Blessings of The Nations
October 16, 2020
Commentary
God invites people in need to come to Him (vv. 1-2). By coming to the Lord people will have life and the benefits of God’s everlasting covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:11-16). The Lord promised that David’s line would continue forever (v. 3). The nations are to be under the Lord’s leadership (vv. 4-5). Just as God promised to keep His good hand on David, so He assured those who come to Him that He will never remove His good hand of blessing from them.
The wicked (v. 7) are commanded to seek and call on the Lord and to do so while He may be found (v. 6). Jesus quoted from this passage when He threw the money changers out of the temple (Mark 11:17). Salvation is available to all. In every dispensation the Lord has required the same thing for salvation and that is to trust in Him. Israelites, through God’s covenant people were saved only by believing in the Lord.
The people of Israel were foolish to act as if they knew what God was thinking and planning (vv. 8-9). His knowledge and wisdom are far greater than man’s. God’s plan is something people would have never dreamed of. We are foolish to try to fit God into our mold and to make his plans and purposes conform to ours. The Lord then assured believers that His Word will accomplish what He says it will (vv. 10-11). In the future, in the Millennium, even nature will be joyful (v. 12). Various kinds of trees will grow instead of the thorn bushes and briers (v. 13). This is a sign that God is in control.
Application
I am foolish to try to fit God into my plans. Instead, I must try to fit into His plans.
Isaiah 55:1– 13 (NET)
1 “Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food.
3 Pay attention and come to me. Listen, so you can live. Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.
4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, a ruler and commander of nations.”
5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you.
6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby!
7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds,” says the Lord,
9 “for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.
10 The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.
11 In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.”
12 Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.
13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes, firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, a permanent reminder that will remain.