ISAIAH 55: 6-13
GOD’S WONDER WORKING WORD
After the call to come and receive God’s satisfying salvation free of charge, the passage instructs us to come in repentance also. We are called to repent of doing things our way because God’s ways and our ways are immeasurably different. Those who come to the Lord in repentance, ready to live life God’s way, find that He abundantly pardons. All need God’s forgiveness, His grace, and His new life. Though such transformation and its meaning for eternity is beyond our comprehend, it is not beyond God’s intent or ability. God brings about His purpose in life and in our life by His WONDER WORKING WORD.
I. CALLED TO SEEK GOD AND REPENT, 6-7.
II. CALLED TO GOD’S WAYS AND THOUGHTS, 8-9.
III. CALLED TO CONFIDENCE IN & RECEPTION OF GOD’S WORD, 10-11.
IV. CALLED TO BEAR THE FRUIT OF THE WORD, 12-13.
In verse 6 we exhorted to embrace God salvation when we sense His nearness. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
Though salvation is a free gift, God must be sought while one is under the convicting power of God if it is to be received. If not, we either drift away, erect a barrier or harden our heart. We are commanded therefore to seek Him while He is near.
The Lord has come near man not only in the work of the Servant, but also in Isaiah’s preaching of the Word. God Has come near because He wants to comfort the despairing, forgive the sinner, and deliver the bound. What must one do to experience these blessings? We must seek the Lord and call upon Him.
What one is to seek is the presence of God and way of the Lord in one’s life. Seek His presence, His character, His gifts and His ways, for God longs to build them into us.
It is a call to start life over again under God’s leadership. He is ready to forgive, clean the slate and give you a new page on which to write a new history. We are commanded to do so before our day of grace runs out (Zeph. 2:2). Seize the opportunity His presence and conviction offer. The fire of God’s presence will either melt your heart or harden it. Do not harden your heart when God comes near.
An INSURANCE AGENT tried repeatedly to convince a man to buy fire coverage for his home. "No," the homeowner kept saying. "It’s well built, and I maintain it properly. My house will never catch fire." But one day it did! Imagine the look on that insurance agent’s face when the homeowner foolishly ran to him to buy an insurance policy-as smoke filled the sky and flames gutted his home. It was way too late!
Although this story was probably composed by an insurance man, it teaches the folly of presumption, and of putting off until tomorrow a decision that needs to be made today. This is especially important when it comes to escaping what Jesus described as "the fire that shall never be quenched" (Mark 9:43).
By paying for our sins on Calvary’s cross, Jesus has provided the only way of escape from the judgment to come. But we must make an important decision before we can enjoy that salvation. We must accept the offer while it is still good-before death overtakes us.
So don’t be foolish. Seek the Christ that died and rose again to provide eternal life for you, and receive Him as your Savior today. Right now, while there is still time, accept God’s free gift of salvation. You can’t repent too soon, for you don’t know how soon it may be too late.
Verse 7 exclaims that God is found by repentance. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord. And He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
The call is to start life over again with God. Only if people forsake their way, which is the way of wickedness and turn to the Lord and His way will they authentically be seeking and calling the Lord. What it takes for us to seek the Lord is to turn away from our wickedness and our own way of thinking. Seeking which is not accompanied with forsaking our former way of thinking and life is not genuine seeking. The Lord is found in turning away from our way.
Forsaking is only is only one side of true repentance, the other is turning to God which implies a change of mind, purpose and conduct. Lives focused earthward are turned Godward.
When we turn away from our wickedness and our own way of thinking and return to God we receive His compassion and multiplied pardon (meaning forgiven a multitude of times) [Butler, Isaiah, 314]. [Unless God can pardon and transform man from his rebellion against Him and His ways without making a mockery of His entire system of justice, mere deliverance from Babylonia captivity will accomplish and mean nothing. Oswalt, Isaiah, 444].
This call to repentance is for one and all, even one like Madalyn Murray O’Hair. MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR was perhaps the most notorious atheist of the 1900s. Often profane and sarcastic, she was a powerful debater who shouted down her religious opponents.
After O’Hair mysteriously disappeared in 1995, her diaries were auctioned to pay back taxes she owed the federal government. They reveal an unhappy human being who didn’t trust even the members of the American Atheists Association. She passed this harsh judgment on herself: "I have failed in marriage, motherhood, and as a politician." Yet she yearned for acceptance and friendship. In her diary she wrote six times, "Somebody, somewhere, love me."
Instead of viewing atheists like O’Hair as enemies, we should see them as sin-sick people whom God loves. They have a void in their lives that only He can fill. In Isaiah 55:7 we hear God calling out to the godless, inviting them to come to Him and experience His mercy and forgiveness.
We who have experienced the Lord’s grace have an opportunity to proclaim His invitation to others. Even in the face of hostility, we can tell those who have turned their backs on God that if they respond to His love for them they will find peace for their troubled hearts. - VCG To love sinners is to be like Jesus.
Lord, help us to tell of Your love for mankind; A love for the sin-sick, the broken, the blind; Help them to see by the way that we live, The wholeness of being that You long to give. -DID
Perhaps you are wondering if you are lost or saved. This illustration can help you grasps your true condition. A sheep and a pig will react differently in A MUDHOLE. A sheep that falls into the mud will not be happy there. He will struggle and cry until he gets out.
On the other hand, a pig goes around looking for a mudhole. When he finds it, he slides in with a grunt of satisfaction. In fact, he will squeal if an attempt is made to pull him out.
By nature, and without the convicting work of God’s Spirit, a sinner is like a pig-he seeks evil and temptation and has no desire to be delivered from sin. The follower of Christ, however, is compared in the Bible to a sheep. He should never be found in the mud of sin.
It is a sad fact that many of Christ’s sheep do fall into sin, but no born-again Christian will ever be comfortable in such a place. They will cry for forgiveness and cleansing. In Psalm 32, King David said, "When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long" (v.3). He found, though, that the Lord was ready to provide forgiveness and relief when he confessed his sin to Him (v.5). The same is true for us.
Have you yielded to temptation? Do you ever doubt your salvation? Then return to Him and He will have mercy and He will "abundantly pardon." -MRD The way back to God begins with a broken heart.
II. CALLED TO GOD’S WAYS AND THOUGHTS, 8-9.
In verse 8 God calls on people to leave their wicked ways and fallen thoughts and follow God’s thoughts and ways. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
Ways and thoughts are repeated from verse 7 where it proclaimed what is wrong with human ways and thoughts. Man’s ways and thoughts seem so right to us (see Prov. 14:12; 16:2, 25; 21:2; 3:5-6). But man’s ways and thoughts are not God’s ways and thoughts. Both cannot be correct. Our ways and thoughts have been perverted by original sin and by living a life of unrighteousness. Only as we turn to God and His mercy can we ever encounter the way of inner peace and think thoughts that will direct our life in a truly productive way. The God of the Bible is instructing us to turn from our sinful ways and thoughts [patterns] because they are not His ways and thoughts.
Disruptive peace; majestic meekness; unsettling comfort -these phrases don’t seem to make sense. But anyone who’s had a personal encounter with God understands that these apparent paradoxes come together in Him.
A paradox is an apparent contradiction that in reality may express a profound truth. The Bible contains many such mind-baffling concepts. The fact that we can not understand them indicates that God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways.
These Scriptural paradoxes seem to defy logic, but a deeper study reveals a wonderful pattern for Christians who want to live victoriously. Here are several of them taken from the New Testament: We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11 :28-30). We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12). We became wise by being fools for Christ’s sake ( 1 Cor. 1 :20,21). We enjoy freedom when we became His bond servants (Rom. 6:17-20). We possess all things by having nothing (2 Cor. 6:10). We are strong when we are weak (2 Cor. 12:10). We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5). We live by dying (John 12:24,25).
The unbeliever rejects these enigmas as impossible to understand. But the Christian, who has the Holy Spirit to enlighten him, can accept these paradoxes, realizing that, we may not fully understand them until we see the Lord face to face.
God is great and God is good, but God also is elusive and God is strange. It’s dangerous to think fallen man knows God’s mind, God’s will, or God’s intentions outside of biblical revelation. In fact, to fear God is, in part, to recognize that His ways are not our ways. For certain, He’s revealed Himself to us in Jesus, and He revealed Himself in how He moved and worked through the lives and stories recorded in the Bible. But He hasn’t revealed Himself exhaustively. He hasn’t ceased to work in mysterious ways. And that’s why we must surrender to Him and obey His Spirit and His Word if we would follow Him. He’s greater than we can think or imagine and will work in profound ways, in ways we cannot even think or imagine.
Verse 9 makes a vividly striking comparison between God and man. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
A person’s ways are one’s patterns of behavior. Those ways must be changed if one is to live with God. If one is to find and follow God he must abandon the thinking and ways of natural man. A supposed belief in Him without being change into thinking and living like Him is really rejection of Him. You do not change your ways and thoughts into His ways and thoughts by living independently of Him.
How high are the heavens above the earth? A new galaxy was discovered that is 17 billion light years away. The heavens are much higher than the earth.
God’s plan is something people would have never dreamed of. His knowledge and wisdom are uncomprehendably greater than man’s. Isaiah called the exiles and us to realize that God is different from man. God makes plans that are beyond our wildest imaginations. His new plan included them/us, if they/we are willing to fly high with Him, rather that following their/own earthly thoughts and plans.
So much that God is bringing into being within our life is loftier than we can comprehend but YAHWEH will bring it to pass. As you talk things over with God confess to Him that He sees and knows things you don’t see or know. Therefore Your will be done not only on earth as it is in heaven, but in my life.
Have you ever done the will of God, but the results weren’t what you expected? If
so, you may have SECOND-GUESSED Him. [He says, "I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work. . . [My way] surpasses the way you work, and ... is beyond the way you think."] We usually have to re-learn the meaning of those words each time we face a new challenge.
God told Moses, "I’m going to deliver the Israelites from Egypt." Sounds good so far, right? But things didn’t turn out the way Moses anticipated because Pharaoh made their lives even harder. Instead of becoming a hero, Moses is now despised by his own people. Later when some other things didn’t turn out as Moses expected, He got discouraged and complained, "Lord, we did what You told us to do. How come we’re having such a battle?" (See Ex. 5:22). Moses didn’t understand the results of his obedience, because God didn’t tell him how things would turn out. Sound familiar?"
No one ever played basketball like Pistol Pete Maravich. He was a ball-handling wizard, a scoring machine who broke nearly every major college scoring record. Ten years as an NBA star and millions of dollars later, he retired- unhappy and empty.
But that’s not the end of the story. In 1983, Pete surrendered his life to Christ. For the next 4 years his driving passion was to share with others wonderful joy he had found in Jesus. Then, early in 1988, he died suddenly of heart failure. He was only 40 years old.
Why did God take him? Why didn’t He allow Pete to continue leading people to Christ with his hard-hitting testimony? Perhaps Pete’s autopsy report holds the answer. Doctors discovered that Pete had a congenital heart problem that should have prevented him from playing basketball. In fact, they said he probably not lived beyond the age of 20. Suddenly, we could get just a glimpse of God’s marvelous ways. He didn’t take Pete early; He preserved his life until he had accepted Christ and made his testimony known.
Because God is so far above us in wisdom and knowledge, it is remarkable that we are able to understand Him at all. Yet in His grace He has provided the written Scriptures to tell us how to live and die well. He made the way of salvation, unmistakably plain so that no one has an excuse for not receiving Christ, the gift of eternal life. When we consider some deep truths, however, we must confess that they are far beyond our limited ability to grasp.
D. L. Moody said, "I am glad there is a depth in the Bible I know nothing about, for it shows its Divine authorship. A man once came to me with a very difficult passage and said; "Mr. Moody; how do you explain that? I replied, "I don’t. "But how do you interpret it?’ I don’t interpret it.’ "Well, how do you understand it?" I don’t understand it." "What do with it? "I don’t do anything with it." "You don’t believe it?’ "Yes, I believe it! I believe things I’ don’t understand. In John 3, Jesus reminded Nicodemus that if he was unable to grasp earthly things; heavenly things would be far beyond him Nature itself is filled with wonders, we cannot fathom so how can we expect to know everything spiritual?
We need not be disturbed comprehend all the mysteries in the Bible. Remember, "the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever" (Deut. 29:29).
0 grant us grace Almighty Lord, Simply to trust Your Holy Word,
Deep truths with meekness to receive, And by its holy precepts live. -Anon.
We must adjust ourselves to the Bible and never the Bible to ourselves.
"I have felt His hand upon me in great trials and submitted to His guidance, and I trust that as He shall further open the way, I will be ready to walk therein, relying on His help and trusting in His goodness and wisdom." -Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
III. CALLED TO CONFIDENCE IN & RECEPTION OF GOD’S WORD, 10-11.
These verses provide the second reason we should seek the Lord and abandon our wickedness. Though the kingdom of God is a loftier concept and idea than man can comprehend, God is bring it into being as He proclaims in verse 10. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; [So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;]
When I was a boy living in THE DESERT SOUTHWEST I loved the desert thunderstorms. Accompanied by lighting bolts and claps of thunder, huge sheets of rain would blanket the hot dirt as far as the eye could see. The cooling water refreshed the earth---and us.
Water produces marvelous changes in arid regions. For example, the Pin cushion cactus is completely dormant during the dry season. But after the first summer rains, cactuses burst into bloom, displaying delicate petals of pink, gold, and white.
The showers that fall from heaven turn into flowers, into wheat fields, into beautiful meadows and pastures, and into orchards that are fruitful as only God can make them.
Likewise, in the Holy Land after a rainstorm, dry ground can seemingly sprout vegetation overnight. Isaiah used rain’s renewal to illustrate God’s refreshing Word. The Word of God waters our souls and brings blessing and fruitfulness to us. The change that the Holy Scriptures bring to human life and human destiny is glorious beyond compare. Scripture carries spiritual vitality. That’s why it doesn’t, return void.
God’s Word can change human life. In the FIJI ISLANDS an islander was reading God’s Book. A Frenchman, watching him, finally came over and said, "So you are reading the Bible!" The Frenchman ridiculed the islander.
The islander turned to the Frenchman and said, "Do you see that boiling pot over there? Were it not for this Book, you would be in that pot!" What a glorious change the Word of God makes in human life!
The Bible is to a thirsty soul what water is to a barren land. Wherever it encounters an open heart, it brings refreshment, nourishment, and new life.
God’s Word is like refreshing rain that waters crops and seed;
It brings new life to open hearts, and meets us in our need. -Sper
The reason for turning to God is the absolute dependability of His Word. Verse 11 indicates that just as the rain accomplishes its intended purpose as it falls upon the earth, so will the Word of YAHWEH accomplish His purpose. So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
The point about the absolute dependability of God’s Word is made in its comparison to rain. In particular, Isaiah compares the effectiveness of the two. Each one achieves the purposes of blessing and life-giving for which it was intended (40:8). The Lord assured believers that His Word . . . will accomplish what He says it will. His word is like rain and snow that water the earth and help give it abundant vegetation.
God’s Word doesn’t produce just any fruit. His Word brings forth spiritual life. It produces the fruit He plans, accomplishing His purpose. People cannot put conditions on what they want God’s Word to accomplish. We cannot make Him act as we think He should act. Instead we must be willing to be a part of His plan the way God has purposed it through His prophetic Word.
In the ancient Near East rain spelled the difference between life and death. If the rains came at the appropriate times one could hope for good crops, which meant enough food (bread) for the coming year and seed for the following year’s crop. If the rains did not come, not only was the crop lost but also the seed, and famine stared one in the face.
The same thing is true for people. We seem so dry, dusty, and hopeless. But when the Word falls upon us, suddenly all kinds of hidden potential emerges and beautiful things begin to happen. The more we allow ourselves to be rained on, the more beauty comes forth. So daily get watered by the Word, and let it have its miraculous effect upon you. [Courson, Applic. Com. OT]
There is tremendous life-giving power in the Word of God. This truth is illustrated in a story told by C. H. Spurgeon. Out of curiosity, an AGNOSTIC who belonged to what was known as the "Hell-fire Club" attended a service where George Whitefield was preaching. At the next meeting of the club, the young man began to ridicule the evangelist before the other members, repeating Whitefield’s words and mimicking his inflections and gestures. About halfway through the act, however, he stopped abruptly as the Holy Spirit began to convict him. Responding to the message he had been repeating so flippantly, he confessed his sin and opened his heart to Christ right then and there. Needless to say, the meeting was quickly adjourned. That young man became a zealous witness who led many others to Christ.
Commenting on this unusual conversion, Spurgeon said, "I would rather have you read the Bible to mock it than not read it at all. I would rather that you came to hear the Word of God out of hatred to it than that you never came at all." He recognized that when the Spirit of God illuminates the Word of God, hearts are changed. Some books inform, and others reform, only the Bible can transform. Whether in public preaching or personal witnessing we can proclaim the good news of salvation with confidence. Yes, there is transforming power in the Word!"
The Word will never return void. Therefore, share it with people even if they don’t believe it. God promises it will have effect, that it will accomplish that which He sends it to do.
COCKLEBURS are a painful nuisance. In late summer their seedpods are covered with sharp spines that stick to everything. Yet those pesky pods are amazing. Each one contains several seeds, and they germinate in different years.
Writing about this in Leadership Magazine Graham Hodges said, "Thus if seed A fails to sprout next year because of a drought, seed B will be there waiting for the year after next, and seed C the year after that, waiting for the right conditions for germination to arrive." Hodges went on to comment, "This delayed response is similar to the way the Word of God operates." We plant God’s Word in the lives of others. People don’t always respond to God’s Word immediately. But the seed is planted, and when the time is ripe, it will bring a harvest."
We are frustrated and grieved when unsaved people do not respond immediately to the gospel. But we must learn to wait. Some seasons are dry seasons. There is always another year – perhaps many years. It may sometimes be 20, 30, or even 50 years before someone who has heard the gospel finally receives Christ. We plant the seed; God brings the harvest.
So don’t be impatient or discouraged if we do not see fruit instantly. There will be another season when the seed may sprout. We must keep on praying and trust in the Lord’s timing. That’s the lesson of the cocklebur.
[Are you praying for someone to receive Christ as Savior? What seed have you sown? What more could you say or do? Are you leaving the results in God’s hands?]
["The grammar supports the idea of both the rain and. the word returning to heaven after accomplishing their respective purposes. The point is the achieving of the purposes of God.... Throughout the book this idea of God’s preexistent purpose and the certainty of its accomplishment have been a central idea. Coupled with that is the idea of God’s having spoken in intelligible terms. Put together, these constitute the basis of the biblical doctrine of special revelation. God has spoken to reveal His plans and purposes in the context if human history, and what He has said will be accomplished (cf. 53:10). Above everything else, these plans and purposes are for good (Jer. 29:11). God intends to bless the human race, to forgive its sins, to redeem its failures, and to give permanence to its work. All this will be accomplished through his revelatory word. It is not rain that is the source of life but the word of God." Oswalt, Isaiah, 446]
IV. CALLED TO BEAR THE FRUIT OF THE WORD, 12-13.
For all those who receive the Word of God there is promised fruitfulness as verse 12 indicates. "For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace;.The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. (13) "Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up. And it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."
For or because God’s Word isn’t void, His promises do indeed come to pass. Because He promised that His people would return to their land, their return was sure. Those who seek the Lord through repentance, will indeed go out in joy and in the ways of God find salvation. Joy and peace will fill their hearts.
The imagery expresses the joy of all creation at sinners being made holy through the Word of God. To be sure, the return from exile is a part of that work of the Word, but that return is only a prelude to the salvation the new covenant brings. The deliverance from the guilt and the power of sin is now a glorious possibility. It is redemption of every type, physical, emotional, and spiritually.
The work of redemption of which the return from exile was one small part, will stand for all time as a testimony to the name (memorial) of the God of Israel, Creator and Redeemer, the One who formed and the One who saved His creation. The eternal sign indicates that this work of redemption will stand for all eternity.
[Because of salvation the effects of sin will be reversed in the Millennium, including the provision of inner joy and peace (54:10) and changes in the physical creation. After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden thorns and thistles began to choke out the good vegetation and Adam’s work to grow good crops was increased (Gen. 3:17-19). But in the future even nature will be joyful (Isa. 55:12b). The trees personified as clapping with hands (branches moving in the wind) suggests the joy people will have because of the changes in nature.
The wilderness itself will be transformed from a place of briers and thornbush to a place of pine and myrtle. It will make a name of renown for God.
Fertility on the earth will be a sign that God is in control. This imagery symbolizes what God does in a person’s heart at salvation. But the earth will indeed be unusually fertile during the whole Millennium (35:1-2, 41:18-19; 44:3a). [Walvoord, John, Zuck, Roy; The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1111]
CONCLUSION / TIME OF RESPONSE
God calls people to forsake their wicked lifestyle and turn to Him for pardon, compassion and the covenant of everlasting blessings which He intends His witnesses to enjoy.
God has planned salvation for His people. He sent His prophetic word to announce it and set it into motion. God’s Word can be trusted to bear fruit just as certainly as the rain from heaven produces fruit in the ground. God’s Word always accomplishes His purpose.
The people though must decide to climb out of the depths of despair to join the journey of joy along the wilderness way and to be a witness to the world of the glory of God. This joy is available to any who exchange the bondage of Satan and sin for the freedom found in walking with the Lord in obedience to His word. What His Word will do in such a life only eternity will fully reveal.
