Blessed Day 7 Blessed Are The Hungry And Thirsty: Digging Deeper

1) Who are the thirsty? (verse 1)
Verse 1 is full of imperatives, including a call to action for all who are thirsty. “Come to the water (…), come, buy, and eat (…) without cost.” The open invitation calls aloud to all who thirst. Note how the speaker already has gifts ready to distribute, delicious food and drink, water and wine. This prophecy of invitation and plenty comes in the midst of Israel’s exile into captivity at the hands of the Babylonian empire. They were a people removed from their homeland because of their sinful rebellion against God. They wanted to go home, they wanted to be restored, they wearied of not being able to worship Yahweh in their temple. They longed to return with a longing that felt like hunger and thirst. Isaiah writes how the invitation is for both common (water) and luxury (wine and milk) items, both are offered without pay, but also accompanied with a sense of urgency to accept all the free gifts being held out. Old Testament Bible scholar, Leupold, writes, “It may be said that the spiritual gifts hinted at of food and drink are all incorporated in one concept, the Word of God.” Those who are thirsty are those who have a conscious need to be fulfilled. Thirst represents a deep longing for spiritual fulfillment. Jesus picks up this Old Testament thread of hungering and thirsting when He preaches the Sermon on the Mount, specifically in the beatitude in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” In the Old Testament, Isaiah’s invitation was specifically for the Jew. Jesus’ invitation, however, broadens to encompass all to come and partake of the provision of grace where the only requirement is to be thirsty. God is summoning the exiled to end their separation from Yahweh, despite their physical circumstances of living in a foreign land. The Lord cares most about their hearts! The exiles are to come to the water (Isaiah 12:3) where God may be encountered.

2) What are the things that do not satisfy? (verse 2)
Before Israel was take away into captivity, her people had wasted their time, energy, and resources searching for satisfaction. God’s chosen people had forsaken the joy of fellowship with Him, instead spending all they had in a vain search for satisfaction and deliverance from their feelings of “longing for more”, all apart from God. The end result of their rebellion against God and worship of idols led to their exile. This nation with many talented people devoted their efforts to acquiring things of far lesser value when compared to intimate connection with God. They made great attempts to make themselves comfortable and pursue their physical wants over their spiritual needs. WHY?! The prophet Isaiah cries aloud with anguish, “why spend money on what cannot satisfy?!” (Isaiah 55:2) These things are not the Bread of Life! (John 6:35) Even dating back to before the Ten Commandments given to Moses, the Lord God made known to His children, who would become the nation Israel, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Yet, here was Israel, centuries later, working to fill their hunger pangs with unsatisfying, temporal things of this earth, and it left them empty. The Lord knew from very beginning the Garden of Eden that true satisfaction and deep lasting joy are found only in wholeness of right relationship with Himself. Despite their rebellion against Him, God still extended an open invitation to His people to return to Him for their sustenance and satisfaction. He promised to faithfully provide for those who returned to Him. Jesus, who called Himself the Bread of Life, gave a similar invitation when He linked the imagery of water and bread with His providence of eternal life to all who believed in Him for salvation. (John 4:10-14)

3) How is the “permanent covenant” related to the faithful kindness of David? (verse 3)
Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life”. God’s invitational call to come and be satisfied by Him is a call to be filled with His own life, as He is the very author of all life. All who respond to His invitation are welcomed into a “permanent covenant” relationship with God, which began with Abraham, and continued through the King David. In Old Testament times, a covenant was a legally binding promise. If either party broke their end of the vow, they gave permission for the other party to literally cut them in half. Talk about serious! God established a covenant with David by promising that one of David’s descendants would always sit on the throne. Ultimately, this was infinitely fulfilled when Christ was born, taking His place as the long-awaited Messiah who would rule God’s kingdom forever. Matthew 1:1 names Jesus as the son of David proving his royal origin, while also naming him the son of Abraham proving He was an Israelite. Both point unequivocally to Christ as the rightful King of all kings. David had nothing to offer God, but God initiated a rich covenant with him. Once, David was only a shepherd boy, but God cut a covenant with him, promising to build the lineage of Christ through his line and usher in a kingdom that would never end!