“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I set it.” Isaiah 55:10–11
While Hebrews 4 tells of the characteristics of God’s word, Isaiah 55 tells of its effectiveness. To do that Isaiah likens the word of God to the water cycle (who said the Bible doesn’t have science in it?).
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater God gives us an analogy to how His word impacts people. God sends rain on the earth, which waters the earth and produces crops and sustains life. The precipitation God sends from heaven does not return back to Him until it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. Rain is a great blessing from God on the just and the unjust, so is His word.
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth Isaiah writes that we are to understand the example of the water cycle is true of His word.
It shall not return to me empty Here God provides a great insight. His word never returns to Him void. The Hebrew word void means empty-handed, ineffectual or worthless. In other words, God send it for reason and it never fails to accomplish it.
But it shall accomplish that which I purpose God confirms for us that every time His word is given out He has a purpose for it. We may feel we quote the wrong verse or that what we quoted fell on deaf ears. God says, “fear not”. He has a purpose for the living word that was shared.
And shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it God provides an amazing promise. His word is always successful. That means sometimes His word reaches into the marrow of a person’s heart and brings forth repentance and salvation. In other instances His word is met with anger, rejection and hardness. In this case God’s word was successful in judgment of those who heard His truth but deny it. Here we are reminded of the levels of judgment based on the light that person received. The Lord spoke of this when He said, “The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.”
What can we learn? There are several lessons that stand out. First, God’s Word never returns void because it is too powerful. When God speaks, His word is done. Second, we realize we need to give out the word more as we live our lives. God gives us a powerful sword – we need to use it more. Third, if God’s word is that powerful and always
produces His results we realize believers should spend more of our time abiding in it for that is how God transforms us into the image of His Son. Fourth, we realize that success of God’s word is not always seen by the salvation of souls, as joyous as that event is. God’s purpose may be to condemn a person for their unbelief so that “every tongue shall be stopped” in the day of judgment. Our responsibility is not to determine God’s purpose but to “speak the truth (God’s word) in love.”