Isaiah 55:1 - Meaning and Application

Here, we are all invited to come and receive the benefit of what God’s grace has provided for poor souls in the new covenant. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants (Isaiah 54:17), and it is not only their future inheritance, but their present portion too, here in Isaiah 55:1.

Who are invited? “Everyone.” This is not for the Jews only, to whom the message of salvation first came, but also for the Gentiles. The poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind are called to this feast, along with anyone gathered from the roads and hedges. This shows that in Christ there is enough for all and enough for each person. It also shows that ministers should make a broad offer of life and salvation to all people, and that the gospel covenant shuts out no one except those who shut themselves out.

The invitation is announced clearly, like a public call: “Ho.” Take notice of it. Let the one who has ears hear.

What kind of person is welcome? It is the one who thirsts. Everyone is welcome to gospel grace on this condition only, that they welcome gospel grace. Those who are satisfied with the world and its pleasures, and who do not seek happiness in God’s favor, do not thirst. Those who rely on their own good works for righteousness, and see no need of Christ and his righteousness, do not thirst either. They feel no deep need, no pain, and no burden about their souls, so they will not humble themselves enough to depend on Christ.

But those who thirst are invited to the waters, just as the weary and burdened are invited to Christ for rest. Where God gives grace, he first gives a hunger for it. And where he has already given that thirst, he will also satisfy it (Psalm 81:10).

Where are they invited? “Come to the waters.” Come to the water’s edge, to the places where goods are brought in and traded, because that is where the market is. Christ brings in an everlasting righteousness, and without him it would have remained forever out of our reach. Come to Christ, for he is the opened fountain and the struck rock. Come to God’s holy ordinances, those streams that make glad the city of our God. They may seem plain and common, like water, but to those who believe in Christ, what they point to will be like wine and milk, rich and refreshing.

Come to the healing waters, the living waters. Whoever wants to, let him come and drink of the water of life (Revelation 22:17). Our Lord referred to this invitation when he said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

What are they invited to do? First, “Come, buy.” No merchant ever courted customers as earnestly as Christ courts us, for this is a bargain in which only we can gain. Come and buy, and you will not regret it. Make the grace of the gospel your own by taking it to yourself on Christ’s terms, and do not wait in doubt over whether you will accept them.

Second, “Come, eat.” Make it even more your own, because what we eat becomes more fully ours than what we only buy. We must buy the truth, not to put it on a shelf, but to feed on it and be strengthened by it. We must get what our souls need, even if it costs us everything dear to us, so long as we have Christ, his grace, and his comfort. We must part with sin, because sin stands against Christ. We must give up every hope in our own righteousness, because it competes with Christ. We must even be ready to lose life itself, and all its necessary supports, rather than give up our interest in him. And when we have bought what we need, we should not refuse to enjoy it. “Buy, and eat.”

What is offered? “Wine and milk.” These will not only quench thirst, as plain water would, but also nourish the body and refresh the spirit. The world falls short of what we hope for. At best, we expect water and often find ourselves disappointed, like the caravans of Tema (Job 6:19). But Christ gives more than we expect. We come looking for water and find wine and milk instead, the rich food of Judah’s land, with which Shiloh, the promised ruler from Judah, is furnished to gather the peoples to himself (Genesis 49:10, Genesis 49:12). His eyes will be red with wine and his teeth white with milk.

We must come to Christ for milk for babes, to nourish those who have only lately been born again. We must also come to him for wine, to strengthen and cheer mature believers. We must give up our muddy water, and even our poison, to receive this wine and milk.

How is this provision given? “Without money and without price.” This is a strange kind of buying, not only without cash, which is common enough, but without any money at all, or even a promise of it. Yet it is not strange to those who remember Christ’s counsel to the church in Laodicea, which was truly poor and needy, to come and buy (Revelation 3:17-18).

Buying without money means several things. First, the gifts offered are priceless, beyond any sum we could name. Wisdom cannot be purchased with gold. Second, the one who offers them does not need us, or anything we can give back. He makes these promises not because he needs to sell, but because he delights to give. Third, the blessings have already been bought and fully paid for. Christ purchased them at full cost, not with money, but with his own blood (1 Peter 1:19). Fourth, we are welcome to the promises even though we are utterly unworthy and have nothing valuable to offer in return. We ourselves are worth nothing, and nothing we have or do can earn these gifts. If Christ and heaven are ours, we must forever see that we owe everything to free grace.

Now we are urgently urged, and may God persuade us, to accept this invitation and make this good bargain for ourselves. What we are urged to do is listen to God and to what he offers us: “Listen carefully to me” (Isaiah 55:2).

Do more than listen, the prophet says. Approve what I say, and apply it to yourself (Isaiah 55:3). Incline your ear as you would to something that deeply concerns you and pleases you. Bow your ear, and let your proud heart submit to the humbling way of the gospel. Lean in so you can hear carefully and notice what is said. Hear, and come to me. Do not only come and negotiate with me, but agree with me and accept my terms. Receive God’s offers as truly for your good, and answer his demands as wise and right.

The reasons for this appeal come from two directions. First, it shows the great harm we do to ourselves if we ignore it: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,” that is, what cannot even give you the food of beggars, “and your labor for what does not satisfy?” Here we see the emptiness of the things of this world. They are not bread for the soul. They give no real nourishment or refreshment to the inner life. Bread supports the body, but wealth and pleasure cannot support the spiritual life at all. Only eternal truth and eternal good can feed a rational and immortal soul, whose life lies in being reconciled to God, shaped like him, and joined with him.

These things do not satisfy. They do not give the soul solid comfort or true contentment. They do not let a person say, “Now I have what I wanted.” In fact, they do not even fully satisfy the body’s desires. The more people have, the more they want (Ecclesiastes 1:8). Haman was not satisfied even in the middle of his great wealth. Worldly things flatter, but they do not fill. They may please for a moment, like the dream of a hungry man, but he wakes up still empty. They may make a person overfull for a time, but they never truly satisfy. They leave a person sick and restless, not content. It is all vanity and chasing after the wind.

This also shows the folly of people who live for this world. They spend their money and their labor on these uncertain, unsatisfying things. Rich people live by their money, and poor people live by their work, but both often miss what matters most. One is trading, the other is toiling, and both keep promising themselves happiness in the world. Yet both are deeply disappointed. God kindly reasons with them: Why are you acting against your own good? Why let yourselves be taken in this way? We should reason with ourselves too, and let that reasoning lead to a holy decision not to work for food that perishes, but for the food that lasts forever (John 6:27). Let every disappointment in the world push us toward Christ and teach us to seek satisfaction in him alone. That is the only way to secure what truly lasts.

Second, the invitation is kind because accepting it brings great good to us. If we listen to Christ, we will eat what is good, food that is both wholesome and pleasant, good in itself and good for us. God’s good word and promise, a good conscience, and the comforts of God’s good Spirit are a continual feast for those who listen carefully and obey Christ. Their souls will delight themselves in richness, in the fullest and sweetest enjoyments. So the invitation is not, “Come and buy,” as if that might discourage the poor. It is, “Come and eat. Come and enjoy what will please you abundantly. Eat, O friends!” It is sad that people must be urged so gently toward their own happiness.

This invitation also secures lasting happiness. “Hear, and your soul shall live.” You will not only be kept from eternal ruin, you will be made eternally blessed, because nothing less can truly be life for an immortal soul. The words of Christ are spirit and life, life for the spirit (John 6:33, John 6:63), the words of this life (Acts 5:20). What easy terms God offers for happiness: “Hear, and you shall live.”

The great God also graciously guarantees all this to us. “Come to me, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.” That means he will place himself in covenant relationship with us, binding himself to do us good and make us happy. First, if we come to God to serve him, he will covenant with us to bless us. That shows his humility toward us and his care for us. Second, his covenant is everlasting. It was planned from eternity, and it lasts forever. Third, the benefits of this covenant are mercies that fit our need. Since we are miserable, mercy is exactly what we need. These blessings come from God’s mercy and are arranged in kindness for us. Fourth, they are the mercies of David, the mercies promised to David (Psalm 89:28, Psalm 89:29, and following). They are called the mercies of David his servant, and Solomon appeals to them (2 Chronicles 6:42). This covenant will be as sure as the covenant with David (Jeremiah 33:25, Jeremiah 33:26). The covenant of kingship was a picture of the covenant of grace (2 Samuel 23:5).

Or, more likely, David here points to the Messiah, the promised king. All covenant blessings are his mercies. They were purchased by him, promised in him, and stored in his hand, and from his hand they are given to us. He is the mediator, the one who stands between God and us and secures the covenant for us. This is how Acts 13:34 applies the promise to him. These are the holy things of David, because they are confirmed by God’s holiness (Psalm 89:35) and are meant to lead people into holiness. Fifth, they are sure mercies. The covenant is sure because it is wisely ordered in every part. It is sure in the offer itself, because God is sincere and earnest in promising these mercies. It is sure in its application to believers, because God does not take back his gifts and callings. They are the mercies of David, and therefore they are sure, because in Christ all God’s promises are yes and amen.

Jesus Christ is then promised as the one who makes all these other promises effective, as Isaiah 55:4 says. He is that David, the one in whom all the sure mercies of the covenant are found. God has given him in his purpose and promise, appointed him, and in due time will surely send him, as if he had already come, to be everything we need in order to receive the blessings prepared for us. He has given him freely, for what could be more free than a gift? There was nothing in us to earn such a favor, but Christ is the gift of God. We need one.

This proves the truth of the promises that invite us to receive their benefits. Christ is given as a witness that God is willing to welcome us into his favor on gospel terms, and to confirm the promises made to the fathers. So we may trust our souls to those promises with full confidence. Christ is a faithful witness, so we can accept his word. He is also fully qualified to speak, because he was with the Father from eternity and knew the whole matter perfectly. As a prophet, Christ declares God’s will to the world, and to believe is to receive his testimony.

Christ is also given to help us accept the invitation and come on the terms it sets. We do not know how to find the waters where our needs will be supplied, but Christ is given as a leader. We do not know what to do to become fit for this gift and share in it, but he is given as a commander. He shows us what to do and gives us strength to do it. Many troubles and enemies stand in the way of coming to Christ. We face spiritual enemies, but to encourage us in the fight, we have a good captain, like Joshua, who led Israel into the promised land. He will put our enemies under our feet and bring us into possession of the promised land. Christ is a commander through his teaching and a leader through his example. Our duty is to obey him and follow him.

Now that the master of the feast is settled, the feast must be filled with guests, because the provision will not be wasted or made useless (Isaiah 55:5). The Gentiles, the nations other than Israel, will be called to this feast and invited from the highways and hedges. God says, "You will call a nation you do not know," meaning a people who were not formerly called and claimed as his own, and to whom God had not sent prophets in the same way he had to Israel, the people known above all the families of the earth. The Gentiles will now receive favor they never had before. For them, knowing God is really shown as God knowing them (Galatians 4:9).

They will come when called. Nations that did not know you will run to you. Those who were long far from Christ will be brought near, and those who had been running away from him will run to him with great speed and eagerness. There will be a great gathering of believing Gentiles to Christ, who, when lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to himself.

Here is the reason they will flock to Christ. It is because of the Lord his God, because he is the Son of God and is declared to be so with power. They now see that his God is the God they must deal with, and there is no coming to that God except by joining themselves to his Son. Those who come to know God and understand what their relation to him is cannot help running to Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator, that is, the only one who brings God and humanity together. There is no way to come to God except through him.

Here is also why God will bring them to Christ. It is because Christ is the Holy One of Israel, faithful to his promises, and God has promised to glorify him by giving him the nations for his inheritance. When Greeks began to ask after Christ, he said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (John 12:22-23). His glory in his resurrection and ascension was the great reason that moved many to run to him.