7.26.20 Isaiah 55:10–13
10 Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it. 12 Yes, you will go out with joy, and in peace you will be carried along. The mountains and the hills will break out in shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of thorns, a fir tree will grow up. Instead of briers, a myrtle tree will grow up. This will make a name for the LORD. It will serve as an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.
God’s Word: Let it Flow
We had just cut down a tree by the side of our house, and after these latest rains came I had shoots growing out of multiple roots of the tree that were left under the dirt a few inches. I didn’t want them, but the rain made them come shooting out of the ground in no time. About six weeks beforehand I had also just planted some grass where the tree formerly was, and it was coming up fine. But when we went on vacation a few weeks ago, our new grass all died quickly when it failed to rain in 90 plus degree heat.
So it is with the Word of God, Isaiah says. When it is in common use, people flourish and grow. But when it is neglected, people degrade themselves. Look at what has happened to our society in the past 60 years. It isn’t uncommon to see vulgarities openly displayed on cars. Families are split up and suffering more than ever. Drug and alcohol abuse are on the rise along with sexual addiction. Riots are abounding. Fear and division rule the day because of a virus.
God’s Word can make a difference. Isaiah reminds us of how powerful the Word of God is. It causes growth. Hebrews 4:12 also says, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.” Paul said to Timothy, “From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” That’s why we have Bible studies and encourage you to read your word REGULARLY and often. We teach children Bible stories in Sunday School and at Trinity School. Catechism and Bible Information Class has quote after quote from the Bible. We do this because we believe it is how God’s Holy Spirit works in people to bring them to faith and save them. There is power here.
But how often have you yourself read the Bible and questioned the efficacy of doing so? You start in Genesis and maybe get through a few chapters, but then you wonder what good the history of Abraham will really do you? It seems like a waste of time. You go to Sunday School but you’re bored with the class and upset that you’re the only one who had to come: none of your classmates are there. You’d rather maybe read a devotion on the Bible or an inspirational book instead. Or maybe you just turn on Netflix and punt it altogether. Does the Word of God work or not?
Imagine yourself driving in your car and you put a book on: it is easy to listen to it and concentrate while you are on the open road. You can learn a lot while driving. But when things get congested and you have to make a few turns, it takes greater concentration and you turn it off. It seems that as we journey through life that God’s Word has become the distraction in some ways. We are so focused on temporary destinations like promotions or relationships or entertainment, that we turn down God’s Word along the way. We are too focused on our immediate goals, and the Word becomes a distraction. What ends up happening? You lose direction in life.
We forget what God’s Word is designed to do. It gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Think about that. The Word of God produces that which can grow and that which can be eaten: it has the ingredients that we can work with. Bread is made from ingredients that are baked together and eaten. Jesus is the bread of life. He is the ultimate loaf that God has baked to give us forgiveness and salvation. The ultimate goal is to get us to heaven through Christ alone.
When you think of eating bread, it’s amazing to see how a chef is able to use ingredients and combine them to make incredible and tasty foods. But if you use the wrong ingredients or use too much of one ingredient it can ruin the food as well. I used to go and eat with an elderly German lady before Bible study at my first congregation, and one night she accidentally added salt to a recipe instead of sugar. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out too well. We had a good laugh about it. Cooking TIME is important as well. If you undercook or overcook something you can ruin the whole batch.
So also, the Word of God will work when it is used properly. Imagine you were having problems with being mean to people. You read through Jesus’ first miracle and you say to yourself, “This isn’t helping me be more kind. I read through five chapters today and I don’t feel like it did me a bit of good.” Or maybe you look up passages on kindness, or find a book on five Biblical steps to being kind, and it still doesn’t seem to do much good for you. Do you then assume that the WORD failed? Maybe you wanted your studies to produce immediate results, when God realized you weren’t ready for the results yet. You wanted a slow cooked brisket to come out of the microwave in five minutes, and that’s not how the Word always works.
If I were to ask you, “Is the Word powerful?” You would probably all say “Yes!” But if I were to ask you how OFTEN you read it, and how often you seek it, what would you say? You see the problem? We treat the Word more like a smorgasbord. We pick a little bit here, and a little bit there. But we avoid the words that we don’t like or don’t want because we don’t THINK they apply to us or do us any good at that MOMENT. So we end up spiritually starving ourselves because we only eat what we want to eat when we think we need it to solve a problem. The problem isn’t with the food but with the DIET we are on. It’s not that the Word isn’t powerful. It’s just the way we try to USE it. We treat it like an occasional pill instead of a regular meal.
Isaiah promised the Jews some wonderful and powerful things would happen to them: trees clapping their hands, mountains and hills rejoicing when they returned to Israel in peace and joy. It reminds me of scenes from the Lord of the Rings where Tolkien personifies creation and has walking and talking trees and mountains. Fir trees and myrtle trees would also abound in their new home. Fir trees were great for making buildings and musical instruments, and myrtle trees were known for their beauty and their smell. It sounds like heaven.
Imagine the Jews hearing this. They were going into captivity in Babylon, but they would return. Would trees really clap at them when they returned to the Promised Land? Would the hills and mountains sing over them? Would the land really be filled with fir and myrtle trees? The Bible never records that trees were clapping and mountains were singing when the remnant returned to the Promised Land. Most of them would have been dead before the 70 years of captivity ended.
But if they were to look BEYOND that temporary land, they would have seen that God was pointing to a more distant land, that of HEAVEN. It sounded like heaven because it WAS heaven. That’s why the promises are so beyond the nature of THIS world, to show that these promises are BEYOND the nature of this world. They are fulfilled in the NEW heavens and the NEW earth. It fits with other Scriptures, like when Paul personifies creation in Romans chapter 8 as it WAITS for Jesus to come on Judgment Day when he says, “All of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time.”
You have to be careful when you read the Word of God so that you take a promise out of context or misappropriate it to yourself. A lot of people hear God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God is speaking a promise to the ISRAELITES on their return from 70 years in captivity. Yet people apply this to themselves today and assume that God is speaking to them and that He wants them to be rich and wealthy, or that God will heal them of their disease or make them happy in marriage. So they assume the Word of God has LIED to them or that they really aren’t Christian when they aren’t prospering, when in reality they’re trying to bake everything God gives them into their own favorite pie.
God’s Word IS powerful, and I can remind you of that from history. God created the entire universe in six days with mere words. Jesus chased out demons and calmed storms with mere words. Peter was able to heal a cripple with words. Through the simple preaching of Jonah the entire city of Nineveh was brought to repentance and faith in God. God’s Word has done miraculous things.
Jesus trusted the Word and used the Word regularly. “It is written,” He said to the devil in the temptations in the desert. He used the Word in His discussion with the disciples on the way to Emmaus to prove to them that He had to suffer and rise from the dead. He quoted from the Psalms while He was on the cross dying for our sins. It was as if He was speaking His way through it, reminding Himself of what the Word said. He put His life and death on it, and it came true. He fulfilled all that God called Him and prophesied Him to do to pay for the sins of the world. It took trust for Jesus to do this as well. His trust was rewarded as He became the fulfillment of the Word of salvation for the world. The Word came true for Him AND for us THROUGH Him.
The power of God’s Word isn’t usually seen through people raising the dead or healing the sick. It’s usually more hidden than that. But you can still see its power when you LOOK for it. Just look at this. Isn’t it a miracle of God’s Word that we come to church on a Sunday morning to listen to this Word? These mouths, that were born only to deny and curse God: these ears, that didn’t want to hear anything that God had to say: they’ve been opened by the Word!
I had a neat experience with the power of God’s Word in teaching a convert about the power of the Lord’s Supper. As you know, we wait to admit people to the Lord’s Supper because we believe in the POWER of it. God’s body and blood comes to us hidden under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins. It can bless you and strengthen you in the faith, but the Bible also warns that it can be taken to your detriment and harm if you don’t know what it’s about in 1 Corinthians 11. Usually, people are put off by this and get angry at us for this when they can’t come forward for communion immediately. They don’t understand or look at what the Word actually says. But a recent convert said that she LIKED the fact that we took the Lord’s Supper so SERIOUSLY when she studied what the Word said about the Lord’s Supper. It was one reason she WANTED to join our congregation. It was a TESTAMENT to the POWER of God’s Word working faith in her heart.
As the rain and the snow come down from the sky. . . When you were young did you used to go out when it was raining and play in the rain? When I was young we’d sometimes bring out some shampoo and soap and wash in it. Kansas is very dry in the summer. Our kids did that at least once and we had some really fun pictures from it. Michigan, thankfully, has more snow and rain, and it naturally helps to keep our grass green and our trees tall.
The Word of God is more easy to access than the snow and the rain, especially now that we all have Bibles at our hands and on our phones. It’s like having a personal sprinkler and faucet to turn on when and where you want.
Turn it on! Let it flow over you and into you! Let it lead you where God wants you to go. He may want you to go through sorrow over your sins on one day, and then run you to the cross for forgiveness on the next. He may want you to rejoice in His creation and salvation. He may want to teach you a thing on how to use your gifts or treat your spouse at another time. One book at a time. One chapter at a time. One word at a time. You will experience fast and slow, straight highways and curvy cliffs, darkness and light, all on the way to heaven, through the powerful Word of God and the gracious Word of Christ.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on your promises,
And by faith we’ll walk as you walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, as your Church is built
And you fill the earth with your glory. Amen.
