The vital force of the Word of God.
There is a strange force in every utterance of God. In the account of creation given in Genesis we find, not only light, but all the other portions of the universe which it pleased God to make, created by an utterance—a word (see Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:9, Genesis 1:11,Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:20, Genesis 1:24, Genesis 1:26). God said, "Let there be," and at once there was. "He commanded, and they were created" (Psalms 148:5). So the Son of God, when upon earth, gave life with a word (John 11:43, John 11:44), and destroyed it with a word (Matthew 21:19); with a word cast out devils, healed diseases (Matthew 12:13), calmed the tempest (Mark 4:39), caused his enemies to "fall to the ground" (John 18:6). Isaiah, in the present place, declares three things of God's Word.
I. GOD'S WORD DOES NOT RETURN TO HIM VOID. His Word accomplishes itself. It is "sent forth," whether upon earth or in the heavenly sphere; and in either case "runneth very swiftly" (Psalms 147:15). In no case does it "return to him void." It has always an object, an end; and it would contradict the omnipotence of God that that end should be in no way advanced by a means which God made use of in order to advance it.
II. GOD'S WORD ACCOMPLISHES THAT WHICH GOD PLEASES THAT IT SHOULD ACCOMPLISH. God's Word often does not accomplish all that we might have expected from it. His offer of salvation freely to all does not effect universal salvation. His call of individuals is disobeyed by numbers of those who hear it. Yet always his Word accomplishes something; and that "something" is what he designed it to accomplish. He "knows the end from the beginning," and is not disappointed, even when the results are most scanty.
III. GOD'S WORD, IN EVERY CASE, PROSPERS IN RESPECT OF THE END WHERETO HE SENDS IT. Every work that God takes in hand "prospers" more or less. The end aimed at is often quite other from that which we should have imagined; and what seems to us failure is only failure from our point of view, not from the Divine standpoint. God cannot fail to accomplish any end that he really proposes to himself. Every word that proceeds from his mouth has an end, but that end is known only to him; and it may often be that he alone knows of its accomplishment. Its accomplishment is always, with respect to the intention, full, complete, such as satisfies him.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON