Watchman Radio Hour

Announcer: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour, coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shaltier, announcer.

The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's Word.

Alex Dodson: We come now to a great chapter in Isaiah. It is a chapter that speaks to the heart of the sinner. It is a chapter that has a message for every people on earth.

Here we find the gospel clearly proclaimed for all to hear. No one is turned away, but all are invited to come. This is the free offer of the gospel.

It is an echo of the invitation given in the last chapter, Revelation, in Revelation 22:17, where it says, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."

John 6:37 says, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away." The gospel is a free invitation to all. Everyone who accepts the invitation will be saved. It makes no difference who you are.

In John 6:40, it says, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." I assure you right now that if you accept this invitation of the gospel, you will have eternal life.

Our text for today is Isaiah 55:1-5. Let us hear the Word of God. "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. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor."

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given us. We thank you that it's your infallible Word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, Father, as we come to study your Word today, we pray that you will send your Holy Spirit and great power, and open hearts to the gospel. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

The whole world in this text is invited to Christ. But what about you today? Do you hear the invitation to come? Will you come now and accept this wonderful offer of eternal life? Come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let us see in the first place, the invitation in verses 1-3. "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. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?"

"Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear, come to me; hear me, and your soul will live." Salvation is free; it cannot be bought for money. Note two on this verse here in Isaiah, verse 1, says, "It is signifying that God's benefits cannot be bought for money."

We can't buy eternal life for money. John Calvin wrote, "Although they are poor, although they are sunk in the deepest poverty, yet the way is opened for them to come to Christ, through whom these blessings are freely bestowed." No money to pay; just need to be thirsty. The water of life is free.

Matthew Henry, the great Puritan commentator, wrote, "What is the qualification required to those that should be welcomed? They must thirst." Come to the feast. You don't have to pay, it's free. It's an invitation from God Almighty. God wants all to listen; come to hear him.

Matthew Poole writes, "I am ready to make it with every one of you thirsting Gentiles." E.J. Young wrote, "This verse is equivalent to the divine imperative of the gospel message, whereby men who are lost are commanded to come to Christ and in him to find the blessings that they so desperately need and that he alone can give."

He goes on to write, "To hearken to God, however, means to shut out all other voices and to listen in obedience." Matthew Poole wrote, "He invites all persons to come to Christ and to his church."

Now what are the benefits of this invitation? J.A. Alexander, the old from old Princeton, wrote, "The invitation is as relating to the benefits which God proposed from the beginning to bestow upon the nations through the medium of his church." Calvin wrote, "This is a remarkable passage from which we see that our whole happiness lies in obeying the Word of God."

Those who answer this invitation and come will live, their soul will live. Would you come and be greatly benefited today by obeying this invitation?

Secondly, let us see that this that this text points to Christ. In verse 3, it says, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples."

Christ fulfills the promise made to David. Paul connects this promise to David with Christ. In Acts 13:34 it says, "The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words, 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David,'" referring to Christ.

In 2 Samuel 7:12, it says, "God says to David, 'When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.'"

The promise to Jeremiah that David's son would yet come is found in Jeremiah 33:25. "This is what the Lord says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.'" God's plan was to preserve his people Israel so that one day the Messiah would come to them, and he did.

Young writes, "In the present context, which reflects upon 2 Samuel 7, the word calls attention to the faithfulness of God in giving the promises to David." The angel said to Mary concerning her son in Luke 1:32 and 33, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Young goes on to write, "The context requires that in this verse the suffix refer to the seed of David, the Messiah." It's talking about Christ. He would be Christ for the peoples, a witness, a leader, a commander. Jesus would be a witness to the peoples. His name would be proclaimed to the nations. His death and resurrection would be made to all, would be made known to all the peoples of the world.

J.A. Alexander wrote, "First, he is a witness to the truth and a witness against sinners." Matthew Henry wrote, "Christ as a prophet testifies the will of God to the world, and to believe is to receive his testimony." E.J. Young wrote, "He is a witness, not in the sense of a witness in court, but as one through his life and words proclaimed the truth to the nations."

And then he writes, "To the nations the truth was not known as it was to Israel, and since it is to them that the Messiah is a witness. The repetition of nations is characteristically Isaianic and shows the importance that they occupy in this verse. They are the ones to whom the truth is to be preached. They must learn of the sure mercies of David."

And then he will be a leader, a ruler of the peoples. Alexander writes, "This title is expressly applied to the Messiah by Daniel." In Daniel 9:25, "Know and understand this: from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the Ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens and 62 sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble." The Messiah, who would come after a period of time, would be the ruler or leader.

Calvin writes, "To the peoples, this was added for the purpose of application because the church could not be restored to her ancient dignity, to be or being enlarged, but by assembling the Gentiles. And therefore it was necessary that the voice of Christ should pierce even the remotest countries, because he has been appointed a witness, leader, and instructor to the whole human race."

The Messiah would come and draw all peoples, all nations to himself. In John 12:32 and 33, Jesus says, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

In Amos 9:11 and 12, it says, "In that day, I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the Lord, who will do these things. The old Geneva Bible says, "are all the heathen because my name is called upon them."

It's quoted in the New Testament as referring to Jesus Christ. In Acts 15:16, it says, "After this, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name," or "all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called," it says in the Geneva Bible.

The promise is fulfilled in Christ and the proclaiming of the gospel to all the nations. Jesus is the witness, the ruler, and commander to the peoples of the world. Listen to him. Follow him as your leader and commander. Come to Christ today.

And then in the third place, there's a promise here to the church in verse 5. "Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor." Zion will invite nations to come.

This verse either refers to Christ summoning the nations or the church summoning the nations on his behalf. J.A. Alexander from Old Princeton wrote, "The body and the head are often introduced as one ideal person, the general tenor of the Scriptures as to the vocation and the mission both of Christ and of the church."

And then he goes on to write, "The question which has chiefly divided interpreters in reference to this verse is whether the object of address is the Messiah or the church." Alexander writes, "The body and the head are often introduced as one ideal person, the general tenor of the Scriptures as to the vocation and mission both of Christ and of the church."

Keil and Delitzsch write, "So that joining themselves to Israel is the same as joining themselves to God into the church of the God of Revelation." Zion will be an ambassador for Christ. That's what the church is called to do in 2 Corinthians 5:20. It says, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."

And then it says, "The nation will hasten, the nations will hasten or run to the church and find Christ." The time will come when the nations will rush to Zion. They will come hastily. They will come from all nations. Calvin writes, "A nation that knew not these shall run to thee."

"By putting the verb shall run in the plural number, he intends to explain more fully that the church shall be collected out of various peoples, so that they who were formerly scattered shall be gathered into one body." Young writes, "Nations that did not know the Messiah, when they hear his efficacious witness, for he is witness and prince, will run under him."

"The verb run indicates the efficacy of the call. When unknown nations hear this call from David's seed, they come in all haste to him." And then it says, "The church will be glorious." "For he has endowed you with splendor," it says. In Isaiah 54:11 and 12, it says, "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones or turquoise. Your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones."

Zion will be glorious, filled with splendor in the future. Isaiah 60:9 says, "Surely the islands look to me. In the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold to the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor." People from all nations will come to her. She will be filled with splendor.

Revelation describes the splendor of the church. In Revelation 21:11, it says, "And it's shown with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." It's amazing how Revelation 21's description of the church matches much of what Isaiah prophesied about the church.

Listen to this beautiful description of the church in Revelation 21:19-21. "The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The 12 gates were 12 pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass."

And then verse 22-27 of Revelation 21 says this: "I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."

The Lord's desire for the church is to make her holy and a shining light in this world. In Ephesians 5:25-27, where Paul describes the love of a husband for his wife, he talks about the church. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Isaiah 2 presents the church as a shining light to all the world, to which the nations will go. In Isaiah 2:2, it says, "In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it." In Isaiah 2:3 and 4, it says, "Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

In Revelation 21:10 seems to be showing the church coming down from God out of heaven onto a high mountain. John writes, "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." God's intention for his church is to make her a light to the nations all over the earth. She will be a glorious church, and the nations will flow into it.

God sends out an invitation today for all the nations to come to Christ. He calls you to come now. He calls you to come right now. He offers salvation to all who will come to him. The invitation is going out. You listen. In Revelation 22:17, it says again, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."

The church calls out to you today to come. The gospel is being offered. Don't hesitate. Believe the message and come to Christ. There's no need to wait. Tomorrow may be too late. Come now. Come and follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior. We invite you to come. This is an invitation. This whole passage is an invitation for you to come to come to Christ, the Messiah.

Come now and pray this prayer of commitment with me. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for coming, thank you for coming and dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel that you have sent to us. And I now receive that invitation, and I accept it, and I come to you to receive you.