Isaiah Chapters 55-56/Commentary

Isaiah Chapters 55-56 “Following the previous prophecy of the extension of Christ’s kingdom, there comes the invitation for ‘every one’ who is thirsty to come and satisfy his soul (Revelation 22:17)” (Jackson p. 111).

55:1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters”: “Note that people are bidden to ‘come’, which stresses their responsibility. They are urged to ‘buy’, which implies the exercise of initiative” (p. 111). The verse admits that man apart from God will be thirsty and hungry for something of substance; the problem is that often man tries to quench the thirst of his soul through sinful or earthly things.

55:1 “And you who have no money come, buy and eat, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost”: God’s blessings and salvation cannot be purchased with money (1 Peter 1:18-19), and salvation cannot be earned or merited (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). In addition, notice how salvation is likened to a banquet (Luke 14:15-24), becoming a faithful servant of God is not a life of miserable privation for the soul! All are welcome! This salvation is offered to all “everyone” (John 3:16). “Water, milk, and wine (Joel 3:18) are symbolical of spiritual nourishment and salvation (John 4:13-14; 1 Peter 2:2)” (Harkrider p.

129).

55:2 “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” “The Lord asked the people how they could be interested in other things besides Himself as He is the only One who can bring genuine satisfaction. Throughout all history people have tried to find satisfaction through many things other than God” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1110). This same question remains to this day. How often we do try to find fulfillment in something other than our relationship with God? Are we at times making the same mistake that these Israelites were making? Look at the time, expense, and effort that people in the world put into their attempts to find happiness in earthly things (Matthew 6:32). Are we putting an equal amount of effort in our relationship with God? This verse reveals that if a Christian is unhappy or unfulfilled, then such is a red flag that they are ignoring their relationship with God. What a great question to ask people, “Well, are you happy?” “Is all this satisfying you?” What a waste to spend one’s life, interest, and energies on things that never satisfy!

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55:2 “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance”: “The prophet does not plead or argue, but throws into the quiet pool of their complacency a disturbing pebble, as he asks: ‘Does all this really satisfy you? Is this what you are for?’ he speaks with urgency, Listen, listen’” (Gaebelein p. 312). An abundance of blessings are waiting for the person who comes to God (Ephesians 1:3). Notice that the blessings that God offers will not result in remorse, guilt, confusion or a spiritual bellyache.

55:3 “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live”: Salvation is as near as simply being willing to listen with a good heart (Acts 17:11).

55:3 “And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David”: This everlasting covenant is the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34. God had promised to David that when David was buried that one of his descendants would arise and build God’s house and rule forever (2 Samuel 7:11-14; Psalm 89:3-4). This promise was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:29-30), who presently rules over God’s kingdom and rules on David’s throne. “That this prediction is fulfilled in the church, and not in some alleged earthly millennial reign, is evidenced by Paul’s citation of this material in Acts 13:34, where the inspired apostle applies it to the gospel age” (Jackson p. 112).

55:4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples”: Notice the word “peoples” that is, the Gentiles or non-Jewish nations. Jesus, the offspring of David, will become that witness (Revelation 1:5; John 18:37). “The witness will also be a leader and commander.

A leader is a ruler or captain, usually the one at the top; a commander is one who gives orders” (Hailey p. 454).

55:5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you”: The nation that God will call into being, will be the church, a nation of Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ (1 Peter 2:9). This nation will be composed of people who in the past had not known God (Ephesians 2:11ff), and thereby people that God had not known as His (Romans 10:19; 9:25-26). This is the empire under the Messiah, the church in the New Testament. From far parts of the earth people would come to the Messiah (Isaiah 2:2-4), and the Messiah and the church will attract them by the beauty that God has given them.

55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near”: Notice that salvation is available to all, this clearly contradicts the idea that God has already selected who can and who cannot be saved. “Verse 6 implies both a promise and a warning. There is urgency in this call, for time is not unlimited” (Gaebelein p. 312). God has made it possible that people who genuinely seek Him can find Him (Acts 17:27), yet the time to seek God is limited

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(Luke 13:25). Death ends all chances to repent (Hebrews 9:27-28; Luke 16:19ff).

Paul made it very clear that now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). In addition to death, other factors can also limit the opportunity, such as putting off our decision to seek God or obey Him. He can become calloused to the gospel message if we do not respond when we should (Hebrews 3:7).

55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts”: Seeking the Lord involves repenting of our sins. One cannot truly seek the Lord and remain in rebellion to Him. “Response to Jehovah’s call involves a complete change of both lifestyle and heart. Completely renouncing evil activities and thoughts, one must return unto Jehovah, from whom he has been separated by sin and iniquity (59:2)” (Hailey p. 455). “Both in his life style and in the attitudes that lie behind it, the sinner is wrong; and so repentance must touch the inner man as well as the outward deeds (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28)” (Gaebelein p. 312). It is not enough to forsake sinful deeds, one must also forsake sinful thoughts as well. “He will abundantly pardon”: Such abundant forgiveness is only granted when a person truly repents. Therefore, God does not unconditionally forgive people, rather His grace and mercy is conditioned upon man’s repentance.

55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways”: This is a very important passage. Man often makes the mistake of assuming that whatever sounds true, false, reasonable or unreasonable to us is likewise the same for God. First of all, God is willing to offer such an abundant forgiveness to former sinners because God does not act and think like mortal men. We need to be careful that we do not reject a teaching in Scripture because it does not make sense or sound reasonable to us. We are not the standard of sound thinking, wisdom, true justice or truth. “Some men claim to seek God when in reality they seek only that God be satisfied with what they think. God’s ways can be understood by man (Ephesians 3:3-5) but what He has chosen to accomplish in His purposes is not what man would have chosen by human wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5; 3:18-21). Therefore let all who seek the Lord humbly submit to a ‘thus saith the Lord’ without change or rejection of His word” (Harkrider p.

130). “Man makes the mistake of thinking that God is down on his level” (Hailey p. 456).

55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways”: Not only is God far superior in foresight, wisdom, and planning, God is also morally superior. All of God’s thinking and actions are governed by His perfect holiness, justice, mercy, and righteousness. Man is created in God’s image, yet there are many things that can corrupt our thoughts as we live among sinners (Genesis 8:21). This is one reason why we must always place our trust in God and not in our own opinions (Proverbs 3:5ff). What this means is that if we have a difficult time understanding the thinking behind a command then we should not be shocked, rather we should humbly acknowledge that as imperfect men, we have a tremendous need to grow in

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knowledge (Hebrews 5:14). Never make the mistake of rejecting a passage because at the moment it does not make sense to you! Ponder it and work on your own maturity.

55:10-11 “So will My word be”: God’s point here is just as water does not return to the clouds in the form of vapor without first accomplishing its purpose, even so God’s word will accomplish its purpose. “As the rain and snow accomplish God’s purpose in the earth, so His word will fulfill His purpose in the hearts of those who draw near to hear, give heed, and change their ways and thoughts” (Hailey p. 456). It is amazing what rain can accomplish, it can come upon a desert where it appears there is no vegetation and after it rains all sorts of flowers will arise from the desert sands. In like manner, hearts that appear to be hard can be softened by the gospel message (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 6:911). God’s word brings with it spiritual life to those who accept it.

55:11 “It will not return to Me empty”: Even when individuals reject God’s word, the message has still accomplished something, that is the sinner has been given an opportunity to repent (2 Peter 3:9), and the gospel has gone to this person as well (Mark 16:15-16). The word of God will either open hearts or it will close them (Acts 2:37; Acts 7:51ff). It will get under a person’s skin, either leading to remorse and salvation or anger and condemnation. Others have often noted that no man is ever the same person after they hear the truth, for they either move in the direction of obedience or move into further rebellion. They are either more honest or less honest.

Please note that Premillennialists apply these passages to the supposed Millennium, yet in doing so they have created a catch-22. They claim that all these blessings are in the Millennium, but at the same time must admit that the unforgiven person cannot enter their Millennium.

55:12 “All the trees of the field will clap their hands”: Premillennialists boast that they are the only people who interpret the Bible consistently with a literal interpretation yet they do not take this passage literally. The point here is that “just as Judah came forth from Babylon with a sense of joy and peace, so those who leave the bondage of sin will experience similar emotions. The sinful life of thorns/briars will be replaced by the lush vegetation of the blessings in Christ” (Jackson p. 112). The cypress and myrtle tree are both evergreens, thus symbols of life. In Isaiah, nature is often pictured as sharing in the joy of the redeemed (35:1-2; 41:17-20; 44:23; 49:13).

Chapter 56 “To receive the salvation provided by the Lord, one must accept the responsibility of upholding His covenant by practicing justice and righteousness” (Harkrider p.

130). In this section Isaiah is telling the Israelites what they must do now, in the present when he is writing, in order to be right with God.

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56:1 Because God is bringing deliverance, including both physically from Babylon and eventually salvation in Christ, one must spiritually prepare themselves. “From the divine point of view the time of deliverance is drawing near, while from the human standpoint, there must be preparation to participate in it” (Hailey p. 458). We see this both in the return from the Captivity (Ezra 7:10 and in the New Testament (Matthew 3:1ff), where receiving the gospel depends upon the right preparation of heart.

56:2 This verse is not teaching that the Sabbath will be observed in the New Covenant (see Colossians 2:14-16), but rather Isaiah is speaking to people who were still living under the Law of Moses, and the Sabbath would still be binding for them until that Law was removed. The point is that one must sincerely practice the righteousness required in the covenant of God which is in force during his lifetime. Please note that this chapter or context also speaks about offering burnt offerings (56:7).

56:3 “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from His people”: God now deals with some worries or excuses that some were offering. The Gentile who had attached himself to Israel is assured that God would save him (see Romans 2:26-29). God reassures him that his faith and obedience are acceptable even though he is not Jewish. “The prophet engages with the sense of insecurity that must often have plagued proselytes” (Gaebelein p. 315). Carefully note that the foreigner is only given assurance if he has “joined himself to the Lord”!

56:3 “Nor let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree’”: “A dry tree bears no fruit; a eunuch begets no children” (Gaebelein p. 315). Under the Law of Moses eunuchs were excluded from certain aspects of worship (Deuteronomy 23:1).

This passage does not mean that God is canceling Deuteronomy 23:1 at this point in history, but rather it informs the eunuch in Isaiah’s time that God took note of his faithfulness and that he did have a place in God’s spiritual house, even though he had been excluded from the physical temple. Yet note again that such a promise only applies to those in this class who are obedient (56:4). “And choose what pleases Me”: Obedience is a choice and really most of life is no more than a choice between what pleases us or others and what pleases God. We need to ask ourselves more often not, “Did I have a good day?”, but rather, “Did I please God today?”

56:5 The idea is not that God would set up a memorial in the physical temple, but rather the faithful eunuch would have a permanent place in God’s spiritual house.

In the New Testament we find a eunuch who is given full access in God’s house (Acts 8:35-38). Notice the emphasis on the “name that is better than sons and daughters. Being a eunuch, this man could never have children and thus could never perpetuate his name, but there is a far better name than that. God would remember the name of the obedient eunuch, and write that name in the book of

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life. Physical family lines can end, but no one can erase the name of the faithful.

“The account of the Ethiopian nobleman in Acts 8 indicates that it was not uncommon for a eunuch to respond to Jehovah’s invitation to worship in Jerusalem” (Hailey p. 460). Do not forget that the eunuch in Acts 8 had a copy of the book of Isaiah. He was reading in what we now refer to as chapter 53. One wonders if he had also read these tremendous promises in chapter 56!

56:6 Notice that those who love God are the same people who serve Him, and such love is demonstrated by keeping His commands. Liberal theologians often complain about God’s commands and claim that there are far more important things than observing communion and attending. Yet note that while the Law of Moses was in effect, God repeatedly defined faithfulness as observing the Sabbath (among other things). This verse also indicates that God, in the future, is going to allow such foreigners to minister to Him in His house, i.e., in the spiritual temple, the church.

56:7 God’s holy mountain has already been mentioned in Isaiah 2:2-4, see Hebrews 12:22-24. Added to this, the future church will become an international house of prayer. Jesus will quote this verse in Mark 11:17. This may indicate that after the return from Captivity, a new emphasis was to be given to receiving all who would seek after God. As we enter the book of Acts we find many Jewish synagogues filled with Gentile converts, and many of these Gentiles will accept the gospel message.

Let it be stressed one more time that this section is not teaching that Sabbath keeping will be part of the New Testament church—anymore than verse 7 is teaching that offering burnt offerings will be part of the New Testament church.

These elements of the Law of Moses are used because the audience being addressed was under that Law and this is the way faithfulness was expressed as long as that Law was operational. With the arrival of the New Covenant, that Law ended (Hebrews 8:6-9:4).

56:8 God will gather not only dispersed Jews, but others as well (Gentiles).

Once again the reader should be aware that Premillennialists apply all of this section to the supposed Millennium, yet such an application demands some answers. If all of this is literal, then will there be literal eunuchs in the Millennium? How about literal Gentiles? Do we keep our “race” after this life? In addition, is this section teaching that the Sabbath and animal sacrifices will be practiced in the Millennium?

56:9 Isaiah turns his attention to the actual conditions in Israel. God was calling beasts (foreign powers) to come and devour Jerusalem. God complains that the “watchmen”, those who should have been watching over Israel, were blind, and were all useless as mute watchdogs. Compare with Ezekiel 3:18-19. “Blindness, muteness, indolence, and self-seeking greed describe different aspects of their

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culpable ineffectiveness” (Gaebelein p. 318). God had expected the priests, elders, and prophets to watch over His flock, but most were asleep at their posts.

This verse also infers that there are various reasons why professed believers do not speak out against apostasy, those who are dreamers who refuse to see reality, others are lazy, some are ignorant, and others are afraid of losing financial gain.

“The main reason Israel became doomed to desolation was that her shepherds became irresponsible. Israel’s leaders were derelict in their duty and became as blind guides, ignorant teachers, silent warriors, and sleeping watchmen (Jeremiah 12:7-10l Ezekiel 34:1-10)” (Harkrider p. 131).

56:11 This is the picture of a nation or leaders dominated by self-interest, like some politicians who craft every statement in order to get re-elected rather than doing what is right.

56:12 “When the analogy moves from the dogs to the shepherds (11), the same characteristics can be seen. Verse 12 graphically represents the drunkard’s careless abandon and inebriated optimism” (Gaebelein p. 318). “Concerned only with their own pleasure, they failed to consider that judgment will come” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1112). “He now points at those who cover their woes and stimulate false hopes through drink, living only from day to day, with no concern for the future” (Hailey p. 463).

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