Adapted from a sermon
by John Piper
“But now hear, O Jacob my
servant,
Israel
2 Thus says the Lord who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They shall spring up among the grass
like willows by flowing streams.
2 Thus says the Lord who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They shall spring up among the grass
like willows by flowing streams.
5This one will say, ‘I am
the Lord's,’
another will call on the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord's,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”
another will call on the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord's,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”
Isaiah 44:1-5
Isaiah 44:1-5 is a promise from God to the people of Israel
who had chosen to serve God (“Jacob my servant”) and to the Gentiles throughout
generations who made the Lord their God.
The promise, found in verse three, is this: “I will pour my Spirit upon
your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
The idea of the word “pour” is one of drenching – the
opposite of drizzling or misting. If I
went out into the pouring rain, I would expect to be drenched - completely
saturated with rain. The promise is to be completely drenched with the Spirit.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
What will happen because of the drenching of the Spirit?
- Our fears are taken away (verse two). This does not mean our troubles are taken away. It does mean that we are safe from the things that God knows is not good for us.
- Our thirst for God is satisfied (verse three is translated in KJV as “I will pour water on the thirsty”). We will drink the Living Water.
- We will flourish. Verse four says those that drink up the Spirit will "spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams". This implies an on-going drenching of the Spirit.
“It's not an accident that in
Psalm 1 the tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit for others
is a picture of the person who meditates on the Word of God day and night,
while the tree planted by streams of water in Isaiah 44 is a picture of the
person who has experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's not an
accident because the Spirit of God does not produce hope apart from the Word of
God; and the Word of God does not produce hope apart from the Spirit of God.
But the Spirit through the Word, and the Word by the Spirit, takes away fear,
nourishes hope, fills with joy, overflows in love, and glorifies God. That's
what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Therefore the way to experience the
outpouring of the Spirit is to pour the Word of the Spirit into
your mind and heart every day and believe it.”
Read or listen to John Piper’s full sermon here.
I love the visual of a spring bubbling up all around me - drenching me. In this hot, dry summer of drought conditions that paints a beautiful picture in my mind's eye. To know that is how the Spirit of God "waters" me is comforting and refreshing. - DSD
ReplyDeleteAfter walking through rain forests in Costa Rica, I can relate even better to this word picture. His creation responds just as our hearts when it is watered. There is much growth, faster growth and a dense (deep) growth. There are also plants that are giving life to other plants ... the list goes on. CJ
ReplyDelete