Isaiah 55:8-13 - "Our Glorious LORD God"

Isaiah 55:8-13

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Here in Isaiah 55, we see our glorious LORD God set forth, the Great I AM, Jehovah God, Whose thoughts are not our thoughts and Whose ways are not our ways. God reveals Himself as the glorious LORD God, Redeemer, Justifier, Reconciler, and Savior of His elect. Even using these descriptives, it is not enough to describe God for Who He is. Men today trivialize their little g-o-d, but not ours. He reveals Himself in saying: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (v.8). This is God Himself speaking. He is infinitely above anything we could ever think in His Wisdom and in His Way.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts (v.9). The distance is so great that unless He is pleased to condescend to come down to where we are and reveal Himself, we could never know Him. Men think that God is like they are. That is what an idol is, an image like unto your imagination, much like men themselves. But the God of Scripture is not like the imaginations of men.

Isaiah had been prophesying judgment, captivity, and then foretold of a remnant that would be brought back from captivity because God had promised and God's Word cannot fail. He always accomplishes what He says He will do. History is HIS-story. He writes it as He wills. And particularly the Deliverance spoken of here has to do with how He is pleased to deliver and save sinners. Left to ourselves, our thoughts and our ways can in no way grasp with a natural mind how God can be God and not lower His standard to save sinners. Many think God can accept an imperfect offering or a supposed righteousness, yet all of our works are nothing but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Many think God can pardon a sinner without His justice being fully honored. But what kind of Judge would He be? A god who could pardon without justice may one day condemn without reason. A god who could set aside his righteousness may one day set aside his mercy. A god who could deny his law may one day deny his gospel. A god who could change His character may go back on His promises. That is the little g-o-d that men have today, but not the God of Scripture.

In verses 8 and 9 we see that His ways are past finding out by the most intelligent of mortal men and women. If we could know God by our thoughts, we would no longer be His creatures or He would no longer be God. God is not above in heaven thinking and planning as we do. His ways and His thoughts are infinite. That is why we need the Spirit to guide us when we read the Scriptures. Prayer does not change God; prayer aligns our will with God’s. "Thy will be done" is the Spirit’s work in us (Matthew 6: 9,10).

The heavens higher than the earth show us that the distance between His thoughts and ours is greater than billions of galaxies. That is why the majority of the world lives in idolatry. But God has not left His people to themselves. His ways are manifest in how He came to this earth in the Person of His Son. Seeing there was none righteous, He took it upon Himself to come in the flesh to earn and establish the Righteousness necessary for Him to be Just and to justify sinners (Isaiah 59:16). Heaven came down when the LORD Jesus Christ came to earth. Unless by His Spirit and His Grace we are brought to see the LORD Jesus Christ as all of God’s Glory, we remain in our thoughts and our ways.

Verse 10 declares, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven.” Rain and water point to the LORD Jesus, the Water of Life. Snow represents Christ in His Purity and Whiteness. So shall His Word be. “It shall not return unto me void” (v.11). That Word is Christ, the Word made Flesh. His inspired Word, and His incarnate Word are all in Him. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). When the Father sent the Son, He spoke what the Father gave Him to speak.

So shall His Word be — even Christ Himself, the eternal Logos (Word) sent forth by the Father. He came down from heaven to do the Father’s will, to accomplish the Work of Redemption entrusted to Him. He fulfilled all Righteousness, laid down His Life for the sheep, and rose again in triumph. Having ascended on high, He returned to the Father with the full harvest of those given to Him from eternity. Not one was lost, for the Word cannot fail. As surely as rain waters the earth, so Christ, the living Word, prospered in the purpose for which He was sent. This is how the distance was bridged. Psalm 8 asks, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4). This Man is the God-Man, the LORD Jesus Christ, made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). It is His inspired Word declaring how God Himself has purposed to declare sinners righteous through the Work of the LORD Jesus Christ. When He cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30), nothing remained but Righteousness and Justice to impute to all those sinners given to His Son. So shall His Word be. “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with Peace” (v.12). This is our glorious LORD God, revealed in His thoughts, His ways, His Word, and His Son. This concludes the Gospel call with the sure fruit of Christ’s accomplished Redemption. All who are brought to Him by sovereign grace “shall go out with joy, and be led forth with Peace,” for Christ Himself is their Joy and their Peace. The curse is reversed: instead of the thorn comes the fir tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle tree — a picture of the New Covenant Work of Christ wrought for every redeemed soul. All is the LORD’s doing, the everlasting sign of His Covenant Mercy in Christ, which shall not be cut off.