Instead of dealing with a topic this week, I’d like to do something a little different, & deal with a single passage. Since our church just explored the book of Isaiah last Sunday, I want to focus on one of the greatest passages in that prophetic book–Isaiah 55.
The chapter is part of a larger context of comfort offered after numerous chapters warning of impending judgment. Isaiah addresses the Israelites who were exiled to the pagan nation of Babylon, which God used to bring deserved judgment for centuries of idolatry, immorality, & injustice. Yet, God encourages them with the promise that their captivity is temporary. Their time of punishment will actually purify them so they’ll repent & return to Him! Then in the future, He’ll free & restore them.
But the greater promise was that eventually He would send the Messiah, the suffering servant of chapters 49-55, to bring spiritual & ultimate deliverance. The New Testament identifies these prophecies with Jesus.
The first few verses of chapter 55 invite the exiles to take God up on His gracious offer of spiritual provision. Verse 6 then says: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” It’s not that He’s hidden, far-off, or absent, but the call is to seriousness in turning to Him & heeding His voice. God is ready at any time to receive anyone who calls on Him, but the window of opportunity is temporary based on the uncertainty of human life. Since there’s no guarantee of tomorrow, to delay is foolish. When God makes the offer, that’s the time for receiving it (2 Cor 6:2, John 12:35).
Then Isaiah says: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Is. 55:7). God calls for all to repent to receive forgiveness, & reverse their way of life. It would also later be Jesus’ call to the Prodigal Son to return home to a Father waiting with arms wide open to show abundant mercy.
In verses 8-9, God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.” The only way we can know God’s will is for Him to reveal it through His spokesmen (Scripture). This appeal to trust in God’s will instead of our own is urged on the basis of the immeasurable gap between His unlimited understanding & our very limited capacity & perspective. So God’s people should trust that He knows what’s best & always does what’s right.
To sinful people whose thinking is distorted, it didn’t make sense for God to punish them by sending them into exile, then waiting 70 years to rescue them. But His divine purposes transcend such contaminated comprehension. His purpose was to demonstrate the gravity of sin’s consequences, but also His faithfulness in showing mercy. When it comes to salvation, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it was God’s good pleasure to save us in this way–through a suffering servant (1 Cor. 1:18-21). The incredible extent of His love is unfathomable!
Then He says: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is. 55:10-11).
Nature’s elements accomplish the purposes God made them for. In the same sure way, God’s Word won’t fail to accomplish His purposes in us. As God has complete control over the weather, so His Word is unalterable. As He sends water to grow crops & plants, so His Word causes spiritual growth to take place in the heart. Jesus teaches this same principle in His parable of the soils (Luke 8:4-15). His Word is effective to save, but it’s up to us to take Him at His Word & receive through faith the promises offered. When His Word is rejected, it is just as effective to condemn as it is to save (John 12:48).
Finally, verses 12-13 say: “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.” The promise of restoration to the Holy Land for the exiles is illustrated with unspeakable blessings, as even nature is personified as participating in the rejoicing. Unlike their ancestors’ exodus from Egyptian captivity, which was hurried, frantic & worrisome, this new exodus from Babylon will be in peace without the need to flee or fight their way through. God removes any harmful hindrances for their journey home.
It reminds us that as citizens of heaven, we’re in “exile” on this world that is not our home, living as aliens in a hostile country (Phil. 3:20, 1 Pet. 2:11). But one day we’ll be going home! The Lord kept His Word then, & He’ll keep it again when we enter our Promised Land in the new heavens & new earth!