I’m typing this note at 11:00 PM Wednesday night, after a precious Revival Service in Mercer, Pennsylvania.

Tomorrow morning (just after 6:00 ) I board a plane for home. Though I must connect in Detroit.

For that reason … today’s Isaiah 55 Lesson will be delayed.

Pray for safety please, as I go back to Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Which is also the city where Calvary Baptist Church is located, the Church where I begin Revival Sunday Morning! Not 5 miles from our house!

The Lord sure blessed the trip northward Saturday. I carefully looked out of the airplane (always a window seat, please) and saw one of Pittsburgh’s three Rivers … then the skyline!

Oh what an invention Orville and Wilbur (Wright) engineered!

We love you folks.

Keep on studying the Word of God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I enjoyed a wonderful childhood!

By the Grace of God I was born into a home with Christian parents, and a godly heritage.

Today’s Text was one of the verses I learned as a lad. Sunday School, Bible School, family devotions, a Revival Meeting … I do not recall the exact catalyst for the memory work.

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” Isaiah 55:6

The following “Isaiah” verse is good too, though that one is not in my little memory bank. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7

No wonder Isaiah is called the “evangelist” of the Old Testament! Both the foregoing verses present the Gospel! In an “unlimited sense,” too!

Verse 6 suggests there could come a time when God might NOT be found! Therefore be saved today! (Paul used this thought in 2 Corinthians 6:2 … “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”)

The verse also teaches us that a man (or woman) can “seek” the Lord at will. The verb is “darash,” and it means “to resort to” the Lord … or even “to require” the Lord! As when you MUST have something! Did I say “at will?” Yes … this verb is framed in the imperative mood, it being man’s supreme DUTY to so seek the Lord!

Wow!

And verse 7 is just as thrilling. Magnifying God’s Mercy! A God Who will “abundantly pardon!” Literally “greatly forgive!”

If anyone is reading the Lesson this morning and is not yet saved … ponder these two verses. Act upon them. This is God’s invitation to you! Backed by the authority of His Holy Word!

Let’s end by putting both verses together, in tandem.

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

I am so thankful to know this Almighty and Loving God!

Do you?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Isaiah again, on “how” to be saved! “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22

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Again God is speaking to Israel … “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.” Isaiah 55:3

To “incline” suggests wanting something (here Someone) so eagerly that you’re willing “to stretch out, to extend” yourself to reach that goal! And three times in the King James Version the verb is “to wrest” that thing, to virtually “take” it! (Here it’s a mandate too, “to incline.”)

Remember Matthew 11:12. Though cryptic, it has the same idea: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent TAKE IT BY FORCE.”

Wow!

The verbs “come” and “hear” are “commands, imperatives” as well. “Come” means “walk over here!” And “hear” means not only “to listen,” but also “to obey!”

Put these three verbs together, synthesize them … and you come up with what the Bible calls “believing.”

Think of it.

And the grand result of this … “believing,” this “hearing and inclining and coming?”

Life!

Our verse today promises: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul SHALL LIVE.” Don’t miss this … your SOUL will live! You will be saved, born-again, extended eternal life!

At which point God will give to the Jews (in this Isaiah context specifically) … “an everlasting covenant!”

In reality, that’s what salvation is!

An unending Pledge from Almighty God … a divine Commitment that will never end!

Jeremiah 32:40 captures this Truth, even in more detail! “And I (the Lord God) will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.”

Wow!

God has promised (and will fulfill) everything He has ever said (yes, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob as well, but here …) to DAVID, hence particularly in Isaiah 55:3, “the sure mercies of David!”

Precisely, and please read it all. This is the Classic Old Testament Paragraph explaining this Theme … “Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant DAVID, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9 And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. 12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: THY THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOR EVER.” 2 Samuel 7:8-16.

What a Wonder!

God never forgetS a Promise!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Here’s one of my promises … “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31

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Yes, that’s the way this great chapter begins. (Nothing in the great Book of Isaiah has been the same since Chapter 53 … Jesus dying on the Cross!)

Today’s Text …

“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.” Isaiah 55:1

See it? “Buy .. without money or price!”

Then it (speaking of Salvation) must be a “gift!”

Valuable, ineffably so … but freely provided to all those thirsty and hungry souls who come to Jesus for Relief!

The opening word, “Ho” (in Hebrew “hoy”), is translated “Woe” 36 times in our King James Bible. But HERE there is not even a “hint” of impending judgment! Only an announcement of available Blessing! It’s an Interjection, “Ho,” great excitement being indicated!

Again, because of Isaiah 53 … Jesus’ vicarious (in our stead) Death for us old sinners!

But the key is … are you “thirsty,” do you so “thirst?” A verb which is derived from a root meaning “to suffer thirst,” intensely so! (If not, the Holy Spirit can make you that thirsty!)

I personally get thirsty for Jesus every time I think about Him! Or hear about Him … either in the Word of God or in some sermon, or even in testimony or song!

Sounds like Jesus is the “waters!” (Bad grammar, but quite good Theology!)

To the sinful “woman at the well” … “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” John 4:18

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” John 7:37, another great “Come unto Me!”

But not just “water” is here proffered, both “wine and milk” are also equally available.

“Water” is certainly a metaphor for salvation, deliverance from Hell and absolutely eternal Satisfaction in Jesus!

“Wine” though speaks of “joy” many times in the Bible … being gloriously “happy” in Jesus!

And “milk,” no doubt, spiritual growth and sustenance and advancement! “Newborn babes in Christ,” Peter says … but soon to need Bread and Meat and Honey from the Word of God as well.

Note … at least in one sense … here spiritual growth (maturity) is a GIFT of the GRACE of God too! No man “within himself” earns a closer proximity to Jesus … it is a condition bestowed!

Yet … in another sense, Peter (again) says we are to be “diligent” (requiring strenuous effort) to grow in Christ! Adding “grace to grace” … as we develop in Jesus! See 2 Peter 1:5-11 as the Basis for my comment here.

Wow!

What Jesus accomplished for us … on the Cross!

We will probably never know it all!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Meanwhile I will gladly enjoy the water and the wine and the milk! So freely provided!

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It’s long been my favorite verse in this chapter, Isaiah 54. So much so that I have had our printer prepare us a little “Booklet” (called a “Bible Portion”) with this seventeen-verse chapter (and only that chapter) inside!

I plan (soon) to preach an entire Meeting from this Portion of Scripture, this (called nowadays) “Pericope.” Yes, I am still talking about Isaiah 54. It’s a Jewish Conference, where I plan to preach it!

And Isaiah 54 ends with the “cherry on the top!” With its (I think) sweetest promise of all! One I have appropriated a few times in my life and ministry, in fact! Appropriated rightly or not, that’s arguable … but appropriated nonetheless! (I am not a physical Jew, just an old gentile!)

Goodness … let me show you my Text this morning. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17

Wow!

This does not say that no weapon will ever be forged against Israel. But it does say that none of them will “prosper!”

The noun “weapon” is “keliy,” meaning “tool, article, vessel, implement, utensil, stuff” once 11 times, “thing!” What an array!

The verb “prosper” is “tzsalach,” meaning “to advance, make progress, succeed, break out, go over,” amazing!

God guaranteed deliverance!

In the long run!

And those who “rise against” (meaning “hate/despise/condemn”) Israel … literally from a root verb meaning “to execute” … she is here commissioned “to condemn” that big mouth! “Rasha” in Hebrew, “to cause it trouble!” Literally, to heap “wickedness” upon it! (Sounds like Mossad’s job to me!!!)

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” God is the Protector of His little Nation, the people of Israel!

By WHY this goodness?

“This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

That’s why!

It’s a “gift” given this unique nation of earth … because of their being God’s “servants” in some way.

God’s “servants” … as in giving us Jesus! (Mary was a Jewess Virgin, if you recall!)

God “servants” … as in bringing us the Word of God! (Romans 3:2 … “Unto them were committed the oracles of God.”)

God “servants” … as in being the enemy (arch-enemy) of the devil … from now through the end of the Tribulation!

I sure am glad I did not forget to write this Lesson!

One more time … “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

Preacher friend, if someone is hatefully (and falsely) condemning you, attacking you … claim and pray this verse. You will may not be Semitic … but there’s a divine principle at work here. God will take care of His “servants” … yet today!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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