The Word of Yahweh Always Works :: Isaiah 55:10-13
Let us pray: Lord God, bless your word wherever and whenever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet your own and to confirm those who have come to Saving Faith in Christ. May your word pass from ear to heart and heart to lip and lip to life that it may achieve the purpose for which you send it, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
From Isaiah chapter 55 we read: Just as the rain and the snow falls from heaven and it will not return there until it waters the earth and causes it to give birth and sprout, giving seed for sowing and bread for eating, thus will be my word as it goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty. Rather, it will do what I please and it will accomplish that for which I send it (vv 10-11).
This is the Word for our meditation ... In the name of Jesus, Amen
The Word of Yahweh works. It doesn’t work some of the time: the Word of the Lord works all of the time. God’s Word has a purpose. It accomplishes His gracious plan. We don’t always understand that plan. We don’t always understand how it works. But it does. It always works. It succeeds in doing what he desires. When God speaks, he brings it to pass (Isa 46:11). His word bears fruit (Mt 13:8). It cuts through the spiritual barriers that stand between us and God (Heb 4:12). The thorns and thistles of this world cannot keep it down. They cannot choke it out.
THE WORD OF YAHWEH ALWAYS WORKS!
This is our theme for today. This is the promise coming to us. God’s word will not return to him empty. Rather, it works for our benefit and his good.
This promise of Yahweh, written by the prophet Isaiah, comes to us through an image that we can all relate to. By painting a picture through words, we can first hear the promise, and then see the promise in our mind’s eye. By grace, through hearing and seeing, God enables us to understand the promise, and then come to know and love the promise. We, in turn, cherish God’s word, and it goes to work.
1. Like God’s Word, water works.
This is why this image is so effective for us today. Rain and snow both do something: They achieve God’s purposes. Most notably, of course, the rain and the snow water the earth. When it falls on soil that’s been saturated, it moves on until it finds soil that isn’t saturated, and it waters that earth. Ultimately, because water works, the earth will give birth. Sprouts will spring up. Fields will turn green. Seeds will grow. And then they will be harvested. The point is: Water always works. It doesn’t work some of the time; it works all of the time. It accomplishes the watering of the earth, and it always succeeds.
So it is with the Word of God. The Word of God always works. This is the prophet’s point.
2. And, boy, do we need the Word of God to work all the time.
Like a dead, dry desert filled with rocks, briars, thorns, and thistles, this world is choking mankind. Our world is filled with the brambles of idols ... idols that leave people parched ... idols that can’t do anything. These are idols that we build ourselves ... idols that don’t water and refresh ... idols that don’t feed.
Why is it that multitudes continue to focus their lives and talents and expend their strength and energy upon those idols that cannot meet their deepest longings nor grant them infinite joy? Those who are attracted and betrayed by the glitter of this world will go their way ... even God cannot keep them from such foolishness, if that is their choice.
You, however, do not have to accompany them. Instead, return to the water of life: God’s word. It works for your benefit and his good. He called you through water that works.
3. The Lord sends the Word down from heaven to destroy death and to give us life. It always works.
God does not desire the death of the sinner. He desires that all men be saved. He desires to give us life and life abundantly. So he put his word to work.
God has sent forth his Son, that is, the Word of God Incarnate into this world to show us his Gospel, a word that works. The Word made flesh came down from heaven to achieve his purpose ... to live as God pleases, bearing the fruit of the Spirit that only God could provide. Our Lord Jesus came to live a life without sin, so that ... in his crucifixion ... he could be punished and die for all who sin.
The word of God works to justify God with man. This was the purpose for which God came down from heaven. Like the rain, Jesus came down from heaven to destroy sin and death and then to rise and return to eternal life. The Word of God worked and accomplished what he set out to do. By silently going to the cross, it certainly didn’t appear that God’s word was working. But this was the purpose for which he came. The word came to live and die and rise again.
It appeared that the Word of Christ became powerless on the cross. But, in fact, he was in fact putting our sin to death. We deserve to be rejected by God for our sin. But instead, Christ was rejected and died and finally, in glorious victory, like a sprout shooting forth from the ground, our crucified savior rose from the dead. He burst forth from the ground alive and well. Our risen savior has conquered sin and death and is now giving eternal life to all who believe this promise.
4. Now, God’s Word is achieving his purpose: your salvation.
This is why God’s sacraments are so important to us: God’s word works! And it is still working today. The water and the word of baptism saves you. It gives you faith and in faith it leads you to receive the bread of life and cup of salvation which nourish the faith he gave you to begin with. God’s Word is working in the sacraments.
Baptism is not just plain water. It is the word of God in and with the water. It works. In the same way, the Lord’s supper is not just a memorial meal. It is not just a meal for your remembrance. It is not just bread and wine. Our Lord Jesus gave it to us with a purpose. It works the forgiveness of sins, and gives life and salvation. For where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. God’s word works this way.
Baptism and the Lord’s supper do exactly what God says they do: Forgiving your sins, refreshing your faith, and nourishing you into eternal life. This is why we should long to receive these means of grace every day. It is why we can receive them with joy. For as often as we eat his bread and drink his cup we proclaim this word until he comes. God’s word works!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, proclaim this Gospel. Tell the world how God’s word works. Once you have received this word of truth, you too can then go forth in joy and be led in peace (v. 11), just as God promised through the prophet. The mountains and the hills before you will break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Under the thornbush will arise the cypress. Under the brier will arise the myrtle, and they will make a name for Yahweh, and everlasting sign that will not be cut off (vv. 12-13).
God’s word is a real sword to be used for a real fight, a real medicine to cure a real sickness, a real food to feed a real hunger, a real power to beget a real life, a real spring to quench a real thirst, a real faith that leads to a real heaven. That’s the purpose of the Word. And it really works.
Our world is full of sin and death. But God’s word overcomes it all. The curse of the fall still hovers over us, causing us to be born in sin and to commit sin. But God’s word preaches a better word. The Father of all mercy and grace has succeeded in the thing for which he was sent. And he continues to send his Word down from heaven to water the earth, and, by his own Spirit, he uses his Word to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify the whole Christian Church on earth, so that sinners would be saved and the dead, dry desert of this world would be filled with life. Just as surely as rain and snow come down from heaven and serve to water the earth so, too, does the Word of the cross and the empty tomb now serve to give life to the world.
This is the promise given through the prophet.
You can trust this truth always: The Word of God always works.