Isaiah 55

Introduction

This morning we will be looking at Isaiah 55... (p. 615)

Context

As we begin to look at Isaiah 55 it is clear that we are jumping into the middle of a conversation that has been going on for some time. In order to understand what is being said in this chapter, it will be helpful to frame the context by reviewing the major developments in the first 54 chapters...

Isaiah was a prophet living in Judah in the 8th Century before Jesus was born. The 12 tribes of Israel had once been united under one king, but by the time Isaiah came around the tribes had been divided for generations. There was the northern kingdom (simply called Israel) and the southern kingdom, Judah.

Isaiah’s ministry was to Judah and its capital city of Jerusalem. His job was to call the people to repentance. Even though they had the Law and the Prophets, these people continued to neglect the true worship of God and instead settled for the worship of idols. On top of that they continued to break the Law that God has established and were allowing all kinds of evil and unjust practices to permeate the land. As a result God sent Isaiah to warn them of the judgment that would come if they did not repent. (This is basically what the first 35 chapters of Isaiah are all about).

In chapters 36-39, we discover that the northern kingdom of Israel has been captured by the powerful Assyrian empire. This is presented unambiguously as the judgment of God that had been forewarned. Now during this time, God graciously and miraculously saves the nation of Judah from the Assyrians. However, He warns them that if they continue in their idolatry and injustice then He will indeed bring another foreign power to destroy their cities and take them as captives.

By the time we get to chapter 40, the tone shifts significantly. Exile and judgment are promised because God knows the people of Judah will not give up on their sinful lifestyle. However God also promises that there will be restoration on the other side of the exile. This is really what chapters 40-66 are all about.

Specifically chapters 49-55 describe the work of God’s servant. In chapters 52-53 we are told in vivid language how God’s servant will take our sin and upon himself, and even though he is innocent will be judged by God - in our place. And in so doing, this blameless servant of God will bring us peace with God. The New Testament (Acts 8 in particular) makes it abundantly clear that this is a prophecy about Jesus and his death on the cross. Jesus is the blameless servant of God who takes our sin upon Himself. It is only by his death that we have access to God.

Isaiah 54-55 then examines the benefits received from the work of this Servant: ch 54 focuses on the benefits to Israel and ch 55 focuses on the benefits to the whole world. So this is where we pick up. Because the servant of God (Jesus) has taken our sin upon Himself, the whole world (the nations) is now addressed by the prophet Isaiah as he declares God’s command to "hear that your soul may live”

Read Isaiah 55

1. The Benefit of Free Acceptance

When we pick up Isaiah 55 we are met with a forceful invitation. This is not a timid request but rather a beckoning to the table of grace. To the one who is thirsty there is refreshing, life-giving water. To the one who is hungry, there is rich, satisfying food. To the one who is poor and destitute, there is a banquet, a feast to be enjoyed. All for free.

Now we know that the first rule of economics is that “theres no such thing as a free lunch.” We hear the words “free” and we start wondering what the catch is. What strings are attached here. People don’t usually give away rich and expensive things for free. We want to read the fine print before we sit down to enjoy the free lunch. Yet here in the gospel of grace we are invited to the table without money or price. Why? Because it has already been paid for. It’s not cheap. It didn’t come easy. It is expensive, costly and it’s already been taken care of.

Isaiah’s Suffering Servant took our sin upon himself. He bore our shame and our guilt and though he himself is innocent, he took the punishment for our sins on himself. Because of the work of this Servant, the idolaters and the wicked and the unrighteous - the gentile nations (i.e. you and me) - are freely accepted, totally welcome in the kingdom of God.

Now who wouldn’t want a free meal? Who wouldn’t want to feast for free? Well what is actually being communicated here? The water and the wine and the milk and the rich foods are of course a metaphor for delighting in God Himself.

The relationship that we have with God is the greatest gift. God Himself satisfies us with His presence.

Saint Augustine wrote that ‘You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

C.S. Lewis, drawing from Augustine, once wrote ““All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

That exact feeling is communicated here. To worship anything other than God is to effectively invest without any return. It’s to work and never get paid. It’s to sacrifice and never receive. It’s to plant seed and harvest dust.

To come to God, in this sense, - to seek after Him - is to ultimately give up on our attempt make ourselves happy in something other than God. He is what our very soul longs for and so to give up on our idolatry and to embrace the true worship of this God that is no sacrifice, it is a feast. And we are freely invited because of the work of the Suffering Servant who took the penalty for our crimes against God upon Himself. He paid the price for our place at the table of this feast.

God is not like us. If we have been wronged we want revenge. If we are offended, then we are often slow to forgive. But that is not how thinks or acts. No matter where’ve you been, what you’ve seen, what you’ve done or what’s been done to you … turn to God, seek after Him and you will receive compassion and abundant pardon.

Come to Him and you will find full acceptance. You will find a place at this table, a place in this family, this kingdom forever.

Don’t forget the words of Jesus in John 6:37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

2. The Benefit of Everlasting Security

We now need to look at verses 3-5 because something incredibly important happening here. God is not only offering this urgent and extravagant invitation, He is also making a promise about the future. There is coming a future covenant that will last forever. In other words, God is saying that - although He has everything to offer these people, and though they have nothing to give Him in return - He will bind himself to them in a relationship that will never be dissolved. He is going to commit Himself to them forever.

This covenant that is coming will be like the covenant that God made with King David (2 Samuel 7; cf. Ps 89), in which God promised that a descendant of David would sit on the throne forever. That promise was not conditional on anything that David would do. It was simply a promise from God that the rule and reign of David’s descendant would last forever.

Here in Isaiah 55 this is presented as good news for not only Israel but for the whole world. The nations will come to this future King and will come under his rule and be blessed by Him. When this happens God will be glorified. Now remember the context… all this is promised because of God’s Suffering Servant has made peace between us and God.

Now here is the gospel bombshell: what is hinted at in this passage is made explicitly clear in the New Testament.... the Suffering Servant is one and the same as this future King. The one who was despised and rejected and beaten and killed to save us, is none other than the King who will rule over all nations and bring blessing to the whole world. His name is Jesus.

A good king will provide for establish his people and provide them with security and protection. His people will have what they need to survive and even thrive. Like a good shepherd who leads his flock to fresh water and green pastures and protects them from predators. This is what King Jesus offers us if we will come to Him. This is eternal life. Life in relationship with and under the protection of our Savior and our King. All are welcome, all are invited to become citizens of this Kingdom. If we will turn away from our idolatry and instead delight ourselves in God.

But let us focus for a moment of the words of verse 3: “everlasting covenant… steadfast, sure love for David.” Why can we take comfort in God’s promise of eternal and steadfast love? And here we do actually need to get pretty specific. This passage contains a strong and urgent call to repentance - that is the turning away from idolatry and turning towards Jesus. But is our repentance the basis for our salvation? The answer is ultimately “no.”

Hear me out on this. Repentance is vital for salvation, but it is not the basis of it. We’ve seen already that the only reason we can be invited to have this relationship with God is that Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. But the reason that we even accept this invitation at all is because the word of God is effective to accomplish all that God has purposed.

God has chosen to redeem us, to call us out from the world, to bring us into His Kingdom and to save us eternally. It is his word that makes this happen. If we hear this invitation and receive it and delight ourselves in God, this is the evidence of His word in action. At the end of the day we cannot make ourselves right with God. We cannot atone for our sins or turn from our idolatry on our own. It is God who calls us to Himself and draws us in and keeps us.

It is this very idea that we have been hearing from Jesus in John 17...

I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. (John 17:6-8, CSB)

Colossians 1:13-14 describes this same reality in vivid language...

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Church, this really good news. God has committed Himself to love and protect and satisfy His people forever. It not because of anything we have done to deserve, or because we will ever deserve it. God has done everything from beginning to end. His word always accomplished His purpose, and He had purposed to save a people for His own glory from every nation. All are invited to participate in this. All who receive this invitation in faith and turn away from their idolatry will never be cast out, but will be kept by God forever.

3. The Benefit of Future Restoration

Finally we turn out attention to the benefit of future restoration. You see the death of Christ not only redeems sinners from death and wrath, but also redeems the entire created world. It is not only people who are rejoicing and praising God, but the mountains and hills and trees - nature! Of course this is a bit of poetic language, so we don’t literally expect mountains to break out in song. But this metaphorical poetry does point to something very real.

Consider this last verse, 55:13, the thorns and thistles will be replaced by evergreens. It has been pointed out by many Bible readers that this sounds like the exact opposite of Genesis 3:18. Do you remember Genesis 3:18. Adam and Eve had been living in the garden of Eden - this world same world that we inhabit was once paradise, but because of human rebellion against God, the whole planet was placed under a curse.

And to Adam he said,“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. (Genesis 3:17-18, ESV)

This everlasting covenant that God is making with His people, which is made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and which centers on His universal rule as eternal King.... is a complete reversal of the curse of sin. It is the undoing of sin’s effect.

Colossians 1:19-20 describes Jesus in these terms...

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Because of the work of the Suffering Servant - or we can say, because of the death, burial and resurrection of King Jesus - all of creation is being restored. The work of renewal that has His effective word has begun in our hearts is only the beginning of what will come in the future.

Look around and you see a world beat up and exhausted - sickness, poverty, warfare, death. But it will not always be this way. Because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on that cross 2000 years ago, the entire created world is headed towards restoration and renewal.

Conclusion

Isaiah 55 presents us with universally good news. Jesus has suffered and died in our place, but He is alive and reigning over all Creation as its rightful King. One day all things will be made new and sin and death will be no more.

So if you want to get in on this, there is still time. There will not always be time, but if you’re hearing this, then there is an opportunity right now to do so.

If, in the words of Augustine, you find that your heart is restless… searching for home but never finding it, look no further than Jesus. He has created us for Himself, to praise Him and it this very thing that our hearts long for. If your life has been up to this point a quest to make yourself happy apart from God, please give up! Instead look to King Jesus, confess your sin to him, and accept His offer of free and eternal forgiveness.