Isaiah 55 Study: God’s Invitation to All Nations

Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you. - Isaiah 55:5

We’re continuing our Isaiah 55 study, and now we’re to verse 5. Up until this point, God’s covenant with David was only between him and his lineage. This verse changes that when God extends His invitation, “you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you.” 

Here’s what He’s saying: My covenant with you will be shared with all nations, not just Israel. He didn’t raise Israel to be His golden child while leaving everyone else cast away. Rather, He raised Israel to be an example of His love.    

God’s Character Revealed

This extended invitation reminds us of God’s heart, which is ever-overflowing with love. He’s always wanting to give outwardly to others.

Despite the sin that all nations held onto – including Israel – God loves them still. He still chooses to glorify them. Why? Because His love is bigger than our sins. His grace overreaches anything we could do. We can never outrun His love. 

Israel’s Resistance to God’s Extended Invitation

Time and again, Israel failed God and abandoned His ways. Yet, God chooses to raise them up as an example of His love towards all nations. Not because of something they did or their own glory, but simply because “He has glorified [Israel].” 

Wouldn’t Israel be excited about this? Not really. They routinely despised God’s heart to extend His love to others. We see this as early as Jonah, who would rather sit and die than see a heathen city come to repentance.

In contrast, Jesus couldn’t have made it more clear that He loved both the Jews and the Gentiles – that is anyone outside of Jewish descent. He intentionally spent time with and healed those who were considered outsiders. Tax collectors gained their wealth through their corruption of the poor. Gentiles were never associated with the Jews. Prostitutes, the poorest of the poor, women and children – who were culturally considered second-class – were all welcomed by Jesus. The Gospels are full of Jesus breaking the barriers that were once in place. 

That’s the heart of God – but Israel struggled with this. The Jews and Pharisees were threatened by Jesus' openness to all. They hated what He was doing and feared He would disrupt their position in society. 

Like Israel, we may struggle with seeing others around us as God’s creations.

How Do You See Other People?

How often do we think of everyone in the world as being loved by God? In our individualistic society, we get caught up in our own view of Him and stop seeing strangers we pass by as included in that love. God extends this invitation to all – why should we not do the same? 

Jesus gave us the best example of what it means to love other people. What if we saw others through the lens of how God sees them? We’re all given an opportunity to be an extension of His love.

Or, we can choose to see people like the Jews did in Jesus’ day – as pawns and threats to our own glory. When we do this, we lose sight of whose glory we hold, because it’s not our own.

When we stop desperately trying to hold onto our own goodness, we begin to see how we’re not so different from our neighbor. Their sin is no bigger than ours. And as fellow sinners, we can see them as fellow heirs of grace. 

As we learned in Isaiah 55:4, Jesus leads us by example. How might we live out the love of God to our neighbor today?