So Shall My Word Be Is 55: 8-13 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In Is 55:8-13, the Lord describes what happens when his word is sent out. And notice, he is not just talking about what people say that God said, he’s talking about “my word… that goeth forth out of my mouth,” [Is 55:11]. God is talking about his scripture that is given by inspiration [2 Tim 3:16-17]. There is often a big difference between what he said in the King James Bible and what the translators of other Bibles profess that he said. When God sends his word out, it accomplishes what he pleases. He likens his word to rain and snow that water the earth, make it bring forth and bud, and produce seed for sowing and bread for eating. He said, “so shall my word be,” [Is 55:11]. It descends from heaven and brings forth fruit.
The context of Is 55:8-13 is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, when Israel goes out with joy and is led forth with peace, when the mountains and hills sing and the trees clap their hands, and when the fir tree comes up instead of the thorn and the myrtle tree instead of the briar. However, we can make spiritual applications from these verses to our lives that illustrate what happens when God’s word gets in us like rain soaks into the soil.
His word changes your thoughts – Is 55:8-9 – Our thoughts are earthly, temporal, finite, materialistic, etc. There is no way that we think like God. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. When his word gets in you, then you have his thoughts; you can think with the mind of Christ. You think your big, as child you imagine that you are the center of the universe. When you are high up, as in a plane, you see how small you are. From a plane you can’t see the people; we are so small. Further we try to grasp concepts of God from our perspective. He is not at all like men imagine… just look at their gods. They imagine that God is like them and he’s not anything like us. We must have his revealed truth in his words to understand his revelation of himself to us.
His word changes your ways – Is 55:8-9 – our thoughts are at the root of our action. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. When his word gets in you your life changes. His ways are higher than our ways. We start loving like him. We change where we go, the people we hang out with, the songs that we sing, the way we conduct our business. We change what we talk about, our interests, our affections, our desires, our goals and our aspirations. The words does this in us and through us.
His word changes your spirit – Is 55:12 – his words give you joy and peace. In his words we see the fruit of the spirit, which becomes apparent in us as we read and follow his words. Nehemiah told the Jews who were distressed in Jerusalem that the joy of the Lord was their strength. The Macedonians had a joy that abounded in the deep poverty and affliction. That is nothing like the world has. Jesus found that joy was set before him when he went to the cross. Through God’s words, we find peace in adversity and tribulation.
His word changes your fruit – Is 55:13 – your fruit is not produced by you, after seeing what the word says. Your fruit is the result of the word in you. You obey it and it starts to work through you. Your tree changes from a corrupt tree to a good tree [Matt 7:16-20] capable of bearing good fruit. Like the myrtle and fir replacing the thorn and the briar, so your tree changes and the fruit of your tree changes.
Conclusion: only God’s word can make these changes. If you try to make them yourself, they will be artificial fruit like table decorations. God is interested in the real thing. Only his word can produce these changes and he knows whether change in your life came from his word or not. It’s not just how much Bible you know because, knowledge puffeth up. You must get a lot of Bible into you and you must get some in you everyday, so that you are well nourished and watered. Yield to the work of God’s word and his Holy Spirit in you. Obey them and they will bring forth the fruit that God wants in your life.