Isaiah 55:12-13

The state of the people of God’s relationship with the *Lord also affects all that he has created. The negative effect appeared as early as the events soon after God created the world (see Genesis 3:17-18).

It is not just the people themselves who sing on their journey home. Isaiah describes how mountains, hills and even trees join in. The people now have a right relationship with God. And this fact affects everything that surrounds them.

Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible; in the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
covenant ~ special personal agreement that the Lord made with Israel (see Exodus chapter 24).
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible; in the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.'thorn-bush ~ bush with sharp points.

1. Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

God’s Servant Saves God’s People

Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55

Gordon Churchyard

The words in square brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. Words in round brackets, (…) are explanations.

Chapter 55

v1 ‘*Hoy! Everyone that needs to drink, come to the waters! And the person that has no money, come [too! Even you can] buy [food] and eat! Come and buy wine and milk. [You need] no money [for it] and [it has] no price.

v2 Why do you spend money on [something that is] not bread? And why do you work for [things that] do not satisfy [you]? Listen! Listen to me [continuously]. [Then you will] eat [what is] good! Then your spirit will have delight in the richest [things].

v3 Listen and come to me! Hear [me], so that your spirit may live! Then I will make a *covenant with you [all], that will never end. [It will be] the kind loves that I promised to David.

v4 Look! I have made [David] a witness to the people. [And I have made him] a leader and a commander of the people.

v5 Certainly, you will call to yourself a nation that you do not know. And a nation that does not know you will hurry to you. [This will happen] because the *LORD [is] your God. [He is] the *Holy [God] of Israel. And he has made you really splendid!’

v6 ‘Come to the *LORD while he allows [you] to find him. Call to him while he is near [to you].

v7 Let the wicked [man] give up his way. And [let] the evil man [give up] his thoughts. Let him turn to the *LORD, who will show *mercy to him. And [let him turn] to our God, because he will forgive him freely.

v8 [This is] because my thoughts are not your thoughts. And neither are your ways my ways.’ These are the words of the *LORD.

v9 ‘As the *heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways. Also, my thoughts [are higher] than your thoughts.

v10 Now the rain and the snow come down from the skies. And they do not return [there] until they have watered the earth. And they make [plants] to grow in the earth and to become strong. Then they give seeds for the sower and bread for the eater.

v11 It is the same with the word that I speak. It will not return to me empty. It will do what I desire. And it will achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

v12 You will go out with joy and you will follow [your leader] in *peace. The mountains and the hills will burst into song in front of you. And all the trees in the field[s] will clap their hands!

v13 Pine trees will grow instead of bushes with sharp points. And myrtle bushes will grow instead of weeds that sting. That will make the *LORD famous. It will always be evidence that nobody will destroy.’

1. Notes

Verse 1 ‘*Hoy’ is not really an English word here. It is actually a *Hebrew word. Here, its purpose is to attract people’s attention. But Isaiah uses it in some other places to mean something that is slightly different. Look at number 1 in the section ‘Something to do’. The *Hebrew word for ‘buy’ usually means ‘buy bread’. But if people have no money, how can they ‘buy’? The answer is that the servant paid the price, Isaiah 52:13-53. Nobody else was able to pay the price. A verse in an English Christian hymn says:

There was no other good enough

To pay the price of *sin.

He only could unlock the gate

Of heaven, and let us in.

A hymn is a song. In this hymn, ‘no other’ means ‘no other person’. The money was not cash; it was the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the servant of God. And the food and drink means that we will always live with Jesus Christ. But, notice that the offer is not plural. Each offer is to a single person: ‘everyone that needs to drink’ and ‘the person that has no money’. Each of us must answer the ‘*hoy’ on our own.

Verse 2 This verse begins with two questions. That is part of Isaiah’s special technique. He asks these questions because he wants the reader to ask himself these questions. ‘Why? Why am I doing these things?’ The answer is that there is no proper reason. People who do these things are acting foolishly. They need to change their minds. They need to change their attitude towards God. They need to accept God’s invitation.

‘Money’ here does mean ‘cash’. The ‘bread’ means something that no money can buy. It is satisfaction. The only thing that really satisfies people is a right relationship with God. Then, they know that they will go to heaven at their deaths. Our cash cannot buy this satisfaction. ‘The richest (things)’ means this satisfaction.

Verse 3 ‘Listen’ is ‘turn your ear towards me’ in the *Hebrew Bible. Notice the way that *Hebrew poetry often says the same thing twice in different words:

Turn your ear towards [me] and come to me!

Hear [me], so that your spirit may live!

If a person chooses to ‘come’ (verse 1) to God, then God will satisfy that person (verse 2). Notice again that it is not plural. We must each listen and come on our own. The notes on Isaiah 54:8-10 explain the words ‘kind love’ and ‘*covenant’. In ‘a *covenant with you’, the word ‘you’ is plural. It includes everybody that comes to God. Also, the word ‘kind love’ is plural. The promises that God made to David will happen as a result of the work of Jesus, the servant of God.

Verse 4 This verse refers to two of the promises that God made to David.

• Promise 1: He will be a witness to the nations. God’s servant is a witness to nations that are far away (Isaiah 49:1). So, the servant will take the place of David. Several of the Psalms tell us about David as a witness to the world, but not in those words: Psalms 9:11; Psalms 18:49; Psalms 57:9; Psalms 108:3-4; Psalms 89 is especially important, because it refers to these things.

1) A *covenant with David, verses 3 and 49;

2) ‘Kind loves’, in the plural as in Isaiah 55:3.

• Promise 2: He will be a leader of the nations. Again, it will be God’s servant that will be the actual leader. The promise that God made to David would become true in God’s servant.

Verse 5 In verse 4, the *Hebrew word for ‘people’ can mean ‘the *Jews’. But the word for ‘nations’ here usually means ‘nations that are not *Jews’. (But in Isaiah 1:4 it does mean the *Jews!) The word ‘you’ in this verse is not plural. It means David, who was like God’s servant.

Verses 6-7 Chapter s 54 and 55 are about the results of the work of God’s servant in Isaiah 52:13-53. But if we want to benefit from it, we must do something. There is one word for what we must do: *repent. This word means ‘think again’! It means ‘do not think like a human person’. It means ‘think like God’. Verse 7 tells us how God thinks. He thinks that we are wicked and evil. In these verses God tells us to do two things:

• We must allow God to show *mercy and to forgive us. ‘*Mercy’ means ‘kindness’. This is how we can enjoy the benefits from God’s *mercy. We must be sorry because we are wicked and evil. And we must confess that to God. God considers all our wrong deeds to be wicked and evil, even if we consider them to be small. Think like God!

• But we must then give up our wicked ways. These are the bad things that we do. We do them when we do not obey God’s laws. But we must also stop thinking bad thoughts. Jesus said that to think something bad is the same as to do that thing (Matthew 5:28)! Clearly, we need God’s help to do that. But God has helped us: he sent his servant to suffer our punishment (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Notice that God’s offer has a time limit. He said (through Isaiah), ‘while he allows … while he is near’. One day, when Jesus returns to the earth, this offer will be out of date. Then, it will be too late to *repent.

Notice carefully the word ‘near’ in verse 6. In *Hebrew, it is the same word that Naomi and Boaz used to Ruth. Here are two verses from the book called Ruth, in the Easy English translation:

Ruth 2:20 – Naomi also said to her, ‘The man is a relative of ours. He might *redeem us.’

Ruth 3:12 – (Boaz said), ‘It is true that I am a *redeemer. But there is a *redeemer closer to you than I am.’

In *Hebrew, the words ‘is a relative’ and ‘closer’ are the same *Hebrew word as ‘near’ in Isaiah 55:6. The word is ‘qarob’. Readers that were *Jews would notice that. They would understand that God, by means of Isaiah, was using special language. People used that word when someone *redeemed a person or thing. In Leviticus 25:25, the writer uses the same word. There we read, ‘the nearest relative (qarob) has to *redeem it’. So God is asking people to become part of his family, before it is too late! God is offering you the opportunity to join his family now, but you must not delay. If you hesitate, you may lose your opportunity for God to *redeem you.

There are notes about the word ‘*redeem’ under Isaiah 35:10 and Isaiah 43:1.

Verses 8-9 We do not know where heaven is. We know that it is the home of God. The *Hebrew word for ‘heaven’ and ‘skies’ is the same word, that is, ‘shamaim’. The skies (verse 10) are high above us. In some way, God is also high above us. But when he offers to *redeem us (verses 6 and 7), he calls down his offer from that great height.

Verses 10-11 Notice the way that verses 8-11 use the same word to mean two different things. In 8-9, ‘shamaim’ is the home of God, ‘the *heavens’. Here, it is the skies. In English, people can say ‘the *heavens opened’. That is a special way to say ‘it rained very much’. God, through Isaiah, tells us that rain from heaven has the same effect as his word from heaven! God is saying that he sends both the rain and his word. And even as the rain causes the food to grow, so God’s word brings about a change in our lives. It is God’s word that makes it possible for us to *repent, as in verse 7. And because that is God’s word, we can *repent. That is as certain as the fact that rain makes plants grow. But we must come to him (verse 6) to hear him speak his word.

Verses 12-13 These verses are a word-picture of happy people and a happy world! Mountains and hills cannot sing, and trees cannot clap their hands! But if they could do that, they would do it. Both trees, called pine and myrtle, always have green leaves even in winter. The ‘you’ is plural, and the picture is of a new life in a new world. The leader is God’s servant Jesus Christ. ‘In *peace’ is the usual way to say ‘with *peace’. This *peace is not just absence of war. It is ‘shalom’, the knowledge and the confidence that God loves you. Nothing can separate you from this love. Nobody can destroy your relationship with him. Read Romans chapter 8!

2. Something to do

1. Look at other Chapter s in Isaiah that begin with the *Hebrew word ‘*Hoy!’ They include Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 29:1; Isaiah 30:1; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 33:1 (and Isaiah 55:1). Make a *table like the one below. Put what ‘*hoy’ means in each box.

Verse in Isaiah	*Hebrew words that follow ‘*hoy’.	What the word ‘*hoy’ means in this verse.
1:4	*Hoy, nation that *sins.
28:1	*Hoy … Ephraim.
29:1	*Hoy, Ariel.
30:1	*Hoy, children.
31:1	*Hoy, the people that go to Egypt.
33:1	*Hoy, destroyer.
55:1	*Hoy, everyone.

2. Compare Isaiah 55:1 with John 6:53-58 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

3. Study Isaiah 25:6-8; Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 60:16. Then link all three of them with a verse in Isaiah chapter 55.

4. Read the story of Ruth. There is a Level A Easy English translation of it on the Internet. In Isaiah Chapter s 40 and 55, Isaiah describes how God *redeems his people. Make a list of passages where Isaiah describes that.

19. heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    hoy ~ a word that asks the reader to give attention to something.
    covenant ~ the agreement between God and his people. In this agreement God agrees to help and to protect his people. His people agree to love and to serve God. Or, an agreement between nations.
    LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
    lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
    mercy ~ kindness when you do not have to be kind.
    heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
    peace ~ a calm and content attitude. The word often means simply that there is no war. But ‘peace’ especially means the calm and content attitude of a person who has a right relationship with God.
    sin ~ not to obey God. Or, what you do when you do not obey God.
    hoy ~ a word that asks the reader to give attention to something.
    Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
    repent ~ be sorry for your sins. Tell God you will try not to do them again.
    sin ~ not to obey God. Or, what you do when you do not obey God.
    mercy ~ kindness when you do not have to be kind.
    redeem ~ a member of your family buys you from an enemy.
    table ~ a way to set out information in a series of boxes.