In Isaiah 55 the most striking word is waters (v. 1). Water is also mentioned at the end of the first section of this book (12:3). This indicates that in the book of Isaiah, God always considers that He is our salvation as living water. In His salvation God gives Himself to us as our portion for our enjoyment.
We live by three things: air, water, and food. Air is for our breathing, water is for our drinking, and food is for our eating. Spiritually speaking, of these three things, water is the most crucial. Air actually contains water, and water conveys spiritual food. According to Revelation 22:1 and 2, the tree of life (food) grows in the river of water of life. Thus, water and food go together. Our eating should always be matched by our drinking.
Isaiah 55 indicates that we need to enjoy our God as the living water, even as the waters. The word waters here reveals that we may enjoy God not just in one aspect but in many aspects. The thought here is similar to that in John 7:38. In that verse the Lord Jesus says, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." These rivers are the many flows of the different aspects of the divine life, such as love, light, grace, power, strength, holiness, and righteousness.
The book of Isaiah shows us that our God may become our enjoyment through our continual drinking of Him. However, we are sinners, and in order to drink of God, we need a proper, adequate, and complete redemption. This redemption is found in chapter fifty-three, a chapter which reveals more of the dynamic redemption of Christ than any other chapter in the Bible. The dynamic redemption accomplished by Christ is the security not only to Israel but also to the seed (53:10), which is the church as the corporate Body of the resurrected Christ.
The record concerning this accomplished redemption in chapter fifty-three is followed in chapter fifty-five by the invitation to come to the waters and drink. The call here is like that at the end of the Bible: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come!...he who wills, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). The waters in these two portions of the Word are our redeeming God, the very God who accomplished redemption for us through His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. As we will see, these waters are both the eternal covenant and the sure mercies shown to David (Isa. 55:3). God's way and God's thought (v. 8) are that we would come to drink of Him.
Let us now go on to see from chapters fifty-five and fifty-six that Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is an eternal covenant to Israel, even the sure mercies shown to David, in relation to Israel's prosperity.