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!
Isaiah 55 opens with a public cry, the kind a street trader uses to stop passers-by — except that here nothing is for sale. Three questions press on the reader: who may come, what is on offer, and how anyone with no money can buy.
Isaiah 55 does not stand alone. It is the third step in a sequence.
Isaiah 53 predicts the atoning work of Christ; Isaiah 54, the resulting blessing of Israel; Isaiah 55, grace flowing out to the Gentiles.
The word "everyone" is not decoration. Once God shows mercy to Israel, nothing holds that mercy back from anyone else.
If God, in the restoration of Israel, acts "with great mercies" as foretold in the previous chapter (verse 7), what is to hinder the same grace flowing out to a needy and sinful world? So in chapter 55 we have the invitation of free grace proclaimed to "everyone" — Jew and Gentile alike.
Many readers stumble here, wondering whether their longing is deep enough to count. That worry misreads the invitation.
Thirst is a craving that only the right drink can satisfy. The thirst of an anxious soul is really for God and His Christ, though the person could probably not put it in those words. The point is not the measure of your anxiety, but the fact of your being "thirsty" or willing at all. If so, hear the word of the Lord: "To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment… Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Rev. 21:6; 22:17). What lovely words! "I will give… without payment." That is God's side. "Let him take… without price." That is your side. God gives; all you have to do is take what He gives.
Two reasons stand behind "without money" — one on God's side, one on ours. Both rule out payment.
Man is needy, and admits it, yet imagines he must bring God something in return before he can get what he needs. If you, my reader, belong to this mistaken group, may God open your eyes to see His way of salvation. His grace provides it, not your works of any kind. There are two good reasons for this. First, God is too rich to sell salvation; and second, man is too poor to buy it. So you must get it as a gift, if you are to get it at all.
If nothing is paid, the command to buy seems strange. It is chosen for what buying implies about the buyer.
Why "buy"? Because it assumes a person is in earnest. When someone goes into a shop to "buy" something, his very presence there shows he really wanted it. Otherwise he would not have taken the trouble to walk in. Buying implies direct dealing between two parties. This is exactly what God wants. He wishes you brought into His own presence in real desire to have salvation — the water of life — Christ. You come. What then? You find it is all a gift.
"Without price" does not mean the blessing was cheap. It means the bill went elsewhere.
If someone owns his poverty as a bankrupt sinner, and comes to Christ in true soul thirst and need, he finds he can buy divine righteousness without money or price. The reason is that the Saviour paid the great price of it in full at Calvary.
The verse names wine and milk. Each meets a different need in the soul.
In Scripture wine speaks of joy and gladness. Here God invites the poor to buy the wine that makes glad the heart of God and man. But how can we buy if we have no money? All that God asks from us is faith in Himself, and in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Coming to Him in faith we receive the blessings of the gospel. One of them is "joy in the Holy Spirit." Another divine blessing is "milk," which nourishes us, sustains us and helps us grow in the things of God — "the pure spiritual milk" (1 Peter 2:2).
The invitation does not stop at the gifts.
Three times over in Isaiah 55:1 the cry is to "come" for the blessings of God. But in verse 3 the Lord says, "Incline your ear, and come to me." It is good to come for blessing that God has provided. How very wonderful that we can come to the Lord Himself, the source of all the blessing. Coming to Him, having heard His voice, we receive life, for He says, "Come to me… that your soul may live."
- Cost paid. The invitation follows Isaiah 53: the Saviour paid the whole price at Calvary, so the counter charges you nothing.
- Price removed. God is too rich to sell salvation and man too poor to buy it, so it can only come as a gift.
- Thirst owned. Thirst is the whole qualification — not how strong your longing is, only that you want it.
- Doors opened. "Everyone" carries the offer past Israel to a needy world, Jew and Gentile alike.
- Life given. Water, wine and milk answer thirst, joy and growth — but the last "come" points past the gifts to the Giver, so that your soul may live.
Wherefore do ye spend money for [that which is] not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye [that which is] good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
God interrupts the free invitation of the previous verse with a question. Before He offers His food, He asks them to look at what they are already buying — and at what it gives them back.
Verse 1 speaks to the person with no money at all. Verse 2 turns to a different listener: the one who has money and buys what is worthless. One writer draws out what "bread" stands for here:
There were not only the poor who had no money. God offered them His blessings. There were also the rich, who had money and spent it on what was not bread. In Scripture, bread is what is needed to keep life going. And the usual bent of the rich is to seek things that destroy the soul instead of things that feed it.
The second half of the question is about effort, not only cash. The work itself does not satisfy. One writer explains why:
As long as anyone's heart seeks rest, satisfaction, or happiness in this world, it will find only disappointment... The heart of man is too large for this world to fill. Its capacities are too vast for everything under the heavens to satisfy... But suppose a man reached every object he desired and held it all — what would he gain? Only a deeper sense that all is empty. Earthly good has no power to fill the aching emptiness inside. Every worldly pleasure, amusement and indulgence leaves the soul more thirsty than ever.
If nothing bought will satisfy, what is the craving for? One writer names what the thirsty soul is after, even when it cannot put that into words:
The thirsty are invited. And are you not among that number? You certainly are, if you have not yet found Jesus. Our verses say that "your labor," whatever it is, "does not satisfy." Thirst is a craving that only the right drink can satisfy. Now the thirst of an anxious soul is really for God and His Christ, though very likely it could not put it in so many words.
The verse is not only about pleasure and profit. People can spend money and effort on religious things that still leave the soul unfed:
Don't many of the religious books of today bear clear marks of a famine of the word of God? After reading pages of them we have sometimes said, "There is no ministry of Christ here. Where is food for souls?" ... We say it to warn Christian writers and readers. They should not waste their time, energy and money on what neither honours the Lord nor feeds souls.
The remedy God gives is to listen closely and eat what is good. One writer sets what that "good" is against the kind of blessing Israel might have expected:
What better could be known than "life" above the life of nature, received through faith in the divine Word — with Jehovah's favour enjoyed as well? This was not blessing in the city and in the field, or in the cattle and in the flock, in the basket and in the kneading bowl. It was not even being made the head rather than the tail. Old Testament believers knew this blessing and had it by grace, though far from the fullness we now have through and in Christ.
The good food comes with a condition — hearing:
Only those who listen closely to the Lord know what is good for the soul. Only those who hear His word will delight their souls in His rich provision.
"Eat what is good" raises a question: where is that food found? The answer is not a thing but a Person:
But where, you may ask again, are we to find the needed and suited portion for the soul? Let the Spirit of Truth answer... Christ Himself is the life and food of the soul. "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). Here, and here alone, the soul of man will find eternal rest. He is the only perfect and permanent good of the soul... Christ not only fills, but overflows the soul that is occupied with Him alone.
- Diagnosis — "Bread" is what keeps life going. The verse finds people paying good money for what cannot keep a soul alive.
- Evidence — The heart is too large for the world to fill, so every pleasure leaves it thirstier than before.
- Meaning — The thirst itself points somewhere. It is really a thirst for God and His Christ.
- Warning — Religious activity can be "not bread" too, if there is no ministry of Christ in it and souls go unfed.
- Cure — Listen closely and eat what is good: life and God's favour, found in Christ Himself. He does not just fill the soul; He overflows it.
Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.
God speaks here to a people with nothing to offer, and instead of demanding payment He asks only for an open ear. It ties three things together: hearing that leads to life, a covenant that never expires, and a promise once made to David. The writers here find all three settled in a risen Christ.
The chapter has already called people to come for water, wine and milk. Verse 3 changes the destination — the invitation is no longer to a supply, but to a Person.
Three times over in Isaiah 55:1 the cry is to "come" for the blessings of God. But in verse 3 the Lord says, "Incline your ear, and come to me." It is good to come for blessing that God has provided. How wonderful that we can come to the Lord Himself, the source of all the blessing. Coming to Him, having heard His voice, we receive life, for He says, "Come… that your soul may live."
Listening is not a small first step before the real work begins. It is how the life comes.
The wisdom commended here does not come by the sight of the eyes, or by the activity of the mind, or even by training the affections. "Hear, that your soul may live," said Isaiah; and so the Apostle, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Older translations end the verse with the words "the sure mercies of David," and the writers quoted here use that wording. The phrase points back to a promise God had already sworn to David.
What are the sure mercies of David? Perhaps Psalm 89:3-4 provides the answer. God is speaking: "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 'I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.'" God's promise to David was that his line would continue and his rule in His Name would also continue… When God sought to impress His people with the offer of stable and satisfying blessing, He reminds them of His covenant with David — a covenant He will never take back.
One writer traces the word sure straight back to the resurrection.
We must have Christ's resurrection even to get the earthly blessings of Israel. That is why, in Acts 13, Paul says that God raised Christ "up from the dead, no more to return to corruption"… Israel could not have them without death and resurrection. So the sure mercies of David are proof of resurrection. Until then, nothing was sure. If they trusted in a living man, all failed.
Israel had ruined every claim on God's kindness. One writer asks how blessing could still come.
If Israel had crucified the very One who was to bring them blessing, and if they had broken the covenant that promised them blessing, how could God still bless them? This could only become true out of pure grace and mercy… This verse links the sure mercies of David with the new covenant (Jer. 31:31). That covenant is pure grace: God takes all the obligations, and Israel receives all the blessing. Only one foundation can carry it: the shedding of the blood of Christ (Matt. 26:28; see also Isa. 54:10).
The invitation was never for Israel alone. One writer points to two men in Acts who lived it out.
Isaiah 55 opens with a call to "everyone who thirsts," so we move past the borders of Israel to blessings that will reach the Gentiles through the work of the Servant who has died. We see this in Acts 8 and 10. The Ethiopian's thirst led him to travel a long way to Jerusalem, seeking after God. The thirst of Cornelius led him to prayer and giving to the poor. In both cases they were looking for water to quench their thirst, and they got more — even "wine and milk without money and without price." They got it by inclining their ear and coming to the Source Himself. They heard and their souls lived, just as the prophet said in these verses. So even Gentiles are to enjoy the blessings of "the everlasting covenant."
What David received as a promise, Christ has now secured as a fact.
The covenant is "an everlasting covenant." He is "WITNESS," "PRINCE," and "COMMANDER," so nothing can fail. The sure mercies were promised. Now they are secured, and those who turn to Him have them in Christ… These sure mercies speak of abundant pardon and full blessing.
- Hear — the verse asks for an ear, not a payment; life comes by listening, because faith comes by hearing.
- Come — the invitation is not just to the blessings but to the Giver Himself. Coming to Him is where the soul begins to live.
- Sure — the mercies are sure because they rest on a risen Christ. Trust in a man who could still die secured nothing.
- Everlasting — this covenant is pure grace. God carries every obligation, and it rests on the blood of Christ, not on Israel's record.
- Held — what God promised to David, Christ has secured; everyone who turns to Him now has it.
Behold, I have given him [for] a witness to the peoples, a prince and commander to the peoples.
The invitation of this chapter costs nothing. But it rests on a Person. God breaks off His call to come and live, and points to someone He has given. Verse 4 names Him three ways: witness, leader, commander. Who is this "him," and who is He given to?
The chapter speaks to Israel, yet its language keeps widening. One writer reads verses 1 to 4 together and finds the identity of this person plain.
Clearly this points to some outstanding One, and no believer need hesitate about who He is. It is the Lord Jesus in royal relation to Israel (v. 3), and along with that a witness and commander to the peoples of the earth (v. 4).
How far does this gift reach? One writer answers from a detail of translation, then says what each title does.
Gentiles are definitely in view also in verse 4, since the word "people," which occurs twice, should be in the plural. God's Holy Servant, risen from the dead, is given as "a Witness to the peoples, a Leader and Commander to the peoples." As the Witness He makes God known to men. As the Leader and Commander He brings men into subjection to God.
The first title has no partners. He holds a place as witness that nobody else can share.
As the Witness to the peoples He stands absolutely alone. He only is the Declarer of God, being the only begotten Son, who abides "in the bosom of the Father" (John 1:18). He is "the faithful Witness," and again, "the faithful and true Witness" (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 3:14). So in Him we really know God as He is. We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, since people in the world always tend to judge God by what they find in the world. So they utterly misjudge Him, and frame their complaints against Him.
The second and third titles work differently from the first. Neither one stands on its own. Each assumes people on the receiving end.
If He stands alone as Witness, we can see a contrast when we consider Him as Leader and Commander. Here others are necessarily in view — those whom He leads and commands. As Leader He goes before us, marks out the path and shows the way. As Commander He issues directions and instructs us in all that is the will of God. We need both: we find both in Him, for God has made that same Jesus, whom men crucified, "both Lord and Christ." As Lord He stands on God's behalf, directing and teaching, which answers to "Commander." As Christ He takes His place as the risen and anointed Head of all redeemed creation, and Head of His church in particular. That unfolds more fully what "Leader" sets out.
Verse 3 promises an everlasting covenant and the sure mercies of David. Why can those promises never fail? One writer points to the death and resurrection of Christ.
All, therefore, is stable, sure and safe in the hand of Him who died and rose again. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." He is the great Shepherd of the sheep, brought back from among the dead "in the power of the blood of the everlasting covenant." The covenant is "an everlasting covenant." And He is "WITNESS," "PRINCE," and "COMMANDER," so nothing can fail. God promised the sure mercies; Christ has now secured them; and those who turn to Him hold them in Christ.
One writer sets the verse against the long, dark history of Israel and the day that will end it.
Dark has been the history of that people ever since, in spite of repeated revivals and restorations, and dark it will continue to be until the glorious day shall come when (as we read in Isaiah 55:4), "I have given Him … for a leader and commander to the people."
Yet not all of this waits for that day. The writer quoted earlier turns the verse on the reader now.
The same thing is true in principle today, as men and women from a thousand different peoples hear the Gospel and find in Jesus the One whom God has made both Lord and Christ. Let each reader challenge his or her heart. Have I received His witness in full? Is He truly Leader and Commander in my life?
- Given — God's answer to the invitation of verses 1–3 is not a plan but a Person: "Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples." Older translations read, "I have given him."
- Witness — He alone declares God, for He is God's only begotten Son — God's unique Son. So we learn what God is like from Him, not from the world around us.
- Leader — He goes before, marks out the path and shows the way; the title assumes followers.
- Commander — He gives the directions and teaches the will of God. God has made that same Jesus, whom men crucified, both Lord and Christ.
- Peoples — the word is plural. The gift reaches past Israel to the nations — in full in the coming day, and already in principle wherever people believe the good news.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation thou knowest not, and a nation [that] knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of Jehovah thy God, and the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Isaiah 55 opens with a call to everyone who is thirsty. By the fifth verse that call has reached past Israel's borders, out to nations that have never heard of the speaker. Two questions decide how the verse reads. Who is the "you" who will call a nation he does not know? And why do strangers run to him?
One writer traces a movement across four chapters, ending in a house open to all peoples:
The great Messianic prophecy in the later part of Isaiah is a case in point. Isaiah 53 predicts the atoning work of Christ. Isaiah 54 predicts the blessing of Israel that follows. Isaiah 55 predicts grace flowing out to the Gentiles. Isaiah 56 predicts the house of the Lord established as the centre where all who fear His Name will be gathered — His house "a house of prayer for all peoples."
Up to this point the chapter speaks to people. In verse 5 the address changes:
Verse 1 gives a call to all who thirst. Verse 2 presents an argument meant to enforce the call. Verse 3 gives an invitation to life and mercy. Verses 4 and 5 make very definite announcements. Only the announcement of verse 4 speaks to men. In verse 5 we find the Lord's announcement to His Servant risen from the dead. It states in different words what Isaiah 49:6 had already said. This has definite application to the present age, when God is visiting the nations and taking out of them a people for His Name. In our verse it is tied to His present glory. Many from among the nations are running to Him today, while He is glorified on high.
Commentators differ. Another writer keeps verse 5 among the national promises made to Israel:
Israel will one day break into singing, because they will believe in the One they once despised. Meanwhile the invitation to a free and full salvation goes out to everyone. But the national promises to Israel are in evidence in verses 3-5. And when Israel is redeemed, the invitation to salvation will go out as never before. Now individuals are saved. Then nations will be brought into the kingdom.
Verse 3 promised God's "steadfast, sure love for David." The New Testament ties that promise to Christ raised from the dead:
His resurrection secures everything God promised to Israel. It is also the occasion for the outflow of the grace that calls, and will yet call, Gentiles into a share of God's blessing and of the knowledge of Himself. Before death and resurrection He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yet He could never deny His deeper glory, or His grace to the faith that saw either.
The verse gives its own reason for the running: God has glorified the one they run to. One writer finds the same thought in words Jesus spoke about His own death:
His own words when on earth were, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself" (John 12:32). This is a clearer statement of the fact stated in verse 5 of Isaiah 55. We Gentiles, who were "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise," have been called by Him, and are a kind of firstfruits of the nations that shall run to Him.
Verses 3, 4 and 5 form one chain. Each stage carries grace further out:
Having appealed to Israel and the nations, God now addresses Christ. He announces that there will be an answer to His proclamation of grace. That answer will gather the nations to the One whom God has glorified. So we have a threefold witness to the grace of God. Christ risen secures grace to Israel. Grace is proclaimed through Christ to the nations. Grace draws the nations to Christ glorified.
What happens today does not use up the promise. The whole promise is not still future either:
In the coming day there will of course be a complete fulfilment of Isaiah 55. It will come in the millennial blessing of the Gentile nations along with Israel. Yet there is a present-day fulfilment of this chapter. Verse 5, for instance, foreshadows the announcement the Lord made in Matthew 21:43. So also "my steadfast, sure love for David" (verse 3) is quoted by Paul in Acts 13:34 as referring to Christ risen from the dead. Such mercies are now available to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.
- Foundation. Christ risen from the dead secures the promises to Israel. His resurrection also opens the door for Gentiles. Before He died and rose, He was sent only to Israel's lost sheep.
- Announcement. Verse 4 speaks to men. Verse 5 is God's word to His risen Servant: He will call a nation He does not know.
- Magnet. The reason is "for he has glorified you." Nations run toward the One God has honoured, not toward anything in themselves.
- Reach. God has already called Gentiles who were once outside the covenants. They are a first instalment of the nations that will run to Him.
- Timing. People are being saved one by one now. Whole nations will come into the kingdom later. Commentators differ over whether verse 5 speaks to Christ or to Israel.
Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.
Isaiah 55 opens with an invitation to everyone who is thirsty: come and buy, without money. Verse 6 makes that invitation urgent, because the little word "while" puts a limit on it.
One writer notes how wide the language of this chapter is:
The call is to Israel, but the language is so wide that it reaches the other nations too. ... Crucified and risen, Christ is the one who attracts all people without distinction. And the spirit of this wide grace runs right through this chapter.
Another writer draws the appeal straight out of that grace:
There is grace for all. So the appeal comes: seek the Lord in a day of grace – "while He may be found" – and call "upon Him while He is near."
One writer calls verse 6 a word of advice and verse 7 a word of assurance. The "while" marks off a season, not a permanent state:
Verse 6 gives what we may call a word of advice, and verse 7 follows with a word of assurance. There is a time when God is near and may be found in grace, and a time when He withdraws from the scene to act in judgment. These words are often spoken when the gospel is preached, for the day of salvation is NOW.
Another writer grounds the same command in what people are, and adds a warning:
People are lost sinners. By their love of sin they have strayed from their Maker into hopeless darkness. So they are always under responsibility to return to God, who has a righteous claim on the love and obedience of all His creatures. "Seek the LORD while He may be found," is His command to those who have wandered. His patience with sinners will not last for ever. One day people may want to "find" Him, and will discover that He is no longer "near."
The next verse spells out what the search means. It is a break with your own plan for getting blessing:
Men may have their "way," and their "thoughts," as to the way of obtaining blessing. But the wicked man is urged to "forsake his way" and "his thoughts," and return to the LORD to receive abundance of blessing on the ground of grace.
One writer ties that break to repentance, and explains why faith is not named here:
Giving up one's own thoughts and way is exactly what genuine repentance involves. Faith is needed too, of course. But when Isaiah wrote, Christ, the great Object of faith, was still only predicted and not yet revealed. So faith is not brought to the front in the Old Testament as it is in the New.
One writer hears both halves of the verse in the New Testament, and looks back on his own conversion:
The appeal in verse 6 carries our minds back to the time when we first sought the Lord. "Seek the LORD while He may be found" would remind us of the words in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Behold, now is the favorable time." And "call upon Him while He is near" would remind us of Romans 10:13, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." We sought Him and we found Him. We called on Him and He heard our cry. The result is that we have received abundant pardon through the mercy of God.
One writer sets the two possible outcomes side by side:
There is a time coming when men will seek God but He will not be found. Today is the acceptable time when, on the ground of Christ's work, He may be found. But grace rejected will lead to judgment, when God will no longer be found by men, but men will be found out by God.
- Grace first. The call to seek rests on free grace. Crucified and risen, Christ attracts all people without distinction, so no one is shut out of the search.
- Now, not later. God is near today and can be found in grace. A time comes when He withdraws to judge, and His patience with sinners will not last for ever.
- Seek truly. Seeking means leaving your own way and your own thoughts behind. You return to the LORD and receive blessing on the ground of grace.
- Found or found out. Grace received brings abundant pardon. Grace rejected ends the search: God will no longer be found by men, and men will be found out by God.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
God tells the guilty man to drop two things: the road he walks and the thinking behind it. Then He promises mercy — and the questions are how far that pardon goes, and how a righteous God can offer it at all.
The verse names two things: a man's way and his thoughts. Both can be his own ideas about how to gain blessing.
Since there is grace for all, the appeal goes out to men to seek the Lord in a day of grace — "while He may be found" — and to call "upon Him while He is near." Men may have their own "way" and their own "thoughts" about how to gain blessing. But the call to the wicked man is to "forsake his way" and "his thoughts," and to return to the LORD and receive abundance of blessing on the ground of grace.
The phrase is not new in Isaiah. The prophet had already said that each of us has turned "to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6) — the very thing this verse tells the sinner to leave.
In line with the appeal in verse 7, we did forsake our way — the prophet in Isaiah 53 calls it our "own way" — and we did judge our unrighteous thoughts. We did this when we turned in true repentance towards God and in faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. As a result we know that our sins are forgiven, and we are sure we are in right relations with God.
A man can stop sinning for a while without ever leaving his sin. Circumstances change, opportunity dries up, strength fails — and nothing has been forsaken.
To forsake sin is to leave it without any thought of returning to it again. It would be strange to find a drunkard so constant in that sin that you never once found him sober; and yet a drunkard he is, just as much as when he is drunk. Not everyone has left his trade whom we see now and then in his holiday clothes. A man forsakes his sin when he throws it from him and bolts the door on it, meaning never to open to it again… Forsake all or none; keep back one lust and you lose your soul.
The verse never uses the word repentance, yet that is what it describes. So why does it say nothing about faith?
The assurance is that if any, however wicked they may be, turn to the Lord in repentance, there is mercy for him. The forsaking of one's thoughts and way is just what genuine repentance involves. Faith, we know, is needed too. But when Isaiah wrote, Christ, the great Object of faith, had been predicted and not yet revealed. So the Old Testament does not bring faith to the front as the New does.
The verse promises more than mercy. The Hebrew behind its last words is stronger than a single act of forgiving.
But it is true at all times that the soul returning in repentance finds mercy. The offer here is not only of mercy but of pardon in abundant measure. As the margin note tells us, the Hebrew says that He will "multiply to pardon." Such is the freeness and the fullness of the divine mercy to the truly repentant.
The law that Israel lived under had no clause for this. Sincere sorrow did not cancel a penalty; a righteous law could not let it.
But God's sovereign grace shines out when He speaks to the individual instead of the nation. Here is mercy for the wrongdoer — mercy the law could not hold out, and indeed ought not, or it would stop being a righteous law. But grace is higher than law. Grace tells the law to stand aside until the great propitiation is set forth, which will proclaim and establish the law's unbending righteousness. And God, shall we say, does not wait for that supreme moment to declare His mercy. He proclaims aloud, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts…"
The propitiation is the sacrifice that would satisfy that righteousness, and God announced His mercy before it came. The same writer adds that the blessings of this chapter also look ahead to the day when Israel turns to the Lord and the veil is taken away.
Nineveh was the violent capital of Assyria. When Jonah preached there, the whole city turned to God.
So whether it is an individual, a city, or a nation, if there is a true turning to God, as there was in Nineveh, it is impossible that God should do anything other than have mercy and "abundantly pardon." Otherwise He would not be true to His character.
- Forsake — the way is the life a man leads, the thoughts are his own ideas about how to gain blessing; God asks him to let both go.
- Return — leaving sin is only half of it; the sinner turns to the Lord Himself, and that turning is what genuine repentance means.
- Pardon — not one pardon but pardon multiplied; the Hebrew says God will "multiply to pardon," and the mercy is free and full.
- Beyond law — the law could not offer mercy to the guilty and stay righteous; grace is higher, so God announced pardon before the propitiation came.
- Proved — Nineveh turned, and God pardoned. Where the turning is real, mercy follows, or God would be untrue to Himself.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.
God says this to people He has just invited back. He tells the wicked man to leave his way, and He promises to pardon in abundance. Why so generous? Not because of anything in the sinner, but because God's mind stands so far above ours.
The verse begins with "For," tying it back to the offer of mercy in the line before. One commentator hears God answering the mind that wants to earn its blessing:
God's thoughts and God's ways are far above man's legal thoughts and ways, even as the heavens are higher than the earth.
Left to ourselves we would keep the offer small and repay only those who have been good to us. The verse denies that instinct.
How far above and beyond the thoughts in the narrow heart of man, who would limit God's grace to a select few! We would show favour to those who have shown favour to us. But "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It was "while we were enemies we were reconciled to God." Surely we have reason to say, "His thoughts are not as our thoughts, neither are His ways as our ways."
The gap is not that God knows more facts than we do. The two minds have different centres. And God had His thoughts long before human failure gave Him anything to react to.
Nothing suggests that existing circumstances forced God to bring in His own thoughts. On the contrary, all that we refer to was in the mind of God before the failing ways of man were ever seen… This must always be so. Man's thoughts circle around himself, while God's thoughts centre in Christ, the Son closest to His heart. From the earliest days God spoke against the thoughts of man, that they were "only evil continually"; while we read that God's thoughts towards us are abundant and wonderful… but they have been expressed in a blessed Man.
Isaiah has just described a servant who suffers, is rejected, and dies. The verse explains why such a plan sounds strange to us.
This whole magnificent prophecy speaks of the death and resurrection of Christ, and of the glorious results that flow from it. All of it stands completely against human thoughts and ways. Christ, when He came, had nothing about Him that appealed to human thoughts and ways. The opening verses of chapter 53 say so. What was true in Him is just as true of all God's ways, and of the thoughts He expresses in those ways.
Naaman shows the clash most clearly. He was an army commander with leprosy. He expected a ceremony, and the prophet sent word to wash in the river Jordan seven times.
As he turned away in rage, he said, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper." We all have our own ideas as to how God should work. But He has said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways." How blessed to come to the end of ourselves, and give up "I thought" once and for ever! The soul only then begins to truly learn.
The same principle governs whom God picks up. Take Saul, who approved of Stephen's death:
Man would never have chosen him to be the most self-denying, hard-working, and effective worker the Lord ever raised up in the gospel… But how often it is so in the ways of sovereign grace! It is ordered this way so that no human being might boast in the presence of God; but let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
Verse 7 asks the unrighteous man to drop his thoughts. Something must take their place.
Then He brings in the word of God as corrective, and as that which replaces these thoughts of man. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth." The word of God is given instead of the thoughts of men.
- Because — the verse gives a reason, not a rebuke. God pardons in abundance because His thoughts are not the small, earn-and-repay thoughts of men.
- Centre — the two minds differ at the root. Man's thoughts circle himself; God's circle Christ, and they did so before human failure appeared.
- Cross — a rejected, dying Servant proves it. Nothing in Christ's coming appealed to human taste, and God's ways match His Son.
- Surrender — Naaman's "I thought" is the real obstacle. Give it up for good, and the soul begins to learn.
- Replacement — God's word takes the place of our thoughts. It comes down from heaven like rain.
For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God says this to people He has just invited to come, to seek Him while He may be found, and to return for pardon. The word "for" ties the height of heaven above earth to that offer. Does the verse humble us, comfort us, or both?
The height of God's ways is not an abstract fact here. It is the reason attached to the promise of pardon in the verse before. One summary of the chapter puts the links in order:
Isaiah 55 is the call to repentance, but it is an invitation in grace. In principle, whoever thirsts can come… Pardon is abundant, for God's thoughts are above ours, and His word never fails to produce its results.
The gap has a cause. God's thinking has a different centre from ours.
This must always be so. Man's thoughts centre on himself, while the thoughts of God centre on Christ, the Son of His bosom… From the earliest days God spoke against the thoughts of man, saying they were "only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). But God's thoughts towards us are abundant and wonderful (Psalm 40:5)… "Your thoughts are very deep" (Psalm 92:5). They are eternal in their conception, and their full display will take an eternal day. Yet God has expressed them in a blessed Man.
People come to this chapter with fixed ideas about how to earn forgiveness. Those ideas are exactly what this verse measures:
God's thoughts and God's ways are far above man's legal thoughts and ways, even as the heavens are higher than the earth. God's blessing, like the rain, comes down from heaven; as with the rain, so with His word, it accomplishes the end for which it is sent.
That gap changes what a guilty person can say to God.
…the very greatness of the sin is urged as the reason for pardon from Him whose thoughts are not ours, any more than our ways are His. He can well afford it, because of the cross that gives the believer boldness. Man's sin is too great for anyone but the God who saves through Christ dead and risen.
The same principle shows in the people God calls to serve Him.
Man would not have chosen the one who became the most self-denying, hard-working, and effective workman the Lord ever raised up in the gospel… But how often it is so in the ways of sovereign grace! "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD" (Isaiah 55:8). God orders it this way so that no flesh should boast before Him.
The test of this verse comes when God's method offends us. A leper named Naaman had already decided how his cure should look:
He turned away in rage. Then he said, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God… and cure the leper." We all have our own ideas about how God should work. But He has said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). How blessed to come to the end of ourselves, and give up "I thought" once and for ever! The soul only then begins to truly learn.
If His thoughts are that far above us, how do they ever reach us? The chapter answers in the next verse.
In verse 10 God likens His word to both rain and snow. They both come down from heaven. We do not have to reach up for them. They are beyond our reach, but God sends them down… The earth depends on the rain and the snow, and we depend in the same way on the ministry of the word of God.
The word does more than come down. It takes the place of something already there:
Then He brings in the word of God as the corrective — as what takes the place of these thoughts of man.
- Because — the verse gives a reason, not a riddle. Pardon is abundant because His thoughts run higher than ours.
- Centre — our thoughts circle back to self. His thoughts centre on Christ, and that explains the distance.
- Reversal — we treat the size of our sin as a barrier to mercy. It becomes the plea for mercy, because only God can deal with sin that great.
- Surrender — Naaman's "I thought" is the sentence this verse ends. Real learning starts where our own method dies.
- Rain — what is too high for us to climb to comes down. God sends His word like rain and snow, and it does the work He sends it to do.
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
Isaiah has just told Israel that God's thoughts and ways rise far above their own. Now he points to something everyone has seen — rain and snow falling on dry ground — to show where fruit comes from and what God's word does when He sends it out.
The verse opens with "For", tying it to the two verses before it. God has just declared how far His thoughts stand above ours. One writer traces man's thoughts back to Genesis, then shows what God puts in their place.
We hear it in Genesis 6 from the mouth of God Himself. Let us notice it well: "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Man did not change after the judgment of the flood, as the ages went by… Then He brings in the word of God to correct them, and to replace these thoughts of man… The word of God is given instead of the thoughts of men.
Nothing in the verse climbs. It all comes down. One writer draws out why God names two kinds of water, not one.
In verse 10 God likens His word to both rain and snow. They both come down from heaven; we do not have to reach up for them, they are beyond our reach, but God graciously sends them down… Neither the rain nor the snow gives life, but they seem to be needed to stimulate it. How quickly parched pasture bursts into life after a refreshing shower! So it is with us. We need both the snow and the rain. The snow kills many harmful weeds, and it tempers the earth itself. How many weeds there are in our sinful hearts which need constantly to come under the death-dealing power of the Word.
The same writer adds that God prepares the soil first: "God first puts into the earth all the elements needed to produce the fruit, then He waters it again and again." Born of God, we can bear fruit — but we depend on the ministry of the word as a field depends on rain.
The verse names three results, and each has its own use.
We see in verse 10 the threefold product of the watering: bud, seed, and bread. The bud suggests the evidence of life. It shows in our walk and ways, in a life producing the features of Christ. The seed points to provision for sowing; that is, truth in our hearts that we can sow. We sow it by preaching the gospel, teaching the young, or giving a word of ministry to the saints. Last comes bread, which suggests the Word of God nourishing our souls.
The rain is only half the comparison. The verse that follows applies it to God's word, and one writer shows what that word does when it lands.
Rain comes down from heaven and brings life and fertility to nature, making man's labour fruitful for his good. The word of God works the same way, but on a spiritual level. Received into the heart, it bears fruit in life and blessing. More than that, it is full of power. It never fails in the effect that God intends, whether in grace or in judgment. We see this in the Lord Jesus Himself. No word of His ever fell fruitless to the ground, for He was the Living Word.
This promise shaped how Christ Himself worked. One writer describes His sowing among Israel.
Israel had been found barren and unfruitful. So the Lord came bringing what would produce fruit, and He scattered this good seed widely, on good and bad soils alike. He had come to serve. As the Perfect Servant, He left the results of His work with the One who sent Him, resting on the LORD's promise about His word of grace… Strong in this assurance, the Prophet of God sowed His seed in the morning, and in the evening did not hold back His hand.
God gives seed to the sower, not only bread to the eater. One writer draws out what that says about God's character.
This is an assurance. The God who richly provides for us loves to give us both the means and the opportunities to bless others. He delights to own and reward these fruits of righteousness. They are really the work of His grace, yet He treats them as if they were ours, and not His work through us.
- Downward — Rain and snow are beyond our reach; God sends them. The word is not something we climb to, but something He gives instead of our own thoughts.
- Twofold — We need both: rain to refresh, snow to kill weeds and temper the soil. Refreshment and the death-dealing power of the Word both do their work in us.
- Threefold — The watering gives bud, seed and bread: a life that shows Christ, truth to sow in others, food for our own souls.
- Unfailing — The word never fails the effect God intends, in grace or in judgment. Christ showed it: no word of His ever fell to the ground without fruit.
- Therefore sow — The sower can leave the results with the One who sent him. The God who supplies the seed also supplies fresh chances to bless others.
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void, but it shall do that which I please, and it shall accomplish that for which I send it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
God has just said that His word will not come back empty. Verse 12 is the "for" that follows: it names the harvest that word produces, and it raises the question of when that harvest arrives.
The verse does not stand alone; it names the crop that grows from the seed described in verses 10 and 11. One writer gathers the whole result of that sowing into a single line.
His sowing of the good seed of His word of grace will bring forth a harvest of "joy" and "peace." It will hush creation's groan, secure blessing for man, and secure the everlasting glory of the name of the LORD.
Many read this as a promise about Israel's return from exile in Babylon. One commentator warns that tying such language to that homecoming makes Scripture look like it exaggerates.
To apply such glowing language and such glorious hopes for Israel, the peoples, and the earth to the return from the exile in Babylon — still more, to restrict them to it — must always have been an extreme assumption. It clearly tends to bring on Scripture the charge of exaggeration. Today, more than ever, men claiming to be critics would reduce it to a promise that the exiles' journey home should be pleasant and comfortable!
A second reading takes the verse as a picture of gospel work today. One writer allows that use, and still keeps something in reserve.
Apply the grace of the chapter as far as can truly be done to the need and comfort of souls now by the gospel. There still remains the clear indication of "the times of refreshing" kept for Him who died and rose, when He comes from heaven to reign over the earth.
Another writer finds the same two reaches in the chapter. Its earlier lines are already applied to today in the New Testament.
In the coming day, of course, Isaiah 55 will have its full and final fulfilment, in the millennial blessing of the Gentile nations together with Israel. Yet there is a present-day fulfilment of this chapter... So Paul also quotes "the sure mercies of David" (v. 3) in Acts 13:34 as referring to Christ risen from the dead. Such mercies are now available to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.
The mountains and trees are not scenery. One writer ties their joy to a release that reaches wider than Israel.
Creation too will rejoice when the millennial day is reached. God's unfailing word guarantees it here. Turn to a Scripture such as Romans 8, and we are told how creation will be delivered from the bondage produced by the sin of man, and brought into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. There we are carried beyond what will be true for Israel, into the largeness of the thoughts of God for the whole creation.
Isaiah and Paul hang this joy on two different events. One writer explains why the two do not compete.
But notice this: the apostle hangs all this joy of creation on "the revealing of the sons of God" (Rom. 8), while the prophets hang it on the redemption of Israel (Isa. 44:23; 49:13; 55:12). These distinct testimonies match the different ministries of apostles and prophets.
Read as a picture of daily life, each image in the verse finds a counterpart.
We have the assurance that if we are receiving and responding to His word we shall be marked by joy and peace... Mountains and hills stand as pictures of governing powers. They have in view the authorities we are told to submit to... The trees of the field have in view people of high standing, or perhaps those we serve. Why not serve them with such Christian devotion and honesty that they clap their hands, as it were, in approval of us?
Even a singing creation is not the highest point that Scripture reaches.
The saints will shine in heavenly glory, and quietness and assurance will fill the world for ever. The freed earth will be so fruitful that the prophet does not exaggerate when he says, "the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Isa. 55:12). We might well imagine that this is the climax. But it is not so... Christ is the Heir of all things. His glory is the supreme consideration.
- Word first. Joy and peace are the crop of the seed sown in verses 10–11. God's word does not return empty.
- People next. God leads His people out in joy and peace, and that mark is meant to show in how believers live and serve now.
- Creation after. The singing hills answer the groan of Romans 8. Prophets tie that release to Israel's redemption; Paul ties it to the revealing of God's sons.
- Scale matters. The words are too large for a comfortable trip home from exile, and too large for present gospel work alone.
- Christ above all. A rejoicing earth is glorious, but the summit is the glory of Christ, the Heir of all things.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 55 closes with the ground itself changed: the weeds of a cursed earth give way to trees, and God gains a lasting memorial. The verse raises three questions — when does this happen, on what basis, and why can this sign never be cut off?
The thorn and the brier are not random weeds. God named them when He cursed the ground after Adam sinned. This verse cancels that sentence.
The creation was made subject to futility. It did not choose this; it came about because of man when he fell. It groans and suffers pain, waiting for that day of its deliverance. It will be set free from its bondage to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We read in Genesis 3, "Cursed is the ground because of you… thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you." But of the day when it is made new we read, "instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree."
Note that older translations read "fir tree" where the ESV has "cypress."
The reversal has a cause, and the cause is a Person. Two chapters earlier the same book describes a Servant wounded and cut off. He is the root of this new growth.
Why all this life out of death? How does it come about? Because of that other "Plant," the "tender Plant." He had no majesty in their eyes, for He was among them in lowliness. They saw no beauty that they should desire Him (Isa. 53:2). He was wounded for their transgressions, He was bruised for their iniquities. Through His stripes they will get healing. He was "cut off out of the land of the living" (Isa. 53:8).
One was cut off so that the sign would never be cut off.
The verse names replacements, not just removals. Each tree carries its own character.
The useless, harmful marks of sin will begin to disappear. In their place we will see what the fir trees and the myrtles show. Thorns and briers came in as a result of sin, but the fir tree speaks of strength and the myrtle of sweetness. Why irritate the people around us? We can benefit them instead, when the features and fragrance of Christ mark us.
The last line turns the scenery into a monument. The changed earth makes a name for God, and the sign is called everlasting.
All this is unmovable and eternal because of Him and His work. The covenant is "an everlasting covenant"; and He is "WITNESS," "PRINCE," and "COMMANDER," so that nothing can fail. God promised the sure mercies; Christ has secured them. Those who turn to Him hold them in Christ. So joy and singing, peace and prosperity are to mark such people… God's stamp of firmness, stability, and eternity seals the sure mercies of David, secure in Christ. It is an everlasting sign; an everlasting covenant; sure mercies speaking of abundant pardon and full blessing.
Some read this as poetic language for exiles returning from Babylon. Kelly rejects that as far too small for the words used.
Apply the grace of this chapter as far as it can truly be applied to the need and comfort of souls now by the gospel. There still remains the clear indication of "the times of refreshing" kept for Him who died and rose, when He comes from heaven to reign over the earth. To apply such glowing language and such glorious hopes for Israel, the peoples, and the earth to the return from exile in Babylon was always an extreme assumption. To limit them to it is worse still. It clearly tends to bring on Scripture the charge of exaggeration. Yet more than ever in our day men who claim to be critics reduce it to a promise that the exiles would have a pleasant and comfortable journey home!
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches readers today. Kelly keeps it for the coming reign of Christ over the earth. Davison draws a lesson for believers now.
- Curse. God named thorn and brier when He cursed the ground in Genesis 3. This verse undoes that exact sentence.
- Cross. The change is possible because One was "cut off out of the land of the living." The tender Plant of Isaiah 53 is the root of this life out of death.
- Character. The thorn is not simply removed. Strength and sweetness take its place — the fir and the myrtle, the features and fragrance of Christ.
- Credit. The restored earth makes a name for God, and nothing can fail, because all of it rests on Christ and His work.
- Constancy. The sign is everlasting and can never be cut off. The same firmness seals the everlasting covenant and the sure mercies of David.