Isaiah 55, which we read on Sunday, is one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible. The opening offer of grace is so simple and profound—if you are hungry and thirsty, if you are spending your life and energy for something that doesn’t satisfy, if you are poor and in need, come! Come and receive; come and be satisfied!
Verse 2 introduces a theme that runs throughout the chapter: “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.” This offer of grace—initially depicted in the imagery of a free meal—is actually the invitation to listen to God. In verse 3, things begin to make even more sense, as God says, “Incline your ear…hear, that your soul may live.” It is in listening to God that we are made alive, which is why the free offer of God’s food is really an offer to come into his presence and listen. Just as food gives and sustains life, so does his word.
Verse 11 gives certainty to this offer. God claims that his word “shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” In other words, the free offer of grace, the offer to hear God, is truly an offer to be enlivened, transformed, and fulfilled, because his word never fails. It accomplishes what it says. (Remember Genesis 1!)
In the context of this offer to come to God, listen to him, and be enlivened and satisfied, we need to hear vv. 8-9. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” The promise to us is not that we will hear what we want to hear, receive what we want to receive, and be transformed in the way we want to be transformed. God’s thoughts, words, and ways are different than our own, different than we expect, different than we might want. When we come to him to listen to him and be transformed, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that what he will do to us is different than what we might desire.
As humbling as this may be—God isn’t interested in fulfilling our dreams, but instead in fulfilling his dreams for us—it is exactly what we need. We spend so much time spending our wages and labor on things that don’t satisfy. God knows what we need and offers it freely to those willing to quit striving for their own vision of life and satisfaction.
Steven+
Song Spotlight
Several weeks ago we introduced a song called “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder.” It’s a re-tuned old hymn by John Newton, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” and it exults in Christ’s atoning work on our behalf.
Like many of the classic hymns, this one is loaded with biblical allusions and references. Sometimes it’s helpful for us to walk through language like this—it can help us to see and understand what we’re singing more clearly, and it can unlock these truths so they seep into our hearts. We don’t have space to cover the whole hymn, be we can take a look at verse 1!
The first verse draws on two sides of Exodus 19. In Exodus 19, newly freed Israel is gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai to hear from the God who delivered them. However, the tone is not the joyful celebration one might expect. God warned them not to set foot on the mountain, because his holy presence would consume any unholy, impure creature who came near. The sheer weight of his glory enforced that warning; he came with thick clouds, trumpet blasts, thunder, lightning, smoke, and fire. When he spoke the people trembled. In the next chapters God gives Moses the law that would govern Israel as a people, and that still bears witness to the massive gap between God’s righteousness and ours. The law instructs us and shows us the character of God, and it shows us how badly we have failed to keep it. Without Christ, we would be in the same place as Israel—huddled at the foot of the mountain, overwhelmed by the weight of God’s glory, terrified of his judgment, and exiled from his presence.
But, as our song reminds us, Jesus has overcome the terror of Sinai and the problem of our unrighteousness. “He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, he has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.” The law constantly reminds us of our unholiness, and of our unworthiness to come into God’s holy presence. But instead of leaving us trembling outside the fence, God has welcomed us into a place infinitely more terrifying than Mount Sinai. He has brought us to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22-24). We can go there without fear. Why? Because “he has washed us with his blood.” Jesus’ blood purifies us and his righteousness covers us. We were not worthy, but he is, and his worthiness is given to us. Joined to the Son we receive his status. We have permission to go where he goes, even into the “heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20).
When we sing together this Sunday, let us love and sing and wonder. The salvation God offers begins with forgiveness, but it doesn’t end there. God doesn’t just reset the hard drive with a wink and then leave us to go our separate ways. He has drawn us near to him—both as a people, and as individuals. When we gather to pray, sing, hear his word, and eat at his table, we are in his presence together. He is near to us when we are alone, too. Whether we are busy, overwhelmed, surrounded, alone, joyful, or despondent—even in those times when we feel complete unworthy, we can take heart. Jesus has “brought us nigh to God.”
Listen Here
Justin+
Scripture Reflections
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me… And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:40-42 are offered to the disciples to encourage them as they leave on mission. The disciples are to view anyone who helps them—a room to stay, a cup of water, a meal—as helping Jesus himself. There is a solidarity between Jesus and his disciples, a solidarity so thick that anything done to a disciple should be regarded as done to Jesus. On our side of the crucifixion and resurrection, we call this solidarity incorporation, which means that those baptized into the Trinity have truly and actually been made a part of Jesus.
This new reality, the truth that believers are a part of Jesus, lies behind Jesus’ statement to Saul on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul’s actions weren’t just against Christians, they were against Jesus himself.
As we look at the faces of other Christians, as we bump into each other, seek to love each other, and learn to forgive each other, it is unlikely that we consciously think, “Everything I do and say to him or her is actually done and said to Jesus,” and yet that is the reality, according to Jesus. Clearly this should stop us from gossip, cruelty, and selfishness! But what is more, in a positive sense, Jesus says that our kind treatment of other disciples, because it is an act directed at him, will result in heavenly reward!
As you interact with other disciples of Christ, remind yourself that you are interacting with people who have been made one with Jesus. All that you do and say to them is done and said to our Lord.
Steven+