Rev. Don Campbell
Isaiah 54-58
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 30, 2019
“THE LORD’S INVITATION”
No one should deny that Isaiah addresses the people of his day. On the other hand, we must note that interspersed throughout are statement showing that fleshly Israel was a type of the true Israel of God. In Isaiah 54:1, he says, “‘For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her is who is married,’ says the Lord.”
Paul writes: “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.’ Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise” (Galatians 4:26-28).
Isaiah offers an invitation: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus offers a similar invitation: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). He had already said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (John 6:35).
The paradox is that only the hungry and the thirsty are not hungry and thirsty: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
CONNECTIONS
1. After offering the Lord’s invitation (Isaiah 55:1), Isaiah asked, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (v.2). What evidence do you see that millions of people are spiritually malnourished, but are trying to fill a spiritual craving with that which is not bread?
2. Screwtape, the senior tempter quoted one of his “patients” who remarked upon his arrival in hell, “I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked” (C. S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters,” # 12). Like many people, he had enough religion to restrain him from enjoying the flesh to the fullest, but not enough to allow him to enjoy the spiritual—in other words, he spent his life striving for fake bread. Are you enjoying your Christianity?
