The Word Goes Forth. Abridged.

THE WORD GOES FORTH.

Isaiah 55:10-13.

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.

There follows God’s encouragement to His people in Isaiah 55:12,

“You shall go out with joy…”

And one of those wonderful word pictures in Isaiah 55:12-13, of the whole of Creation rejoicing with us in His covenant. The last verse, “it shall be a sign” refers to the covenant of David.