Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 55:6 - 55:13

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 55:6 - 55:13


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Israel Called to Repentance

v. 6. Seek ye the Lord,
so the Lord now calls out to Israel through the proclamation of His prophet, while He may be found, while the time of grace is still present with them; call ye upon Him while He is near, while His salvation is so close at hand in the Word of His grace, while the opportunity for repentance is still held out.

v. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way,
no longer, in contempt of God, pursuing the way of his own lusts and desires, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, his evil inclinations and intentions, and let him return unto the Lord, to the God of the covenant, and He will have mercy upon him, forgive all his iniquities, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon, literally, "He makes much to forgive," He is most ready to forgive, His mercy is limitless. Cf Rom_5:20; Isa_1:18; 1Ti_1:13-17.

v. 8. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord,
for the thoughts of the wicked are evil and lead into everlasting destruction, whereas the ways of the Lord are good, righteous, and holy, and lead into everlasting salvation.

v. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
separated by an infinitely great distance, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. At the same time it is true that, although the weight of man's sins, the foolishness of wicked ways, is so great as to make them seem unpardonable, yet God does not cease to let His Word be proclaimed in richest measure.

v. 10. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven,
according to the regular course of nature, and returneth not thither, namely, without carrying out the designs of God, but watereth the earth, the moisture being absorbed by the soil, and maketh it bring forth and bud, so that it grows and matures in due time, that it may give seed to the sower, for next year's seed-corn, and bread to the eater, the human family thus being provided with food from year to year,

v. 11. so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth,
proceeding thence to fulfill the purpose set by the Lord; it shall not return unto Me void, without giving to men at least some spiritual benefit, but it shall accomplish that which I please, what He chooses to have done, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it, for it is the Word filled with His almighty power, and the omnipotent God Himself is active in and through it. The Gospel is a power of God unto salvation, Rom_1:16-17.

v. 12. For ye,
the people of the Lord, now in shameful captivity, shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, to leave their captivity behind and to return home to Zion. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, all creatures, as it were, rejoicing over the salvation enjoyed by the children of God, since it culminates in the bliss of heaven.

v. 13. Instead of the thorn,
symbol of sin and misery, shall come the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree, both of these trees being representative of the finest products of faith in good works; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off, a monument of glory to Jehovah which would last throughout eternity. All sinners in the whole world, who rely upon the promise of the Lord in His Word, will find that these promises will be fulfilled in their case, eternal salvation and glorification being theirs through His grace.