This chapter might very well have been found in the Gospel according to Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John, for it is so plain, so simple, and so full of Gospel teaching.
Isaiah 55:1. Ho, every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Oh, the freeness of Gospel provisions; and, at the same time, their fullness, their plenty, their variety, their sufficiency! Here is a mention of «wine and milk.» It is not enough for the Lord to bid us «come to the waters,» but he invites us to partake of the choicest luxuries upon which the soul can be fed; he calls us to be filled even to the full, and to accept everything for nothing: «without money and without price.»
Isaiah 55:2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?
Why do ye act thus? Can you give any explanation of such folly? The gospel is consistent with the highest reason; and to believe in Christ is not a thing for which we need make any apology. It is a foolish thing not to believe in him,-a foolish thing to be living for the world,-to be spending our time and strength for thy attainment of some inferior object which can never satisfy the soul. This «wherefore» is not applicable to the Christian; it is applicable to the worldling; yet he often thinks himself the only wise man on the face of the earth, «Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?»
Isaiah 55:2-3. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me:
What a stress these gospel passages lay upon hearing the Word! «Faith cometh by hearing.» All the sights, and all the shows, all the gorgeous processions, and all the external ceremonies in the world, will never convert a single soul; but God says, «Hearken diligently unto me. Incline your ear, and come unto me.»
Isaiah 55:3. Hear, and your soul shall live;
Do not cavil, but hear. Do not come to find fault with the Word; but «Come unto me,» saith the Lord; «hear, and your soul shall live.»
Isaiah 55:3. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
What a surprising promise this is for God to make to men who are so poverty-stricken that they have «no money» in their hand, or in their pocket,-nothing in fact, that they can bring to him! Yet the Lord says, «I will make an everlasting covenant with you.» Will God enter into covenant with a poor sinner, and pledge himself, by promise and by oath, to do him good for ever? Yes, poor troubled, sinful soul, the Lord, in infinite mercy, is even now calling thee by his grace, I trust; and as surely as thou dost come to him, he will make with thee «an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David.»
Isaiah 55:4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
God's Witness of his great love to us is his own Son. You cannot doubt God's readiness to receive guilty men, since Christ has come in the flesh.
You cannot doubt his love to sinners, since his only-begotten Son has come to be a Witness to it. Oh, for grace to range ourselves under his banner, and to follow his footsteps, for God has given him to he «a Leader and Commander to the people»! Nor shall he be a Leader without followers, nor a Commander without an army. Where is he to get his followers and his army? Read the next verse
Isaiah 55:5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Observe, there was no communion between Christ and these people, for he knew not them, and they knew not him. It is the Scriptural mode of expressing the great gulf between these; yet, he is to call them, and they are to run to him. He is to find his subjects and his soldiers among those who have hitherto been ignorant of him. What a gracious covenant promise this is! Under the guise of a declaration made to Christ, this is really a promise made to the elect of God, that they shall be brought back from all their wanderings, and be ranged in their ranks beneath the banner of their Lord.
Isaiah 55:6-7. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
There must be conversion,-that is, a turning of the soul, and that must be manifest in the outward life. The wicked must forsake his evil way; but the change must go much deeper than that, there must be a real spiritual conversion. The unrighteous man must forsake his sinful thoughts; and, oh, how glorious it is when, after such a generous exhortation, and such a gracious invitation, God sends his Spirit to those whom he calls, to enable them to forsake their own way, and their own thoughts, and to turn unto him! Wherever there is any such a turning as that, it is certain that «he will abundantly pardon.»
Isaiah 55:8-9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I think, dear friends, that not only may the unconverted pick up many crumbs of comfort as they hear about the abundant provision of divine mercy, but that the tried people of God may also be much cheered as they think upon the greatness of the Lord's plans for them. You do not understand, tried child of God, what your Heavenly Father is doing with you. A child cannot always comprehend his father's purposes of love; it is not needful that he should. Every father may say to his son, «My thoughts are not your thoughts;» but with what an emphasis does our Divine Father say it to us! «As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.»
Isaiah 55:10-11. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Such a promise as this ought to help us to preach in faith! How full our sermons ought to be of the Word of God; for it is not our word, but God's Word, that is certain to be effectual to the salvation of our hearers! I recollect McCheyne saying that you will generally find that it is God's Word, not man's comment on God's Word, that is blessed to the conversion of souls. There is a divine charm-a mystic power-about the very words of the Lord. I can never doubt the doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration, since I so constantly see, in actual practice, how the very words that God has been pleased to employ are blessed to the souls of men,-not merely their sense, but the very language. Sometimes, a plural instead of a singular noun, or one particular word, instead of its synonym, will be made, in the hands of the Spirit of God, the means of reaching some character which, otherwise, would not have been reached. Blessed be God that we do believe in his Book. We cannot, we will not, give up a jot or a tittle of it,-the dot of an I, or the cross of a t. We believe that no part of the Word of the Lord will return unto him void, but it shall accomplish all his good pleasure, and prosper in the thing whereunto he has sent it.
Isaiah 55:12. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:
That shall be your happy condition when you have once fed upon Christ. When you have entered into covenant with God, you «shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.»
Isaiah 55:12. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
And many of us can testify that it is so. Once reconciled to God, all nature seems to wear another aspect. Whatever the weather is, it pleases us because it pleases him who sends it to us; and when we look upon the beauties of nature beneath the sunlight, there is a peculiar glory upon them; for the light of God, that shineth more brightly than the sun, is, to the believing eye, upon everything.
Isaiah 55:13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Wherever God's Word is, there are transformations. Miracles though we see them not in the natural world, are abundant in the spiritual realm. Conversion is the great standing proof of the presence of the Holy Ghost, and his abiding presence is the perpetual witness to the truth of the Gospel. Beyond all arguments from internal or external evidence, stands this one, the Word of God is effectual in the salvation of Sinners. Thorns are turned into fir trees, and briers into myrtles; and, so, God is glorified, and «an everlasting sign» is thus preserved among us, «that shall not be cut off.»