In this chapter, God speaks to those called "His people" and He speaks to those who are not "His people." In this first part we see salvation decreed for those who were His covenant people and those who were not His people; in the second part we see a rebuke of those who remain not His people.
Isaiah
56:1-2 (HCSB) This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice and do what is
right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed. Happy
is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath
without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
Notice
the first thing YHWH speaks: preserve justice and do what is right. National
Israel had practiced long and hard to disobey God, as we have seen previously
in this study. The salvation decreed for national Israel here is not eternal
life, but salvation from slavery in Babylon - as they had been redeemed from
slavery to Egypt. The righteousness of God would be displayed as Cyrus funded
the return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of that city and its temple. Those Jews
who had kept the Sabbath and refrained from evil would be rewarded. The weekly Sabbath
was highlighted here because it was signaled by God as THE sign His covenant
with the Hebrew nation: Exodus 31:12-14 (HCSB) The LORD said to Moses: “Tell
the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and
you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am Yahweh who
sets you apart. Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it
must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off
from his people."
We
had previously read what Amos had said about Israel profaning the Sabbath. Nehemiah
also made note of it - read Nehemiah 13:15-18. Not many kept the Sabbath - most
of them looked forward to doing evil in the marketplace on the first day of the
week, if they were kept from doing so on the Sabbath (as we read in Amos 8). The
things God identified as special to Him, His covenant people repeatedly trampled.
As we read in the gospel accounts, they aggressively promoted the minors and
missed the point repeatedly. May it not be so with us!
Isaiah
56:3-8 (HCSB) No foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD should say, “The
LORD will exclude me from His people”; and the eunuch should not say, “Look, I
am a dried-up tree.” For the LORD says this: “For the eunuchs who keep My
Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, I will
give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than
sons and daughters. I will give each ⌊of
them⌋ an
everlasting name that will never be cut off. And the foreigners who join
themselves to the LORD minister to Him, love the name of Yahweh and become His
servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly
to My covenant—I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My
house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My
altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” ⌊This is⌋ the declaration of the Lord GOD, who
gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others
besides those already gathered.”
Foreigners
and eunuchs were generally excluded from worship; but those who joined with
ethnic Israel and kept the covenant were included. YHWH reminds Israel of this
- these who were not His people became His people when they were circumcised
and agreed to keep the Mosaic Covenant. These foreigners were entitled to all
the benefits and privileges of that covenant - with security better than the Jews
had, IF they kept the covenant. This is how we know this passage is "in
the flesh" and refers to the Mosaic Covenant and is not the fulfillment
picture of the New Covenant: all the blessings of this covenant are dependent
upon the human participants keeping it, holding FIRMLY to it (twice YHWH uses
that term here). We see God gathering the exiled Jews and those who were not His
people - teaching the Jews that YHW was serious about the Abrahamic promise of
gathering countless people from every nation as His children. This beautiful word
picture no doubt filled the nation of Israel with joy and awe; but we know from
Scripture they continued to see things through eyes of flesh and thought their
temporal nation was the end-game YHWH had in mind, never really understanding
that Gentiles would be JOINT heirs and not accepted foreigners. Since no one
will be justified in the sight of God by keeping any law (Romans 3:20), the
exhortations for keeping the law of the Mosaic Covenant cannot be that of
finding eternal peace with God. The New Covenant is not dependent on anything
man does - the blessings and inheritance is totally dependent on the work of Christ
Jesus; the only faithful Son of Israel.
Isaiah
56:9-12 (HCSB) All you animals of the field and forest, come and eat! Israel’s
watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs,
they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep. These dogs have
fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no
discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own
gain. “Come, let me get ⌊some⌋ wine, let’s guzzle ⌊some⌋ beer; and tomorrow will be like
today, only far better!”
This
last part of the chapter is a rebuke to the faithless leaders of national Israel,
echoing terms we read in the gospels - blind guides, dogs, those seeking their
own way, whose god is their bellies. Watchmen were supposed to keep a watch,
warning the city of danger. Ezekiel, in chapter 34, devotes much effort at
describing these responsibilities and Israel's failure to hold firmly and do
them. People who are concerned and consumed with self will either be hopeless OR
self-confident. These are described as blindly self-confident, with fierce
appetites, seeking only their own gain - each one. These present the mindset Paul
was warning against in 1 Cor 15:29-34, as some people were convinced the
resurrection had already taken place and there was no longer any reason to be
subject to the rule of God. "If the dead are not raised, let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die! Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.
Come to your senses and stop sinning, for some people are ignorant about God. I
say this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:32b-34).
Brothers
and sisters - let us be careful not to grow lax and drift into thinking we are
doing good as we wander a crooked path of our desires. While we who are in Christ
are kept by His Spirit and not our own work, none of us indwelt by His Spirit
should be marked by a life of careless or deliberate sin. May God have mercy on
us to keep us so we walk as children of the light! If you have not a desire to
glorify Christ Jesus in your body, cry out for mercy and grace to do so. Do not
be deceived, nothing done in the dark will remain hidden.
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