soul’s health. Don’t pour your time into things that don’t matter; it can’t satisfy you or save you. Isaiah is challenging us to think of the end of life in this world, for us to prepare to meet with God.
It’s a free offer,
“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.”
(Isaiah 55:1)
It’s an interesting call – you don’t have to pay for it, it’s not ours to pay. Your poverty of soul you bring to Christ, knowing He has paid the price already. The gospel is not free, pardon is not free. In the Lord Jesus Christ, God has already paid the price at the cross in the suffering of His Son (Isaiah 53). He has purchased it by His own blood. It is free for us today because it has cost Him everything. Philippians 2 is a wonderful hymn of praise. The gospel offers satisfaction for us today. People live as in the days of Noah, but one day God will call time on the world and then we’ll answer to God. Come to Him. Come to Jesus Christ for a heart renewed, in order to be united with God through Him.
It’s also an universal offer, “Come, everyone who thirsts … he who has no money. Who is invited to come? All who are thirsty, who have no money. In other words, you come to the point where you’re bereft of any other method of saving yourself or finding yourself at peace with God. You’ve failed to find another way. You realise that in your sins you are without hope, you realise you’re lost. Come as you are, recognising your needs.
- A Precious Promise.
There’s a precious promise in verse 2,
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.”
You’ve recognised Him as the only way. The promise of life to us has been bought and paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the authority to give eternal life to those who come to Him. Think of these words. Just come. Don’t be held back by your guilt from the past. The only way to rid yourself of that guilt is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Get yourself to Jesus today. He will abundantly pardon those who come to Him. Why delay the loving heart of Christ?
- A Wonderful Method.
God uses a wonderful method,
“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,
11 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 55:10-11).
The whole of verse 10 is taken up with an illustration so we can understand verse 11. This book, what do you think of it? Paul, in speaking to Timothy says that the Word of God is useful for all things “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16). It is primarily through the Word of God that people are transformed. The promise of mercy, the promise of a pardon, the promise of salvation will never fail to bring a harvest. That’s the promise of God.
Listen to the public Word of God, to the Word being preached. Come prepared; ask the Lord to make the most of everything the preacher says. Come to respond. Be serious about being a pleaser of God. You want your life to be an act of worship to God. The way of God is the voice of Jesus Christ. He speaks. Listening to His voice new life the dead receive.
- A Glorious Destiny.
There’s a glorious destiny for the Christian,
“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.
12 “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.
13 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 55:11-13)
It maybe you have been wandering away and He is calling you back. The joy that you taste here when you read the gospel, when this world come to an end, all things will forever be correct and right – as God intended from the beginning. The curse that fell on the world because of the Fall (Genesis 3), will one day be undone,
13 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 55:13)
The one who became a curse for us on the cross will have made His blessings flow. The curse will be eliminated entirely. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3). Here, we have a foretaste of heaven: a new creation, a new forever home. It is a wonderful thought. Who would not want that? Who can reject the love of Jesus Christ in light of all He has promised? Jesus Christ continues to offer the urgent invitation, hope of glory. This is the gospel age – salvation offered to all. Will you answer, will you respond to this urgent invitation, this precious promise? Will you trust it, because at the end of it all, there’s a glorious destiny for the Christian? Will you inherit eternal life by coming to God, by responding to His gracious invitation?
“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.”
(Isaiah 55:1)
Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch 