Isaiah 55:4

Revelation is a "testimony"; because it is propounded to be received on the authority of the Giver, and not merely because it can be proved by arguments. commander--"preceptor" [HORSLEY]; "lawgiver" [BARNES]. to the people--rather, "peoples."

We are met together with two objectives. First, there is the preacher's objective, that is, to set forth and to proclaim the blessings of the Covenant of Grace. It is my duty and it is my delight to stand here and cry, "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money, come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Then, there is the objective of the hearers—oh, that everyone here were heartily in pursuit of it! No, what is even better, I would that everyone here might attain this objective, for it is that you may feed upon the blessed Covenant provisions mentioned in our text. If there is water, my Brothers and Sisters, let us drink it! If there is wine and milk, let us be satisfied with it. Let us pray that every soul in this place may even now delight itself in fatness! You who have already partaken of the provisions of the Covenant, receive them again! Come once more to the table which the Lord's Grace has so richly spread. You have a daily hunger—let that hunger be again appeased.

We are met together with two objectives. First, there is the preacher's objective, that is, to set forth and to proclaim the blessings of the Covenant of Grace. It is my duty and it is my delight to stand here and cry, "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money, come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Then, there is the objective of the hearers—oh, that everyone here were heartily in pursuit of it!

THERE is no Gospel apart from our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the essence of it. He is everything in it. There would be no Gospel without Him. In this chapter the Holy Spirit had been speaking, very largely, through the Prophet, of Gospel bounties and privileges. He had bid the thirsty to "come to the waters," and the penniless to come and "buy wine and milk without money and without price." When He had commanded men to listen diligently to Him, to eat that which was good and to let their soul delight itself in fatness, you might be quite sure that He would not so speak without very soon mentioning Christ. For if, in His Gospel, there are waters for the thirsty, those waters do not exist apart from Christ! Is not the Gospel that which proceeds out of His lips—no, more—is not Christ Himself—the Water of Life? He still says, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me, and drink." It is true that wine and milk are provided, but out of what cluster comes that wine—and where shall the unadulterated milk of the Word be found but in Him? Christ not only supplies the necessities of His people, but He gives them abundant and superabundant joy in the luxuries of His Grace. You do not really preach the Gospel if you leave Christ out—if He is omitted, it is not the Gospel! You may invite men to listen to your message, but you are only inviting them to gaze upon an empty table unless Christ is the very center and substance of all that you set before them! Hence, it is not at all amazing that, after the glorious Gospel invitations, expostulations and exhortations of the first three verses of this Chapter, we should come, in the 4th verse, to these words—"'Behold, I have given HIM.' I have talked to you about waters, and about wine and milk, and about bread, and about fatness; but, behold, I have given HIM,' for He is all these—water, wine, milk, bread, fatness.

THERE is no Gospel apart from our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the essence of it. He is everything in it. There would be no Gospel without Him. In this chapter the Holy Spirit had been speaking, very largely, through the Prophet, of Gospel bounties and privileges. He had bid the thirsty to "come to the waters," and the penniless to come and "buy wine and milk without money and without price."