p. 661The sacrifice of God’s Righteous Servant having been accomplished, and the heritage of the servants of Yahweh defined, then follows the loud and free proclamation to all so reasonably disposed, to join without money and without price in the benefits proposed.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye buy and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. lv. 1).
The interjection is striking. It is as though the prophet (standing as a man of sign for Another, and for others beside himself), raised the hand and shouted aloud to certain ones, Hoy! Come here! (The Hebrew word has the same sound as our own interjection).
But, as before said by the prophet, “Who hath believed that which we have heard?” Who would respond to the free and gracious invitation so emphatically announced and afterwards to be continually proclaimed? “Everyone that thirsteth,” is the answer in the terms of the proclamation itself.
“Everyone that thirsteth.” Others would hear and turn away; but these would respond. The figure was intelligible enough to such. Had not David himself used it most pathetically in the Psalms? “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psa. xlii. 1-2). “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land (the wilderness of Judah, literal and spiritual), where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary” (Psa. lxiii. 1-2). And Amos, who for some p. 662 time at least was contemporary with Isaiah, had said by the spirit: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst” (Amos viii. 11-13).
Even without looking further than the context, the nature of the thirst and of that “water” which should slake it was evident to normal understanding. It was the desire of the fulfilment of the everlasting covenant in the person of the promised Son of David that was the “thirst.” And the “waters,” “wine,” and “milk” were the word of life related thereto. There could be no mistake about it to normal discernment; but to “ears dull of hearing,” the plainest message would be unintelligible.
Then again, Isaiah had already said in connection with this “everlasting covenant” (ch. xlix. 10), that the “prisoners” of hope belonging to the Messenger of the Covenant should at his commandment come forth from darkness, and should “hunger and thirst” no more; a figure that he himself reproduces in his own last prophecy from heaven (Rev. vii. 16); for he says of those who have been sealed in the forehead of all the tribes of Israel, and who are thereafter seen with the Lamb in white robes: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.”
About seventy years previous to this revelation, HE himself had voiced the invitation: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” We hear it on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt. v. 6). We hear it under quite different circumstances at the brink of Jacob’s well (John iv.). “Whosoever drinketh of this water,” said he to the wondering woman of Samaria, “shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” And it is not a little striking that the earliest and plainest assertion of his Messiahship p. 663 was in this connection, for to this same woman of Samaria he presently said, in answer to her allusion to the coming of Messiah: “I that speak unto thee am he.”
And then again at Capernaum later on, when the true bread was in question, and they had challenged him in the Synagogue with Moses and the manna, he said: “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John vi. 35).
And finally at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, and on the occasion of the rejoicing at the drawing of water—rejoicing so marred by the flesh, and so little related to the true substance in their midst by the gracious gift of God:—“Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst let HIM COME UNTO ME and drink. He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John vii. 37-8).
Did ever Isaiah speak like this? Nay, did ever any man speak like this? Never, even on the testimony of those who were no friends of Jesus: “Never man spake like this man.”
Jesus then has appropriated to himself the words of the Spirit by Isaiah saying, “Incline your ear, and come unto me.” Some of the critics can see no further than Isaiah himself in the premises, or than David himself in the promised Prince. That is because “the word of Christ” does not dwell in them—because they do not “thirst” after the manner of David and the prophets and their brethren.
Jesus also in his teaching lays hold on the “without-money-and-without-price” aspect of the invitation. In the sermon on the mount he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Again he makes it a sign of the times to be commended to the reflection of John the Baptist in prison, that “the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt. xi. 5). The “poor” who “thirsted” and were disposed to “buy without money and without price” were not the merely impecunious. Plenty of these were poor enough, but quite without appetite for the gospel. It was “the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of God” (Jas. ii. 5), who were the people in p. 664 question, and if we would have concrete illustrations they are at hand in the twelve apostles. We know for certain what kind of men the Lord Jesus gathered round him in the days of his ministry, and how he did it, and what he taught them, and what he promised them. It is all there in the word of God divinely recorded and preserved. Those who “thirst” will drink.
Though “without money and without price” in a sense, that is of the free grace of God, the promised life in the Kingdom of God and of David is not “without price” in another sense. It is Jesus himself who says so. Some of his kingdom-parables (Matt. xiii.) represent it as a matter for which a substantial price is paid. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls; who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Here, whether the thing was a matter of accidental discovery, or a matter of diligent search rewarded, the result was the same—intelligent discernment promptly and joyfully paid the price.
What is the application? It is this. The kingdom of heaven is “without money and without price,” in that the gift of God cannot be “purchased with money,” as Simon Magus discovered for himself (Acts viii. 20). Neither wealth, influence, nor works of any kind can of themselves in the least degree open the kingdom of heaven to men. It is of grace: “By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. ii. 8-10).
At the same time the acceptance of the grace of God through faith is so overruled by God in the world that it is infallibly a matter of sacrifice, as indicated in the parables above quoted. A man or woman “thirsting after God” after the type of David as referred to in this prophecy of Isaiah, immediately comes to understand by the same word that causes p. 665 the “thirst,” and by painful experience, that the world is of other tastes altogether. Hence there is a painful separation involving a price beside which money is often of little worth. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,” says Jesus (Matt. x. 37). “And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” The apostles are the illustrations of the working out of the principle, and on the negative side may be placed the rich young man to whom Jesus gave the command to sell all that he had and give to the poor that he might have treasure in heaven (Matt. xix.). Paradoxical as it may appear, it is nevertheless true that the young man was too well off to pay the price. And the dictum of Jesus has been in force from that day to this: “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He himself was a poor man, and so were his apostles. “Without money and without price” has its highest illustration in him and them. It was not, however, their poverty, but their “thirst” and “faith” that commended them to God. Where these things are co-existent with possession of substance, as with Abraham, David, and Joseph, and his namesake of Arimathea, it is altogether beautiful. But how rare it is.
The Spirit in Isaiah expostulates with those who preferred the chaff to the wheat: “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?” And the word goes on to commend the “true bread” of the “everlasting covenant.” What is the nature of the two things thus figuratively described? And wherein lies the great difference?
No true answer can be given to these questions apart from a knowledge of and belief in the terms of the “everlasting covenant” in question. A man must know and believe “the gospel of the kingdom of God”—“the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” before he is competent to p. 666 discriminate between the wheat and the cheat, between the sustaining and satisfying “fatness” of the promises of God, and the delusive shams by which they have been perverted in a demented world.
The word of truth says, “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live.” The perverted word in the mouth of the clergy says your “soul” (meaning thereby a phantom unknown to the scriptures) doth live whether you incline your ear and “hearken diligently” or not. It must live eternally. “O the value of one ‘immortal soul.’ Countless worlds cannot be placed in the balance with it”! And so forth, in the style which is only too familiar.
Does this “satisfy”? Some of them say (without much fervour or certainty) that it does. But in truth it “satisfieth not,” as many can truly testify who have tried it. See them over a dead body or a grave, and their sorrow (or rejoicing) is that of ignorance and hopelessness. The sham gospel sends a phantom to heaven apart from resurrection and judgment, in the face of the plainest testimonies that both are indispensable before eternal life can be entered, and that heaven is forbidden to men, and that the Lord Jesus is returning to cause the righteous to inherit the earth for ever, and further that these things relate not to a ghost or phantom, but to men and women of angelic bodily nature such as the Lord possesses, and such as he revealed to his disciples after his resurrection.
The theology of the apostate Christendom which “satisfieth not” affirms that men and women “come unto Christ” in the mere unintelligent profession of his name without understanding in the least the testimony of God concerning him, and quite apart from any form or ceremony connecting such with Christ. There are exceptions of course, but “salvation on the spot,” as it is phrased by the “Salvation Army,” in a manifesto current at this time of writing, is an idea by no means restricted to that body.
But the word of the “everlasting covenant” teaches that men and women must be “taught of God” that they may truly come to Christ. They must understand what the Father has promised concerning Christ in the terms of the “everlasting p. 667 covenant”; must believe “the word of the kingdom,” and thereupon “come unto Christ” in taking upon them his name in baptism for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. This satisfies. Such an obedient believer knows the will of God and does it, and if he hold fast the hope and endure unto the end, he will be satisfied for ever in partaking at last of the holy things of the covenant—namely, eternal life with Christ in the Kingdom of God.
It is remarkable that there should be such aversion to accurate knowledge carefully acquired in these matters. Men justify “hearkening diligently” in everything else on earth. How minutely and laboriously the intricacies of philology or archæology are followed. With what infinite labour and research are problems of biology attacked, and with what paucity of result as regards the root of the matter. What pains will not men bestow upon science, finance, or even sport. But the things of God—No. “Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” That is the prevailing attitude—now as always. What is to be said of it? Only this, that the invitation is not to such, and the “sure mercies” or “holy things” of David are not for such, but only for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. How few these are in any age is manifest from the fact that six thousand years are occupied in providing a sufficient number of them to rule the world in righteousness during the millennium. But time is no object to God, and were it six million years it would not affect the majestic and beautiful principle upon which He is providing “a people prepared for the Lord.”
Concerning “the sure mercies of David,” it is said, “Behold I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader (or Prince) and commander to the peoples.” It is plural (peoples), as in the R.V. Who is this? Some of the learned say, David. This shows that they do not understand the terms of the “everlasting covenant.” God promised David a Son who should be Son of God as well, and who, being offered as a sacrifice, should be raised from the dead and live for ever, and establish David’s throne and kingdom for ever before his face, having raised him from the dead for the purpose. All who hungered and thirsted for righteousness p. 668 in Israel were well aware of this, and, like David himself, looked for nothing else. It was to them, as to him, “all their salvation and all their desire.”
Isaiah had spoken much of this Son of David. He should be “Immanuel,” God with the house of David (ch. vii.). He should deliver the nation in war, and receive of the Lord God the throne and kingdom of David (ch. ix.). He should bring Jacob again to God, and fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord (chs. xlix., xi.). He should be despised and abhorred of the nation, and given for a covenant (ch. xlix.). All these things converge and focus in Jesus, and in no other name under heaven. Application to this prophecy to him is made by the Spirit in an apostle. Paul, in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, preached Jesus to them, saying, “God hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And, as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Acts xiii. 33-34)—(“the holy and sure blessings of David”—R.V.).
This is authoritative, and proves that the prophet spoke beforehand of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This becomes more evident the closer we look at the words. The term rendered “sure blessings” by the R.V. is a compound from the root Amen, and this, with all the other terms, has been appropriated by the Lord Jesus himself in the Revelation: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness” (Rev. iii. 14). “Jesus Christ, the faithful and true Witness, and the Prince of the kings of the earth” (ch. i. 5), “who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession” (1 Tim. vi. 13; John xviii. 37). It is he, and not his father David, who is the Witness, Leader, and Commander of peoples promised in the Covenant, and the plural form of the term rendered “sure blessings” comprehends the idea of the body of Christ as well as Jesus personally.
This is further evident from verse 5, “Behold THOU shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.” The antecedent to p. 669 “thou” is Jerusalem the exalted, of the context (ch. liv. 17), so that we must include in the term the Lord, the Holy City, and the Bride, who are all of them elements of the glory of the Lord which is to cover the earth by radiation from the New Jerusalem for the illumination of the nations which “knew not” God.
It is with reference to this great salvation about to be revealed on earth, that the free and gracious invitation to apostate Israel and benighted Gentiles is given: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
We see the first great practical illustration of the application of this manifestation of the kindness of God in the personal ministration of Jesus in Israel nearly nineteen hundred years ago. Though personally sinless, he himself illustrated that “redeeming of the time in the evil days,” which was afterwards the subject of apostolic exhortation. When his disciples sought to dissuade him from risking his life by going into Judea to raise Lazarus, he said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him” (John xi. 9). “I must walk to-day, and to-morrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem” (Luke xiii. 33). And when the time came for him to “perish at Jerusalem,” he said to the Jews, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John xii. 35).
“While he may be found . . . while he is near.” How accessible was God to the people in the person of Jesus? How “near” he had come to them in “Immanuel”! And yet how few responded. The time soon came that he departed, and “darkness” settled down over the land, and at last it was left desolate.
p. 670 Afterwards the body of Christ took up the position of the outcast “children of the kingdom,” and repeated in its experience the old apostacy. Hence the same expostulations are found in the New Testament writings. Thus, the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, reproves the church of the Laodiceans for its yea and nay lukewarmness and unfaithfulness (2 Cor. i. 19-20), saying, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches” (Rev. iii. 19-22).
The concluding words above quoted, bring the matter down to ourselves. “He that hath an ear” is Christ’s equivalent for “everyone that thirsteth.” There are doubtless some left here and there who will give heed. They will recognise that a forsaking of ways of wickedness is what God desires, and not a weekly ritualistic confession that they are “miserable sinners in whom there is no health.” They will “hearken diligently” to the word of the everlasting covenant and come unto the Lord in the appointed way in the “one baptism.”
The ultimate success of the word of God is assured by the prophecy. Christ (the Word made flesh) and his true disciples are the “bud,” “seed,” and “bread” of the beautiful figure of the rain-watered produce of the earth. He is the earnest of the transformation of the earth proposed, when thorns and briers shall be banished, and figs and myrtles take their places. What has already been accomplished in him in fulfilment of the words of this chapter, is enough to develop full assurance of faith as to the remainder, and the coming manifestation which “shall be to the Lord for a Name, and for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.”