Come to the God of Compassion and Pardon

In Isaiah 54, we saw the Eternal Covenant of Peace which God promised to his people, and which we find is unveiled and delivered through the New Covenant ushered in an inaugurated by Christ. The eternal experience of peace in the New Covenant is really an “eschatological” hope. What does that mean? Eschatology is study or teaching concerning the future and end times. While we experience an inner Spiritual peace, that peace which passes understanding, now, the full realization and experiential peace for all of God’s people will be brought to life in the new heaven and the new earth.

As we go to chapter 55, the idea of Covenant continues. Isaiah is still speaking in terms of benefits that can be linked back to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Of course, that servant is Christ, and all of these blessings are purchased and applied to people because of the saving work of Christ.

When Isaiah spoke about the Eternal Covenant of peace, he wrote in such a way that the audience really were those who already knew the God, but needed the reminder that His love was unfailing, his compassion and covenant would continue. As Chapter 55 opens, the language broadens a bit however. Whereas in 54:17 Isaiah was speaking directly of and directly to “The Servants of the Lord”, Chapter 55:1 is worded as an open invitation.

Now, all throughout Isaiah we have seen hints and prophecies of people from nations other than Israel coming to know and treasure Israel’s God. Even in chapter 54, the language was of broadening the tents, expanding borders, etc. But here it is no longer imagery, it is invitation. Here it is no longer prospect or imagination, it is opportunity and occasion.

The aura or the hue around the language is that of blissful awareness that a great door has opened. It is as if suddenly blindness and weight has been lifted, giving way to freedom and consciousness.

A very poor, but perhaps helpful illustration of the feeling is this. Imagine a child who was living in an orphanage. Perhaps the child had lived there for some time, and they were old enough to be cognitively aware of their situation. They were without parents, cared for by those who were not their family. They are old enough to understand adoption, perhaps they have seen their peers become adopted. Yet, they are skeptical because of their long wait, and they see adoption as something like a distant possibility, but they live without their hopes up. Then one day, the news comes - a family has decided to adopt them. A rush of emotions, excitement, fear, wonder, amazement, worry, newness, joy, questioning. Thoughts like, “is it real?” “What does this mean?” “Is this actually happening?”

In a very similar way, The Lord speaks in Isaiah 55 a great invitation. The prospect of salvation to all people has been hinted at. The means of salvation for all people has even been explained in the Suffering Servant. But here, the rubber of God’s Grace meets the road of human experience.

In an earlier Sermon in Isaiah, I made this statement. The good news is only good if you make it personal - if you treasure it. Here that statement comes to life - for the invitation goes out. “Come,” and not just God’s people Israel, but “everyone who thirsts.” Everyone. Urgency is in the heart of Isaiah, and that urgency was placed there by God Himself.

In God’s wisdom He has prepared a way of salvation for all who will come. Seek Him while He may be found.

1. The Command Goes Out to All the Earth - 1-5

Chapters 54 and 55 are very close in subject matter, but again, here the covenant and promise are offered in a very real way not just to people from Israel, or Zion’s people, but to all who will come and partake.

The fact that this is an urgent offer is emphasized greatly. In verses 1-3, there are 12 imperative verbs given as yes, an invitation, but more truly, a command. The illustration used is that of food, drink, and satisfaction - but the commands are not mere illustrations, rather they are very real invitations.

Come, Eat of food that lasts forever - 1-3a

Immediately we must pull ourselves into context, because we live in a society in a place and time where true hunger, famine, drought, and poverty are hardly ever experienced. Most of us in this room can probably not say that we have honestly experienced true, prolonged, serious hunger with no possible aid at our disposal.

Yet those in the ancient near east were much closer to those conditions. Perhaps they had seen friends and loved ones die of starvation or thirst. Perhaps they had seen those who were destitute, truly, with no help, suffer to the point of great physical peril. Isaiah knew that the image of hunger and thirst would not be lost on these people, and we must be sure the image is not lost on us.

The picture is destitution - poverty to the greatest degree - true, perilous hunger. True, vicious thirst. No money, no water, no food, no help in sight. And what is the invitation?

Come, Eat, drink, and be satisfied! The provision is great! Not simply water, but wine and milk.

The one invited to feast on this provision has no money, no means of purchasing any provisions let alone lush and lavish ones. An abundance of provision where there was famine. A delightful feast where there was destitution. Sweet wine and rich, fat milk where there was only the sand and dry winds of desert. Do not let the image be lost. This is not bedtime snack hunger. This is not, “Oh I was really busy today and didn’t have time for lunch” hunger. This is, “If I don’t have something to eat very soon, I am going to die” hunger.

Yet here, a free gift is offered. More than a snack - this is the picture of rescue. An offer of food and water in this condition is more than a nice gesture, it is the very difference between life and death - between starvation and survival. This is the picture of salvation, and it is offered here to all who will come.

Yet, in verse 2, the image goes a bit deeper. For not only was there hunger, but in the hunger there was delusion. Those who hunger are said to waste their money, figuratively, on things that don’t satisfy. We all have been saddened or appalled when we see someone who is in poor financial shape wasting their money and labor on things that will only drive them deeper into ruin. Isaiah puts that in our minds, only worse. Here the one who is dying of hunger spends his resources on anything and everything but food. Here the one who is thirsty uses his energy to get anything in the world except something to drink.

This is similar to the Idea that Solomon portrays as He writes in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1:2–3 ESV

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?

Vanity - emptiness. Or more literally, “Chasing after wind.” A worthless pursuit with no positive outcome and no effectual result.

To this person, The Lord says “Listen diligently to me, eat what is good, delight yourselves in rich food.”

So we ask the question: what is good? What is the rich food? What are we to delight ourselves in?

God answers the question in verse 3 - “Incline your ear, and come to me.” Here is one of the grandest truths in all of scripture. One of the highest thoughts that man can think. That’s a bold statement, I know - but I firmly believe it. What is that grand truth? What is that lofty thought? It is this - that God Himself is our satisfaction. His true gift to us in salvation is the gift of Himself. The hungry, thirsty, poor, poverty-stricken, destitute, dying, gasping soul that spends all its energy trying to find satisfaction in something, anything, yet missing the one thing that will satisfy the hunger and eradicate the thirst is not missing good behavior, moral reform, political change, family peace - no. The poor, destitute, hungry, thirsty, dying, suffering, gasping soul is missing none other than God Himself.

Now the image changes, but the invitation goes on - hear, that your soul may live. Do you give much thought to your soul? Do you give much thought to your existence after this earthly life is over? Do you ponder into eternity, or would you prefer to just think of today?

Jesus gave a very similar invitation - also an invitation to come. An invitation to come to Him.

Mark 8:34–36 ESV

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Food can be bought, water can be bought. We live in such a time that even in famine and drought, we can find provision. But what have you done to insure the life of your soul? What have you prepared for the moment after you breath your last? God alone can provide that security! God alone can prepare your soul for eternity. Come to Him, the call goes out - hear, that your soul may live!

Come, Eat of food that satisfies the nations - 3b-5

What is the result of coming to God for salvation? God says he will make with you an everlasting covenant, which he likens to his “sure, steadfast love for David.”

We spoke about that steadfast love last week - that constant, steady stream of promise-keeping love from God. God made a covenant with David that his rulership and dynasty would last forever. That one from his lineage would rule on the throne in Israel forever. Of course, David’s family broke their covenant. They could not uphold their end of the deal. But God did not throw away the promise. A New Rulership, and a New David would be needed to keep the promise. A true and better David needed to come - and He did. This is fulfilled in Christ - who was in the lineage of David physically, born in the city of David in reality, but who will rule eternally in a way that David’s merely physical descendents never could.

And this true and better David’s rule goes out beyond Jerusalem, beyond Israel - it goes, verse 5 says, to the nations that they did not know! Interestingly, whereas the word “you” in verse 3 is plural, speaking of those who recieve this invitation to come to God, the word you in verse 5 is singular - so when it speaks of this one being glorified, It seems to be speaking of the One who would fulfill this promise of an everlasting covenant with David. The Servant that we saw in Isaiah 53 - the true and better David, Christ the Lord.

Earlier Matt read the parable of the Great Banquet from Luke 14. This language in Isaiah of an invitation to great feast is very similar to that parable. The master of the feast reached out with invitations to all the usual guests - it would be a wonderful, grand banquet. Yet, one by one, the invited ones came up with excuses as to why they couldn’t come. In stead of cancelling the event, the master of the feast says to his servants, and tells them to call out to the poor, the lame, the blind, the crippled. Those who would never be invited to such a feast - those who could never afford such lavish food - those who could not even come there without the help of another. He says,“Go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.” Jesus was telling this story to those who were the very ones coming up with excuses as to why they would not follow him. Those who you would expect to, the religious ones - they were rejecting. But the call of Christ went out to the poor, the lowly, the blind, the lame, the crippled. The call goes out, not just to Israel, but to all.

2. The Command Displays the Wisdom of God - 6-13

God’s invitation continues, and it goes out to the unrighteous and the wicked to seek the Lord and His Ways. And while, yes, this is ultimately an invitation to find Salvation in the Lord, those of us who know the Lord and have come to Him must be reminded of this call of the Gospel in our daily lives, to seek the Lord’s ways and His wisdom.

Come, forsake your sinful ways and thoughts - 6-9

Verses 6-9 are a poetic in that they play on the terms “thoughts” and “ways”. We have the ways and thoughts of the wicked and unrighteous, and we have the ways and thoughts of the Lord.

Proverbs 14:12 ESV

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 14:27 ESV

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Here the call is to seek the Lord and His ways - seek the Lord and His Wisdom. This is not different in content than the preaching of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus who preached “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” There is that same urgency, that same essence of this being an invitation, yes, but ultimately a command - the subject matter is too weighty, too important to be simply a suggestion. This is not a matter in which we can say, “you know what, I found God and it worked for me, but whatever works for you is fine! You just do you!”

Can I tell you that, even with the best intentions, if you, knowing the truth of the word, knowing the salvation of the Lord, tell someone that “whatever works for you is fine” then you have told them the most unloving, untruthful thing you could have possibly said.

These concepts of pardon from sin, salvation from God’s wrath, there is no alternative. There is no plan b. All roads may lead to Rome, as they say - but when it comes to the eternal destiny of your soul, there is only one road to live, and that is to come to the Lord in repentance and faith.

God’s transcendence is on display here - verse 9 tells us that God’s mind and God’s ways are infinitely higher than ours.

Romans 11:33–34 ESV

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

Yes, here we see the tumultuous gulf between the ways and thoughts of man, and the ways and thoughts of God - yet in this very section of scripture a great miracle of God’s Grace is displayed.

God is infinitely higher than us - He is Holy, set apart, transcendent above all. Yet, in His salvation, He makes himself to be wonderfully immanent - that is, near to us. Earlier we said that one of the highest and most glorious thoughts in all the scripture is that in the Gospel, God offers Himself to us - well here that is on display - For God was never obligated to make Himself near to us, neither was He obligated to reveal Himself to us - yet He draws near to us in offering Salvation through Christ - so the command goes out, Seek Him while He is near!

Come, see and rejoice, for God’s Word will never fail - 10-13

All of this is sweetened by the great promises in verses 10-11. For God’s offer of salvation is secured in His sovereignty.

The author of Hebrews, speaking of how Christ is an eternal, perfect High Priest says this:

Hebrews 7:22–25 ESV

This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

What does this mean, that He is able to save “to the uttermost?” That is, he is able to save completely - which means both completely in quantity, but also in duration. Jesus saves us completely from the wrath of God and sin, in that when we find salvation through Christ, we have no fear of condemnation - he saves completely. But also, he saves us completely for all times - meaning, we cannot be cast out from His salvation.

All this to say, when God sends forth His Word to accomplish the salvation of a lost soul, It does that work efficiently and completely. Faith comes by hearing the word. And it is not just a word of poetry or prose or literature, but it is the living word of God which gives life. The sweetness of the commands to come to God, to seek Him and call upon Him are found in the fact that He does exactly what He says He will do. God has a 100% success rate in saving souls. There is not one soul who has desired the Lord and genuinely come to Him in faith which has been lost or cast away. Do not fear that it would be any different with you, dear one!

Verses 12-13 are a great song of praise because of the salvation of the Lord.

Joy, peace, singing, trees even clapping their hands for joy.

a cypress where there were thorns, a myrtle where there were briers.

Thorns were part of the curse on the earth after Adam’s sin - they picture sin and its effects. But here, the song of joy tells of Life where there was death, blessing where there was curse, and this is an everlasting sign of the Lord’s covenant - a sign that will not be cut off.

This chapter has been a great invitation for those who are without the Lord to come to Him. Do you thirst spiritually? Come to the Lord! Do you hunger? Come to the Lord! Call upon Him while He makes Himself near - seek Him while He reveals Himself. Do not fear the rejection of the Lord if you come to Him, for as Jesus said in John 6

John 6:37 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

But in studying this, I found great application for myself. The sharp, heavy imagery of famine, drought, thirst, hunger, starvation to the point of death, physical torment because of poverty and destitute. And I asked myself, do I hunger and thirst for the Lord in this capacity?

Have you ever been so thirsty that a glass of water tasted sweet? Water becomes bland and even boring to us. We are surrounded by streams and rivers. We have running water in our taps, in bottles, in fountains. We often see rain and snow and dew. Water loses its sweetness when we forget what it means to thirst. Dear one, has the water of the Gospel lost its sweetness to you? Are you so surrounded by God’s work and God’s people that you forget what it means to truly hunger and thirst for the Lord? If you find yourself in that place, then perhaps the call of Isaiah 55 to you is to remember what it is like to thirst to the point of death, and the sweetness of God’s Salvation that rescued you from that pit! Remember the great truth that God Himself is the provision of salvation. Ask, as David did, for God to restore to you the joy of your salvation! And as we saw even the trees would clap their hands for joy, and the mountains and hills break forth in singing, those of us who have been redeemed by the Lord should be the first to proclaim His greatness and majesty, the first to ring out the call

and that call is to Come to the God of Compassion and Pardon.