This hard-to-imagine, ancient invitation is still offered to us today
By Dean Collins
It was time to go home. Exile was ending. 70 years earlier no one could have imagined getting comfortable in Babylon, yet after 70 years you have new routines and a new way of life. Isaiah offered an invitation on behalf of the God David loved and served. God’s promise that kings from the line of David would rule forever no longer seemed possible, yet God made a covenant promise and would fulfill his promise. So Isaiah called God’s people to their homeland.
An invitation for all
Who can come? Who should come? Everyone who is thirsty. Pure and clean water is available. Who should consider this offer? Those with no resources. You can buy and eat, even without money. Bread, milk, even wine. There will be nourishment but also celebration for all who accept this eternal invitation.
The prophet says come. It is a compelling offer. But he doesn’t’ stop there. Now he pleads that we listen diligently. These are not just promises for others. These are promises for all. And the prophet pleads to listen and consider the offer. All who come can:
Eat what is good
Delight in rich food
Hear instructions that bring life
See and receive the promises that flow from David’s line, the Messiah long-awaited.
An invitation for today
But there is urgency. We must come while God is offering. There will be a time when the offer is closed. Jesus would later tell a parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), a parable that confirmed this urgency. The offer is still good. We have no control over the time frame. It’s best to come today to receive the love, the grace, the provision, even life itself offered both now and forever.
If we have sinned (and we have). If our thoughts have not been pure (and they haven’t always). We are still invited to repent, lay aside our failures and unfaithfulness, and come to Jesus. He offers complete pardons for those who will come.
It was hard for the exiles to imagine. It’s hard for us to imagine. And for good reason. Isaiah explained: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “
God works on a higher plane than we do. No matter how smart you are, you don’t have it figured out. We can’t see what God can. We cannot do what He is able to do. Yes, it is hard to imagine how and especially why God acts so generously to us. We tend to see and act according to our own experiences. We know our flaws. We see and have experienced each other’s flaws that lead to suffering, abuse, and pain. But these are our ways and not those of our gracious God.
An invitation with promise
Isaiah gives another attempt to get us to consider the offer to come and receive all the goodness God offers. He challenges us to follow this logic:
Rain and snow come down from the heavens to water the earth. As a result, seeds sprout, wheat is harvested, and we receive bread. God’s Word works the same way. What he speaks comes to us. His Word contains life and not empty promises. What God purposes will be accomplished. What God has planned is determined and will happen.
Sometimes it might be as hard for us to imagine as it was for those who had lived in exile their whole lives. God’s offer then is still God’s offer now. But we have the advantage of knowing that a King from the line of David has been born. Jesus came and even repeated God’s invitation. Both in John’s Gospel and in the revelation John received from Jesus, the invitation is repeated. The offer is available today.
Come and drink. The price has been paid. Enjoy all the life and gifts of God even today.
Your time with God’s Word
Isaiah 55:1-11; John 7:37-38; Revelation 22:17 ESV
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
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