Isaiah 55: God's Word Falls Like Rain

Introduction

It is a harvest festival Sunday. In front of a table heaped with produce, after a very hot and very dry year, Matthias Mauerhofer thanks everyone who has contributed: "Here in the chapel are gathered people who know that harvest and growth come from the hand of God." He recalls the promise of Genesis 8:22: "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."

That morning he preaches on Isaiah 55:10-11: "For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do."

The message is also addressed to Thomas, who is starting as a 50% pastor in the church while he finishes his master's degree. Through the image of rain, Matthias Mauerhofer shows where the Word comes from, why it must be passed on, and what fruit it bears when we let ourselves be watered by it.

Outline of the message

1. Isaiah, a messenger to a people who had forgotten

Isaiah's name means "the Lord is salvation." He was married and had two sons with unusual names: Shear-Jashub, "a remnant will return," and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, "quick to plunder, swift to spoil." He gave his children names that matched his calling.
Isaiah was given a glimpse of God's throne room: "Woe is me! For I am undone." Then God asks, "Whom shall I send?" And Isaiah answers, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:5-8).
The people of Israel in his day were much like us: they put appearance above the heart and looked for help from mascots, lucky charms, horoscopes and idols. Corruption, greed, arrogance and immorality were no strangers to them.
It is to this people that Isaiah writes that rain and snow come down from the sky. And the preacher asks: "Have you forgotten?"

2. Rain does not come from the tap

"Rain does not come from the watering can, it does not come from the garden hose, and it does not come from the tap either."
The Swiss noticed it in 2026: when the rain, that blessing, stops falling, you are no longer allowed to water your lawn, wash your car or fill your pool, and fires are banned. Lake Zurich, Lake Constance, Lake Walen, Lake Lucerne and the Rhine hold less water than ever. Even wallets feel the effect.
Snow and rain come from God. He decides how it rains, how often and for how long. Jesus said so in the Sermon on the Mount: God sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45).
In Scripture, God also uses drought. The seven years of famine in Joseph's time made it possible to bring his family together again (Genesis 41 to 46). Deuteronomy 28 warns that if the people turn away from God, the sky will become like bronze. Elijah announces to King Ahab that, because he and Jezebel led God's people into the worship of Baal and Astarte, there will be no rain except at his word. The drought lasts three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17).
A lot has changed since 871 BC: we travel by tram, bus, train or plane, and clothing and access to knowledge are not what they were. "But one thing has not changed: rain still comes from the sky, and without rain, simply nothing can grow." Even the rose of Jericho and the cactus need a little water.

3. A Word that comes out of God's mouth and has to be passed on

As rain comes from the sky, God's Word is passed on by the mouth. Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Job, Samuel, Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Gideon, Samson, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi, Lydia, Paul, Peter, James and John all passed it on, sometimes in surprising ways.
We live in an overheated, precarious and dry age. The preacher encourages Thomas: the Word is like a package that has to be opened and handed over in these dusty, arid situations.
We could preach many interesting and clever things, with everything we know thanks to the internet or ChatGPT. "But we are witnesses of Jesus Christ, so we pass on God's Word." We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), his servants.
This message is contested, "because it is not in tune with the times, it is in tune with eternity. It is not what people like to hear, but what they absolutely need to hear."
At confirmation camp, the ninth graders understood this message: by nature, human beings are separated from God and held captive by their cravings, desires and addictions. God the Father loved people so much that he sent his only Son. Jesus proved his divinity by his miracles: the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak and lepers are healed. He carried our sins and the judgment on the cross at Golgotha, he rose again on the third day, and he offers forgiveness to everyone.

4. Listening to the Word rather than looking for a special rain

"Do we still listen to God's Word? Or do we listen to others first?"
You can feel that you know the Word well, its spring rain, its summer storms, its autumn rain, and go looking for another book, a particular person or a place where you can receive a special blessing. The preacher answers bluntly: "Nonsense."
That is why the church preaches God's Word from the pulpit, with imperfect understanding but with joy. Everyone can do the same at work, in the family and in the neighborhood.
He thanks those who pass on the Word in youth groups, house groups, Sunday school and the nursery, those who post verses in their WhatsApp status, those who have verses displayed around the city, those who dare to wear a T-shirt with a verse in gym class. "We pass on God's Word like ordinary rain. And when we pass on ordinary rain, extraordinary fruit can grow."
Then he "makes it rain": he reads a series of verses, including Jeremiah 29:11, Jeremiah 31:3, Micah 7:18, Habakkuk 3:18, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 9:37-38, Acts 5:29, Romans 5:5 and Galatians 2:20. "Did it rain?"
When it rains, you can open an umbrella, put on a raincoat, or simply say: "It rained again." We want, instead, to be a place watered by God's Word.

5. It accomplishes what God wants

The preacher's task is to pass on the Word. It does not depend on how fit you are on a given day, or whether you feel well or sick. "That is not the question. This is about God's Word."
The Word does what glorifies God's name. It leads us to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind (Matthew 22:37), to praise and honor him through lived obedience, following the commandments of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
"We hate sin, we love God's plan and we serve with the gifts he has given us."
The preacher rejoices to see people coming to faith again and again, asking for baptism at the lake baptism, committing to serve, carrying the load and becoming members. Eight baptism candidates have already come forward, and a service with a baptistery is planned for spring.

6. The fruit of the rain: love, joy, peace and patience

"If we let ourselves be watered by God's Word, it is quite simple: there will be fruit." The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Love comes first: "It all starts with love." Members who have been watered by the Word for many years are the model: love for Jesus Christ, for his Word, for his church, for our neighbor and for those who do not believe.
Joy depends on neither the bank account, nor health, nor fitness, nor marital status, nor housing, nor social standing. It is rooted: we have a reconciled past, a blessed present and a wonderful future, a city in heaven and a home prepared for us.
Peace unites us. We do not share the same musical tastes, the same hobbies, the same character or the same age. What binds us together is the Holy Spirit, who placed us in the church when we were converted (1 Corinthians 12:13). "Where there is peace, you are safe." Romans 12:18 calls us to be at peace with everyone, as far as it depends on us.
Patience is the slowest fruit to grow. Trials produce it (James 1:2-4), and in traffic jams or a demonstration in town, it is put to the test. It does not grow through effort, but by exposing ourselves again and again to the rain of the Word: in personal devotions, the house group, Bible study and the church.
We have to listen to the Word the way a disciple and a servant listen, not by telling ourselves: "This may be true, may be not, I don't believe it."

7. A joy that bursts out

Right after the text, Isaiah bursts into jubilation: "For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up" (Isaiah 55:12-13).
"How that happens, I don't know either," the preacher admits. But it will be a great joy.
He gives Thomas a mission: to help joy keep growing in the church, so that those who are not here yet discover where this joy is found, anchored not only on the face but in the heart.
At the center, behind the communion table and the pulpit, there is always the cross. It is at the cross that God's love becomes visible.
"God's Word does not do what pleases me, but what pleases him. Not what glorifies us, but what glorifies him. It does not belong to its time, it is eternal. It does not always change something around us, but it changes something in us."

Key takeaways

Rain comes from the sky, not from the tap. The Word comes from God's mouth, not from our ideas or our knowledge.
We are ambassadors for Christ: our message is not in tune with the times, it is in tune with eternity.
Ordinary rain, passed on faithfully in the family, at work and in the church, can produce extraordinary fruit.
God's Word does not return to him empty: it accomplishes what glorifies him, at its own pace.
Whoever lets themselves be watered by the Word bears the fruit of the Spirit, starting with love.

Personal application

When did you last feel God's Word fall on your life like a rain that comforts, encourages and restores hope?
Faced with the Word, do you open an umbrella, or do you really let yourself be watered?
Are you looking for a "special rain" anywhere other than in God's Word?
How can you pass on the Word, simply, in your family, at work or in your neighborhood this week?
How much do you love God's Word, Jesus Christ, the church, your neighbor, your spouse, your children, your colleagues?

Verses quoted

Frequently asked questions

What does Isaiah 55:10-11 say?

God compares his Word to rain and snow. They come down from the sky and do not return there without watering the earth and making plants grow. In the same way, the Word that goes out of God's mouth does not return to him empty: it accomplishes what he wants and succeeds in what he sent it to do.

Why does Matthias Mauerhofer insist that rain does not come from the tap?

After a very hot and very dry year in Switzerland, he reminds us that rain comes neither from a watering can, nor from a garden hose, nor from the tap: it comes from God. The same is true of the Word: it does not come from our ideas, our knowledge or the internet, but from the mouth of God.

What fruit does God's Word produce in a life?

For the preacher, whoever lets themselves be watered by the Word bears the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It all starts with love, and patience is the slowest fruit to grow.