Is 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty…”
Rain that falls on the fields is never wasted…it never does “nothing.” It is always, imperceptibly at work, feeding, nurturing, cultivating, so that—in the right time—the harvest will spring up and be gathered in. In Isaiah 55:10-11, the Lord compares His own word to this descending (as water droplets) and ascending (as fruit) work of the rain.
Every word—every warning, every promise, every command, and every comfort—every word that comes from YHWH’s mouth is like the rain. It descends from heaven into the earth and there achieves its purpose, bearing the appointed fruit (which is the eschatological fructification of the cosmos to the revelation and praise of YHWH’s name, v.12-13).
However, what I wanted to point out in this image, is that this work of God’s words by which they descend to the earth and ascend again to God as appointed fruit—this work of God’s words is only possible because all His words are grounded in, spoken in, and communicative of The Word, namely, the crucified Jesus Christ who is Risen.
Christ is the Prime Word, the Eternal Word, the Word in whom all God’s words are spoken and who is Himself the meaning of every word. And it is because—from the foundation of the cosmos—HE descends into the earth through death and from there ascends bearing the fruit of the resurrected cosmos in His own resurrection, it is only because this is HIS pattern that it is also the pattern of all God’s words. Only because THE Word descends as rain into the earth and there brings about fruictification, ascending again to God with the full harvest in Himself that EVERY word of God descends to the earth and will certainly achieve its appointed end.
The pattern and effectiveness of all divine speech within Creation is grounded in, imaged by, and communicative of the One who is Himself THE Divine Speech, THE Word, the slain and risen Jesus Christ.
