What does it mean to spend your money for that which is not bread (Isaiah 55:2)?

Wine in Scripture speaks of joy and gladness, and here the poor are invited to buy the wine that makes glad the heart of God and man. It might be asked, 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 which is “joy in the Holy Ghost.” Another of the divine blessings is “milk,” that which nourishes, sustains and enables us to grow in the things of God, “the sincere milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2).

There were not only the poor who had no money, and to whom the blessings of God were offered, there were the rich who had money, and who spent it for that which was not bread. Bread in Scripture is that which is necessary to sustain life, and the normal disposition of the rich is to seek the things that are soul-destroying instead of what nourishes the soul. There is no satisfaction in present things, and all the labour of man, as Solomon proved, was vanity and vexation of spirit. Only those who listen diligently to the Lord know what is good for the soul, and only those who hear His word will delight their souls in His plenteous provision.

Do not many of the religious books of the day bear evident marks of a famine of the word of God? After reading pages, we have sometimes said, "There is no ministry of Christ here. Where is food for souls?" And why do we thus speak? Is it merely to expose the barrenness of the pages? Far be the thought; but rather to warn Christian writers and readers against wasting their time and energies and money in that which neither honours the Lord nor feeds souls. We are sometimes reminded of the prophet's words, "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." (Isa. 45:2.) Oh, the untold blessedness of looking up without a veil to our Lord Jesus Christ on the Father's throne, who is Head over all to the Church which is His body, and finding joy, sustainment, and comfort in the contemplation of the infinite perfectness of His person, work, excellencies, offices, fulness, and glory, as revealed in Holy Scripture! Then our earnest cry will surely be

In things physical we are keenly alive to that which is best and most nutritious; but, alas! in things spiritual the taste is vitiated, and money is spent on that which satisfieth not.

So long as the heart of any one is seeking rest, satisfaction, or happiness in this world, it will surely be disappointed. The result in every case must be bitter disappointment, for it can only reap from such a soil, "vanity and vexation of spirit." The heart of man is too large for this world to fill. Its capabilities are too vast for all that is under the heavens to satisfy. And yet how eagerly many are chasing after the fleeting phantoms of time, to the entire neglect of the solemn realities of eternity! But supposing that every desired object were reached, and all possessed, what would be gained? Only a deeper sense that all is vanity — that it is not in the power of earthly good to fill up the aching void within. All worldly pleasures, amusements, indulgences, and gratifications, leave the soul more thirsty than ever: they cannot satisfy. Excitement is the right name for worldly pleasures — take that away, and they would prove a most burdensome task. They only increase the painful sense of want, with an intensified desire, which makes the poor neglected soul thoroughly miserable. There is a worm at the root of every gourd, and a thorn in earth's fairest flower.

But where, you may again ask, are we to find the needed, suited portion for the soul? Let the Spirit of Truth answer. "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." And again, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto ME and drink." (Isaiah 55:1-3; John 7:37.) Nothing can be plainer than these passages. Christ Himself is the life and food of the soul. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on 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. But He is above the sun. He has gone up on high. We must believe in Him, and through believing, come to Him where He is. We must rise in spirit — in heart, above the sun, to find the spiritual blessings which our souls need. "He that hath the Son hath life." We must possess Himself as our wealthy portion. Oh, have you found your way to Him? Are you occupied with Him? Can you now say — just now — "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee"? Christ not only fills, but overflows the soul which is occupied with Him alone.

The quotation I have made at the head of this paper shows this truth very simply. The "thirsty" are invited. And are not you among this number? You certainly are, if you have not yet found Jesus, for "your labour," whatever its nature, "satisfies not," our verses say. Thirst is a craving which the suited fluid alone 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; but the Lord Jesus, who knows the heart well, says, "Whosoever drinks of this water [the well of this world] shall thirst again: but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" (John 4:13-14). Precious words! But not more precious than true. Again, He says, "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink" (John 7:37); giving also this sweet assurance, "He that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst; … and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:35, 37).

"We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us" (v.4). All that this world has for the soul away from the Lord comes high. It may seem as though much is to be gained by taking one's own way and casting the fear of God behind the back. Satan will suggest, too, that it costs too much to live for God, and will allure with tempting baits the already unhappy heart that has begun to lust after other things; but it will only be to prove in the end that disobedience to God is a costly indulgence, an unholy luxury, if we may use the term, that none can really afford. They who here complain that they have drunken their water for money, had foolishly forsaken Him who is "the Fountain of living waters" (of which all might drink freely), and had hewed out for themselves cisterns that could hold no water (Jer.2:13). When they sought it from the enemies of the Lord, a price was put upon it that it burdened them to pay. And then, of all that they purchased so dearly, it could be said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again;" while Jehovah's living water satisfies the weary soul. Departure from God is the most foolish and worst investment any child of grace ever made.

It is impossible for the intelligent creature, placed originally in happy relationship with God, to find permanent satisfaction in anything beneath him, whatever resources may be apparently at his disposal. This is why man in his fallen condition has hunger in his heart, which nothing seems able to appease. The world proposes to cure this painful malady, but the very number of its panaceas witnesses against its proud pretensions, and those who have tried them bitterly complain that they have spent their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not. Solomon asks, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?” And he supplies the answer: “They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.” And he adds, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it gives his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Prov. 23:29-32). And wine is but a figure of the best of earthly joys, which never satisfy, and are only vanity and vexation of spirit.

The contrast is between material things and spiritual things; material things come very far short of satisfying. However much we may accumulate in the way of material things they cannot, in themselves, give satisfaction.

Such is the withering commentary upon all earth's resources as given by the pen of one who had all that earth could give — of one who was allowed to drain to the very dregs every cup of human and earthly pleasure. And what was it all? "Vanity and vexation of spirit." "All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." The poor human heart can never be satisfied with the resources of earth. Creature streams can never quench the thirst of the immortal soul. Material things cannot possibly make us truly happy, even if they were permanent. "All is vanity and vexation of spirit."