This pericope repeats and refocuses the invitation just extended (vv. 1-3). The offer continues to be to come to God, but the focus shifts from receiving satisfaction to resting in faith and from salvation's freeness to its transforming power.
55:6 The Lord had come near humanity by promising free salvation through His prophet. The listeners needed to respond to Him because those promises would not always be available to them.
"We could translate while he may be foundas while he permits himself to be found' (tolerative niphal), indicating a divinely determined day of grace and salvation."629
"God cannot be found at any time but only when He desires to be found. What is implied is that the present, when these commands are given, is the time of salvation. The thought is similar to that expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:2 and John 12:35."630
Seeking and calling on the Lord represent reaching out to Him in faith (cf. Acts 2:21; 15:17; 17:27; 22:16; Rom. 3:11; 10:14; 2 Tim. 2:22). This is necessary because there is no peace for the wicked (48:22; 57:21).
55:7 The way was open for anyone to return to the Lord who may have wandered away from Him or rebelled against Him. The promise of a compassionate reception and abundant pardon applied even to the wicked in act and the unrighteous in thought, in other words, any sinner (cf. Matt. 5:21-22, 27-28).
Repentance is not something a person must do before God will accept him or her. It is simply a description of what seeking the Lord looks like. In other words, forsaking sin is not a precondition for acceptance by God. The person who genuinely seeks the Lord and calls on His name has come to grips with his or her sin and is willing to turn it over to the Lord. After all, an unsaved person cannot forsake sin or even desire to do so without the Lord's help.
God can pardon sinners because of the Servant's work in paying the debt of their sins in their place. Clearly, a way back from Babylonian exile is not what Isaiah was describing here but a way back to God.
55:8-9 Sinners need to forsake their ways and thoughts (actions and attitudes, v. 7) because they are not God's ways and thoughts. God's way is forgiveness and His thoughts are compassionate (v. 7), as far different from those of sinners as the heavens are higher than the earth. Sinners must make a break with their thoughts and ways to have fellowship with a holy God. The Servant's work makes relationshipwith a holy God possible, but our work, having appropriated the Servant's work by faith, makes fellowshipwith a holy God possible.
55:10-11 There is a second reason sinners need to change their ways and thoughts, with the Lord's help, and that is because the word of the Lord is absolutely dependable. All that God has said is reliable, including His promise of pardon and compassion (v. 7; cf. 53:10). God's word is like the rain and snow, the gifts of God from heaven to earth (cf. v. 9).631Both achieve their purpose of bringing life, nourishment, and blessing to humanity (cf. Jer. 29:11; Mark 4:1-20; Heb. 6:7-8). Therefore, since God has promised compassion and forgiveness for those who seek Him, people can count on the fact that if they seek Him this will be His response.
"As the rain furnishes both seed and bread, so the word of God plants the seed of repentance in the heart and feeds the returning sinner with the blessed consequences repentance produces."632
55:12 The "For"(Heb. ki) that begins this verse serves to introduce the conclusion to this pericope (vv. 6-13) and the entire section dealing with God's atonement (chs. 40-55). "Surely,"the asseverative use of ki, would be a good translation.
Throughout this section Isaiah was describing another exodus, a redemption from sin, that the Servant would make possible. In view of that redemption, sinners need to seek the Lord, to come to Him for it (vv. 6-11). Now the prophet concluded by describing the redeemed led forth from their "Egypt,"going out on their journey to their "Promised Land."They would do so with joy and peace because of the redemption that the Lamb of God would provide. As they would do so, all creation would rejoice because sin had been dealt with finally. This description also fits the return of God's people to the Promised Land in the Millennium that the prophet spoke of earlier (51:11).
55:13 The replacement of productive, desirable trees and shrubs (representing all creation) in place of plants bearing the marks of the Fall and its curse symbolizes the rejuvenation of creation. This transformation, and behind it the redemption accomplished by the Servant, would be a memorial that would honor Yahweh. It would be an everlasting sign of God's salvation that would remain forever.
Isaiah mentioned three things that would be everlasting in chapters 54 and 55: His lovingkindness (Heb. hesed, 54:8), His covenant with His people (55:3), and this sign. This sign recalls the sign of the child to come (7:14). As that sign would be an immediate and physical proof that Messiah would come, so this sign would be that kind of proof that the Servant had come.
The transformation of the world following the lifting of the curse will be observable. While this description is obviously figurative--hills do not shout for joy, and trees do not clap their hands literally--it represents a real change in nature, not just the joy that will pervade all creation. This is a description of millennial conditions on the earth after Jesus Christ returns to the earth to rule and reign (cf. 35:1-2; 41:18-19; 44:3). If it were not so, there would be no everlasting sign. As the Passover was a sign to the Israelites of God's first redemption of them from Egyptian bondage, the transformed earth and people will be a sign to all God's people of His second redemption of them from Satan's bondage.
