Scripture Reading: Isa. 55
Ⅰ
Isaiah 55 reveals the resurrected Christ as God's sure mercies shown to David—v. 3:
A
In Acts 13:34 Paul interprets the sure mercies as "the holy things of David, the faithful things," and in verses 33 and 35 he indicates that these things are the resurrected Christ Himself as the firstborn Son of God and as the Holy One.
B
This is also confirmed by Isaiah 55:4, which reveals that the sure mercies are Christ Himself as the Witness, Leader, and Commander to the peoples.
C
The resurrected Christ as the seed of David (Rom. 1:3-4) is God's sure mercies shown to David through his descendant Mary, the mother of Christ (Matt. 1:16), for the dispensing of Himself into all His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b).
D
He is the mercies and blessings, the holy and faithful things, God gives to us as a great gift, the eternal covenant with all His unsearchable riches, to be our all-inclusive grace—Isa. 42:6b; 1 Cor. 1:9; cf. Acts 13:43.
Ⅱ
Isaiah 55 reveals the way to enjoy the resurrected Christ as God's sure mercies:
A
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, / And you who have no money; / Come, buy and eat; / Yes, come, buy wine and milk / Without money and without price. / Why do you spend money for what is not bread, / And the result of your labor for what does not satisfy? / Hear Me attentively, and eat what is good, / And let your soul delight itself in fatness. / Incline your ear and come to Me; / Hear, so that your soul may live; / And I will make an eternal covenant with you, / Even the sure mercies shown to David—vv. 1-3:
１
God's way and God's thought are that we would come to Him, ask Him for, and drink of Him as the living water, the reality of the eternal covenant and the sure mercies shown to David—v. 1; cf. John 4:10, 14; Rev. 22:17.
２
We need to pay the price to be satisfied with Him as the life-giving waters, the supplying bread, the vivifying wine, and the purifying milk by giving ourselves to the Lord and allowing Him to open our ears to hear His voice—Isa. 55:1-3; John 6:57; Matt. 9:17; 1 Pet. 2:2; Rev. 3:16-20.
３
Then our soul will be filled with the compound Spirit as the oil of exultant joy, with the resurrected Christ as the living One—Heb. 1:9; Rev. 1:18; Isa. 55:2
B
Indeed, I have given Him as a Witness to the peoples, / A Leader and a Commander to the peoples. / Indeed, you will call a nation that you do not know, / And a nation that does not know you will run to you, / Because of Jehovah your God, even the Holy One of Israel, / For He has glorified you—vv. 4-5:
１
We need to exalt Him in our inward being as God's faithful Witness and the Head of the Body, so that He may head up the fallen universe, the universal "heap of collapse"—Rev. 1:5; Acts 1:8; Eph. 1:10, 22-23.
２
We need to ask the Lord to draw us, so that we and many others will run after Him as the greatest attraction in the universe—Isa. 55:5; S. S. 1:4; cf. Luke 15:20; Heb. 12:1-2.
C
Seek Jehovah while He may be found; / Call upon Him while He is near. / Let the wicked forsake his way, / And the evildoer, his thoughts; / And let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion on him; / And to our God, for He will pardon abundantly—Isa. 55:6-7:
１
We need to seek Him and call upon Him—v. 6; Phil. 3:13-14.
２
We need to forsake our way and our thoughts and return to Him, so that we can enjoy His compassion and His boundless and multifarious forgiveness—2 Cor. 3:16; 4:4; Rom. 9:23; 1 John 1:7, 9.
D
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, / And your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah. / For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / So My ways are higher than your ways, / And My thoughts higher than your thoughts. / For just as the rain comes down / And the snow from heaven, / And does not return there, / Until it waters the earth / And makes it bear and sprout forth, / That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; / So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; / It will not return to Me vainly, / But it will accomplish what I delight in, / And it will prosper in the matter to which I have sent it—Isa. 55:8-11:
１
We need to enjoy His word as the rain and the snow to be watered and saturated with His heavenly thoughts and ways for our sanctification, transformation, and conformation to His image that the Body of Christ may be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem—Eph. 5:26-27.
２
Our being saturated with God's word is so that we may live and grow Christ to sow Christ as the propagating seed and minister Christ as the living bread—Mark 4:3, 14; 1 Cor. 3:2a; Matt. 24:45-47.
E
For you will go out with rejoicing, / And you will be led forth in peace; / The mountains and the hills / Will break forth before you with a ringing shout, / And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. / In place of the thornbush, the fir tree will come up; / In place of the brier, the myrtle will come up; / And it will be to Jehovah as a name, / As an eternal sign that will not be cut off— Isa. 55:12-13:
１
Our fullest enjoyment of Christ as God's sure mercies will become a name to Jehovah for His universal renown to the praise of the glory of His grace—Ezek. 34:29-31; Rev. 3:12; Eph. 1:6.
２
Our fullest enjoyment of Christ as God's sure mercies will become an eternal sign, an eternal memorial, for His universal exaltation and preeminence—Exo. 13:4-9; 16:33; Matt. 26:13.