Christ Church

Come Unto Me

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INTRODUCTION

A perennial problem that comes upon the people of God is that they choose to die in the desert rather than come to the source of Living Water. Israel refused to enter into the land flowing with milk and honey. So that generation spent their lives wandering east of the Jordan until their corpses filled the wilderness. Isaiah 55 is designed that we might not go the way of that old generation. It is designed that we would come to the Lord and live. 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Isaiah 55:1-13

The thirsty are summoned to come to the waters. They do not need money. But they do need to have an appetite. They must also buy and eat. But marvelously, they must make this transaction without spending (v. 1). There is no good explanation for doing the opposite, which is spending all of your money in an attempt to eat the wind. The wine and milk the Lord supplies is far better for the belly, good and fat. But the only way to be satisfied with the good is to come to the Lord diligently (v. 2). This coming to the Lord means actually hearing Him, and His message to you is a covenant word secured by the Son of David, the master and commander who has been given as a sure bond to God’s people (v. 3-4). 

God will glorify His people such that nations start running their way (v. 5). And running is wise because there is a time limit on when men can seek the Lord (v. 6). In order to buy the Lord’s milk and wine, man must give up on his own foolish thoughts. The Lord’s thoughts are not only different than ours. They are higher than them as the heavens are the earth (v. 7-9). We could never climb up to hear God’s thoughts in the heavens. But He has sent them down like snow and rain. And like the snow and rain bring forth seed and bread, so God’s Word accomplishes what He plans for it (v. 10-11).

Because of our Father’s heavenly covenant rain-word, His people will go out with joy and peace. The mountains clear their throat and sing before you and the maple trees start clapping their hands as you pass by (v. 12). Thorns and thistles are replaced with evergreens that stand as never-ending witnesses to the Lord’s faithfulness (v. 13).

COME, YE THIRSTY

Nothing could be more natural than being thirsty. We are human. We are finite. We are dependent creatures. What is manifestly not natural is that you would be thirsty and not come to drink. What is downright silly is that you would go spend all of your money on that which is not bread. Why would you do that? The way to milk and wine is straightforward. Come to the Lord. Man, in his fussiness, would like to claim that he doesn’t know the way. But God is not far from us. In Him we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:27).

AND I WILL MAKE AN EVERLASTING COVENANT

When man comes to the Lord to drink, He finds God making a covenant with him. The terms and conditions are clear. God promises eternal life and blessing, milk and wine without price. The conditions are that we would trust Him and obey Him. And the surety of this covenant is the Son of David. This covenant is never-ending, but it is continually renewed. David was in Isaiah’s past. This was no new covenant, but a renewed covenant. So it is today. If you would have life, then you must renew covenant with the Lord for it is in that covenant that life is found. 

FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS

The spirit of the age insists that you figure out all of your thoughts. But God’s word says that you are supposed to do a different thing, forsake them. Many think that if they can sort out all of their emotions, then the mountains will sing for them, and trees will clap their hands. “Where did that thought come from? Why did I think that? What kind of horrible person thinks the thoughts I think?” This person thinks that he can get all of his thoughts to fit together like a 1,000-piece puzzle and all will be pretty at the end. But God says that your thoughts simply aren’t that important, and the puzzle pieces don’t actually fit. So, burn the puzzle pieces and go listen to God’s thoughts. Think His thoughts after Him. His thoughts in your head are perfectly fine thoughts for you to have, you should keep those around.

AS THE RAIN COMETH DOWN

God tells us His thoughts by His Spirit whom He has given us—”For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). But notice that the Spirit helps us know the things freely given to us of God. He does not help us to know the things God hasn’t given us. The mystics who would close their Bibles and go searching for mysteries within will find that they discover no mysteries. They will not find prosperity either. For the Word that goes forth from the mouth of God is the mystery, the life, the bread, the seed, the wealth.

LED FORTH WITH PEACE

That is why God’s people will go forth with joy and peace. God’s covenant word always brings forth covenant fruit. And that fruit is everlasting like the Son of David himself. He is your peace and your joy. The purchase of the wine and milk has already been made. He has paid the cost at Calvary. All you need to do is come to him and drink. No money necessary.

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Veiled in Flesh the Godhead See (By Prophet Bards Foretold #4)

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INTRODUCTION

We have emphasized in the past that the gospel consists of two aspects—the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first has to do with who He is, and the second aspect concerns what He has done. Regarding the person of Christ we confess that He is YHWH come in the flesh, Jehovah Incarnate. With regard to His work, we are talking about His life of sinless obedience, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. What did the Messiah do? He became one of us, only without sin, and He was crucified, buried, resurrected and crowned in Heaven. And who was it that did this thing? It was Emmanuel—God with us. 

This incarnate reality is closely connected with various Old Testament prophecies concerning the Lord’s nativity. Let’s consider some of them now. 

THE TEXT

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6–7). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Remember that this passage is just a few verses down from our earlier text, the one that predicted that a virgin would conceive. That prophecy received a double fulfillment—first when Isaiah’s wife gave King Ahaz a sign, and the second coming to pass when Gabriel to Mary with his message. All of that took us into Isaiah 8. Here in Isaiah 9, we see that Galiee of the Gentiles will see a great light (vv. 1-2). And then a few verses below that, the prophet Isaiah opens up and starts delivering stupefying truths.

We need to take this whole passage in together. Taken together, you have something that requires the tight theology hammered out at Chalcedon. This is why we hail “the Incarnate Deity.” We are talking about incarnation—true humanity. But we are also talking about the eternal God being the one who becomes incarnate.

First, the humanity—a child is born (v. 6), a son is given (v. 6). He will be named (v. 6). He will sit on the throne of David, meaning He is descended from David (v. 7).

But what names are included? He will be called “mighty God” (v. 6). He will be called “everlasting Father” (v. 6). He will rule on His throne “forever” (v. 7). This is a man, but no ordinary man. 

“Mighty God” is a title that is assigned to the Lord Himself. See the next chapter (Is. 10:20-21). Consider Deuteronomy 10:17. The Lord your God is the mighty God. God is the great, the mighty, the awesome God (Neh. 9:32). The great and mighty God is the one whose name is the Lord of hosts (Jer. 32:18).

Everlasting Father: This is not a Trinitarian reference, where the Second Person is being confused with the First Person. But it is an ascription of Deity. Whatever else it is, He is everlasting. The image is one of a benevolent protector and provider (Is. 22:21; Job 29:16), which describes the behavior of an ideal king. Fathers provide and fathers protect. The Christ, when He comes, will be that for His people (Is. 63:16; 62:8; Ps. 103:13). Christ is going to be this way for us, and He is going to be this way in an everlasting fashion. In short, He is able to save “to the uttermost.”

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25). 

FROM BETHLEHEM, FROM EVERLASTING

We considered Micah’ prophecy earlier, but it pays to revisit it. He is making the same point. The Christ is going to be a man, but not just a man. Where is this man from? We use that word from in two ways. He is from Bethlehem, and He is from everlasting. What does it mean to be from everlasting? This can mean nothing short of Deity. 

“But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).  

WHAT WE MUST NOT SAY

In all of this, recall what we are confessing when we recite the Definition of Chalcedon together. In this Incarnation, there is a union of two distinct natures—human nature and divine nature. This is a complete mystery to us because we do not understanding how finitude can be united with infinitude. But it united, and the point of union is known by us as Jesus of Nazareth. 

And what can be predicated of one nature can certainly be predicated of the person. And what is predicated of the other nature can also be predicated of the person. We do this when we say that the Creator of the galaxies was laid in a manger. We say that this particular man child was circumcised on the eighth day. But what is predicated of one nature cannot be predicated of the other nature. Thus, for example, it would be incoherent to say that Christ’s body, which was, say, six feet tall, was also omnipresent. 

WHAT HE WAS BORN TO DO

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4–5).

Collapse that phrase. “Born of a woman . . . to redeem.” God did this at just the right time, when the fulness of time was complete. God sent His Son into the world in order to accomplish a full and complete redemption for His people. And because all of this is true, and true in every respect, it is possible for Him to come to us, and in that coming, save to the uttermost.

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