{"id":25879,"date":"2023-04-11T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-55-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T00:01:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T07:01:23","slug":"isaiah-56_1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-56_1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Heart for the Excluded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 56:1-8 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 56:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 56:1-2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 In Isaiah 55, Isaiah has just announced God\u2019s open invitation to everyone to come and freely receive the forgiveness, mercy and freedom that He makes possible.\u00a0 You would think that this would be a fitting way to end the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 Yet the book of Isaiah continues on for 10 more chapters dealing with various topics, two of the biggest being what God expects of His people now and what God will do at the very end of time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if God is saying to the people reading the book of Isaiah that (1) though we cannot meet God\u2019s standards of holiness on our own strength (which in many ways is the message of Isaiah 1-39) and (2) though God saves us in ways that we could not earn (the message of Isaiah 40-55), (3) God still expects His people to live as righteously as they can and not to treat God\u2019s grace as a licence for immorality.\u00a0 So chapter 55 ushers in the third and final big section of the book of Isaiah with these words \u201cMaintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed\u201d.<\/p>\n

In other words,\u00a0God wants us to live justly and to do right not as a way to earn God\u2019s salvation and righteousness, but as a response to the salvation and righteousness that God has freely given to us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another way to look at the whole book of Isaiah is that Isaiah 1-39 is about what happened before God\u2019s people became exiles, Isaiah 40-55 is about God\u2019s messages to His people while they are exiles, and Isaiah 56-66 is God\u2019s messages to His people after their exile is over.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 56:3-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0say, “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will surely exclude me from his people.” And let not any eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For this is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant–
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-5:\u00a0 In verses 3-8 God speaks to two groups that the Jewish exiles would have had some questions about: foreigners and eunuchs.\u00a0 We\u2019ll deal with foreigners as part of verses 6-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s first deal with eunuchs.\u00a0 In Isaiah\u2019s time, when one nation conquered another nation, the conquering nation would take the citizens of the conquered nation and either exterminate them or take them as captives.\u00a0 If they chose to take them as captives, to prevent the captives from multiplying and becoming a threat, they would either kill the male captives (as Pharaoh did with the Jews in Exodus) or turn the male captives into eunuchs by mutilating and removing their sexual organs.\u00a0 Some scholars believe that this is what happened to exiles like Daniel and Nehemiah while in Babylon.<\/p>\n

Given this background, one question the Jewish exiles would naturally ask is, \u201cWhen we go back to Jerusalem, can the eunuchs go back with us?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Deuteronomy 23:1 say that eunuchs are not allowed in God\u2019s temple?\u201d\u00a0 God gives His response to those questions in verses 4-5.\u00a0 His response is basically that the eunuchs can come back to Jerusalem and enter God\u2019s temple on one condition: that they \u201cchoose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant\u201d (v4).\u00a0 God is essentially saying: \u201cI don\u2019t look at the person\u2019s physical appearance.\u00a0 I look at his inner spirit and the condition of his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I find beautiful about verse 5 is what God says He will do for eunuchs who choose to please Him.\u00a0 Knowing that eunuchs were unable to have children by whom they could be remembered after they are gone, God says that He will find another way for these eunuchs to be remembered forever:\u00a0 God is going to write their names on the walls of the temple, such that theirs will be an everlasting name (v5).\u00a0 Don\u2019t you love the personal, sensitive and thoughtful way that God ministers to people\u2019s deepest hurts?<\/p>\n

Isaiah 56:6-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And foreigners who bind themselves to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0to serve him, to love the name of the\u00a0LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant–
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0declares– he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-8:\u00a0 The second group that God addresses is foreigners.\u00a0 While the Jewish people were exiles in Babylon, some of them would still carry on worshiping Yahweh, though without a temple.\u00a0 In a culture where paganism ruled the land, there must have been some Babylonians and other Gentiles (non-Jewish people) living in Babylon who were attracted to the purity of the Jewish faith and would ask to join the Jews in their worship.\u00a0 Could these foreigners return to Jerusalem with the Jewish exiles, even when foreigners were not considered to be part of God\u2019s chosen people?\u00a0 Here in verses 6-7 God answers that question.\u00a0 God basically says to foreigners, \u201cI don\u2019t exclude you.\u00a0 As long as you hold fast to my covenant, you can be part of my house of prayer as well.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s why God says in verse 7 that his house will be a called \u201ca house of prayer for all nations.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, they say that by the time Jesus was born, the temple had been rebuilt in Jerusalem and the biggest court in the temple was called the Court of the Gentiles.\u00a0 It goes to show that Gentiles have a place in God\u2019s heart and in God\u2019s house as well.<\/p>\n

From what Isaiah 56 says about eunuchs and foreigners, we can learn at least two important lessons:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 God has a heart for people from every nation.\u00a0 God\u2019s heart is not only for the Jewish people, but for all peoples.\u00a0 His house is \u201ca house of prayer for all nations\u201d (v7).\u00a0\u00a0God wants all people everywhere, from every nation, to bind themselves to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0With God there is no favoritism.<\/strong>\u00a0 The message of Isaiah 56 is that\u00a0as long as you keep God\u2019s covenant, it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a Gentile, a Jew, or a eunuch; you have a place in God\u2019s house<\/strong>.\u00a0 For God it is not about your ancestry, your culture or your sex. What counts is: do you keep God\u2019s covenant?<\/p>\n

The New Testament would later build on this understanding: since none of us can keep God\u2019s covenant in our own power, Jesus came and kept God\u2019s covenant on our behalf such that every single one of us, by trusting in Jesus\u2019 work and not our own, can be part of God\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

Thank You Father that no matter who we are or where we come from, we can all be a part of Your house through Your Son Jesus Christ.\u00a0 For You do not focus on the appearance of things; You focus on the heart.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 56:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 56:1-2 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 In Isaiah 55, Isaiah has just announced God\u2019s open invitation to everyone to come and freely receive the forgiveness, mercy and freedom that He makes possible.\u00a0 You would think that this would be a fitting way to end the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 Yet the book of Isaiah continues on for 10 more chapters dealing with various topics, two of the biggest being what God expects of His people now and what God will do at the very end of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25882,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25879\/revisions\/25882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}