Bible Truth #13 - Isaiah 55:10-11

Isaiah 55:10-11
10  As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11  so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

As Christians we may THINK we know what God’s will is based on how we were raised in the Christian faith. Based on our traditions, we may THINK we know what He would want.

But we can KNOW what God’s desire is by observing the results anytime God’s Word goes forth! Verse 11 tells us very clearly that God’s Word IS accomplishing what He wants. He says very clearly that His Word will NOT return void and WILL accomplish what He desires - EVERY TIME.

Now we may find it hard to believe but this is another example of a hard spiritual Truth. It can NOT be understood with the finite mind God has given us because God is INFINITE, we are FINITE. If you can’t understand it, then simply accept what God says in His Word with the measure of faith God has given you as a believer (Romans 12:3), one of His Elect whom He chose in Christ before the foundation of the World (Ephesians 1:4). God is sovereign and His Word accomplishes what He wants it to accomplish every time, no exceptions.

Now let’s apply that to a real life situation. Let’s look at the story of the rich man who came to Jesus and asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17-22). Jesus told him to go, sell all he had, give it to the poor, then come follow Him. The rich man then went away sad. People will say God wanted him to sell everything, give to the poor, and follow Jesus. But what does Isaiah 55:11 say? God’s Word WILL accomplish what He desires and WILL achieve His purpose. Will the Arminian now say it wasn’t God’s Word that the rich man heard? The rich man went away sad - since God will accomplish what He wants EVERY time His Word goes forth, then you have to accept that the rich man going away sad is exactly what God purposed. If not, then you have to say God was not telling the truth in Isaiah 55. I don’t think so.

Even if the rich man repented the next day and sold everything he had, gave it to the poor, and THEN followed Jesus. it was still God’s purpose that he walked away sad the previous day and waited until the next day to obey the Word Jesus spoke. That is not recorded but it is irrelevant what he did later - the man did exactly what God intended, at that moment, for HIS Glory. Who knows how many times through the millennia those verses have brought God glory by convicting the hearts of believers to literally sell EVERYTHING they possessed and then follow Him into a mission field... but that was not God's will for the rich ruler on this particular day.

As a final note, knowing that there will be people who just can’t fathom this truth, it is fitting that God tells us a couple of verses prior that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Those who believe in synergism, or that man must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in salvation, must let go of the man-centered idea of "free will" and accept God’s Word. He is sovereign, we are not. His ways are not our ways.