The Great Invitation.

THE GREAT INVITATION.

Isaiah 55:6-11.

ISAIAH 55:6. We are exhorted to seek the LORD, while He may be found. If we seek Him with all our heart, and all our soul, we will find Him. Then He will rain righteousness upon us, making us righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ. He will bring life to the barren land of our hearts. He will protect us in the day of His anger against a world that has refused Him.

If we seek the LORD, we will certainly be satisfied. He is not far from any one of us.

When should we seek Him?

We should seek Him while He may be found. We should seek the Creator in the days of our youth before we become so set in our ways that it becomes difficult to hear Him. We should seek Him in the ripeness of our years, while there is still breath in our mouths to call out for His mercy upon our souls.

We should call upon Him while he is near, while the call of the Gospel is still ringing in our ears. Now is the set time for the LORD to favour His people: so do not leave until tomorrow what you must do today.

We should pray to Him in an acceptable time. We should seek His salvation right at this present moment, while He is near to help. The Apostle Paul says: ‘Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation’ (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:2). As we hear His voice today, we must not harden our hearts nor provoke Him, but respond positively to the call of the Gospel.

ISAIAH 55:7. We are instructed to forsake sin.

If we try and cover over our sins, and pretend they are not there, we will fail. If we confess our sins, God will have mercy and forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We are no longer to walk in the way of wickedness, nor to entertain unrighteous thoughts. We are to turn to our merciful LORD, to the one true God, who abundantly pardons the sins of His people out of the infinite riches of His grace.

ISAIAH 55:8-9. His thoughts are not our thoughts: nor are our ways His ways. His ways are unsearchable: they are past finding out. We must surrender the evil imagination and the evil way, and follow after the way of Christ, with a pure heart and a pure mind.

Jesus says:

“Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,

for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

(cf. Matthew 11:28-30).

When we have sought Him and found Him, we must not cease from praise to the One who has forgiven our sin. In Bible imagery, not only does everything that has breath Praise the Lord, but also the trees clap their hands, and the hills rejoice! All creation: animal, vegetable and mineral, praises the Lord. Redeemed mankind, therefore, should not exempt himself.

ISAIAH 55:10-11 is about God’s words not returning to Him void. At first, we might imagine that God is talking about the weather, with all this talk of rain and snow. And what if there is no rain, nor any melting snows from the mountains of Lebanon? Famine!

Yet God is not just talking about the weather, He is talking about His Word. ‘The seed is the Word of God’ says Jesus in Luke 8:11. And there is, incidentally, such a thing as a famine of the Word of God (cf. Amos 8:11-13)!

The metaphor is this:

1. just as in the cycle of creation the rain and snow comes down, waters the earth causing it to spring forth and bud, giving seed to the Sower and bread to the eater (ISAIAH 55:10);

2. “So shall my Word be” -

(i) it shall not return to me void,

(ii) it shall accomplish that which I please,

(iii) and prosper in the thing for which I sent it (ISAIAH 55:11).

It is interesting to note that there is a part for man to play in the purposes of God. It rains/snows, the earth brings forth - what? Seed and food. Without the Sower, without the reaper, we starve. So it is with the Word of God. ‘How shall they hear without a preacher?’ asks Paul in Romans 10:14.