“Buy Without Money”
Isaiah 55

November 14, 2004
by C.W. Powell

1 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.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 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.

Introduction

We all know that we have to eat well to be well. We know that taking good food into our bodies is necessary for all the functions of the body to work properly. A number years ago laws were passed on state and federal levels to label the nutritional content of foods, and children are taught in school how to recognize the nutrients, and are encouraged to eat properly. I will not belabor this point, because Americans are very health-conscious, much more so than they were when I was a boy. I was born in the middle of the great depression, and as a boy, most people I knew were more concerned about getting food at all, let alone belabor the nutritional value of the food.

A man named Graham, many years ago, however, was concerned about the nutritional value of white flour, and invented what he thought was a better flour. He has given his name to Graham crackers, made from that flour. The Seventh-Day Adventists have always been very health conscious, and have tried to apply the food laws of the Old Testament. They also took the lead, I understand, many years ago to manufacture breakfast foods to replace ham and bacon, and we now have whole aisles full of grain cereal breakfast foods loaded with vitamins, bran, minerals, sugar, and preservatives.

A number of years ago, also, people became aware that some things might be not so good to eat. Some people who suffered from certain infirmities might not want to eat certain things and should be aware of the risks of using them. So negative labeling on certain products became required by law, warning of the consequences of using certain things because of some possible consequences to health.

The Bible, moreover, recognized that there is another ingredient necessary for good health for the body, and that is a right and wholesome disposition. Proverbs says that a merry heart does good like a medicine, and Paul said all manner of foods are blessed of God for our use if we receive them with thanksgiving. Because of this, Christian homes have always said a prayer of Thanksgiving and blessing upon sitting down to eat, recognizing that our bodies will not be blessed if we do not live lives of thanksgiving and praise. But it is not the ritual that brings the blessing, but a true thankful disposition that will flavor everything that we do in our lives.

So there is an important spiritual dimension to good health; and we are not to think that good health is only the result of certain chemical reactions. A man’s life is more than food; his body is more than raiment, Jesus said.

The prophet Isaiah, however, recognized something very important about human beings, especially those who are members of the covenant community. By the grace of God, Isaiah recognized that there is an element of our being that requires nutrients in order to be healthy, and that its health is much more important than that of the body. He speaks of the soul. Although he uses the figures of water, bread, wine, and milk; yet he is speaking of that which we take in by our hearing, and not by our mouths. The food for the soul is that which we hear, which doesn’t even mean primarily the physical ears, for discerning the sounds and hearing and receiving the meaning are two very different things. It is when we embrace the truth with our souls, and “incline our ears” of our souls, that the sweet nurture of the Gospel quickens us to spiritual life.

I. The souls of the men of Israel were famished—they were starving. What does it mean to be diseased in soul, to be ill in the soul? The body and the soul are very intimately connected, so that the health of the one may affect the health of the other; but they are not so closely connected that they cannot be separated. A healthy and vigorous soul may dwell in a diseased body, and a sick and infirm soul may exist in a body that is in the pink of condition. There are two things in this passage which show the nature of the weakness and infirmity of the soul:

a. In verse 7: Wicked ways. The soul is weak and sickly when we walk in evil ways. These ways are described in Galatians 5:17-21: This shows that Paul realizes that these things can come forth in the lives of believers, because if the nature of Adam is allowed to thrive in our souls, it brings forth weakness and death. Sexual sins; Spiritual sins; social sins: envies, wrath, strife, seditions, hatred, murders, drunkenness, revelings [the disorder that goes with drunkenness]. A healthy soul is also described here: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance-- Its is also true that spiritual diseases are catching—anger is catching; bitterness is catching; heresy is catching.

b. In verse 7: Wicked thoughts. These evil diseases are the result of bad thoughts and false doctrines and ideas. It might be true that certain habits will harm the body, but there are ideas and thoughts that are far more deadly to both body and soul. And this is what the prophet Isaiah speaks of: The soul is diseased if we are not careful of what we catch from other people. This is why Paul says in Galatians 6:1,2 that the spiritually healthy have an obligation to nurse the spiritually infirm back to health and vigor.

i. Thoughts of unbelief
ii. Thoughts of bitterness
iii. Thoughts of malice and hatred
iv. Thoughts of cynicism and despair
v. These must be forsaken

II. The souls of the men of Israel were famished because what they were hearing was not nourishing. They spent money for that which was not bread; they worked for that which did not healthy for the soul. Their souls were eating stuff that was not good, and they were wasting away.

a. The problem was not that the good meat and drink was unavailable. No, Proverbs 17:24: "Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth."

b. Moses had said the same thing: Deuteronomy 30:11-20;

c. Paul said the same thing to us: Romans 10:6-10. You are not asked to find some secret and hidden thing, in order to be healthy and strong in the soul: the seed of health is in Christ, the Vine that nourishes all the body.

d. But good nutrition does us no good, if we do not feed on it. Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The most potent and effective medicine will not work if it is not taken; if it stays on the shelf. Our senses must be “exercised” to discern both good and evil. It is possible to be moral weaklings and moral sissies. Our senses must be “exercised.”

e. This is the reason that the prophet says, “Incline your ear,” “hear” You have to take the medicine.

f. The problem that is addressed is to those who have been made thirsty by the Holy Spirit. “Everyone that is thirsty.” Jesus said, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…” We could distinguish that natural disposition that a man has to be religious, which results in idolatry, and perversion, for the natural man is too proud to seek the true God, who is revealed in the Cross of Christ. What is spoken of here, is a deep thirst that is in the quickened soul by the work of the Spirit, for the covenant of David is promised to them. This speakes, not of David, for David had been dead for many years, but for the Son of David, Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is a witness and leader and commander.

g. Incline, hear, forsake your ways, forsake your thoughts. Seek, and Call.

III. The health of the soul depends upon a heavenly food, which cannot be found on the earth in man’s wisdom or man’s imagination. Vs. 8,9. What our souls desperately need is the healthful invigoration that comes from hearing and obeying the heavenly wisdom. There is an extended figure of speech here:

a. The soul that has not drunk of the water of life abundantly is like a thorny and bitter field. It brings forth plants, but not good plants. Your soul will produce fruit, but beware of the fruit it produces: See Heb. 6:7-9. It was to the people who claimed the word of God that these words are spoken—God’s rain falls upon the just and the unjust, but it is blessed to His people, and their souls are invigorated and made fat and flourishing, while those that are rejected bring forth thorns and briars: I mentioned these fruits above.

b. What evil thoughts must I forsake: those contrary to the wisdom of God from heaven, no matter how precious and reasonable they seem to me. See Ephesians 5:8,9,17ff wives, husbands, children, labor, management, etc.

c. What evil ways must I forsake: those that proceed from bitterness, from the thorns and thistles in my own soul.

d. Isaiah 55:12-13. Good things will spring up on your soul to replace the bitterness, the malice, the discontent, the whole world will look different to you, because your soul delights itself in fatness.

May God bless you.