Isaiah

Isaiah Chapter 56

• Isaish 56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

Here we have a promise of salvation. This does not just mean salvation from the armies of enemies although that is also a promise to Israel in the future. This means an eternal salvation of the soul which brings forth righteousness. This is blessed as the next verse indicates. Happy is the man that does this.

• Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

A person who follows after righteousness, (right living) is actually a happy person.

I used to teach children the song, "Happiness is to be forgiven, living a life that’s worth the living, having a change in my behavior, happiness is the Lord." True joy is walking in righteousness, partaking of the holiness of the Lord. He is holy. We are not. Happiness is when we receive Him and become partakers of His righteousness and His holiness. Through faith in Christ, we who have known nothing but old filthy sin, can be made righteous, clean, holy, and part of the Kingdom of God. Wow, Jesus actually did more for us than we can even imagine.

At first we were full of sin, filthy, unclean, unholy, and deserved death. Jesus intervenes on our behalf, pays the price for our sins and we become clean, sanctified, holy and worthy to inherit the Kingdom of God. Thank you Jesus.

Whether or not we have to keep the Sabbath on Saturday which is the seventh day on our calendar, I do not know. I do know that the Sabbath was made for man and if God had not have made the Sabbath day of rest, the plight of servants, laborers, farmers, slaves and such would have never had a day off to rest from physical labor. Then too, a spiritual refreshing and rest is needed even more than the physical. We need a day to worship the Lord and concentrate on learning more of Him. Of course we should be doing that every day but setting aside a day for worship without other distractions and necessities of this life is vital for our spiritual growth. Whether or not it has to be the exact original Sabbath Day, I really don't know.

No where in the bible does it use the words of the days of the weeks like we do. We might be assuming Saturday is the 7th day. Again, it is something I do not know. I rejoice to see people going to a place to worship God on Sunday but if they changed it to Saturday, I wouldn't mind either. We are to work 6 days and rest the 7th day from labor. All I know for sure is that we don't know exactly what day would be the 7th day unless we find historical accounts from people who kept track from the beginning from when this was given in the day of Moses.

Some believe to receive Jesus and rest in Him is equal to the Sabbath. Paul says not to judge one another in respect to a holy day so I'll leave that up to the individual but we do need a day to worship God and rest from labor. To make a cruel religion out of it like the Pharisees where they got so picky that they didn't want Jesus to heal on the Sabbath day was taking things too far. Doing good on the Sabbath does not pollute it.

• Isaiah 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

This is beautiful. The son of the stranger would seem to indicate a Gentile or heathen. Yet the salvation of God is for all that come and drink of the waters. It is for all that believe and receive God's plan of salvation.

• Isaiah 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
• 5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

Since Eunuchs are those that do not marry and have children but they followed the Lord and kept His Sabbaths, they are promised something better than sons and daughters.

I believe the observance of Sabbath days in the Old Testament pointed toward the Sabbath that was coming in Jesus Christ. Still I believe in setting aside a special day to go to a place where other believers are gathered to worship the Lord, but the real Sabbath is simply receiving the Lord which is to rest from our own works and rely on being covered with the righteousness of Christ.

I don't believe the early church fathers should have changed the actually 7th day but now to change it back would be difficult and should only be done by the direct commandment of the Lord that we are sure is from the Lord. During the Millennial reign of Christ though Sabbath worship will revert back to the seventh day.

Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 explains more of what the Sabbath rest is all about after the coming of Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to get away from observing a day to worship. I realize that doctors, policemen, firemen, paramedics etc. have to have a day off on alternate days because they have to have someone on duty every day but after we got away from observing one day to go to church and rest from labor, something was lost here in America at least. There seems to be something missing. We really need God. We need to stop and think about Him. We need to acknowledge His creation, His greatness, His ways. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." He is our rest, our fortress, our shield. He is our righteousness, our help and our comforter. We need our Lord, folks.

At least in our country one day off is giving to those that labor including policement and such. Some work places give the whole weekend off for some workers. It is for rest but using it also to worship is a good thing.  I don't agree with some that say to worship on a Sunday is wrong because it would not be wrong to meet to worship God any or every day of the week. How could that be wrong?

His promise of salvation is an everlasting covenant to the nation of Israel and all who believe in the name of Jesus. We will have a new name written down in glory.

• Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

God in making the Sabbath commandment includes people of other nations that decide to love the Lord and worship the God of Israel. Ruth is an example of that. She was from Moab but she told her mother in law that the God Naomi served would be her God too.

Now through the new covenant through Jesus we still need to worship Him with respect and honor. How beautiful it is to love the Lord, to love His word and to acknowledge Him in all our ways. True conversion to Jesus Christ is more than just believing in His existence. We cannot love God and have an attitude of rebellion against the Holy Scriptures. If we love Him, we will want to keep His word and obey His voice. Jesus said as recorded in the book of John, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

A good comparison is a wife who marries a husband and says that she loves that husband. If she turns around and starts going out with other men and forsakes the husband, that is not love.

We cannot say we love God and then ignore His word, prefer sin and love this present world. The two attitudes are not compatible.

Again we are reminded that the salvation of the Lord is for others besides Israel.

• Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
• 8 The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

The outcasts of Israel will indeed be gathered to the Lord in the latter days but this gathering will include all that believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as savior from sin. All, who come, receive and love the Lord and His righteousness. This is great. Why do so many prefer to abide in sin and rebel against living forever? Why do so many prefer death (which is what sin brings forth) instead of life? Jesus came to free us from the curse of sin and death. He came to give us a life free from sin so that we can inherit eternal life. I believe this verse is prophecy of the reign of Christ when the whole world will be under the law of Christ.

For some reason the law originally given to Moses with the sacrifices and offerings seems to return in the thousand year reign of Christ. I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps it is for those who are alive on the earth and not part of the resurrected saints that rule with Christ. Perhaps it is sort of a memorial similar to our keeping the Lord's supper. Perhaps it is to show us the original purpose of the law. Some things we just don't know but Christ was the sacrifice to take away sins so the reason for these burnt offerings, we can only speculate but at the time they take place, we will know the reason for them.

• Isaiah 56:9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
• 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
• 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
• 12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Unfaithful servants are as those who follow after gain and do not care for the lost. They are supposed to be watchmen but are careless. They eat, drink and care not for the perishing. They love to be entertained, sleep and are greedy but do not care for the needs of others. We see this prophecy in Isaiah revert back to the present time in Isaiah's day.

When we serve God, we need to remember those who are lost and without God. This is not something that we keep to ourselves. We need to pray for compassion upon those that are suffering, lost and in some kind of need. We need compassion not just for the eternal souls of our fellow men but also for their material needs. Selfishness is something we need to overcome. DC

Isaiah 57

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