“Come, everyone who
thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without price. Why do you spend your
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not
satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and
eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that
your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my
steadfast, sure love for David.” –Isaiah
55:1-4 (ESV).
Beginning with Isaiah 54 and continuing
through Isaiah 55, the prophet changes focus from the Suffering Servant and the
vicarious sufferer, both of which the Lord Christ became in His life. Chapter 54 declares the eternal covenant of
peace, with the invitation: “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the
curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back”: lengthen your cords and strengthen your
stakes” (Isaiah 54:2). He also told
of the splendor of the kingdom and its domains:
“I will set your stones in
antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, and your
gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones”(Isaiah
54:11b-12). Many, in anticipating
the coming of the Ruling Messiah, saw this prophecy as His ushering in an age
of prosperity and wealth. Since they had
endured much at the hands of oppressing nations, they would welcome
restoration, with their holy city of Jerusalem rebuilt with the finest
materials available. But was God meaning
a literal restoration of the kingdom of Israel, or did He intend this as a
glimpse into the eternal city prepared in the heavens for the faithful?
The invitation that opens Isaiah 53 is
all inclusive: “Come, everyone who thirsts…” God
invites everyone to enter into His blessings
Who doesn’t have need for water?
Thirsting is a universal condition. God’s invitation, therefore, is to
everyone. Urgent in tone and universal
in scope, it leads to the need for an immediate decision to come to the Lord,
as expressed in Isaiah 55:6-7: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call
upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on
him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” When Jesus came to earth, he was moved
with compassion on the crowds that followed him. The miracle of feeding the five thousand (recorded in all
four gospels: Matthew 14:15, Mark 6:35, Luke 9:12, and John 6:1) and the four
thousand (as recorded in Matthew 15:32 and Mark 8:1) led people to come to
Jesus for the wrong causes, to expect a constant hand-out without working for
what they received. When the crowd
followed Jesus, still expecting the miraculous feedings, he rebuked them for
their motives, saying, “You seek me not
because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loves, and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but
for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to
you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set his seal” (John 6-26-27,
NAS). Asking how they might do the
works of God, Jesus answered, “This is
the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John
6:29). Jesus’ word to them was a direct
fulfillment of the invitation prophecy given by Isaiah. Note the strong verbs in Isaiah’s
invitation: Come, come, come, listen, incline (your ear), hear! And all of these are actions prior to
receiving “the food which endures to
eternal life” which the Messiah gives to us. We must come, first; then listen diligently,
then hear and accept! The actions demanded by these verbs also precede a
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in 54:13:
“All your children shall be taught
by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”
Prayer:
Lord, especially at Christmas time when we are prone to join in the
secular rush of the season, help us to hear Your plea to “Come…take of the water of life.”
Let us “hear, that our soul
may live!”Amen.
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