ISAIAH LESSON 23

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GOD’S GENEROUS RESTORATION

Isaiah 54–55
Discuss review questions from the previous lesson.

DAYS 1 AND 2: ISAIAH 54:1-10—GOD’S FAITHFUL LOVE

1. From 54:4-8, what analogies did Isaiah use to describe Israel?

2. Isaiah 54:4-8 is a message of God’s comfort as Israel returns from exile. What did God promise
would happen to her disgrace, shame, and reproach?

3. In addition to “your husband,” 54:5 includes five titles of God. What are they, and what is your under-
standing of each?

4. What commitment did God make to His people (54:9)?

DAY 3: ISAIAH 54:11-17—THE GLORIOUS CITY

5. From 54:11, how did God refer to His people?

6. What did God say He would do for His people, according to 54:11-14?

7. How would you summarise the ideas expressed in Isaiah 54:15-17?

DAY 4: ISAIAH 55:1-5—GOD’S GRACIOUS INVITATION

8. What kind of nourishment do water, wine, milk, and bread represent in 55:1-3? (See also John 6:33-35;
7:37-39.)

9. Who is invited to receive this food and drink, and what must they do to receive it?

10. What does a person need to do in order to respond to God’s offer (Isaiah 55:2-3)?

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by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS FOR LESSON 23 2 ISAIAH

11. What would God do for those who come to Him and listen to Him (55:3)?

12. From 55:1-3, what have you learned about God that makes you love Him more?

13. What was God’s covenant with David (see 9:7; Acts 13:34-37)?

DAY 5: ISAIAH 55:6-13—GOD’S THOUGHTS, WAYS, AND WORD

14. According to 55:6, why is it important to look for God actively?

15. If the wicked and the unrighteous would decide to return to God, how would He receive them?

16. What do you think it means that God’s “thoughts” and “ways” are “higher” than God’s people’s
thoughts and ways?

17. Why are “the rain and the snow” good analogies to describe the work of God’s word (55:10-11)?

18. Isaiah 55:12-13 is an example of God’s words that will not “return to [Him] empty” (55:11). According to
these two verses, what did God promise?

DAY 6: PARTICIPATE IN CLASS

APPLY what you have learned. Isaiah 55 opens with a marvellous and generous invitation from
God. Even though we are spiritual paupers who can’t buy a single thing from Him, He wants us to
come to Him and receive freely from Him so that our “soul[s] may live” (verse 3). God wants you to
“listen diligently to,” “incline your ear, and come to,” “hear,” “seek,” and “call upon” Him (verses 2,
3, 6). How, practically, could you do these things in everyday life?

 ISAIAH 3 COMMENTARY FOR LESSON 23

DAY 7: GOD’S GENEROUS RESTORATION

Isaiah 54–55
THE ATONEMENT’S FAR-REACHING EFFECTS (ISAIAH 54) Through God’s servant, God would
establish a new covenant with His people—a superior covenant “enacted on better promises”
(Hebrews 8:6). In chapter 54, Isaiah introduced a “barren” woman. “You” refers to Israel. The
nation would have a prosperous future following her restoration from captivity. God’s command
“Enlarge the place of your tent” is followed by a promise that the barren woman would be so
fruitful that she would need to stretch the “curtains” of her tent to accommodate the children she
had longed for. Even as God turned Abraham and Sarah’s barrenness into fruitfulness, so too His
exiled people, though diminished by captivity, would multiply. They would “spread abroad to the
right and to the left,” resettling “the desolate cities” of their homeland.
The woman is addressed again in 54:4-5, this time as a widow. God identified Himself as her
“Maker” and “husband.” He promised that Israel would “forget the shame of [her] youth” and “the
reproach of [her] widowhood.” Although Israel’s widowhood began with the Babylonian exile and
ended with the return to their land, the restoration referred to in 54:4-10 also seems to include Isra-
el’s far distant restoration, which the apostle Paul anticipated, according to Romans 9–11.
In a third address, the woman is “deserted” and “cast off ” (Isaiah 54:6). Although, as a holy God, He
would reject sinful Israel and exile her, as a loving husband He would bring her back “with great
compassion” and “everlasting love.” God’s compassion and love for the people would continue
forever.
THINK ABOUT God’s promise to restore barren lives. God wants to restore your soul. Often, the state of
our souls and the quality of our lives depend on our relationship with God. Jesus summed up the meaning
of life: “This is eternal life, that [people] know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent” (John 17:3). If you feel “desolate” (Isaiah 54:1), tell God you want to know Him and experience His
life. Wait for His answer and hope in His promise: “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul
may live” (55:3).

God recalled His covenant with Noah. Though He had punished the earth with a flood, God spared a
remnant—Noah and his family—blessed them, restored the earth, and gave humankind another
opportunity to live in His good ways (see Genesis 9). Similarly, though God would punish Israel by
sending her into exile, He would bring her back and reaffirm His covenant with her. The
compassionate Lord would give Israel a fresh start.
In the coming restoration, the Lord personally would teach all of Israel’s children. In John 6:44-45,
we see that Jesus quoted Isaiah 54:13, the point being that people would not be able to come to Him
unless the Father who had sent Him would draw them. Peace would also characterise the prophesied
restoration. God’s people would be free from fear. No weapon formed against them would succeed.
The Lord would vindicate His people from all their enemies.
Like so many kingdom promises in Isaiah, these promises seem to fall into the category of “now and
not yet.” Jesus promised peace that the world cannot give (see John 14:27). He exhorted His
disciples not to fear. The only one they were supposed to fear is God (see Matthew 10:28). So to
some extent, these promises are for us right now, today. However, God’s people do still have
enemies— but one day, when Jesus returns and establishes His kingdom in all its fullness, these
enemies will be vanquished forever.
GOD’S GENEROUS INVITATION (ISAIAH 55) God invited the still-future Judahite exiles to leave
Babylon and return home, not only physically, but spiritually: “Come to the waters; ... Come, buy
wine and milk ... and eat what is good.” To respond to this invitation, no money would be needed;
no deeds would have to be performed. The basic requirements were just hunger and thirst.
What was being so freely offered? Not physical food or drink, but spiritual life. God

 COMMENTARY FOR LESSON 23 4 ISAIAH

urged, “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” The Lord was renewing the
plea He had repeated throughout Isaiah, for His people to come to Him and listen to Him:
• “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the
last” (48:12).
• “Assemble all of you, and listen!” (48:14).
• “Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it
came to be I have been there” (48:16).

With anyone responding affirmatively, God would make “an everlasting covenant.” This covenant
and “steadfast, sure love for David” (55:3) illustrate the unconditional aspect of God’s love. God
would use His servant Israel, and one day the ultimate Servant of the Lord, to call many nations that
“did not know” Israel to the “Holy One” (Isaiah 55:5). The covenant love and restoration promised
to the Israelites would be extended to countless other people.
In the context of God’s generous invitation, the prophet warned the people to “seek the LORD” and
“call upon Him” while the opportunity existed. The clear implication is that God may not always
be available. Seeking and calling on God involve returning to the Lord and turning away from evil
practices. Just as God freely offers pardon for sins, He provides the strength to turn away from evil
thoughts and deeds.
God asserted, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; ... it shall accomplish that which I
purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” As rain waters the earth and makes it
fruitful, so God’s communication with people will bear fruit in human lives and history.
THINK ABOUT whose responsibility it is to bring results from sharing God’s Word. How reassuring that
God Himself is responsible! His Word, which came from His mouth, can go forth from ours to accomplish
what He wills. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the
division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the
heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We can trust that God will not allow it to “return to Him empty” (Isaiah 55:11).

God’s words and acts will result in enduring joy and peace. A time of ultimate restoration and
rejoicing will come. All nature will be affected as sin’s curse is lifted (see Genesis 3:17-18). Until
then, we can rejoice and rest in God’s promise that this joyous and peaceful state will never end.
PERSONALISE this lesson. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the
LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8- 9). This statement is true not only about God’s intentions to pardon and receive us, but
about everything we think and do. God’s ways and thoughts are always better and higher than our own. What is
one thing you are currently praying about? Ask God what His thoughts and ways are concerning that area, and
how He would like you to be praying about it. What do you sense He’s communicating with you?

REVIEW: GOD’S GENEROUS RESTORATION

19. How has this lesson brought you new understanding about the life God offers His people?