“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
This is another one of those very familiar verses in the bible where if you only know this one verse out of the chapter, you do not have enough context to know what is actually being said here. And I have been just as guilty, until lately because I only had a limited understanding before considering this verse for a post.
We see that God is detailing his thoughts and ways are higher than man's, which lead many to believe that it is God's way of showing how separated He is from us---He is up there, and we are way down here---But nothing could be further from the truth. In no way did God ever indicate that had to be the unchanging position of man, to think with lower thoughts and act with lower ways, but rather it is an invitation to come up higher, and to think with His higher thoughts and to act on His higher ways!
The first obvious point to make is that the verse is not dealing with altitude such as the cloud is higher than the flower, but rather a higher form of a position of attitude and nature. Such as the order of things, like the rank order of: plants, fish, animals, and man. Or also a higher order of learning, such as: elementary, high school, college, and university etc.
God is saying that man is thinking according to his fallen earthly Adamic thoughts and ways. That kind of thinking is what got him into trouble in the first place. But now God is saying that man needs to get his mind into the heavenly realm and inviting us to learn, and to begin to think with heavenly thoughts, and act according to heavenly ways.
So, that much I already understood for a long time. Then something new was pointed out to me, with the question: What ways and thoughts was God referring to? Was it just general thoughts and ways or something specific? Ah. Context! For that we need to consider the conversation from whence this verse started.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:7. This verse is what precedes the higher thoughts and ways verses. The fact that God will abundantly pardon and have mercy on the wicked, is what God is calling us to learn. That is the higher thoughts and ways. The whole story of the bible and God's relationship with man is one of mercy and forgiveness! God has spoken a couple of chapters detailing his blessings to the children of Israel, and now also includes ALL nations because of Israel into those blessings None is excluded .
Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the Lord Speak, saying, “The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”; Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” Isaiah 56:3 In other words, don't let anybody make any excuses as to them being disqualified from the blessing of God. For the verses continue: "For thus says the Lord:“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off." Isaiah 56:4-5.
I learned recently how perhaps this verse gave hope to a character we were introduced to in Acts 8:26-39, The story of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Perhaps you remember? But it would be good to read the whole story first, so these comments will make sense. It is important to know that in Deuteronomy 23 there are a lot of laws that forbid certain people from entering into the "congregation" of the Lord. Meaning they could not partake in the temple worship etc. It would be like saying that they were forbidden from going to church, or were excommunicated. In 23:1 it says: "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord." It is a polite way of saying that a man was unable to reproduce by force, or accident, or choice.
Knowing that background, we are introduced to this "Ethiopian eunuch, of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure" who was on his way home after having traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship at one of the Jewish feasts, where he was not even allowed to participate! He would be kept out in the court of the Gentiles and could only watch from a distance. Still, the difficult journey and isolation was worth even the little he could enjoy. And now, we are told that Phillip was instructed by the Spirit to join himself to the man, and overheard the eunuch reading from a passage in Isaiah 53 where upon Phillip began to explain to him, the meaning of what he was reading. was about Jesus! When they came to some water, the eunuch asked in Acts 8:36 "... See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?"
This eunuch has been told all of the time he was a eunuch, that he could not participate in the worship activities in the temple, that he was an outsider, and restricted from any religious activity. And now, while we can know the passage he was reading was from Isaiah 53, but it is also within the realm of probability that Phillip showed him the passage a few pages later where it says "For thus says the Lord:“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off." Isaiah 56:4-5. Indeed there was NOTHING that prevented him from fully participating in the feast and festivals and worship of God! He is no longer an outcast, and excluded from a relationship with God and is now accepted into all the promises of God which are yes and Amen!
God's ways and thoughts are higher than the Adamic, earthly thoughts of man. Earthy thoughts, because it is this lower realm of thinking that keeps us from enjoying a relationship with God, and the lower realm of thoughts and ways is a form of self attainment to a set of rules and laws that you think will make you acceptable to the perfection of God. That is the wide gate found in Matt. 7:13 For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." It misses seeing that "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" Rom. 8:7 Therefore, if it is not about keeping the "law of sin and death", and is instead about living in the higher realm of heavenly thoughts and ways, then we can see that is open to everyone! "Whosoever will may come" Rev. 22:17. And if you can understand that truth, you are indeed now thinking in the heavenly realm of Higher Thoughts And Higher Ways.
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