Isaiah 55:7

The Bible says in Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Jesus died for the sins of the world, but how does an individual enter into the benefits of that death on the cross? Isaiah 55:7 tells us. It says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” This is talking about repentance. The word “forsake” means to leave or to abandon. When you repent of your sins and turn to Christ, your purpose is to completely stop doing the sins that you had been doing before you turned to Christ. A drug addict or alcoholic will no longer do drugs or alcohol. An adulterer will stop committing adultery, and will learn to be faithful in marriage. A liar will stop lying. A thief will stop stealing. And a gossip will stop gossiping and will start saying nice things about people. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Of course, salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not of works. Good works do not bring salvation and do not help to bring salvation, but good works will follow salvation. That is because a person who is truly saved, at the moment they were saved, they did forsake their sinful ways and turn to the Lord with the desire and intention to serve Jesus. It is interesting that Isaiah 55:7 tells human beings to forsake their “ways” and their “thoughts.” Sinfulness refers not only to what we do, but also to what we think. Jesus taught this very clearly. Jesus spoke to the religious Pharisees of their sinful thoughts and said to them in Matthew 23:25-28, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:27-28, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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.” The word “heavens” can be interpreted as the place of God’s throne or as the outreaches of space where dwell the stars and all the distant galaxies. Either way, we are talking about a tremendous distance between the earth and the heavens. There are galaxies that are millions and millions of light years away from us. That distance symbolizes how far away from us God’s ways and God’s thoughts can be. God’s thoughts and God’s ways are far beyond what we can imagine. We have our own thoughts and our own ways, but the problem is that these are not God’s thoughts or God’s ways. We were reminded of this truth in Isaiah 55:7. Our ways are called the ways of the “wicked,” and our thoughts are called “unrighteous.”

Knowing that our ways are not God’s ways and our thoughts are not God’s thoughts should give us peace concerning the unknown and concerning difficult or even disastrous events that have occurred in our lives. When something happens that we think is bad, at least by faith we can say, “His ways are not our ways. He has a purpose for this. I do not understand it perhaps, but God does. He allowed it for a reason. His ways and His thoughts are far beyond what I know or what I can imagine. But somehow God will show me what I need to know, whether He chooses to do so in this life or in the next.” It says in First Corinthians 13:9-12, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

God’s ways are not our ways. Because this is true, it is very important that we do not go our own way especially when it comes to making important decisions in life. It says in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” There are several important spiritual principles that we need to make sure are a part of our lives, if we are going to avoid the disastrous consequences of going our own way instead of God’s way: 1. make sure that you read and study the Bible so that biblical principles will become part of your thinking and choosing process. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2. Make sure that you prayerfully seek the Lord’s will and not your own will. Jesus said that we should pray to God, “Thy will be done.” If we cannot pray that, and truly mean it, we are in big trouble. 3. Make sure that we have an attitude about us whereby we are genuinely looking for and seeking God’s guidance. God is ready and willing to lead every individual, but if we are not carefully seeking His leading, we risk missing it. God promises to lead us. It says in the 23^rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He leadeth me…” One of the ways in which He leads us is by speaking to us very quietly and very softly. It says in Isaiah 30:21, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”

According to Isaiah 55:10-11, God has provided a means for human beings to know His thoughts and to know His ways. It says, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” What can help us to have less of our own thoughts, and to find more of God’s thoughts? The answer to that is exactly what Isaiah 55:10-11 is telling us. The Lord has provided us a means to know His mind and His thoughts. Jesus says in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.” God has given to human beings the Word of God, and God calls the Bible “my word.” God wants us to know His thoughts and therefore He gives us His Word. Thoughts are expressed with words. The right words put together in the right way will express a thought. Many words put together in the right way will express many thoughts. The words that God gave to mankind are very important, because the words that He gave express His thoughts. God gave these words originally in Hebrew in the Old Testament, and in Greek in the New Testament. Because these words have been translated into English, we can read them in English, such as with the King James Version of the Bible. The Authorized King James Version was translated from Hebrew and Greek into English in 1611. That translation has not changed. It is the same today as it was almost 400 years ago. And hundreds of years from now it will still be the same.

Since God’s word does not change, it is good to use a translation that does not change. That is one of the reasons that it is a good idea to continue using the King James version of 1611. Of course, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. There are many copies of the old Greek manuscripts. A series of these copies were traced and studied and formulated into the compilation of Greek manuscripts that we call the Textus Receptus. One of the reasons that it is good to use a translation of the Bible that is based upon the Greek Textus Receptus manuscripts is that by doing so helps to ensure that we are being mindful of Jesus’ teaching on the subject. Jesus said in Mark 13:31, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” The Bible also says in Psalms 100:5, “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Every Christian would be wise to accept a method of Bible translation that is consistent with this important teaching.

The Word of God does not change. God gave His Word, and God preserves His Word. It is critical to remember that God has preserved His Word for every generation. What that means is that it is not possible for someone to say that he or she has found an old Greek manuscript that was hidden for centuries, and now they are going to use this manuscript to correct errors in the manuscripts that we already possess. We find some scholars today claiming that their new translation is supposedly based upon “better” manuscript discoveries and that they themselves are more capable scholars and more highly qualified to make translations, than those done in the past especially regarding the King James Version of 1611. If what these “scholars” claim is true, and it is not true, then we do not have all of the Word of God preserved in every generation as the Word of God promises, and it would mean that what we do have will change next year or ten years from now or whenever the “scholars” decide that they have made more discoveries. By using the King James Version of 1611 all of this foolishness is stopped and cast aside. The Bible warns in Revelation 22:18-19, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

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