How would you describe grace? What sort of adjectives would you attach to grace?
Whatever it is, the goal of this study is to leave with 3 more adjectives, and to live in light of His grace.
(A) Amazing Grace (ISa 55:6-9)
In Isaiah 55:1, we’ve had an invitation with only one condition — your need. No one is excluded, except those we don’t think that they need it. This is interesting because invitations in this world depends on what we have.
Now, in Isaiah 55:6, we have the command to seek the Lord and to call upon Him. There is a sense of urgency and demands a focus and commitment to know this God who calls us to Himself. The manner of our response reveals a lot about what we think of the person who invites us. What does your response to God reveal how you esteem His offer of grace? Do you treat it lightly? Do you think of it as one of many things? What does it reveal about what you think about God Himself?
The imperative to seek and call (i.e. seek for sustenance and call for help) flows from God’s gracious invitation. The urgency of the imperative fits the preciousness of the invitation, and the greatness of the One whom we are invited to know.
In Isaiah 55:7a, who is being addressed and what two actions are being exhorted? Earlier in Isaiah 42:24, Isaiah spoke of how the Lord has given them up because they have sinned and rebelled against Him. They trusted in everything God told them not to trust in. He sees the thoughts and intentions of the people’s hearts.
Thus, when they hear “return”, they might immediately assume it’s a return to the land, what they’ve lost. But God is not calling them to return to what they’ve known previously. Right at the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry, God had already been calling the people out in Isaiah 1:2-4. They dealt deceitfully in so many ways but the chief of their sins is that they have forsaken the Lord. They have been despising God. Thus, it is to the Lord that they must return! If they return to the land but have no Lord, what benefit is it to them?
This return is complete. They were to forsake their way and return to the Lord (Isaiah 55:7a). In other words, it is repentance and faith. They are two sides to the same coin. All of our repentance is faith and all of our faith comes with repentance.
The wicked and unrighteous people are called to complete transformation and return. That alone is already a matter of amazing grace. Yet our amazement is meant to carry further. The wicked and unrighteous are to return — not primarily to their land although that was also promised — primarily to God, for no return is valuable if it does not rest on a return to Him.
God’s actions and nature enable such a response. We see that God is unlike the wicked (Isa 55:7). God is also unlike creation, for He is the Creator. What we understand from creation’s perspective is not how God who is in the heavens operate (Isa 55:8-9). We cannot box Him into the ways, rhythms and patterns that we know and we are familiar with. He is not who we imagine Him to be!
Pause and think. Who is the God that you are worshipping? Is He who you imagine Him to be? Have you wrestled with the fact that God is God and we are not? Does His grace operate on His own terms, not yours? Isn’t it a wonderful thing of grace, that He points out how different He is to us? He does so because He is compassionate! The Creator wants His unrighteous people in exile to know that He is unlike us, and what differentiates us is His great compassion. This is why we can return. This is why those who are dead in their sins and stiff-necked can return because He will have compassion, abundantly so!
This is a picture of amazing grace! Who is a God like this God?
We are so quick to demand on our rights and seek to be justified in our own ways. God too, can be justified to demand His own rights and to execute justice. But He calls His people back to show them His compassion.
As the psalmist wrote in Psalm 103:10-14, when Creator looks upon creation, He knows our frame. Have you drunk deeply from these waters? Have you considered even asking God in your unbelief? What is stopping you from drinking from these waters?
And if you know God and His amazing grace, what is stopping you from loving your neighbour or a brother or sister who has wronged you? We are to savour His amazing grace and serve it freely!
If God were exactly as we imagined him to be, then we have a problem, for then He would not be God at all. There are worlds of ways in which the Creator is different from His creation. However, the focus here is on His differing compassion.
The ability to return depends on who God is and how He will act. This is amazing grace, given the extent of our sin and the stark reality of our inability to muster a return on our own. He must call. He must have compassion. And He must pardon. Yet, that is exactly how He has acted, for there is no God like Him.
(B) Irresistible Grace (ISa 55:10-11)
Isaiah 55:10-11 has an analogy that compares God’s word to the rain and snow.
Sometimes we make too little of these nature analogies, especially in Singapore when water is available so easily. Water is important, and that sustains life. This is why space research is always on the lookout for water as a sign of life on a new planet. Scripture here uses the analogy of water to highlight how God’s Word is necessary for life!
This is an argument from the lesser to the greater! Thus, these verses teach us that God’s people will be able to return to Him and know His pardon. The God who orchestrates creation is also the God who orchestrates the salvation of His created ones. He is the one who orchestrates their return and forgiveness.
This is what Israel knows! In Ezra 1, we see that God’s word came true! Nothing in this world can stop God’s irresistible grace! He promises that they will return, and now they do. But though Israel returned to the land, they were still waiting for the full and final return to God. They held on to these passages as they waited for God’s pardon.
We see this chiefly in Jesus the Word of God who comes as the bread of life, giving life to the world (Jn 6:32-40). Jesus is the means through whom we know pardon and forgiveness! When Jesus fulfils the irresistible word of God as He fulfilled Scriptures and took the debt that we could not repay. He showed us that He is a God of compassion. As He hung on the cross, He shows us that He will accomplish His work of salvation.
How much of His word do u know and trust? What are you building your life around? Hope is a delicate thing and we build our lives around different hopes — hopes for the economy, a good political order, love, change in circumstances, relief, a good job. But will you build your life on the sure hope that is unlike any other hope in this world? His word is meant for us to trust Him! Will you not God to your God in His word and build your life on the hope that He offers and speaks of?
If we do, we won’t just know the joy of returning! Read on.
(C) Triumphant Grace (ISa 55:10-12)
Having established the return of God’s people to Himself, Isaiah 55:12-13 shows us a joyous, celebratory occasion that seems to be a future event. And notice how all creation joins in this celebration. This is God’s way of calling them to long for their return, and to look even further! They are to look forward to a restoration of all things!
Isaiah 55:13 is more than just speaking of an end to wars or a cessation of environmental damage. It also speaks to Genesis 3:17-19, where we read of the curses as a result of sin and our rebellion against God! Because of sin, thorns and thistles arose and affected the ground. Isaiah 55 speaks of the very effects of sin overturned! The cypress and myrtle are evergreen plants, thus, instead of barrenness, everlasting fruitfulness will characterise God’s people!
While we usually look at created order to stand in awe of how small we are, there is a real manner in which created order looks to us – anticipating God’s big work of restoration. In Romans 8:18-21, we read of how creation looks to us, not because we are great, but because God is doing a great thing through us! The curse of sin will be finally overturned.
We are not to be simply contented with a return in this life. We are not to just be content with making the best of our life right now. If this is you, it is too small a view of God and His work! Like the people, we are to look forward to the future, when He finally restores all things!
Do you struggle with seeing salvation as being great? Salvation from start to end, is more than just your salvation individually. We are too often satisfied with little glories and little lights. We are too easily satisfied with our hopes and dreams for this world panning out and life panning out as we want it too — things falling in place with the love from the people we want love and approval from, the desired job and lifestyle etc. But here in Isaiah, God’s word calls us to behold greater glories so we might behold greater, more triumphant grace.
What will your life look like if you ground your life on this hope and glory? Reject the lies of the world and fix your eyes on the glories that is to come!
Shall forests hide their beauty?
Shall rainbows fade to gray?
Shall mountain streams stop dancing?
Shall lambs forget to play?
And shall I keep silence at grace beyond degree?
Before the Cross
I count as loss
What once was dear to me.
Shall birds forget their singing?
Shall constellations stray?
Shall thunderstorms be muzzled?
Shall sunlight fade away?
And shall I keep silent, ashamed of Christ my Lord?
His holiness
And faithfulness
Angel hosts adore.
Shall flowers mask their colors?
Shall waves die in the sea?
Shall full moon turn to darkness?
Shall laughter cease to be?
And shall I keep silent by basking in his love?
I’ll tell his praise
Through all my days
And then in heaven above.
Do you dare believe it? How does the reality of Jesus Christ help you to trust God’s promises? How would your life be different if you lived with God’s triumphant grace in mind?