Come to the Lord!
Isaiah 55-56, Revelation 11
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. – Isaiah 55:1 ESV
The invitation of God extends to all men. He offers them the opportunity to come to Him and receive what they could never find anywhere else. He promises to quench their thirst, to satisfy their hunger, to provide them with true bread, and to make an everlasting covenant with them. And He offers it all at no cost. This amazing passage is a clear prophesy of the redemptive work God offered through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Messiah was the ultimate fulfillment of this offer made by God. But to accept the offer of salvation through His Son, all men would have to accept the invitation of God to come. They would have to forsake their ways, thoughts, and attitudes. They would have to admit that God’s ways were in direct contradiction to their own. The whole idea of a single, solitary man dying as the payment for the sins of all mankind makes no sense to us. The concept of God taking on human flesh and dying a sinner’s death on a cross in order to make men right with God is impossible for us to fully grasp. But God says, “For my thoughts are nor your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8 ESV). His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. The way He works is beyond our comprehension. But we must come to Him. We must accept His ways. We must realize that His way is the only way. God would ask us, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for the which does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2 ESV). Rather than take God at His word, men will go out of their way trying to find false substitutes for what God has offered to provide. They will seek satisfaction elsewhere, wasting money and time trying to replicate the blessings of God by seeking them from this world. But God continues to say, “Come!”.
What does this passage reveal about God?
God’s invitation will not last forever. There is a time limit to His offer and there is a day coming when His offer will be removed from the table. So God lovingly pleads with mankind, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55: 6-7 ESV). The present is the time for salvation. Yet men presumptuously put off the inevitable, delaying their response to the invitation, assuming that they will have plenty of time to accept the offer at a later date. Yet the book of Revelation makes it painstakingly clear that the day will come when God’s offer of salvation runs out. He will send His Son back to earth to bring judgment on all those who have rejected Him as their Savior. The offer made in the opening verses of Isaiah 55 will expire. But amazingly, we live in a day when God’s offer is still available to all men. His promise of both abundant and eternal life still stands. The gift of His Son is still available and for those who accept Him as their Savior, the satisfaction and salvation God offers is still accessible.
What does this passage reveal about man?
Because our ways and thoughts are so radically different than God’s, we have a hard time accepting what He has to offer. We don’t want to believe that His gift of salvation is free and available to us apart from any good works or human effort. That just doesn’t make sense to us. So we determine that there must be something more needed. We wrongly assume that we can somehow earn our way into God’s good graces by doing good things or by attempting to live a good life. Then there are others who just conclude that this life is all there is and so we should attempt to enjoy all that we can get from this life while we are alive. So we seek satisfaction from the things of this world. We spend our money on that which is not really bread. In other words, we attempt to buy fulfillment and satisfaction from those things that are merely poor replicas of the real thing. We end up working hard to get our hands on things that can never bring the satisfaction they promise. And all the while, God is offering us more. He is inviting us to enjoy life and life more abundantly. .
How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?
Even in the end times, as God will wrap up His divine plan for mankind, He will continue to offer His invitation of hope and healing. Revelation 11 tells us that, during the Great Tribulation that will come on the earth in those days, God will send His two witnesses. These two individuals will be sent from God and will witness on behalf of God. They will have miraculous powers. They will perform powerful miracles designed to prove their validity as God’s messengers, much like the miracles Moses did before Pharaoh. But these two witnesses will die at the hand of the Antichrist. They will be martyred and their bodies will be left in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. Then God will raise them from the dead. He will restore them to life. And as a result, “Great fear fell on those who say them” (Revelation 11:11 ESV). God will then speak from heaven and call them to Himself, and they will ascend into heaven much like Jesus did. Their ascension will be followed by a great earthquake and the deaths of one tenth of the city of Jerusalem. But this cataclysmic event will have a dramatic impact on those who are left. “…and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelation 11:13 ESV). Even in those days, God will be revealing Himself through His messengers and through His miracles. He will be inviting all men to recognize that He alone is God. He has power over death. He is almighty and a force to be reckoned with. But even then, His offer will still stand. “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1 ESV).
Father, I can’t thank You enough for the offer You extended to me so many years ago. You invited me to come. You offered me the gift of Your Son. It wasn’t based on my merit. It wasn’t because I somehow deserved it. And You offered it in spite of the fact that I was seeking satisfaction in anything and everything but You up until that point. Your invitation was a free gift and I am eternally grateful for it. Amen
Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org
In the Scriptures there is no concept of God taking on human flesh and dying a sinner’s death on a cross in order to make men right with God. What for use would such a thing be?
Not sure what Bible you use.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14.
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” – 1 John 1:1-3.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:5-8.
The deity and humanity of Christ are the only thing that made Him a worthy and acceptable sacrifice for the sins of man. If He was not God, then He was not sinless. If He was just a man, then He would have had a sin nature just like Adam. But He was born of a virgin, meaning that He did not inherit the sin nature passed down through Adam. The incarnation of Christ is as essential to the Gospel as His death, burial and resurrection. So I will have to disagree.
The evangelist John wrote his book like Moses looking now at a new world. As in the Bereshit he considers the Genesis of the New World of the New Covenant and begins with the Speaking of God which made the things. In the Garden of Eden God had promised to the first man (man: 1° Adam + mannin: Eve) a solution. John considers the 2° Adam, Jehsua (Jesus Christ, to be that fulfilment of the Speaking at the beginning of the world. As such like the Voice of God resounded in early times, it came to Myriam (Miriam/Mary/Maria), became flesh in her womb and came onto the earth. John does not say God came onto the earth, but says “the Word”.
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him; and without him {1} was not anything made that hath been made. {1) Or [was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in him; and the life etc]} 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness {1} apprehended it not. {1) Or [overcame]; See Joh 12:35 (Gr)} 6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but [came] that he might bear witness of the light. 9 {1} There was the true light, [even the light] which lighteth {2} every man, coming into the world. {1) Or [the true light, which lighteth every man, was coming] 2) Or [every man as he cometh]} 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto {1} his own, and they that were his own received him not. {1) Gr [his own things]} 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: 13 who were {1} born, not of {2} blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. {1) Or [begotten] 2) Gr [bloods]} 14 And the Word became flesh, and {1} dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of {2} the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. {1) Gr [tabernacled] 2) Or [an only begotten from a father]; Compare Heb 11:17}” (John 1:1-14 ASV)
Notice:
“1 In the beginning was the Word” “the Word was with God”, “the Word was God” in the 1769 Authorised Version (AV) which is normal when a person or in this case the Spirit god speaks, that His Word is with Him. It does not say Jesus is with Him.
” 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. Here again is spoken about the One Who creates Life (for Jeshua but also for us)
5-6 The world according to the disciple of God had become darkness, but now the time had come that “the light shineth in darkness” but like earlier there was hope because “the darkness comprehended it not” because there was
” a man sent from God”. (AV° clearly it says that there “There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.” (John 1:6 NAS) So it indicate first to John the Baptist who “came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light. 9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
then the evangelist John looks at the cousin of the other John (the Baptist) who when in the river Jordan also could hear the Voice of God, like the evangelist Luke let us know:
“21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus himself, when he began [to teach], was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the [son] of Heli,” (Luke 3:21-23 ASV)
Also on other occasions it was the Elhim who told it was His son. From other places in the Scriptures we also do know that the eternal God (= has no beginning and no end = is not born and can not die) does not tell lies.
We also believe that the Bible is the Word of God, so this would mean that in Scriptures when the Voice of God is resounding, there would not be told things that would not be so.
” 14 And the Word was made flesh” tlaks about the Word or the Speaking which became a reality, namely a man of flesh and blood, who after his resurrection proofed to his disciples that he was not a Spirit (though God is Spirit) and told them so. But from Scriptures we also know that Jesus could sin but did not, which means he also did not tell lies. so when he let others know his function and wanted them to understand he was not God, he told the truth, and should we not understand him as well when he says:
“Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 ASV)
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3 ASV)
“And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:28 ASV)
“Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.” (John 5:19 ASV)
This man that “dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-14 AV) was seen by many, though they did not fall death, though the Bible tells us people can not see God or would die. We are also told that Jesus was tempted (even more than once) but again Scripture tells us that God can not be tempted. Jesus to the adversaries of God (Satan) when offer to be worshipped, said:
“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, {1} Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. {1) De 6:13}” (Matthew 4:10 ASV)
Later in history he also said:
“Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. {1) Or [Take not hold on me]}” (John 20:17 ASV)
Clearly from such writings in the Bible we may come to understand that Jesus, who had to learn but still did not know a lot of things (though God knows everything), did not want to do his will, but the Will of his Father, Who is the God of Abraham, the One and Only One God, of Whom no pictures, graven images or statues may be made, and to whom Jesus praid and even asked Him why He (God) had abandoned him (Jesus).
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, {1} Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, {2} why hast thou forsaken me? {1) Ps 22:1. 2) Or [why didst thou forsake me?]}” (Matthew 27:46 ASV)
“23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: {1} for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. {1) Or [for such the Father also seeketh]} 24 {1} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. {1) Or [God is spirit]}” (John 4:23-24 ASV)
From Scriptures we also do know that God is the Most High, but that Jesus was first lower than angels:
“But we behold him who hath been made {1} a little lower than the angels, [even] Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every [man]. {1) Or [for a little while lower]}” (Hebrews 2:9 ASV)
“Since then the children are sharers in {1} flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he {2} might bring to nought him that {3} had the power of death, that is, the devil; {1) Gr [blood and flesh]; Eph 6:12. 2) Or [may] 3) Or [hath]}” (Hebrews 2:14 ASV)
“Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17 ASV)
“but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4:4 ASV)
“30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found {1} favor with God. {1) Or [grace]} 31 And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 and he shall reign over the house of Jacob {1} for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. {1) Gr [unto the ages]} 34 And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also {1} the holy thing which is begotten {2} shall be called the Son of God. {1) Or [that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God] 2) Some ancient authorities insert [of thee]}” (Luke 1:30-35 ASV)
Having come down in the form of a god, does not mean Jesus came down as the God of gods. The word god means a higher placed person. In this way we do find in Scriptures also many other gods spoken of, like Apollo, Pharao and a.o. Moses, but because the Bible calls them god, do you think they are The God. Would you also consider because people say god Maradonna, Michael Jackson a.o. that they are really God?
There is a big difference between “a god” and “the God”
From the original text we do read in John 1:1: “In a beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a god was the Word.” (Emphatic Diaglott – interlineary side) or “In the beginning existed the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was a god.” (The Monotessaron) if you do not like the literal translation in English “In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” (NWT)
The Word = the Speaking, the result of the Voice uttering something, namely in this instance that there would be the solution against the darkness of the death, coming to bring an end to death. Because God knew from the beginning that there would be that man, born in Bethlehem, who would be able to follow Him, always listening to His (God) Voice and His (Gods) commandments.
“25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he].” (John 4:25-26 ASV)
ac“[even] Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38 ASV)
Everything which was spoken of before, by the Mouth of God (the Voice of God = the Word of God) and by the prophets (the speakers in name of the Most High Elohim => the Word of God) now (about 2000 years ago) came into being like it was foretold.
“But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the {1} thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, {2} from everlasting. {1) Or [families]; See Jud 6:15. 2) Or [from ancient days]}” (Micah 5:2 ASV)
Interesting exegesis of the Scriptures. But we are going to have to agree to disagree. Your view is little more than a modernized form of 4th-century Arianism. It would appear that you believe man has the capacity to transform himself and has no need of a Savior. If so, that is a view I believe the Scriptures refute from beginning to end. I will side alongside the vast majority of the early church fathers and thousands of years of solid theological study.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Antiochians by St. Ignatius (35-108) In this very early document, St. Ignatius argues that the Bible teaches that the unity of God and divinity of Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho by St. Justin Martyr (103-165O In this dialogue, St. Justin Martyr argues that the Scripture prophecies Christ’s incarnation; he also demonstrates, using several arguments, why Christ is Lord.
Book III Against Marcion by Tertullian (160-220) Tertullian defends the Christian view of Christ against an early heretic Marcion. In particular, Tertullian argues that Christ really was the incarnate God.
On the Incarnation of the Word by St. Athanasius (297-373) In this classic work, St. Athanasius provides a stimulating account of the Incarnation. A pleasant feature of St. Athanasius’ account is that it does not simply defend the doctrine; it provides a theological backing for it, explaining the theological motivations of the Incarnation.
Nicene Creed (325) The Nicene is the classic statement of orthodox belief, and contains an early formulation of the doctrine of the Incarnation.
A Treatise Against Eutyches and Nestorius by St. Boethius (480-525) In this long treatise, St. Boethius argues for the orthodox view of Christ—two natures, one person. He critiques both the view of Eutyches that Christ was one person with one nature, and the view of Nestorius that Christ was two persons with two natures.
Athanasian Creed Although not actually penned by St. Athanasius, the Athanasian Creed provides a clear statement of the doctrine of the Incarnation, which was important for the Middle Ages.
Cur Deus Homo by St. Anselm (1033-1109) Translated as “Why God Became Man,” St. Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo focuses on the why of Christ’s Incarnation, not the how. St. Anselm argues that Christ became incarnate to atone for human sins, and offers the first “satisfaction” theory of atonement.
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (1509-1564) John Calvin argues, first, that Christ had to become incarnate for the salvation of humanity, second, Christ truly had a human nature, and, third, that heresies which deny Christ’s dual-nature misconstrue the nature of the Incarnation.
Christologia by John Owen (1616-1683) In his Christologia, John Owen briefly describes Christ’s two natures. Owen’s treatment differs from others in that he tries to make modest, Biblical claims and not engage in profound, but groundless, speculation about the Incarnation.
Christ of History by John Young (1616-1683) In his Christ of History, John Young compares Christ to other prominent holy men. Young argues that the unique features of Christ’s life give good reason for thinking he was God.