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- [00:00]
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Foreign.
- [00:05]
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Hey, you're listening to A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. We are in the book of Isaiah. Pretty close to wrapping up this book, actually. Today we're going to be looking at chapters 55 through 57. Paul, break these chapters down for us. What's happening in them?
- [00:20]
A
The best way I can describe them, honestly is to say that they are just seeping with God's mercy. And I can honestly talk about any one verse here in these chapters. But I want to highlight the opening line actually of reading Isaiah 55. 1. It says, Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. And honestly, this made me think of my college days, that if there was like an event going on on campus or something, you know, I might go if my friends were going. But if there's a meal attached, you better believe I was there. Right. And so God is basically inviting everyone to, to come and eat freely of the spiritual gifts that he provides. And it calls actually back to this. In Revelation 22:17, some of the last verses of the entire Bible, the Holy Spirit says, come, let the one who is thirsty come. And let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. So what I think this is saying to us is that we don't just believe things about the gospel, we experience the gospel, we eat the gospel. Right. In a way. And I think communion is an example of that, that we are actively embodying the fact that Christ died for us and gave his body for us. But it also makes me think of Psalm 34, 8, where David says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Right. We don't just believe that God is good, we taste his goodness. And this passage in Isaiah is saying the same thing. He's inviting us to come and experience God's mercy, that we can have food without cost, drink without cost, salvation without cost to us. At least we'll get to that in a second when we talk about application.
- [02:05]
B
So, yeah, let's move into that. So I love that imagery also. Totally can relate to, like, young adult days and being like, if there's a food, show up. But. Well, and even as a parent now, when it's like, kids eat free somewhere, we're showing up, you know. But let me ask this question, like, how do we actually live that out as believers? How do we actually eat the free food that is available to us in the Lord?
- [02:34]
A
Yeah. In verses 6 and 7, it goes on to say, seek The Lord, while He may be found, call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them. And I think this shows that, yes, it's free, the gifts of salvation, but they do actually require something of us. We don't just get to come and eat the meal and walk away unchanged. God actually asks us to live righteously in light of the gift that he gives us. And earlier I said that, you know, the food is without cost. It actually does have a cost. And it's the life of Christ that He gave his life for us so that we can have no cost to receive those gifts of salvation. And it reminds me of 1 Corinthians 9, 19, 20, where Paul says, you are not your own. You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your bodies. He's essentially reminding us that there's a cost to the salvation that we have, and that the only right response to that wonderful gift of salvation is to live righteously in light of who God says we are. And so, you know, I think also, like, if someone makes a meal for me at their house, I always thank them because they put in time, they put in money to make this meal. I'm going to say thank you to them. Right. It would be rude not to. And the way that we say thank you to God for His gift of salvation is by returning our whole lives to him in obedience and in service and in love. And so it's kind of just that reminder that I don't actually own my life, which is hard, but also beautiful, that God has greater purposes for me.
- [04:17]
B
Yeah, exactly. Hard, but beautiful. It reminds me of Romans 12, where we're called to be a living sacrifice.
- [04:23]
A
That's a great word.
- [04:24]
B
Yeah. Just our whole life is called to be laid down before the Lord. I remember that. That's probably like a life passage for me, one that I'm always going back to. And I'll often think doing just mundane or small things, or maybe in a really big moment, that verse will come to mind and I'll think, what would it look like to lay down this moment for the Lord? What would it look like to be a living sacrifice in this moment where everything I'm doing and saying is meant to honor the Lord and to worship him rather than to serve any other purpose? And so that's a challenging thought, that everything we do could be lived as a sacrifice before the Lord. And I'm nowhere near there, but I am challenged by these verses, especially in light of Jesus sacrifice for for us. So thank you for walking us through these chapters today. In Isaiah, if you're not following or subscribing wherever you listen or watch, go ahead and do that because we don't want you to miss an episode. We'll be back in more with more from Isaiah tomorrow.