Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 55:3

"Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." — Isaiah 55:3 (ASV)

Incline your ear,

You know what that means; bend forward, to catch the faintest utterance of the voice that is speaking.

And come to me; hear, and your soul shall live;

We do not live by sight; all the pretty things that you can see in a Romish place of worship will not save a single soul. The preaching of the gospel is God’s way of salvation: Hear, and your soul shall live. Christ rides into the City of Mansoul through Ear-gate. Take heed what you hear, and take heed how you hear.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Think of God making a covenant with you; this is a very wonderful thing. You may almost leap for joy at the thought that God should ever enter into covenant with you. You think very little of yourself, and reckon yourself to be among the most obscure of mankind; "yet," says the Lord God, "I will strike hands with you, and be your Friend, and pledge my word to you; yes, and make a covenant with you, and an everlasting covenant it will be, too.

Surely, blessing, I will bless you." Oh, what a wonder of divine grace it is that God should enter into covenant with sinful man!

Even the sure mercies of David. You know who this David is; this is the Son of David, the inheritor of great David's name, "great David's greater Son."

Incline your ear,

Hold it near the mouth of the gracious Speaker. Be willing to hear what God has to say. Take out that wool of prejudice that has prevented you from listening to God's voice: Incline your ear.

And come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

"When you live thus, I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I am not the God of the dead, but of the living; and once, through hearing the divine Word, you have come to life, I will be your God."

Incline your ear, and come unto me; –

This is the gate by which salvation enters into man, – Ear gate, – by hearing and believing. Incline your ear, bend it forward as if you would catch every word; and come unto me; –

Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David (Isaiah 55:3).

Only think of a covenant made with needy sinners, thirsty sinners; God striking hands with guilty men in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a sure covenant, too; not made up of "ifs" and "buts" and "perhapses," but a covenant sealed with blood, and signed by Him who gives an oath with it that He will never turn from it, so that you may have strong consolation.

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live;

Then who would not hear—who would not give the attention—if by that attention life immortal may be received?

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Will God enter into covenant with sinful men – with thirsty men – with hungry men – with needy men – with guilty men?

Ah! that he will. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live;

Salvation does not come to men through the eye, but through the ear. Not what you see in the finery of the priest or the altar. That can do you no good. But listen to the gospel. It is by ear-gate that God's mercy comes triumphant into the soul of man. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Here God will strike hands with the sinner and enter into a compact with him – a covenant of mercy and of grace, through Jesus Christ, the Saviour.

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; –

It seems a very little thing to do, does it not? Simply to hear — to incline the ear; yet that is the way of salvation: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Alas! nowadays, the mass of men will not hear God's message of mercy; they pass it by as if it were an old worn-out tale of which they knew quite enough. Hear, then, what God says to his poor forgetful creature: Hear, and your soul shall live; –

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Will God make a covenant with man? Can it be that he will strike hands with sinful man, and enter into league and compact with him? Yes, so he says; if men will only incline their ear, and come to him, he will enter into covenant with them: I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

"But David is dead," says someone. Yes, I know he is; but the David here meant always lives—it is Jesus, the Son of God.

Incline your ear, and come unto me;

This is the gate by which salvation enters into man, – Ear gate, by hearing and believing: Incline your ear, bend it forward as if you would catch every word; and come unto me: –

Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Only think of a covenant made with needy sinners, thirsty sinners, God striking hands with guilty men in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a sure covenant, too; not made up of "ifs" and "buts" and "uncertainties," –but a covenant sealed with blood, and signed by him who gives an oath with it that he will never turn from it, that you may have strong consolation.

Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Says someone, "I can understand God making a covenant with David; but will He make a covenant with me?" Yes, and after the same sure tenor, too: I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. God will promise to bless you, and save you, and keep you, and present you in glory in the day of Christ's appearing; and this shall be a covenant which shall never be broken. Though all things else are changed, yet that covenant shall stand secure forever. It will fill you with joy when you understand that such a covenant as this is made with you; and you will say, as David did, Although my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. Oh, what a blessing it is to have a share in this covenant!

Incline your ear and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live;

Then who would not hear – who would not give attention – if by that attention life immortal may be received?

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Will God enter into covenant with sinful men – with thirsty men – with hungry men – with needy men – with guilty men?

Ah! that he will. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Hear, and your soul shall live;

Do not quibble, but hear. Do not come to find fault with the Word; but Come unto me, says the Lord; hear, and your soul shall live.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

What a surprising promise this is for God to make to people who are so poverty-stricken that they have "no money" in their hand or in their pocket—nothing in fact, that they can bring to Him! Yet the Lord says, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you." Will God enter into covenant with a poor sinner, and pledge Himself, by promise and by oath, to do them good forever? Yes, poor, troubled, sinful soul, the Lord, in infinite mercy, is even now calling you by His grace, I trust; and as surely as you come to Him, He will make with you "an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David."