Come to the Feast

KEY VERSE: “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” —Isaiah 55:6

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-11

IN OUR lesson today, the Lord extends, through the prophet, a warm and earnest invitation to the nation of Israel to abandon their disobedient ways of the past, and accept the provision he has made for their salvation. Isaiah 55:1 reads, “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.” Water, in the Scriptures, is a metaphor for truth. The thought is that the Lord is no respecter of persons and the invitation is extended to all who yearn for righteousness. These are described as those who thirst in Israel, and while this invitation was directed to the Jews at the time of our Lord’s first advent, we know that it was later extended to both Jew and Gentile. “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 7:37,38

The second verse reads, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” The admonition to the Jews is that their dependence on the Law Covenant arrangement to attain righteousness and life has proven fruitless, and he asks the question, why do they continue to put their trust in it. We are reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, “For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [for a sin offering], condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:3,4) The salvation being offered to the Israelites was a new and living way that was brought to light by Jesus holding forth the Gospel.—II Tim. 1:9,10

Verses three and four, of Isaiah fifty-five, read, “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.” The ‘sure mercies of David’ was a promise the Lord made to David: “He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. … My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever.” (II Sam. 7:13-16) David is a type of Christ and therefore the promise concerns Christ’s kingdom which will be an everlasting kingdom that will bring blessings to the Jews and the whole world of mankind. The angel, Gabriel, when speaking to Mary, said concerning Jesus, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32,33) It is important to note that Jesus is the Son of God, but he was also a descendent of David through the genealogy of Mary.—Luke 3:23-31

But the Lord realized that the Israelites would not respond sufficiently to his invitation to become associated with the spiritual phase of this kingdom, so he caused the prophet to write, “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. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” (Isa. 55:5,6) The Apostle Paul, speaking of this condition, wrote, “Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jew only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”—Rom. 9:24-26

In the concluding verses, the Lord through the prophet assures Israel of his faithfulness as a covenant-keeping God, and holds forth the promises of rich blessings if they will only accept his invitation to the feast.

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