In Isaiah 55, we read:

10 “As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

The prophet says the purpose of the rain that waters the earth is twofold: to yield seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

When the crop is harvested, most of the wheat is given to the baker to make bread. But a portion is reserved by the farmer to be sown and planted for next year’s harvest.

In the same way, God’s Word is meant to nourish us with life, but it is also meant to fill the whole earth with life. Indeed, God’s purpose is for His Word to flourish within the hearts of His people and through them (us) to bring life and health to the world, which remains under the curse of Adam.

Isaiah elaborates this point in the very next verses of the same chapter.

12 “You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”

This picture of the transformation of the wilderness is the picture of the reversal of Adam’s curse, the Garden of Eden restored. The text of an Advent hymn comes to mind.

“No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.”

The hymn begins: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” We might well say, “Joy to the world, the WORD is come.”

For God so loved the world that He gave . . . His Word, which shall achieve the purpose for which he sent it . . . the life and salvation of the world—or in the words of John, “. . . His only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Christ, the Word Incarnate, is both bread to the eater and seed for the sower. Receive Him, feed on Him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving. Then go out sowing seeds in joy . . . and look for a harvest in the wilderness.