We begin Chapter 56 today. This first segment deals with people who would normally be excluded from the temple but to whom the Lord plans to offer salvation. I apologize for no Bible study posts on Monday and Tuesday. I had to leave home early both days to take care of some things at my mother-in-law's new house before work.
"This is what the Lord says: 'Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed.'" (Isaiah 56:1) The Lord has made promises to the people regarding their captivity in foreign lands: they will be restored to their own land in time. But they aren't to wait until then to begin praising the Lord and doing what is right in His eyes. You may be familiar with the expression, "Until the Lord opens a door, praise Him in the hallway." What He is saying here seems to be something similar. They aren't to say, "Until the Lord punishes our enemies and restores us to our land, we cannot properly serve Him." Instead they are to say, "I will serve Him every day of my life."
The prophecy regarding their captors being punished and the people being set free is not too far off in the future in Old Testament times. This will come true just as the Lord said it would. Another prophecy is going to come true in the more far off future when His righteousness (His faithfulness, His trustworthiness, His promise-keeping power) is revealed by the advent of the Messiah. I believe both of these promises are in view in verse 1. He will keep His word to restore the people and He will keep His word to provide the Redeemer.
Keeping in mind that the Lord is faithful, the people are to be faithful to Him. "Blessed is the one who does this---the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil." (Isaiah 56:2) They are to honor the Lord with the way they live their lives. They cannot live perfect lives but, whenever they become aware that they have made a mistake, they are to sincerely repent of it, trusting that the Lord will absolve them of it.
The Lord will absolve not only the citizens of Israel, but foreigners who place their faith in Him. He will turn no one away. "Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.'" (Isaiah 56:3a) Those who were not descended from Abraham may have thought that the Lord's promises didn't include them. But the Lord imputed righteousness to Abraham based on Abraham's faith (Genesis 15:6) and that is the way the Lord imputes righteousness to anyone---by faith. He doesn't consider the faith of the Gentile less important than the faith of the Jew.
In Biblical times there were rules about who could enter certain areas of the temple complex. Gentile believers had to remain in the outer court. But when Christ gave His life for all, the veil in the temple was torn in two by the hands of God, and everyone has access to Him now. Also in Biblical times there were rules (Deuteronomy 23:1) about persons who were maimed, such as eunuchs (men who had been castrated), and this next portion deals with them.
"And let no eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.' For this is what the Lord says: 'To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant---to 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 endure forever.'" (Isaiah 56:3b-5) Some of the men who were taken captive were castrated by their oppressors. Some men became eunuchs due to illnesses or injuries. Some were born with deformations in their sexual organs. Some may even have caused the injury to themselves on purpose. Some were not physically castrated but had chosen a life of celibacy. Jesus said none of that mattered (Matthew 19:12) when it came to the kingdom of God. A person did not have to have offspring and generations of descendants to be valuable to the Lord. They could be remembered by their faith and by their good works rather than for having raised children in the faith.
Foreigners also, who once were treated as "less than" by the people of Israel, will be as accepted by God for their faith as anyone who is of Israel. "And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant---these 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. The Sovereign Lord declares---He who gathers the exiles of Israel: I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered." (Isaiah 56:6-8)
The references to the Sabbath, the covenant, and the offerings and sacrifices have to do with Old Testament times and Old Testament laws. He is speaking of those foreigners who became believers in Him before the advent of Christ. But when Christ comes He makes a new covenant with mankind and His offer of redemption will appeal to people of many nations: the Lord will "gather still others to them". These "others" are people from all over the world.
No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you've done, the Lord calls to you just as much as He calls to anyone else. You are not "less than" anyone. Christ died for you just as much as He died for anyone and He loves you just as much as He loves anyone and He wants to save you just as much as He wants to save anyone. He is an equal opportunity Savior who says, "Whoever comes to Me I will never drive away". (John 6:37)
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