Over the last few months, we have witnessed a transformation of the Barossa landscape. The hard, dry ground of summer has come alive with new growth as we have been blessed with better rain than we have had in recent years. It is amazing to see the change that good rain brings to the country around us. Where things used to be brown and dry, the rain germinates the seeds and grains that lie below the surface of the earth, and they begin to bud and sprout. Even as the leaves on the grapevines turn brown with autumn, the grass and grains that have been planted have come to life and covered the countryside around us with a covering of fresh, green growth.
This is the image that Isaiah uses to describe the blessings God showers on people who listen to his word. In Isaiah 55:10-13, the prophet says that God’s word is like the rain and snow that comes down from heaven to water the earth. It doesn’t return to God who sent it without achieving the purpose for which God sent it – to water the ground and give new life to seeds and plants that grow on the earth. When the rain gives life and growth to the plants, they yield their seeds which the sower can use for the following year’s crops. The grain that is produced can also be made into bread to feed the farmers and their families, and sold to generate income. All this good originates with the rains that God sends to the earth in his loving grace, sending it to both the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45).
God sends his word to us to create new life in us. We can think of God’s word as the words of the Bible, but also more specifically as the word of good news about Christ. Jesus is the Word-made-human that John describes in the first chapter of his gospel. John writes, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1 NIV). This Word that was present at the beginning of creation and through whom everything was created (John 1:3) came down from heaven and became human when Jesus was born. From a New Testament perspective, Jesus is the Word that came from heaven in his birth but who also rains down from heaven on us every time we hear the good news of his life, death and resurrection for us.
Jesus rains down on us to create and grow new life in us when our lives and hearts are dry and hard. Just like the soil after a long, hot summer, we can all go through times in our lives when the circumstances we experience or the things happening around us can dry us out or make us hard. When we face disappointments, loss, struggles or hardships of any kind, they can beat down on us like a hot summer sun, drying us out and making us hard. This is the effect sin can have on all of us in one way or another.
This is why Isaiah’s image of God’s word being like the rain that falls to the earth in Isaiah 55:10-13 is so powerful. The pouring rain doesn’t depend on the state of the soil. Instead, God sends the rain to soften hard soil and create life in the dry ground. God’s word of grace does the same in us. He speaks the good news of Jesus raining down on us from heaven to give us grace, peace and love, no matter what the state of our hearts or lives might be. When we hear the word of Christ it does something to us. The gospel softens our hearts like the rain softens the soil. It washes us clean the same way the first rain after a long dry spell cleanses the earth and settles the dust. It creates new life in us in the same way the rain germinates the seeds and grains that lie under the surface of the earth. No matter what state our hearts or lives might be in, the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection falls on us to promise us that Jesus comes to us from heaven full of grace and peace. This good news creates new life in us which transforms us like the winter rains transform the country landscape. Instead of being dry, hard and barren, the new life that God’s Holy Spirit creates in us through God’s word of grace, peace and love in Jesus creates something new in us which breaks through the surface of our lives and can be seen by others in all we say and do.
This new life that God’s word of Christ grows in us benefits both us and the people around us. Isaiah writes that because of the rain which God sends, the earth ‘yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater’ (v10 NIV). The sower can use the ‘seed’ the earth yields to feed himself and his family, sell for income and plant the following season. In the same way, the good news of Jesus in God’s word benefits us as it provides for what we need in our hearts, minds and souls. It blesses us with peace, joy, hope and love which sustains us and helps us in all we do. The ‘bread for the eater’ can mean those blessings that we can also pass on to others because of the new life God’s word creates in us. This ‘bread’ represents the good that we do for others in Christ-like love, the acts of compassion and mercy we can extend to others, the encouraging words we can speak to and about each other, and the forgiveness we can extend to those who wrong us. At the risk of mixing our metaphors, the ‘bread’ God’s word creates in us that we can share with others also includes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23). As the Holy Spirit creates the new life in us through God’s word of Christ, we can feed others with God’s goodness in lots of different ways through the ‘bread’ the Spirit produces in us, and we can share through our relationships with others.
Remaining in God’s life-giving word is just as important for us as the winter rain is for the land. Without seasonal rains, the earth becomes hard and dry, and nothing can grow in it. The rains God sends keeps it fresh so new life can grow and produce its fruit. When we remain connected with God’s word and listen for the good news of Jesus in it, God waters our hearts, minds and souls to produce new life and good fruit. When we are constantly in God’s word, not just by coming to worship to hear it preached, but also by learning to listen to God’s good word of grace and peace to us in the words of Scripture, God showers us with his goodness and love to give us sustained growth and life through his Spirit.
We all go through dry periods in our lives which can leave our hearts hard and bare. In good times and bad, in all the joys and challenges of life, God rains down his life-giving word to us to wash us clean, create new life in us, and produce good in us. These blessings that God rains on us are good for us as they grow the new resurrection life of Jesus in us. They are also for others as God produces good in us which we can share with the people around us. Just as we pray for God to send rain so our earth can produce its crops and fruit, we can also ask God to rain down his good word for us in Jesus into our hearts so we can yield the good crop he wants to produce in us and in the lives of others through us.
More to think about or discuss:
- What evidence do you see of the new life the winter rains have produced around us?
- In what ways can our hearts & minds become dry or hard? How can God’s good word of grace & love for us in Jesus soften our hearts & create new life in us?
- How does this new life bless you in your life? How can it bless the people around you through you?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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