Isaiah 55:2, commentary and pictures

The verse rebukes spending money and labor on what is not bread and does not satisfy, and calls for listening diligently to God, eating what is good, and letting the soul delight itself in abundance unto life. It belongs to God's free offer of the everlasting covenant, where all are invited to come just as they are, hear and live, and receive pardon, wine and milk without money and without price out of His full storehouse. Eating what is good means personally receiving Christ, the Bread of Life and heavenly manna, by learning, cherishing, loving, obeying and doing His word from Scripture until truth abides in the heart and sanctifies the soul. Spending for what is not bread is anxiously seeking worldly gain, riches, honor and outward show, wasting mind, heart, soul and strength on a self-centered life, sinful pleasure and harmful indulgence that blinds to eternity and leaves hunger unsatisfied. Coming to Christ as the living Fountain ends complaint and gives satisfying joy, vigor of mind, health of body and fullness of peace, while the gospel feast must be carried to hungry, perishing souls everywhere.

Words and Covenant Setting

The rebuke exposes spending money and labor on what is not bread and does not satisfy, and the call is to listen diligently to God, eat what is good, and let the soul delight itself in abundance unto life. Listening brings lasting nourishment and deep delight, in contrast to effort spent on what cannot truly satisfy.

In its setting the invitation belongs to God's offer of the everlasting covenant to those who seek Him wholeheartedly and meet salvation's conditions. Coming at once just as they are, with no price in hand and clinging only to the cross, and inclining the ear and coming and hearing, gives life to the soul and brings the sure mercies of David. That hearing and living also brings abundant pardon and wine and milk without money and without price.

The verse is the Lord speaking through His Word and calling people to take heed to it. The invitation is a free and gracious wooing in infinite love and mercy, with tokens of love and pleadings of mercy set against the empty course of spending for what does not satisfy. God has a full storehouse and an open fountain, rich and free, so those hungering and thirsting for salvation need not stay away or die for lack of bread. All are invited to come, drink, feast on salvation, communion with God, and heavenly joy, rejoicing in the fullness of the Saviour's love and His excellent glory that disperses gloom, and to have their brightest hopes and loftiest aspirations answered with what is complete, noble, and exalted without earning the gift.

The verse is a most solemn and most gracious call that must not be neglected, meaning comfort and encouragement for times of discouragement, to be considered then and kept in memory when going out and coming in. It means there is an open door to enter and meet with God, to seek Him earnestly so He will be found. It calls for the meekness Christ showed in life and character, for humbling the heart before God and standing in right relation to Him, with mind and character sanctified by the Holy Spirit and words under the control of Christ.

The instruction declares God's covenant with the people He is seeking to save, the terms of salvation, and the education of most value. It gives the highest knowledge a human being can possess, knowledge after the divine similitude, the knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, teaching the laws of His kingdom and how to conduct oneself as a citizen of heaven for present and eternal good. That knowledge, practically worked out and kept as the outline of God's expressed will, strengthens the mental powers and provides correct lessons for the higher education.

Christ the Satisfying Good

To eat what is good is to personally receive and do Christ's word and to believe in Christ Himself as the Bread of Life and the heavenly manna, for each must partake for himself to gain spiritual strength and delight. When truth abides in the heart and sanctifies the soul it awakens appetite for Him, and feeding on Him gives ministers a living message to share. Those who have partaken of that manna are then able to invite others to eat what is good and to find delight in spiritual abundance.

Receiving the good means learning truth from Scripture, cherishing it, loving it, and obeying it, with delight and salvation bound up with obedience. Obedience to the Benefactor's will is the price named for the invitation, while spending and laboring for what does not satisfy weakens the body and leaves people less able to appreciate spiritual things. As people hear the Word of life, angels seek to impress its truth upon their minds, and that nourishment fits them for the work God gives, including ordinary eating, drinking, dressing, and labor for the family.

Christ is the well-spring of life and the living Fountain, and coming to Him ends complaint. From Him come satisfying joys that bring vigor to the mind and health and vital energy to the body, quenching thirst for exciting amusements. The ennobling principles of religion strengthen the mental powers and destroy taste for frivolous, sensual, exciting gratifications. Such amusements are mental dyspepsia and the curse of the life, leaving maladies of the soul worse than diseases of the body with weariness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction, so that the hungry, thirsty soul keeps hungering and thirsting as long as it feeds on them and can never be cured by supplying more of them, nor may entertainments be put in the place the living Fountain should occupy.

The continual chase after pleasure and variety that absorbs minds in the last days is spending money and strength for what is not bread and does not satisfy, revealing a longing to meet the cravings of the hungry soul. Feeding the soul on selfish pleasure deceives by mistaking hilarity for strength, and when excitement ends leaves despondency and despair, a madness and folly that trifles with the soul, for nothing but the bread of life will satisfy soul hunger. To hearken diligently to God and eat what is good and let the soul delight itself in fatness is to receive by faith the manna of His grace, the sustenance of the soul in pursuit of immortality, with fullness of joy in Christ Jesus. God's teaching and provision thus nourish the soul with lasting delight, and investing in what He offers brings a sure return, unlike worldly ventures that may bring loss.

The hungry and thirsty are called to heed Jesus and receive what truly meets their deepest needs, for worldly pleasures cannot satisfy and He is the source of lasting peace and happiness. Salvation itself is bread and water that satisfy the soul. Souls are perishing without this spiritual nourishment, and means held in unnecessary indulgence and excess should instead be used to meet the needs of the poor.

Empty Spending Exposed

Anxiously seeking worldly gain is labor for what cannot satisfy and spending for what cannot feed, a blindness to eternal interest that tries to content the soul with perishable riches stored on earth while neglecting preparation for eternity as the first and only real work of life. The anxious, burdened seeker turns from immortal, imperishable treasure to this world, captivated by its glitter and tinsel while eternal things are not valued and the higher interests of the soul are ignored. Earthly treasure lasts only for a season and even when gained proves empty with no lasting profit, whereas Jesus offers peace and hope and infinite blessings for a life of obedience, gifts so precious that all earthly treasures could not buy them, and service to God brings peace, joy, and eternal profit.

Spending for what is not bread is choosing a self-centered life apart from God, wasting true substance and precious years and powers of mind and heart and soul on self-indulgence and sinful pleasure. It leaves hunger unsatisfied, makes the soul bankrupt for eternity and without hope and without God, shutting itself away from sunshine and shower even while grace shines freely and inhabiting parched places in the wilderness. Like the prodigal in the far country it comes to hours alone when degradation is realized and misery and slavery to sin are felt, with a despairing cry for deliverance from the body of death. That wasted labor includes letting years pass uselessly apart from God instead of giving self wholly to Him, accepting pardon freely given, working steadily for Him, and remembering that talents lent will be required back with usury; it sacrifices peace and honor and companionship of the children of God, even one's own children, to walk unobstructed in one's own way and seek contentment in secret sinful pleasure and base gratifications irrespective of God and heaven, against which stands what Jesus offers as most needed and of infinite gain, worth the toil of a lifetime and offered even now as Jesus of Nazareth passes by.

People waste resources and effort seeking pleasures that cannot satisfy and lead instead to ruin and death, while God invites them to heed Him and receive what is truly good unto deep joy and healing and salvation and a place at His table. The warning falls especially on the poor and lowly in byways and hedges, sunken in sin and distress and diseased in body and soul yet longing for solace, who tempted by Satan seek it in lusts and pleasures. Such suffering people, trapped in hardship, poverty, disease and distress, need not be neglected but must be shown the way to what truly satisfies, for they need the salvation Christ came to offer rather than relief in sinful pleasures.

Spending on horse-racing, cricket matches, gambling, games, theatres and like worldly pleasures is spending for what is not bread and does not satisfy, because human beings were not created to be satisfied in that way. It is condemned waste and misuse of entrusted talents and money, including using large sums to erect monuments to the dead while hungry, starving, dying millions go unhelped, whereas God as God of the living is better pleased when means feed the living poor. Every such misuse will meet strict reckoning in the judgment and will keep the spender from receiving Christ's welcome into His joy and approval as good and faithful servants. Instead of scathing rebuke, pleasure-chasers who know nothing more desirable must be offered something better, even the peace of Christ, the imperishable glory of heaven, and the freedom and hope and rest found in the gospel.

Spending on alluring business ventures, worldly speculations and mining enterprises that draw a person away from God-given service is spending money and effort on pursuits that do not truly satisfy. The call is to turn from those empty prospects, heed God, devote abilities to His work, and invest instead in God's mine, the greatest mine ever worked, which is the kingdom of heaven where return is sure without risk of disappointment. Hearkening diligently and eating what is good and letting the soul delight itself in fatness means coming to God to buy wine and milk without money and without price, hearing so the soul shall live, and receiving the everlasting covenant and the sure mercies of David.

Spending strength and ceremony to gain God's favor in one's own way cannot give it, as in multiplied ceremonies and self-pleasing outward fasts while hearts remain unhumbled, uncleansed, destitute of the Holy Spirit, without repentance and faith working by love, unjust and oppressive toward others, and complaining that God neglects them. Satisfaction comes by seeking favor in God's own way, listening to God to receive what is truly good for lasting delight, accepting reproof, putting away sin, and praying for true repentance and pardon. So too the folly appears in clinging to empty beliefs, forms and ceremonies while the living Bread, Christ, is within reach, calling people to seek truth diligently in God's Word rather than remain attached to error.

Using heaven-entrusted talents to gain worldly knowledge for glory, self-exaltation and supremacy is spending for what is not bread, partaking of the so-called tree of knowledge and following Satan as teacher of lies in flattering dogmas and false theories about higher education, as Adam and Eve did in gaining the forbidden knowledge of the consequences of transgression. That fruit is vanity and nothingness, an instrument of death, an education pronounced foolishness, in place of the science of true holiness which opens the gates of the city of God.

Ponderous collections of historical and theological opinions and ancient histories become an unprofitable purchase when their study weakens Christian ministry instead of strengthening it and withholds heaven's light. They turn people from God's life-giving words to human opinions instead of teaching what is essential for the present time, against which stands Christ's life-giving words as the good and nourishing provision the soul is called to heed.

Healthful Living and Stewardship

The warning strikes at harmful indulgences that poison and weaken body and mind, especially tobacco and intoxicating liquor, with tea, coffee, and large use of flesh meats included in the same wasteful spending for what does not nourish or satisfy. Such habits injure soul and body and bring sure painful affliction, including inflammation, blood-poisoning from eating meat of diseased and fevered animals, distressing spasms and great distress of the bowels, weakened mind and character, hindered discernment of sacred things, and lessened ability to meet Christ, all working against God. The call is to follow instruction for preserving health, to give up appetite rather than blame God for self-caused suffering, and not to lavish entrusted money on alcohol and tobacco while refusing to pay for truth that saves, sanctifies, and ennobles. Eating what is good includes choosing food and habits that do not harm brain, bones, or muscles, since care of the body supports clear discernment to understand truth and bears on the daily choice for or against truth, while the soul is fed by cherishing and obeying the truth of God's Word unto life and delight.

Money spent on dress, display, and costly outward show is spent for what is not bread and cannot truly satisfy. Like Esau trading his birthright for a meal, love of display values the eternal lightly and makes a foolish use of money, and attachment to it, if not given up, can keep claimants to faith in Christ from entering the narrow gate and following Him. Precious time, affection, labor, and money must not be spent on what merely suits fancy and is worth less than nothing, on self-indulgence and self-gratification, luxuries, fashionable society life, and schooling that trains children to feel above work and unfits them for God's work. Expenditure on unnecessary dress and on buildings that are not positively essential is forbidden, and spending a dollar on what is not bread illustrates careless use of resources instead of faithful stewardship that finds peace and rest by joining with Christ rather than trying to do good apart from Him.

Children must be taught not to waste time and affections on worldly things, and must not claim food, clothing, and home attention as a right while refusing to bear home burdens. Parents as stewards must withhold means when it is not used wisely, teach economy and helpful labor, and refuse to fund fashionable society life to make gentlemen, tea and coffee and tobacco, and self-pleasing luxuries, since such indulgence strengthens the worst part of the nature, breaks obedience to God's commandments and honor to parents, and largely causes the iniquity that makes the world as in the days of Noah and in Sodom and Gomorrah around Lot's dwelling. Self-indulgence is far too common, and those who would please the Master must stop the waste, deny self, take up the cross and follow Christ, for willing obedience brings blessing and the total already invested in pleasing self would astonish every church if counted. Means so saved are needed to advance the work decidedly in the cities and surrounding settlements, with everyone taking part, the young learning to share responsibility, and all repenting of indifference toward the neglected work and praying for discernment to sense its urgent needs.

Money drawn from men and women to observe popular appointed holidays and to join idle habits and pleasure-loving indulgences is spent for what does not feed the soul or give real nourishment and good. Those days have no more influence for good than the worship of heathen deities and are really nothing less, being Satan's special harvest seasons, and they deserve no respect or observance. They educate children and youth to love demoralizing things which the Word of God condemns, their influence is evil and only evil continually, and with idleness they make a person a partaker and co-worker in Satan's schemes while Christ does not abide in the heart by faith. The call to eat what is good governs reading, for God's Word is good food that uplifts and strengthens understanding, and only what is instructive and character-building should occupy mind and soul. Worthless books, magazines, novels, story papers, love stories, and costly illustrations that feed the imagination give so much that misleads and so little that is good, create unhealthy appetite, stunt growth, weaken desire for Scripture and its sincere milk, and diminish healthful spiritual growth, so even a small sum is too much to spend on them and those in God's service should spend neither time nor money in unprofitable reading. Parents should control the desire for reading, keep worthless papers from the home, and supply instead books that store valuable knowledge in the mind, teach the love and fear of God and the knowledge of Christ, put the very best material into character, and let what is good control the soul's powers so it grows healthfully, lives righteously, sets an example of righteousness, and leaves no place for low, debasing thoughts.

Spending on bodily or spiritual pursuits without lasting value is wasteful, and resources so spent yield no lasting good. They should instead be used in ways that honor God and be devoted to the Lord's service rather than on things without enduring worth.

Proclamation and Present Duty

The invitation belongs to the gospel feast to be proclaimed everywhere as a final appeal to all nations. God's appeal reaches beyond homes and home churches, calling believers to work for the world and help those who do not know the truth. The bread of life must be shared with hungry souls by carrying God's saving truth to others and lifting up Christ before the world. To heed God and receive what truly satisfies is therefore inseparable from bringing that satisfying word to others.

The verse is spoken to all in responsible positions, calling them not to consider themselves above fellow workers because greater responsibilities rest on them. They are to seek, like Daniel, for the power that comes alone from God, to represent not themselves and their imperfections in selfish and fraudulent practices but the truth in righteousness. There is to be no vestige of pride or self-importance, but weighing by the Spirit of wisdom from God, magnifying the truth, representing the sacredness of the work, and presenting the holy perfume of Christ's character, which is the sacred fire of God's own kindling. All strange fire of harsh words, self-importance, self-exaltation, self-righteousness, arbitrary authority, domineering, oppression, and restricting the liberty of God's people by human plans and rules is to be put away. It stands among the reproofs in Isaiah 50-58 that those in high positions carrying great responsibilities must study thoroughly instead of accepting only the words they choose, rebuking disregard for the light and reproof given, neglect of the duty to warn God's people to understand what is truth, and ways not accepted of God. The call is to stop complaining and evil working, put away the evil of works, come nigh, repent and be converted, so that reformation comes through the congregation and the Lord appears to the conviction and conversion of souls.

The messages of Isaiah 55, 56, and 58 apply to present experience and are to be read and heeded now. Isaiah 55-58 are to be diligently studied by pastors and people to arouse from spiritual stupidity. Those in the cities who profess to believe the truth for this time must wake up and give to others what the Lord has given them, arising and shining and giving the precious light of the gospel message. They are to go forth with full assurance that angels of God will make impressions upon the minds of those for whom they labor.

The plea warns against seeking the world's indulgences and calls people to work for God so that the Holy Spirit may influence everyone they meet. It is God's pleading not to spend resources and effort on what cannot satisfy, but to listen to Him, receive what is good, and find delight for the soul in it, a call to turn to Him and be saved, as addressed to the Wessels family. Good spiritual fruit does not come without the care and cultivation of a living Christian life.