CHRIST'S CALL TO WOE-DESERVING THIRSTY PAUPERS
Isaiah 55:1

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I. Who is here called? Woe-deserving thirsty paupers.

1. The addressees are woe-deserving – this being indicated by the interjection "Ho!" The Hebrew word appears fifty-one times in the Old Testament, always in the prophets with but one exception (1 Kings 13:30). In the overwhelming majority of the twenty-one times it is found in Isaiah, it is used as a threat to the wicked, being translated "woe" (e.g., Isaiah 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22). Here the interjection "Ho!" is used in arresting the attention of those deserving woe. It is like the "Oyez!" sounded aloud by criers at court as a command to secure silence and attention before a proclamation. It is as though Christ says, "I have repeatedly expressed to you the woe you deserve. But ho! I have a proclamation of good news for you – if you are a thirsty pauper." If you are not a thirsty pauper, woe to you, because you ought to be!

2. The addressees are thirsty: "Ho! Everyone who thirsts"!

i. Who is included in "everyone"? Many commentators tell us this is "everyone" without exception. They err! This call is proclaimed to "everyone who thirsts", and that most certainly is not everyone without exception. And this call is proclaimed to everyone who thirsts without distinction, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or freeman, male or female. If you are thirsty, regardless of your physical status or condition, this call is for you!

ii. Who is he who "thirsts"? This word denotes an intense desire. But this is not a physical thirst, an intense desire of the body. Rather this is a spiritual thirst, an intense desire of the soul. Therefore "everyone who thirsts" is everyone who has an intense desire for Christ and all the spiritual blessings found in Him – salvation, justification, sanctification, redemption, glorification. This is the soul that confesses: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1); "My soul thirsts for You ... in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1); "My soul longs for You like a thirsty land" (Psalm 143:6). This is the soul addressed by Christ when He declares, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). Before Christ applies His salvation in a man's heart He creates a thirst for it in that heart.

3. The addressees are paupers: "Ho! ... you who have no money"! Again, spiritual poverty is addressed, such as may be felt by even the wealthiest physically. Every man is a spiritual pauper by nature and in God's sight. But not every man is a pauper in his own eyes: many claim to possess a great abundance of self-righteousness and good deeds with which they think they will purchase the spiritual blessings of God. But in reality all their spiritual assets are play money and counterfeit currency. Christ here addresses those who realize they are absolutely devoid of holiness and righteousness, flat-broke sinners.

Christ here addresses all who will confess, "I deserve your wrath, but I thirst for your blessings. I have absolutely nothing with which to purchase them, and will never receive them unless you deal with me in mercy and grace." This woe-deserving thirsty pauper is like "the tax collector, standing afar off, [who] would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'" – in contrast to "some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous" (Luke 18:9-13).

II. What provisions are available to these thirsty paupers? Waters for cleansing and refreshing, wine for gladdening, milk for nourishing.

1. "Waters" for cleansing and refreshing, including:

i. Water for cleansing from sin is found in Christ, who is "a fountain ... opened ... for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1; cp. Jeremiah 2:13; Isaiah 35:6f).

ii. Water for sustaining life is found in the Holy Spirit, who "will become "in [the believer] a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" so that he "will never thirst" (John 4:14; cp. 7:38).

iii. Water for slaking the strongest thirst is found in God's eternal love and grace, which is "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelation 22:1), "a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God" (Psalm 46:4).

2. "Wine" for gladdening – "wine that makes glad the heart of man" (Psalm 104:15). As Christ in His providence provides physical wine for gladdening man's earthly heart (as in John 2:1-11), so does He in His grace provide spiritual wine for gladdening the new heart (Joel 3:18; 2:24): "the mountains shall drip with new wine"; "and the vats shall overflow with new wine." Woe-deserving thirsty paupers may become the most exhilarated people in all the world.

3. "Milk" for nourishing (1 Peter 2:2): "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." This milk is found in the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ, "the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (Ephesians 1:13). They who believe it never tire of hearing it, and are ever nourished by drinking it.

III. How may these provisions be appropriated? Come to them, purchase them, and consume them.

1. "Come". Come from false religion to Christ.

i. "Come" from false religion, because it will never satisfy (see v.2a). Flee from the "holy water" of false religion; being blind by nature you do not see that it is a stagnant and polluted mud puddle as filthy as the unholy "holy men" who blessed it. Flee from the "broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13); what the self-righteous call "cisterns" are more in nature like septic tanks, and the seepage from their cracks that smells so good to their owners is an intolerable stench to the holy, and every attempt to repair their cracks makes them worse. Flee from the rotgut bootlegged by the moonshiners of false religion; such "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1). Flee from the unpasteurized curdled milk of false religion; not only must you hold your nose while drinking it, but it afterward will kill you.

ii. "Come" to Christ, because he will ever satisfy. Heed Him as He cries out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" - and realize that He identifies the one doing so as "he who believes in Me" (John 7:37). False religion says: "Come to the law!" / "Come to the sabbath!" / "Come to the waters of baptism!" / "Come to our sect!" / "Come to Allah!" – ad infinitum ad nauseam. But the spiritual misery evidenced in the lives of those who have heeded such calls evidences the abysmal lack of satisfaction in false religion – of whatever stripe. But He who is the Truth calls, "Come to Me!" None who ever came to Christ lacked complete and eternal satisfaction. Rather, "They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life" (Psalm 36:8f).

2. "Buy". "Buy the truth, and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23). This "truth" includes the true water, the true wine, and the truth milk – and all are found in Christ, who is Himself "The Truth" (John 14:6). How it this truth bought? Christ replies, "I counsel you to buy from Me" (Revelation 3:18). Come to Christ believing His promises and requesting His blessings, and with that act you have obtained them.

3. "Eat". The primary meaning of the Hebrew root word is "consume". How are this water and wine and milk consumed? The same way they are obtained: by faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation. He who savingly believes in Jesus Christ drinks the water that slakes his thirst, and the wine that exhilarates his heart, and the milk that nourishes his soul.

He who comes to Christ and buys His provisions and consumes them is no longer a woe-deserving thirsty pauper, but rather a saved and satisfied rich man.

IV. How may these provisions be purchased? Freely!

1. "And you who have no money, come, buy and eat." As long as you think you are in some way worthy of these blessings, you are disqualified from obtaining them. Come to Christ acknowledging yourself to be an unrighteous penniless sinner, saying "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."

2. "Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." They are priceless! But you may buy them without money because He who provides them has already purchased them with His own life and blood - "the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19). None are so poor that they cannot procure these blessings. And none are so rich that they can procure them. But all who trust in Christ will procure them.

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