The Great Gospel Barter Text: Isaiah 55:1-5
Introduction: The Economy of Grace
We live in a world that is governed by one inexorable law: you get what you pay for. Everything has a price tag. Our entire lives are a series of transactions, calculations, and cost-benefit analyses. We work for a wage, we invest for a return, and we spend our resources, whether time or money, in the hope of securing something of value. This is the wisdom of the world, and within its own limited sphere, it makes a certain kind of sense. But when this transactional mindset is imported into the courts of heaven, it becomes a damnable heresy. It is the original lie of the Garden, the notion that we can transact with God on our own terms, that we can bring something of value to the table that will indebt the Almighty to us.
The world is full of people who are spiritually bankrupt but who are still trying to write checks. They are laboring, spending, and toiling for things that can never satisfy the deep ache in their souls. They are thirsty, but they are digging wells with broken shovels in the desert of their own self-righteousness. They are hungry, but they are spending their hard-earned wages on bread that is little more than Styrofoam and air.
Into this world of frantic, futile transactions, the prophet Isaiah, speaking for God Himself, makes an outrageous, scandalous, and glorious proclamation. He announces a completely different economy, the economy of grace. It is an economy where the thirsty are given drink, not because they have earned it, but because they are thirsty. It is an economy where the penniless are invited to a feast, not because they can offer to wash the dishes, but precisely because they have nothing. This is the gospel. It is an invitation that turns the world's wisdom on its head. It is a divine summons that offends the proud, confounds the self-sufficient, and gives life to the dead.
Isaiah 55 is one of the great gospel invitations in all of Scripture. It is a market cry from the Creator of the heavens and the earth, beckoning all who are spiritually destitute to come and receive true satisfaction, true life, and a share in an unbreakable covenant. This is not a call to the spiritually competent. It is a call to the desperate. And it is a call that is still going out today.
The Text
"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. 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 your soul in richness. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that your soul may live; And I will cut an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful lovingkindnesses of David. Behold, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, A ruler and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has adorned you with beautiful glory."
(Isaiah 55:1-5 LSB)
The Scandalous Invitation (v. 1)
We begin with the startling cry that opens the chapter:
"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." (Isaiah 55:1)
This is a town crier's shout, a declaration for all to hear. The first qualification for receiving this offer is not moral uprightness, but thirst. The gospel is for those who know they are thirsty. Jesus picks up this exact cry centuries later when He stands up at the feast and declares, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). The first step in salvation is to recognize your own desperate need. If you think you are fine, if you think you have it all together, then this offer is not for you. This is a call for the spiritually dehydrated.
And what is offered? Not just water to quench a basic thirst, but wine and milk. Water is for life, but wine is for joy, and milk is for nourishment. This is not a bare-bones salvation, a rescue from hell with the smell of smoke still on your clothes. This is an invitation to a feast. God's grace is not stingy. He offers not just life, but abundant life. He offers not just sustenance, but joy and richness. The wine speaks of the gladness of heart that comes from forgiveness (Ps. 104:15), and the milk speaks of the pure, unadulterated nourishment of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2).
But here is the central paradox, the glorious contradiction that lies at the heart of the gospel. We are told to "buy" these things, but we are to do so "without money and without cost." This is a divine riddle. How can you buy something with no money? This is God's way of telling us that this great salvation is absolutely free to us, but it was not cheap. Someone else paid the price. The invitation to "buy" is a call to an act of faith. You must come and transact with God, but the currency you must use is not your own righteousness, your own works, or your own money. The currency is empty hands. You "buy" it by admitting you are bankrupt. You receive this feast as a gift, paid for by the infinite price of the blood of Christ.
This is an affront to our pride. We want to contribute. We want to feel like we have a little skin in the game. But the gospel demands we come as beggars. The only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that made it necessary. God provides the water, the wine, the milk, and the purchase price.
The Fool's Errand (v. 2)
God then follows His gracious invitation with a piercing, diagnostic question.
"Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2a)
This is the great tragedy of fallen humanity. We are all spending our lives, our energy, our labor, on things that cannot ultimately satisfy. The word for "wages" here is the same word for labor or toil. Why do you labor for that which leaves you empty? This is a description of the rat race of sin. Men pour their lives into accumulating wealth, only to find it cannot buy happiness. They chase after sexual pleasure, only to find it leaves them hollow and used. They pursue power and influence, only to become slaves to their own ambition. They dedicate themselves to political causes, entertainment, sports, hobbies, and a thousand other distractions, all in a desperate attempt to fill the God-shaped void in their hearts.
This is the definition of idolatry. An idol is anything you look to for satisfaction that only God can provide. And every idol is a liar. It promises bread and delivers stones. It promises satisfaction and leaves you hungrier than before. The modern world is a vast supermarket of these unsatisfying breads. The shelves are stocked with the bread of materialism, the bread of self-esteem, the bread of political utopianism, and the bread of cheap entertainment. And men are spending their very lives on this junk food for the soul, all while the God of the universe is offering a feast for free.
The solution is not to try harder, but to listen differently. "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight your soul in richness." (Isaiah 55:2b). True satisfaction begins with listening to God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. God commands us to delight ourselves. This is not a dry, grim religion. It is a call to find our deepest joy, our most profound satisfaction, in Him. He is the richness. He is the good food. As C.S. Lewis noted, our problem is not that our desires are too strong, but that they are too weak. We are far too easily pleased with the mud pies in the slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea.
The Everlasting Covenant (v. 3)
The call to listen is repeated and intensified, and it is tied to an eternal promise.
"Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that your soul may live; And I will cut an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful lovingkindnesses of David." (Isaiah 55:3)
Notice the connection: listening leads to life. Spiritual life is not generated from within; it is received from without. It comes by hearing and receiving the Word of God. To "incline your ear" is an posture of humility and submission. It means to stop listening to the clamor of the world's false promises and to tune your ear to the voice of your Creator.
And what is the result of this listening? God promises to "cut an everlasting covenant" with those who come. A covenant is a solemn, binding agreement. And this one is everlasting. It cannot be broken; it will not expire. This is the New Covenant, promised here and fulfilled in Christ. But it is defined in a peculiar way: "According to the faithful lovingkindnesses of David." The Hebrew is hesed, that stubborn, loyal, covenant love of God. These are the "sure mercies of David."
What does this mean? The Apostle Paul quotes this very verse in the synagogue in Antioch. After preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus, he says, "And as for the fact that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'" (Acts 13:34). The sure mercies of David are all fulfilled, secured, and delivered in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the great Son of David. The promise made to David of an eternal throne and an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7) seemed to have failed when the kingdom was destroyed and the line of kings was cut off. But God, in His faithfulness, kept His promise in the most glorious way imaginable. He raised Jesus from the dead, never to die again, and seated Him at His own right hand as the King of kings. To enter into this everlasting covenant is to be united to this resurrected King and to receive all the benefits of His victory.
The Witness to the Nations (v. 4-5)
This resurrected Davidic king has a mission that extends far beyond the borders of Israel.
"Behold, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, A ruler and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has adorned you with beautiful glory." (Isaiah 55:4-5)
God gave the Messiah, the Son of David, to be a witness, a ruler, and a commander for the peoples, plural. This is a global commission. Jesus Christ is the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5). He testifies to the truth of God. He is the ruler, the nagid, the prince. And He is the commander, who issues His marching orders to the nations. What are those orders? "Repent and believe the gospel."
And the result of His reign is astonishing. Verse 5 shifts to address the people of God, the church, who are united to this Messiah. "You will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you." This is a magnificent, postmillennial promise. This is the Great Commission in the Old Testament. The people of God, empowered by the Spirit and speaking the words of their King, will call the gentile nations, nations that were strangers to the covenants of promise. And they will not just grudgingly shuffle forward. They will run to the church.
Why? Not because the church is so clever or attractive in itself. They will run "Because of Yahweh your God... For He has adorned you with beautiful glory." The glory of God, manifest in the face of Jesus Christ, is the great attractant. When the church is faithful, when she preaches the gospel without apology, when she lives in the joy of her forgiveness, she is clothed in a supernatural beauty that the nations cannot resist. The world is starving for truth, beauty, and goodness, and the church is the embassy of the King who is the source of them all. This prophecy is being fulfilled now, and it will be fulfilled in ever-increasing measure, until the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9).
Conclusion: The Great Exchange
This passage lays before us the great gospel barter, the divine exchange. God calls us to bring our thirst, and He gives us living water. He calls us to bring our poverty, and He gives us eternal riches. He calls us to bring our hunger, and He gives us the bread of heaven. He calls us to bring our sin, and He gives us the righteousness of Christ. He calls us to bring our death, and He gives us a share in the resurrection of the Son of David.
The invitation is simple and profound: Come. Listen. Live. It is an invitation to abandon the fool's errand of trying to save yourself, of spending your life on things that rust, rot, and fail to satisfy. It is an invitation to enter into a covenant relationship with the living God, secured by the finished work of His Son.
The question that Isaiah 55 poses to each one of us is this: What are you spending your life on? Are you laboring for the bread that perishes, or have you come, without money and without price, to the one who said, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst"?