“Seek The Lord…” (55:1-13)
Neal Pollard
Chapters 40-55 seem to be one long unit, devoted to the comfort God extends to His people through atonement for sin and deliverance from other nations. The NASB (95) puts Isaiah 55:12-13 in quotation marks, signaling to us that this is a hymn and ends this section. Smith identifies hymns in the book that served the same purpose in 12:1-6, 42: 10-13, 44:23, 49:13, and 52:9-10 (NAC, 493-494). This final chapter tells us that God longs to bless His people, but His people must repent to enjoy them.
The axis point of this chapter is a call to “seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (6). It stands between the blessings promised (1-5) and the spiritual change required (7-11). No one accidentally grows close to God or walks obediently to His will by mere chance. Let’s notice how Isaiah highlights this way to transformation and why one would want to pursue it.
Seek the Lord because He provides (1-2). Four items are identified–water, wine, milk, and bread. Listening to God, His people enjoy abundant provision. It is foolish to look to anyone or anything else to give what only He can give.
Seek the Lord because He gives life (3). Listening to Him, one is promised life. While that may include physical life, the implication is eternal life shown through His “everlasting covenant” with His people.
Seek the Lord because He gives identity (3-5). He appeals to their common heritage in David (3), but He offers an even greater identity through His name and what being His people does for them. Through the Lord’s leadership, one is glorified (5). Being a child of God exalts one’s name and purpose, not for our sake but for His (cf. Eph. 3:20-21).
Seek the Lord because He gives forgiveness (6-7). In the middle verses of chapter 55, Isaiah makes a play on the words “thoughts” and “ways.” He begins by calling for the wicked to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts (6). Why? Because God’s ways and thoughts are not ours, but are more exalted and important (8-9). But by forsaking our own thoughts and ways for His, we can expect to have compassion and abundant pardon!
Seek the Lord because He gives wisdom (8-11). Not only are His thoughts and ways higher than ours, but they are fruitful and productive. He illustrates this with the cyclical nature of moisture and seed production. The rain and snow come from heaven, waters the earth, makes it bear and sprout, drops seed, and ultimately provides bread for the one who sows the seed. Isaiah says that this is how God’s Word works. He sends it, His faithful servants sow it, and it produces results (see how Paul alludes to this idea in 2 Cor. 9:10, as well as Matt. 24:35; Luke 8:11; 1 Pet. 1:23).
Seek the Lord because He gives unexpected joy (12-13). The fruit of God’s wisdom is joy, peace, and fruitfulness. With figurative language and hyperbole, Isaiah illustrates this blessing with mountains and hills celebrating, trees clapping, and cypress and myrtle trees coming forth from the seeds of thorn bushes and nettles. God’s power takes the refuse and contemptible things of life and shows His power through His ability to make it incredibly wonderful. Remember Paul’s words? “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord'” (1 Cor. 1:27-31).
At least six blessings in this brief chapter are attached to seeking the Lord, and Isaiah says that seeking the Lord and changing from our sinful ways are imperative to receiving them. God can take the worst of situations and make them far better than we could imagine. He waits to bless us, but He is waiting for us to come to Him (Matt. 11:28-30).
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