Isaiah, Chapters 54-55

Good morning. Glad you're able to slide in here this morning and join us. Courtney read for us the first couple of verses out of this passage we'll be looking at this morning. And as we look at it, this is a chapter that we'll be looking at, 13 verses long.

And just to give us some context for that, we've been going through the book of Isaiah for over a year now. We have been, as of recent months, starting in chapter 40 in the last half, which has a particular characteristic, a general theme and focus of deliverance. And as we look at this also, we've just finished up this last week. the fourth servant song that goes in this last half of Isaiah and the passage we're looking at this morning is in fact the refrain of that servant song. that we looked at in recent weeks. One of the key things I think to bring forward is that, pardon the pie chart here, the key things to bring forward, Isaiah is about one out of every five Old Testament quotes in the New Testament. It's very commonly quoted. But probably 80% of those are from the passage we just looked at, a very focal point passage. We're on the home stretch in our study of Isaiah. And what does that look like?

Today, we'll be resuming a pattern of kind of covering two or three chapters at a time, looking more particularly at select passages within those. In this case, we're going to cover one whole chapter, but it's a fairly short one. As we proceed next week, we will be getting into this section from 56 on to the end of the book of Isaiah. It's been called the Book of the Anointed Conqueror. And so we'll be beginning to address that next week.

Now, we're going to move back to what we had been doing before now that we're through munching through Isaiah 53. We're going to be doing kind of a summary of two and sometimes three chapters at a time before we step into the details of the particular chapter.

This is the flyover of Isaiah chapters 54 and 55. Chapter 54 is a part of Isaiah's refrain or celebration of the Lord's salvation, of the Lord's work of redemption. The Song of the Suffering Servant that we completed last week. It is kind of part one of the chorus, if you will. And chapter 55 says, okay, what do you do with that? Here's the salvation. How do you respond to it? How do you deal with it? It points to the need for people to appropriate that salvation accomplished by God, to appropriate that by faith. That's what this passage is focusing on.

It also has a characteristic we've been pointing out among different parts of Isaiah. This particular chapter is what's called a chiasm, a mirror image in writing. It has this appearance. You'll see it on page 1 of your handout. So in the middle here, verses 6 and 7, is kind of the turning point, the center point of that chapter. And this entire mirror image chapter talks about the offer and the invitation to partake, to take part in the deep and rich and infinite grace of the Lord. That's what this chapter is focusing on. Alright, so we're going to take a look now at the whole chapter. And I'll just remind you, we'll be eating the whole enchilada here.

Alright? But don't worry. See that hot stuff at the bottom of the plate? It starts off with water, so you'll be able to cool this off a bit. You're not worried about cooling off right now anyway. Okay. Here's the first three verses. One of the things you'll notice that shows up, there's me with capital letters. I'm not talking about Vern.

This is about the Lord. There is I. It is the Lord speaking, and that's the focal point. to get here. It is the Lord speaking as you read this chapter. God is speaking to you. This is the Lord speaking directly to you. The other thing to note as we look at the first few verses, we start to gather some verbs as we look through the passage.

Come. Come. Come by. Listen. Delight. Incline your ear. Come. Listen. The Lord is in these first verses looking for a response. His appeal in this particular part is directly to Israel to respond favorably to the Lord's incredibly, exceedingly gracious offer. So here he says, come and eat.

That's how he starts this off. It's a metaphor for listening to and responding at heart to God's exceedingly gracious offer. It's an interesting thing in the culture of the time of when a new king would come into power, it was the cultural custom for that king to give everybody in the kingdom a free meal. Isn't that something? So he does that here. This is the invitation of the king.

Come have a free meal on me. Only he means more than just eat. More than just put food in your mouth. Let's see what he's talking about here. He starts off The first verse, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come. Buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. This metaphor of spiritual thirst, and I know it's hard to think right now of water in any form but solid, but this metaphor of spiritual thirst is carried forward in the Gospel of John and also in John's Apocalypse the book of Revelation.

Interesting that John is the one who carries this idea of water and spiritual water in both places. He's the author. We oftentimes think of Paul as the one who writes unique things, and he is. He writes some unique things. John also is one who writes unique things. He is the one, for example, that in both the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation calls Christ the Lamb. The other thing that John uniquely points out among the New Testament authors is, here is the water of life, or the living water. We'll see that here. So, we're going to splash some water on you this morning. Are you ready for that? Fortunately, as Courtney pointed out, it's not cold in here. Otherwise, that would be dangerous. Alright.

Here is, before we get to the Gospel of John, Jeremiah 17.13.

Here is where the idea of living water is introduced. And he says, O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken, who? The fountain of living water, even the Lord. The Lord is called the fountain of living water. And by the way, as Jeremiah writes this, he's thinking, this is God. God is the one who is the source of living water.

Something else here, a spring or a fountain brings the water to you. It's not going down a well or going down and pulling it up. It's coming to you. This is entirely by grace. This is God's deliverance of it. A fountain or springs brings the water to you without the work on the part of you, the recipient. This idea of living water is carried forth in John chapter 4.

Jesus meets with the Samaritan woman at the well, which I'm sure, as you're aware, is something that was socially just completely unexpected. That was not something a Jew would do. First, to go into the land where the Samaritans were, but also to speak to a Samaritan woman. Right out there in public, that was unheard of. This was shocking stuff that we're about to read here.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan underscore woman? For Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. She said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where then will you get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water, the water right here in this well of Jacob, will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

In Revelation, John, the same author as the one who wrote the Gospel of John, records in verses 5-7, and I'll zero in on verse 6. Then he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of water of life. What did he say? without cost.

Same words as Isaiah in verse 1 of Isaiah 55. The other thing that jumps out here is he draws from not only Isaiah's without cost phrase, but also the water of life phrase from Jeremiah. Next chapter, Revelation 22, the first couple of verses start off, Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street, here is the river of the water of life. Let's see some more about what that's referring to. Here's Revelation 22, 17. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come.

And let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. In the Greek text of these verses and in the prior chapter, there 21.6, there's a definite article on the front of life. So it has this idea, the water of the life, putting the focus on the singular and specific life. The water of the life, the one singular source, the Lord Himself.

So as we look at Isaiah 55.1 here, notice something else.

Come to the waters. Now notice although the New Testament carries forth the idea that Jesus is the water of life, why do we see waters plural here? Well, it turns out in the Hebrew culture, in order to underscore the magnitude of something, the quality as being immense, plurals were used. And so waters would underscore the idea. We're not talking about just a little bit of water here or water of insignificant consequence, but incredible consequence, massive and abundant. That's why we've shown it here with sort of a broken waterfall with multiple streams.

We could show it probably, underscoring the idea, just as well as Niagara Falls. A massive supply. The Lord's supply of living water is not skimpy. The next thing He says in verse 1 there, "...and you who have no money, come by and eat." Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

You know, you go to the grocery store and you come up there with a big cartload of things and you begin unloading it on the table. You know what the guy says all the time when you get up there, don't you? First off, the first thing he tells you is, no, we never charge for any of this stuff, right?

Sure, yeah, right? Okay. But here is what Isaiah is saying. Isn't that amazing? This is amazing stuff. You who have no money, go ahead, come buy this stuff anyway. Got no money? Not a problem. Without money, without cost. It's not at your expense. The thing that's neat here, the things that we buy at the stores cost money. And they certainly want that paid for when you walk out the door. But the spiritual life that the Lord provides, no cost. As a matter of fact, we can't even hope to pay for it. We can't pay Him back. Oftentimes people will say, well, how can I return the thanks? No, you can't. You can't even touch it.

This is immense grace. Verse 2, what's the question being put to people here? Why do you spend money for what's not bread and your wages for that which will not satisfy? What's he putting the focus on here? People spend money and buy things and certainly that seems like a reasonable thing to do. He's not saying it isn't. But the reality is we can spend all kinds of money and not get what we really need. That's what he's putting the focus on. It's possible for people to simply pursue, and people do, Pursue things that are never really going to satisfy the deeper needs of life, the eternal needs, the needs that they have right now, that this world can never hope to fulfill.

We read in John 6.35 where the Lord says, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will not hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst. That's what Isaiah is getting across. There's a bread here that's not just the superficial stuff. He's not saying, no, you shouldn't eat that bread, the physical stuff, but He's saying that there is a depth and a nutrition that you need that's at a much deeper level and only the Lord can provide. Let's take a look here at that passage a little bit more deeply.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life, He who comes to Me, and I put this in Hebrew poetic pattern here, which is not the same case with your handout. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. Jesus was using a Hebrew poetic pattern, rhyming the meanings. Coming and believing, hungering and thirsting, rhyming together.

He says, I'm the bread of life. You want to be satisfied for those things? I'm the living water. I'm the bread of life. Truly, truly, I say to you, he says just a few verses later, verse 47, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. The I am is a go a me. In times past we've pointed that out, that that is a claim to deity.

In Exodus 3.14, where Moses is talking to the Lord who is speaking out of this burning bush, And Moses is saying, who should I say has sent me? The Greek Old Testament right there has ego emi. I am has sent you. It's a claim to deity.

So the Lord doesn't just say, I am the bread of life. But He in fact says, I, being God, am the bread of, and there's the definite article before life, I, being God, am the bread of the life. The one life. The life that you can't do without. The life that you must have. In Isaiah 55, the last part of verse 2 and into verse 3, there's this word abundance that shows up. And that you may live. John 10, boy that's amazing, John keeps coming up again here.

John 10.10, the last half of there, it says, that they may have life and have it, what?

Abundantly. Christ underscores. He didn't come to give you stingy spiritual life. He didn't come to give you just a tad tiny little bit. So you get an idea what it's like. No. Abundantly. The phrase that you may live is literally that your soul may live. You know there's all kinds of people living on this earth. I think the number is over six billion now. Living. Jesus said, no, I came to address a deeper level than that. This one. That your soul may live. That's what Isaiah is talking about here. The other thing pointed out in these verses is listen carefully. Incline your ear. Listen. The Lord, to hardly be more clear, repeatedly comes across with a message. He wants people to listen. He wants the message to get across.

The last part of verse three, he says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercies shown to David. Now, some folks will say, well, that must mean that's the covenant with David. Look at something, though. According to the mercies shown to David, one, already shown to him, and he says, I will make a covenant, not the one he already made. He's looking at a gracious covenant that he would make with the people of Israel, the new covenant And recorded several places in scripture, Jeremiah 31, 31 is one of them, but here's one of them, Isaiah 59, 21.

As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit which is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, not from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, says the Lord. Now and forever the Lord will make a covenant, a new covenant with Israel.

Now, if we look at these first three verses here, we're going to step into the next verses, verses four and five. This is on page three of your handout, if you're following along with us. He says, twice, behold. Now, we have to frequently give a warning here because we don't want any misunderstanding. We've said this before, behold does not mean holding bees, okay? Just so you got the idea. Not getting the idea across. I tried this when I was a kid. It doesn't work, okay? I don't recommend it, okay? So, no beholding. All right.

He wrote, behold here, 71 times in the book, two of them right here in these verses. And what is he saying there? He wants to call attention to the truths. He's saying, don't miss this. In the New Testament, Jesus would say, truly, truly. Pay attention to this one. I'm telling you, this counts. What's the idea? We can think of behold as stop and take a mental picture. Don't miss this one. Keep it in your mind.

That's what he's telling them. He wants us to capture and to consider the full impact of what's about to be said. What does he tell them? Verses 4 and 5 talk about this coming millennial kingdom. This time in the future where the Lord will reign from Jerusalem. The Lord will reign over the entire earth. We will be with the Lord during that time. Israel will have a place of honor among the nations. Something they don't enjoy even today. It's a place of trouble, isn't it? It's a place where a great many of Israel's neighbors would like to have them out of there and are willing to pay any price to have that come to pass.

Verses 6 and 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Now you know what we mean by this term window of opportunity? That's what he's expressing here. Seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. It's interesting that God has set a pattern in place of providing a window of opportunity for spiritual beings. Isn't that interesting? Let me show you what I mean.

We just recently went through a time where we celebrate the coming of our Lord, and one aspect of that is the angels coming and telling the shepherds about the Lord's birth. The angels, as we look at scripture, were given a window of opportunity, having apparently all been created at one time, they were given a window of opportunity to decide for or against the Lord. The indications we have in Scripture, Revelation chapter 12 being one of those, is that one-third of the angels decided to go against the Lord, the other two-thirds remaining faithful to Him. That's the window of opportunity that the angels had. We, however, as human beings, are given windows of opportunity, not all at one time like the angels, since we're not created all at one time, but as each is born. Each is given a window of opportunity to respond to the Lord until the time is done, until that window of opportunity closes. For us human beings, there are two spiritual windows of opportunity, if you will. One is to decide, do I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins and was buried and rose again? The opportunity for salvation.

Some people push the limits on that. My own grandmother was in her late 80s when, well, I'm talking about my dad's mother. She had gone her life long was not a believer. We were very concerned about her. And then about three weeks before she died, a neighbor, unbeknownst to us, presented the gospel to her. She pushed the limits right to the last few weeks, but that was her window of opportunity. She did within that time put her trust in the Lord.

That's one window of opportunity. The other window of opportunity is the one we have right now as believers. We have an opportunity right now to trust the Lord, to believe Him, to walk with Him. We have a moment-by-moment window of opportunity until the Lord takes us home, don't we?

Now, in the last part of verse 7, let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on Him and our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Notice, the Lord will have compassion. The Lord will abundantly pardon. Do you think the Lord is saying there, boy, I just can't wait to see Verne blow it? Because man, I'm going to make him just really fry. Now, right now that might sound good because it's cold out. But no, the Lord is not anxious. The Lord is not eager to see us blow it so He can nail us. That's not His game. The Lord is eager to be compassionate.

He is compassionate at heart. He will skimpily pardon? No. He will abundantly pardon. Isn't that wonderful? abundantly pardon. God is actively and abundantly gracious. We get into verses 8 and 9 there. These verses are specific into referring to God's infinite grace. Certainly the principle is true in a lot of different levels. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your 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." Specifically, in context, it has to do with the Lord is gracious.

Circumstances in which we would look at it and say, I want revenge. This idea of revenge is something that the world really grabs hold of. There's actually been a book how to get revenge, and it sold so well that the guy wrote a second book on how to get revenge. The world is really into that.

The Lord, however, is eager to pardon. He is abundantly gracious. His ways are higher than ours. It's not the natural human thing to do. The Lord is eager to pardon, so much so that He says, I will pay the price for justice. I'll pay the price for justice at my own expense, eager to pardon. This idea of something infinite is a little hard for us to grasp.

Ephesians 2, 4 through 7, this is where it begins with talking about how we're identified with Christ. God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved, there's grace, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that, now here's the infinite part, that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

How long? Just one age, right? No. The ages to come. How many ages are there to come? No end, right? Rolling age after rolling age. He might show. That word for show is to demonstrate. He might demonstrate for us in rolling ages on into eternity His skimpy grace? No. The surpassing riches. That word means overthrown. Way, way beyond. And then it's riches. It's wealth. It is an amazing, astounding wealth of grace. And He's going to show it to us. And He's not going to stop until He's done. And you know when He's going to be done? Never. He's not going to.

Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. That's the Lord's way. Infinite grace. This states this larger truth. He has revealed a lot of truth to us in creation, in our hearts, in Jesus Christ, in God's Word. God's grace is so surpassingly infinite, rolling ages will be required. After a million years, we'll just barely scratch the surface of His infinite grace. That's why His ways are harder than our ways. We need to be careful with the idea that we're going to understand everything about what God does and what God says.

People have reduced the content of Scripture at times even to say, I have to reduce this down to something I can comprehend. is shrink the Bible down so it fits here. You get that? See the Bible? Now let's make it little. And now we'll put it in here. That's what we have a pattern of doing. In various human thoughts, whether people are believers or unbelievers, often this is the approach. The caution that I have here is not to poke or to point criticism at somebody, but just a caution.

The Lord's ways are higher than our ways. His ways are above ours. We shouldn't shrink God's Word down and God's character down to what we can understand. Recognize He has revealed true truth to us. But in the end, we're not going to be able to comprehend His infinite grace.

The last part of it here, as for rain and snow come down from heaven, do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. The point here, God's word is spiritually effective. God's Word is spiritually effective.

Hebrews 4.12 says, The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit.

You know, we can do lots of things in this world to try to touch deep within ourselves. God's Word goes at a depth nowhere else can touch. Nowhere else can touch. It is His Holy Spirit spoken through men like Peter and Paul and Isaiah. Holy Spirit taking deep, deep words. There is infinite depth in God's Word.

And He says it is effective. It does accomplish what He desires. If you're looking for spiritual effectiveness in your life, something that gets traction down deep, God's Word, by God's intent, has that effect. God's Word is effective. That's the message of these verses here. 1 Peter 2, 2 and 3, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word so that by it you may grow. Growth by God's Word. God's Word is effective for growth in the believer. 2 Peter ends the book there, but grow.

Same word, in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not just knowledge of God's Word. If you want just pure knowledge, you can put that on your hard disk. This is knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ that comes through His Word. It's personal knowledge of Him. The last couple of verses there, As we look at these, Jerusalem and Israel and her peoples will be joyous and peaceful when the Prince of Peace reigns there.

Since we will forever be with the Lord, that's 1 Thessalonians 4.17, we will be there.

We will see this fulfilled with our own resurrection eyes, not the ones you've got now. Okay? I'm glad for that. Joy, peace, rejoicing and gladness. In the last chapter of Isaiah, we'll see this. Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice in her. All you who love her and be exceedingly glad with her. All you who mourn over her. And he continues to spell out that message in that last chapter.

We'll see that in more detail when we get there. Now, here's something interesting. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Now that's scary. You think about that? Next time you're driving on Interstate 70, just imagine the mountains and the hills breaking forth with sounds of joy. That's scary.

And the trees of the field clap their hands. That's fine as long as I'm not between them. This is a figure of speech called personification. The folks in the Romans class actually saw this just recently. Inanimate things are given personal emotions and actions.

In Psalm 98, it says, let the sea roar and all it contains. That might not be too extraordinary. But then the next one, let the rivers clap their hands. If you're riding on a boat on that river, that's going to be something. And let the mountains sing together for joy. Now, that wouldn't be too bad. Okay? But these are personifications.

It's to express the joy in the Lord's reign. Here we see in Isaiah 49, a chapter we saw not too long ago, "...shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth. Break forth in joyful shouting, O mountains." And then the passage that they saw in the Romans class recently, "...creation longing and groaning."

Okay, now we've been through this passage here quickly, but we've been through it. We ate the whole enchilada. And with the temperatures outside, you might even want to do the peppers. But, what I'd like to have us focus on here is this water that He started off with. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, is the invitation He starts the passage off with here, without cost.

Interesting as we look at that in Revelation 22.17, the Spirit and the Bride say, The Holy Spirit speaking in hearts and through God's Word. The Bride, guess who? That's us. The Spirit and the Bride. We join with the Holy Spirit in this declaration.

We say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, as Gene played, like the deer who pants for the waters, come. And let the one who wishes take the water of life, Jesus Christ the living water, without cost. Think of this.

The Lord offers himself graciously mountains of grace, fountains of grace, rivers of grace, the Lord himself. Seas of grace. Oceans of grace. Lots and lots of surpassing riches of the Lord's grace offered to you through Jesus Christ. Fellowship with Him. It's like that. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Jesus Christ, the source given for us. Everyone who thirsts, even among us here in the church body. Grace for us.

Oceans of grace. For things we're thinking about within our own hearts. Things that concern us. Oceans of grace. The Lord, the deep satisfaction of those things. The things that maybe have us concerned. The Lord Jesus Christ. Oceans of grace. People that you love and are dear to you. The Lord's grace. The Lord offers himself for all of them.

As we think about that, just ponder this passage here. Come to the waters. The invitation is for the Lord. Have you found that in your own life? The Lord satisfies? Have you found in your own life that the Lord doesn't say, OK, that's enough. I'm through giving you my grace.

No. The Lord is abundantly gracious. The Lord satisfies deeply when nothing else can. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. The abundant grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The surpassing riches of His grace. The marvelous fellowship with Him. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would indeed draw our hearts to the waters, the waters which are in fact the living water of Jesus Christ. And as has been presented here in this passage, and you end the very last chapter of the Bible presenting the same thought, whosoever is thirsty, whosoever wills, come. We pray that our hearts would be drawn to come. not holding back because we can't pay back, not holding back because we can't earn it, but recognizing it comes at your expense, it comes without cost to us. Grace freely, grace surpassing, grace abundant, grace rich, grace never ending, eternally shown, marvelously and unfathomably to us. Thank you, Lord, for your love. In Jesus' name, Amen.