Hey, everyone, I hope that your Christmas was good despite Covid-19. I apologize for not posting recently, but I have been busy with life and being back in person for school makes for a more busy student. That aside, I'm back with more Bible analyses and encouragement, so I hope that this can bring you closer to Christ.
The verse that I am going to run over today is from Isaiah 55, verses 1 and 2. Looking at it on the surface, the NIV Isaiah 55:1-2 seems to talk simply about the purchase of food and drink and why listening to Jesus is better for us than listening to the lies of the world. If we look closer at the deeper meaning of these verses and the verses that come after, we find that Isaiah is calling us to listen to God's word and the mention of buying food and drink without cost is Isaiah telling his listeners the benefits of waiting for the Messiah. Later in Isaiah 55, we find that the second part of verse 3 reads this, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David." To anyone who knows the Bible, knows that Isaiah is clearly talking about Jesus here, and I believe that Jesus is also who was being talked about in verses 1 and 2. Going back to Isaiah 55:1, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters..." If we go into the gospel of John, chapter 4 verse 13 and 14, Jesus says " Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Earlier in John 14, we find that Jesus has been talking with a Samaritan Woman at a well. Their conversation continues with the Samaritan woman gaining faith in Jesus and going to tell those she knows about him.
There are a few similarities in John 4:13-14 and Isaiah 55:1-2, Isaiah calls those who are thirsty to "come to the waters" while Jesus offers the water that was mentioned in Isaiah. Furthermore, the mention of bread and labor should also be noted. Looking in the gospels, we find in Matthew 11:29-30, "Take my yoke upon you and lean from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." While this may not directly apply to "labor" as Isaiah talks about it, it is connected to labor. In Jesus's day, people would hook up oxen to yokes so that they would plow their fields, and oftentimes, what these oxen were pulling on the yokes would be heavy. It is a similar idea for people. We have a lot on our plates, pleasing others, work/school, family, friends, other obligations, the list goes on and these "yokes" can be burdens upon us. As Isaiah 55:2 says, "why spend... your labor on what does not satisfy?" Yes, there is mention of money in between the two, but the point here is that all of these "yokes" will not satisfy us, but burden us, but Jesus will give us satisfaction and rest.
The final similarity I want to touch on is Isaiah 55:2 and the mention of bread. In verse 2, Isaiah states, "Why spend money on what is not bread... Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare." In those days, bread was a major food people ate, and it still is today. We use bread for a lot of things, but bread as we think of it, is not the kind of bread I think Isaiah is talking about. Looking at the words "bread," "eat," and "good" brings to mind something, again, that Jesus says in the gospels. Luke 22:19 reads like this, "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying 'This is my body given for you; do this in rememberance of me.'" For those who know the Bible, you will find that this passage is from the Last Supper before the Mount of Olives. The bread that Isaiah was talking about was the same "bread" that Jesus mentioned. Jesus used the bread as a metaphor for his body, which was nailed to the cross when he died for our sins. In Isaiah 55:2, the end of the verse mentions "delighting in the richest of fares" which could easily allude to the forgiveness we have in Christ and the newfound relationship we have with God because of Jesus's sacrifice. Before Jesus's death on the cross, we were seperated from God because of our sin, but Jesus made it so that we could have a relationship and be close to God through his death and ressurection, which is why the bread in Isaiah and the richest of fares allude to Jesus and forgiveness and a relationship with God, respectively.
I know this is much longer than usual, and I apologize, there is just so much to talk about with this, and so much to go off of. Know that God loves you and is actively searching to have a relationship with you, He is knocking on the door of your soul right now, waiting for you to accept Him. Explore what God has in store for you and learn what it means to follow him, it's a wonderful lifelong experience. God bless you and have a wonderful week!