The Gospel of Isaiah: Ch. 55:1-3, Come!
The Gospel of Isaiah: Ch. 55:1-3, Come!
WANTED: An imaginative scribe who can write exquisite poetry. A faithful, articulate believer in Yahweh who can switch from one extreme to another at the Lord’s command… from a sublime vision of God’s glory, to a ridiculous demonstration of shameful nakedness; from confronting the people over their sinfulness, to comforting people with hopefulness; from being an outspoken messenger one minute, to a living object lesson the next; from having one foot in the immediate surroundings one minute, to one foot in the future messianic realm the next. Must be adaptable, thick-skinned, and extraordinarily brave. Person who answers, “Here I am. Send me!” will be especially considered. (from The Jerusalem Post, 740 BC).
Isaiah 55 has been called the gospel in miniature. It contains the compelling invitation to come to the Lord. It issues the call for revival. It highlights God’s benefits if we seek Him… free nourishment for our souls. This chapter refers many times to God’s central character quality: compassion, mercy, pardon (Exodus 34). And we are here reminded of God’s transcendence and greatness. This little chapter is a poetic masterpiece. It sings with beauty, but it has a solemn edge to it. It brings accountability as well as hope. This chapter is a straightforward call to redemption, to the sure mercies of God, to the salvation of the Lord.
Isaiah 55 – Is Anyone Thirsty || Bible in Song || Project of Love
“Come, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the water!
You without money, yes, come! Buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money – It’s free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food?
Why do you spend your hard-earned cash for that which doesn’t nourish and gives you no pleasure?
Listen carefully to me, and you will enjoy a sumptuous feast,
you will delight in the finest of food.
Incline your ear, pay attention, and come closer to me.
Listen to me, that your whole being, your very soul, may flourish.
I am making an everlasting covenant with you,
the same promise of faithful mercies that I made with David.” (55:1-3).
Come & Dine (feat. Alex Vitug) (Live) – YouTube (see lyrics below)
CAUTION. In this era of amazing advances in technology, there are sometimes unexpected consequences that turn out to be harmful to our Christian faith. One of these harmful improvements is the flood of believers who read scripture online, on the smart phone, on the computer screen. I’m convinced there should be a warning label on every one of the online Bibles… CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. So many of us now read the Word like we would read our emails or social media or the daily news. We skim the material hurriedly, superficially, carelessly. We skim the Scripture. Skim-reading the Bible doesn’t really bury the seed very deeply, of course. And in our skimming, we would be more likely to just skip over an important word or phrase without thinking, a word that could be vital to the whole passage. The fact is, the Bible is full of single words or short phrases that are too important to simply gloss over as if it wasn’t there. There are times in the Word when single words are intended to feed us, nourish our faith, stimulate us to think at a deeper level about the biblical text. There are single words in Scripture that are like stop signs asking us to slow way down and consider carefully, to pause before moving forward in the reading, such power-packed words in Scripture like: Behold; Rejoice; Truly; Woe; Blessed; Beware; Come; If. If it is poetically possible to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower, and hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour,” as William Blake once imagined, then certainly we readers of Go’s Word can find a world of meaning in a single, simple word.
An Engraved Invitation. Creation came about because the Lord seeks our companionship. The Bible begins with the preincarnate Christ walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in Paradise. Unfortunately, that divine friendship was fractured, and throughout the rest of Scripture God is pleading with people to return, to come back to Him. Come closer to Me, says the Father. Come closer to Me, says the Son. Come closer to Me, says the Holy Spirit. I so desire for you to move from there to here, He says. I initiated the communion between us, says the Lord, and now I want you to return to Me. A common thread through Scripture is God issuing invitations to come to Him. And our response? “Lo, here I am, I come… I delight to do your will, O my God.” (Ps. 40:7-8). Consider the following to be God’s divine invitations to us to come to come to Him.
The Father says, “Come”:
(1.) “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink – even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to me with ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.” (Isaiah 55:1-3).
Father God says, Come to Me if you are spiritually thirsty, if you long for the fullness of divine waters and rich spiritual food. Your soul will delight in what I can offer you if you come to me to slake your thirst. And it’s free! Come to me and I will refresh you, renew you, and strengthen you, says the Lord. This messianic word was following up on the promise of Isaiah 44:3, that the Lord will send Someone to provide water for the thirsty, that this Person will pour God’s Spirit upon all who come to Him. Come to me, says the Lord, and you will never be thirsty again.”
(2.) “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction. Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:12-18).
(3.) “My lover spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit, the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.” (Song of Songs 2:10-13).
(4.) “Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Come, let us reason together. Let’s settle this! says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” (Isaiah 1:16-18).
(5.) “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:6-8).
(6.) “Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may instruct us in His ways, and that we may walk in His paths. For instruction shall come forth from Zion, the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3, TANAKH). Come Let Us Go Up!
MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD (Joshua Aaron & Aaron Shust) LIVE at the Garden Tomb, Jerusalem (youtube.com)
The Son says, “Come”:
(1.) “Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood forth and He cried in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, Out from his innermost being springs of living water shall flow.” (John 7:37-38).
The three most important religious festivals of the ancient Jews were Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. During the eighth day in the Feast of Tabernacles, water is a major theme. There were many celebrations during this Feast, culminating in the Water Purification Ceremony, when the High Priest would lead a parade of people to the pool of Siloam in order to draw water into a golden pitcher. They would then all return to the Temple to pour the water onto the altar. This ceremony was to commemorate the water flowing from the rock in the wilderness with Moses (Ex. 17). Right in the middle of this energized crowd, while everyone is gathered in the Temple courtyards, a young man from Galilee stands up boldly in their midst and shouts for all to hear, “Come to me and drink, all you who are thirsty! If you believe in Me, rivers of living water will flow out of your hearts!’ The people were dumfounded, for Jesus here claimed to be the fulfillment of two messianic prophecies, Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 55:1. Here is Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, able to pour God’s Spirit on all who came to Him. Many who heard this claim believed it and called Jesus the Christ. Others wondered how the long-awaited Messiah could come from Galilee and not Bethlehem. Most people had not yet heard the story of Jesus’ birth. Temple officers were dispatched by the Pharisees to arrest Jesus after His claim, but the officers were as captivated by Jesus’ words as almost everyone else. Jesus was not arrested after all.
(2.) “Watching as they were casting their nets into the water, Jesus called out to them and said, ‘Come after me, follow me, and I will transform you into men who catch people for God.’ Immediately they dropped their nets and left everything behind to follow Jesus.” (Matthew 4:18-20).
(3.) “Jesus turned around and saw two of John’s disciples following Him from a short distance, and He asked them, ‘What do you want?’ They responded, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ Jesus answered, ‘Come and see.’” (John 1:38-39).
(4.) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Come and Rest | Mission House (Official Music Video) (youtube.com)
(5.) “There was such a swirl of activities around Jesus, with so many people coming and going, that they were unable to even eat a meal. So Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Come, let’s take a break and find a secluded place where you can rest a while.’ ” (Mark 6:30-31).
(6.) “Come, for all things are now ready.” (Luke 14:17).
(7.) “Come to the Wedding Feast!” (Matthew 22:4).
(8.) “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34).
“Come to the Waters” by Matthew Zigenis (youtube.com)
The Holy Spirit says, “Come”:
“Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, “Come!” Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life! (Revelation 22:17, MSG).
The Greek word here is “erchou,” which means to “continue coming to have a personal spiritual experience, to attend to spiritual matters!”
“The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,” proclaims the Nicene Creed, and all God’s people say Amen! Throughout Scripture, the Spirit is symbolized by fresh water, by the waters of life. Living water from running streams is a picture of the life-saving, soul-satisfying refreshment that can only be given by God through His Holy Spirit. In the Hebrew Bible, the connection between water and the Spirit is in Isaiah 44:3, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and my blessings on your offspring.” And In Isaiah 32:15, 20, “Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field… How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters.” When Jesus had that momentous discussion with the woman at the well, He promised her the water that will become in her “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). Lest anyone be confused about that water of life, John clarified the matter once and for all after Jesus shouted out His messianic invitation, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water!” (John 7:37-38). After which John added, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” (John 7:39). So when the Holy Spirit said ‘Come’ in Revelation 22:17, He is inviting those who are thirsty to come to Him and drink freely from His fountain of life. Only those who are thirsty, those who are “painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened” (AMP), can receive the Spirit’s water of life. Only the thirsty can have their thirst quenched by the Spirit. The Bride of Christ, the Church, joins in the invitation, appealing to all who are spiritually thirsty to come and drink of the Spirit. Whoever drinks of the Spirit will have an ongoing stream of life flowing out of his heart. And this water is free of charge. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts come to the waters; you who have no money, come!” (Isaiah 55:1). John’s final appeal in Scripture is the divine invitation of the Holy Spirit to come to Him for life-giving water. As the Father made clear in Isaiah 41:17, “The afflicted and needy shall rejoice exceedingly, for when they shall seek water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst, I the Lord God, will hear them; As the God of Israel, I will not forsake them.” The Spirit’s invitation to come and drink is simply a profound gesture of God’s mercy.
Spirit and the Bride (Official Music Video) Sea of Galilee, Israel ~ Joshua Aaron (youtube.com)
What will be our eventual response to God’s invitation? We will encourage each other to come to the New Jerusalem together, to the Messianic banquet. We are beckoned to Zion, and our response is to gather up the other believers as we go to heaven to experience God’s renewed fellowship with Him and each other. God says Come, everything is prepared, and our response is to say to each other, Come, let’s go together to be with the Savior. “Come before His presence with singing.” (Ps. 100:2). “Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Come let us worship and bow down.” (Ps. 90:1, 2, 6).
“COME and DINE”
(Refrain) Come and dine, come and dine, you may feast at Jesus’ table all the time.
He who turned water to wine,
To the hungry, still He calls, Come and dine.
(1.) Jesus has His table spread, where the saints of God are fed,
He invites His people, Come and dine.
With His manna He doth feed and supplies our every need,
Tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time.
(Refrain)
(2.) The disciples came to land, thus obeying Christ’s command,
For the Master called to them, Come and dine.
There they found their heart’s desire, with the fish upon the fire,
And He satisfies the hungry every time.
(Refrain)
(3.) Soon the Lamb will take His bride to be ever at His side,
All the host of heaven will assembled be.
Twill be a glorious sight, all the saints in spotless white,
And with Jesus we will feast eternally.
(Refrain).
(song by Charles Widmeyer, 1907; original title, “Jesus has a table spread”).