Isaiah 55 … Consider His Faithful Mercies

Originally posted: 4/17/2021

“Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David,” (55:3).

Oh, once again, His call to “Listen.” I can’t help but think, by this point, I would have definitely refused to keep trying to make myself heard. But in the very same breath that He asks us to listen, He offers us life. Life that is not based on anything we do, but Established in His Righteousness, by His Everlasting Covenant, according to His Faithful Mercies.

I always love reading the phrase, “according to,” when it is followed by a truth about the generosity of God; “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:19) comes to mind.

For when it is according to Him, it is not according to anything in us; and in His riches we can rest secure. And today, He speaks of the riches of His Everlasting Covenant made according to His Faithful Mercies, offered in Christ.

Consider His Faithful Mercies

Mercy: 2617. חֶסֶד ḥeseḏ: A masculine noun indicating kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.

His Faithful Mercies are acts of His kindness, predicated in all that He is, undeserved and freely bestowed through the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. And every bit of this chapter expresses His free offer of Faithful Mercy, and every verse points forward to the One Who would come, the Only One Able to extend the unimaginable offer of His Faithful Mercies.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:4-5).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would come and freely drink from His Living Waters.
  • “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
    And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
    Come, buy wine and milk
    Without money and without cost,” (55:1).
    • And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost,” (Revelation 21:5-6).

• • He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would find satisfaction and delight in His abundance.
  •  “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
    And your wages for what does not satisfy?
    Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
    And delight yourself in abundance,” (55:2).
    • “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” (John 10:9-10).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would come to Him for eternal life.
  • “Incline your ear and come to Me.
    Listen, that you may live;
    And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    According to the faithful mercies shown to David,” (55:3).
    • “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day,” (John 6:44).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would know His witness.
  • “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    A leader and commander for the peoples.
    ⁵ “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,
    And a nation which knows you not will run to you,
    Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;
    For He has glorified you,” (55:4-5).
    • “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John [the Baptist]. For the works that the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about Me that the Father has sent Me,” (John 5:36 ESV).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would seek Him and call upon Him.
  • Seek the Lord while He may be found;
    Call upon Him while He is near, (55:6).
    • for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved,” (Romans 10:13).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would receive His compassion and abundant pardon.
  • Let the wicked forsake his way
    And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
    And let him return to the Lord,
    And He will have compassion on him,
    And to our God,
    For He will abundantly pardon, (55:7).
    • In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He lavished on us… (Ephesians 1:7-8).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would ponder His thoughts and His ways.
  •  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
    Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
    ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    So are My ways higher than your ways
    And My thoughts than your thoughts,” (55:8-9).
    • These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful,” (John 14:25-27).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would believe He is faithful to accomplish His Word.
  • “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
    And do not return there without watering the earth
    And making it bear and sprout,
    And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
    ¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
    It will not return to Me empty,
    Without accomplishing what I desire,
    And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it,” (55:10-11).
    • “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away,” (Matthew 24:35).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would be led with His joy and peace.
  •  “For you will go out with joy
    And be led forth with peace;
    The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
    And all the trees of the field will clap their hands,” (55:12).
    • Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, (Romans15:13).

• He offers His Faithful Mercies that we would be transformed to bear fruit and bring Him glory.
  • “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
    And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
    And it will be a memorial to the Lord,
    For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off,” (55:13).
    • “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing… ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples,” (John 15:5, 8).

How do we respond to His Faithful Mercies?

Let’s start by remembering… He offers. He does not force.

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water,’” (John 7:37-38).

Oh, how can we refuse His offer to come and receive all that He so freely bestows in His Faithful Mercies?

In closing let us reflect again on His Faithful Mercies He so freely offers; offered that we would…

…freely drink from His Living Waters

…find satisfaction and delight in His abundance

…come to Him for eternal life.

…know His witness

…seek Him and call upon Him

…receive His compassion and abundant pardon

…ponder His thoughts and His ways

…believe He is faithful to accomplish His Word

…be led with His joy and peace

…be transformed to bear fruit and bring Him glory

But again, He offers. He does not force.

And the first offer we must accept is the Faithful Mercy of His Salvation in Jesus.

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation, (Romans 10:9-10).

In Jesus Christ, we do not receive what we deserve; but, according to His Faithful Mercies, we become the recipients of His great love when we place our faith in Him.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him, (Psalm 103:10-11).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, (Romans 5:8-9).

But oh, how we need His Faithful Mercies each and every day. Let us call upon Him and seek Him in His Holy Word and in prayer and communion, so that our greatest desire and prayer would be to walk in obedience, bear fruit and glorify God.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples,” (John 15:7-8).

Again, He offers. He does not force. Oh, that we would accept His offer daily, that we would open the door to experience His Faithful Mercies each and every day.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me,” (Revelation 3:20).

Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Faithful Mercies so generously offered. Lord, grow us in our love for You, our faith in Your Word, and our desire to bear fruit and bring You glory as we accept Your generous offer in humility and gratitude; that we would eagerly open the door of our hearts each and every day to Your Faithful Mercies.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness, (Lamentations 3:23-24).

Let’s Grow Together!