Power For Evangelism

Isaiah chapter 55 shares a message that can be applied to those getting ready to embark on a missionary journey, and to those getting prepared to share their faith in Christ. Within this passage is contained a two-part teaching. The first part, found in verses 1-7, shares the basic content of the gospel message that we’re to proclaim to the world; or rather, the “Message of the Evangelist.” The second part, found in verses 8-13, provides “Assurance for the Evangelist,” giving us the confidence we need to be successful, encouraging us that the results of our efforts are up to the Lord.

Though this passage has a historical context, which I’ll address from time to time, I believe that Isaiah’s prophecy extends far beyond its context to connect with us today, providing the words we need to move us into action in sharing our faith in Christ. It is my hope and prayer that the words we hear tonight will infuse us with “Power for Evangelism,” thus the title of our message.

Part 1: Message of the Evangelist

Everyone Who Thirsts, Come (vv. 1-2)

1 Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Isaiah spoke these words around 721 B.C. during the time of the Assyrian captivity; and according to Baptist commentator Page Kelley, Isaiah was prophesying nearly 200 years in advance about the end of the Babylonian exile and the Jew’s opportunity to return to their homeland and Jerusalem.(1) Judah, which was southern Israel, had gone astray from the Lord by worshipping foreign gods and idols, to which God responded by allowing Assyria to advance on the Jewish nation.

A similar set of circumstances would later lead to the Babylonian exile; and while in captivity under Cyrus, many Israelites would find themselves without money; and thus, a shortage of food and water. Kelley says, “Water is a precious commodity in the Near East, and . . . it is often sold in the streets. One wishing to show generosity, therefore, could buy up the stock of a water-carrier and order that it be distributed without charge to any who were thirsty. God’s bounty far exceeds this, however, for He offers, besides water, also wine and milk.”(2)

God was speaking to the captives through Isaiah, asking them a spiritual question: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” (v. 2); and this is a question the Lord is asking people even now; those who are lost and broken-hearted, who are trying to satisfy their hunger with the world’s empty pursuits and passions. Therefore, this is where we’ll begin learning how to answer this question and how to direct people to one’s true source of sustenance; as Isaiah proclaims a message of hope that we must continue sharing with the world today.

Page Kelley says that the “water is a symbol of God’s presence in the world . . . So also, we may infer, the bread, wine, and milk that alone can give man life are symbols of the God for whom man hungers and thirsts . . . He does not thirst for ‘something’ from God; he thirsts for God, for the living God.”(3) So, the need to which Isaiah was referring was the spiritual hunger of the captives, which was a thirst that superseded their desire to return to their homeland.

When Isaiah spoke of the people’s thirst, he was confident the Israelites would remember the words of David, and recall how he had presented the answer to their spiritual dilemma. David said in Psalm 42:1-2: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” He also declared in Psalm 63:1, “My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Just as Isaiah directed the Israelites to seek God for their sustenance; we too must direct the lost to seek the Lord to satisfy their spiritual hunger and thirst.

In John chapter 4, we read where Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman and revealed to her something of great spiritual significance. He told her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14). Isaiah was trying to bring people an awareness that true life is found in God, through the living water of God’s Word; and Jesus was revealing how living water is found in having a personal relationship with Christ.