Understanding Isaiah 55:8 - 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.”

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.”

Beloved of God, beware of “men of God" who single out this verse from the whole of Isaiah 55, ignore the verses before and after it and totally distort its context. When you take the text out of its context, you are left with a con. Many of us have heard this verse taught in the context of:

“God is not sinful, unrighteous and wicked and shady like you worthless sinners. His ways are not your ways and His thoughts are not your thoughts so go and change your ways to be like God.”

The first sentence of the above misinterpretation is basically stating the obvious: no churchgoer needs to be reminded about the godliness/righteousness of God. He is God. This horrid and antichrist interpretation in italics above is no different from the lie that Satan conned Eve into believing in Eden- that man can be godly through human effort (arm of flesh) at doing something. See Isaiah 55:8 in its context. The key to understanding its truth is in verse 7:

“6 Seek the Lord while He may be found,

Call upon Him while He is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

Let him return to the Lord,

And He will have mercy on him;

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

There is so much more to this chapter. By God's grace, we can address it in another post.

The Lord's way is to abundantly pardon, but man's ways and thoughts are:

“You need to depend on your arm of flesh (human effort) at obeying the law in order to be free from the sins that hold you captive and to be godly (be like God) so that God can pardon you. When you mess things up, you have to grovel and suffer first and maybe God will reluctantly pardon and then you will not perish but have everlasting life.”

To digress a bit, what then is the purpose of Christ's typology in John 3:14-16:

“14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [a]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

1 Corinthians 15:56 says: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”

See The Passion Translation: “It is sin that gives death its sting and the law that gives sin its power.”

God's way is for man to look to Christ lifted up for our salvation as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent for the salvation of the Israelites from the sting of death (sin nature inherited from Adam- Romans 5:19) and its symptoms that lead to death (acts of sin that lead to death.)

Romans 5:19 tells us about how this sin/old nature came about: “By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”

The sin nature is like a virus. Sinners get to produce sins just as a person living with HIV will produce symptoms of the virus when he no longer has access to his virus-suppressing drugs or circumstances become unfavourable. Even though he is not showing symptoms of AIDS, no hospital will accept his blood for a tranfusion. Whatever his body produces (his works) are still not acceptable. Just as it did with Peter who was 100% sure that he would never deny Christ, the arm of flesh (human effort at obeying the law) will fail. God's word. And when it does, those suppressed sinful passions will explode in a volcanic eruption of sinful deeds that lead to death.

Anyone who depends on his ability to obey the law in order to be righteous/godly (like God) or to get into God's good books rejects the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. Such have the old/sin nature and are not a new creation in Christ.

But man's way (having the old nature inherited from Adam) is to do the seemingly good thing of depending on his human strength/ability to keep the law (which gives sin its power) in order to rid himself of the sting of death that is the sin nature and its effects of acts of sin that lead to death. This is as pointless as the Israelites that were bitten by snakes in the wilderness rushing off to do things by their human strength in order to be rid of their problems or promising to keep the law better in order to appease God and get Him to save them from the serpent's sting and its effects.

The only thing that they would have achieved through these futile activities was give the snake sting (sin/old nature) more time to wreak havoc in their bodies (for us, produce plentiful sins that lead to death.) We see this reflected in Romans 7:5-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

The law that many churchgoers are doing the seemingly good thing of trying to obey in order to be godly (be like God) arouses evil desires that cause one to sin copiously. The Israelites had to focus solely on and look expectantly to the bronze serpent - putting no confidence in what they could by their own strength do to treat their symptoms or rid themselves of the sting/venom within (for us, acts of sin and the earthly ills that follow which kill) in order to be saved.

This typology in John 3:14-16 is from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is His way of saving us. This is His thought towards us. But man's thoughts are:

“No.That is incorrect. How can you say that I will be saved from these snakebite symptoms that kill (acts of sin that lead to death) and the sting of the snake within (old nature inherited from Adam) and be made well (righteous and sins-free) just by looking at the bronze serpent on the pole (Christ lifted up)? No. I have to rush off and put a poultice on this oozing wound (act of sin) and these stomach spasms (another act of sin) that is as a result of the snake sting (sin nature)”

Christ suffered and died to rid us of this sin nature:

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.” Colossians 2:13.

Romans 5:9 says of we who believe in Jesus Christ:

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”

All who believe the above verse no longer have the old Adamic sin nature that strives to be righteous and escape God's wrath by human strength at keeping the law and which can only produce sins acts of sins that lead to death. In union with Christ, we are a new creation, no longer dependent on our useless human strength to keep the law as we had been doing but depending utterly on Christ. We have His “righteousness” nature and so get to produce a harvest of good deeds for God:

“4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature,[b] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”

In Christ, God sees us as righteous, “even though we are guilty of many sins.”

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

But man's ways and thoughts - steeped in his “do good, get good; do bad, get beat" - doctrine, cannot comprehend this truth because his trust is in his arm of flesh (human strength at obedience) that will fail.

Antichrist pastors promote the ways and thoughts of natural man which sees the truth of God's grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) as license to sin. But God's Grace is not so that we should continue to wallow in or sanction sins as antichrist pastors imply. It is so that we should live in triumph over sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

According to Christ Himself, we get to not perish but have everlasting life the same way that the Israelites that were bitten by snakes and were showing its deathly symptoms (acts of sin that bring earthly ills and death) looked to the bronze serpent and were saved - utter dependence on Christ with absolutely no confidence in what we can do to “not perish but have eternal life.”

God says this is the way we are saved. But man's ways focus on dependence on human strength/will-power at supressing sins in order to be saved from the sting of death (sin nature) and its deathly effects (acts of sin that lead to death.) Recall Isaiah 55-

7 Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

Let him return to the Lord,

And He will have mercy on him;

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

We who forsake our useless ways and thoughts of trying to be godly/righteous/sins-free ( be like God) by our puny human effort at obeying the law are those who have returned to the Lord who has mercy on us and has abundantly pardoned us in Christ, not so that we should continue in sins but so that we should live in triumph over sin and death.

The Lord's way is to abundantly pardon and have mercy on the unrighteous who turn to Him for salvation. Understand that we obtain mercy when we escape the punishment that we very much deserve for our sins.

And who is this unrighteous man who needs to forsake his thoughts? Who is the wicked? We often think that it is serial killers, thieves and murderers but the Bible is not vague in anyway about who the wicked/unrighteous is. It is everyone who rejects the righteousness that proceeds from the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:9, 19.) Romans 3 addresses this unrighteous man in detail-

9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands;

 there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,

 they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

 not even one.”[b]

13 “Their throats are open graves;

 their tongues practice deceit.”[c]

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]

14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[e]

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[f]

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[g]

The wickedness and unrighteousness of man of Himself- without Christ as His righteousness- continues to verse 18. But see what is written from verse 19 which shows us that the wicked/unrighteous struggle to do the seemingly good thing of depending on the law (letter) that kills in order to be righteous:

“19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Notice that the Law and the Prophets testify that we who believe are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Let's quickly go to what Christ said during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:

“12 So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets. 13 Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.”

Man's ways and thoughts are that he can fulfill the demands of the Law if he clenches his teeth hard enough, but God knows that none of us can keep what is summed up in the Law and the Prophets by our human strength and in order to be righteous in His sight (Romans 3:20) - no matter how good we think we are-

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”

He knows that like Peter who denied Christ copiously, we will all fall flat on our faces should Satan come a-sifting and it was up to our human strength to stand- favourable circumstances make some people think that some sins are beneath them. So He sent His own Son (Jesus Christ- Grace Himself) to save us from our sins so that we do not perish but have eternal life; to free us from our sins, no matter how vile they are:

“He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

Recall Romans 3:19 - “…whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law,…”? In Christ, we are not under law but under Grace where sin shall not have dominion:

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under Law but under Grace.” Romans 6:14.

But man's ways and thoughts read this verse backwards, believing that you must do your best to obey the law (which gives sin its power) in order to be godly (like God.) See the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as a picture of the Law that many churchgoers are trying to obey in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 The Message.

Some church leaders try to compartmentalize the law into moral law/oral law/ceremonial law and say that we who believe are still subject to some of these compartments of the law. What a horrid antichrist teaching! The law is a whole and just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (a picture of the law which many are eating of in a bid to be godly/be like God - see Romans 7:8-12 The Message) which has many parts, eating of any part of the law (letter) kills, whether moral, oral, ceremonial or the one with which man privately judges himself in his heart (see Romans 2:12-15)

Romans 7 also shows us that the law that we who believe are dead to includes the Ten Commandments; Paul used the 10th Commandment (You shall not covet) as an example in this chapter.

The message of the cross is Righteousness by faith in Christ. It is the wisdom of God - not the ways and thoughts of man. It is hard to accept for those who think that they can be good (like God) by their human strength at living godly (God-like) lives based on the knowledge of good and evil as Eve was deceived into doing. It illogical to man in his natural reasoning. Only by Grace do we see the “logic" in God's ways and thoughts,

“For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

In Christ, under Grace, not only do we have life (live in triumph over death) through Christ's finished work, we get to live in triumph over sin too. This is the Good News. Christ does it all. In Him, we get to live right, yet not us but Christ is us. This is why we sing “Tis no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me.”

Believe Right and you will Live Right.