HEN ISAIAH uttered the word of the Lord to the effect
WORD AND WISDOM
1. Gop's WorpD
HEN ISAIAH uttered the word of the Lord to the effect V \ that "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void" he was using the term "word"' in its more accepted form. There may be just a touch of that personalisation with which the term was later vested. But here (Isa. lv. 11) we see God's word, powerful and effectual, and answering all its great intentions.
(a) The efficacy of God's Word in the kingdom of nature. "'He saith to the snow, Be thou upon the earth," appoints when it shall come, to what degree, and how long it shall lie there. He saith so to "the small rain and the great rain of his strength" (Job xxxvii. 6). And according to His order they come down from heaven, and do ''whatsoever He commandeth them upon the face of the world, whether it be for correction, or for his land, or for his mercy"', as it follows here (verses 12, 13).
(6) The efficacy of God's Word in the kingdom of providence and grace which is as certain as the former. "So shall my word be'', as powerful in the mouth of prophets as it is in the hand of Providence. It shall not return unto me void; as unable to effect what it was sent for, or meeting with an insuperable opposition. No! "It shall accomplish that which I please," for it is the declaration of His will, according to the counsel of which He worketh all things, '"'and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
(c) The effect of God's Word. This assures us, first, that the promises of God shall all have their full accomplishment in due time, and not one iota or tittle of them shall fail (1 Kings vii. 56). These promises of mercy and grace shall have as real an effect upon the souls of believers, for their sanctification and comfort, as ever the rain had upon the earth to make it fruitful. Secondly, that, according to the different errands on which the Word is sent, it will have its different effects. If it will not be a saviour of life unto life it will be a saviour of death unto death.