The Third Invitation Is Also a Demand, A Twofold Plea.
God’s people are invited to live righteously and to worship Him. No greater privilege could be given to a person than that of worshipping the Lord and being conformed to His righteous image. To be holy as God is holy and to live righteously as God is righteous is beyond comprehension, yet this is precisely the privilege offered to God’s people. God’s people are also invited to worship the Lord. To know the Lord personally is the summit of human experience. Imagine fellowshipping and communing with, praying, and listening to God speak through His Holy Word, being assured, and led by His Spirit, praising Him, and offering up thanks to Him—all this and so much more is the high privilege of every true believer. But note that the invitation is also a demand. An option is not given. God’s people have no choice. They must live righteously and faithfully worship the Lord.
The Invitation to
Live Righteously & To Worship the Lord
Be just and
fair to all, the Lord God says. Do what’s right and good, for I am coming soon
to rescue you. 2Blessed is the man who refuses to work during my
Sabbath days of rest but honors them and blessed is the man who checks himself
from doing wrong.
3And
my blessings are for Gentiles, too, when they accept the Lord; don’t let them
think that I will make them second-class citizens. And this is for the eunuchs
too. They can be as much mine as anyone. 4For I say this to the
eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths holy, who choose the things that please me and
obey my laws: 5I will give them—in my house, within my walls—a name
far greater than the honor they would receive from having sons and daughters.
For the name that I will give them is an everlasting one; it will never
disappear.
6As
for the Gentiles, the outsiders who join the people of the Lord and serve him
and love his name, who are his servants and don’t desecrate the Sabbath, and
have accepted his covenant and promises, 7I will bring them also to
my holy mountain of Jerusalem and make them full of joy within my House of
Prayer.
I will accept their sacrifices and offerings, for my Temple shall be called A House of Prayer for All People”! 8For the Lord God who brings back the outcasts of Israel says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.[1] (Isaiah56:1–8)
A. The
First Plea Is Solemn and Forceful, An Urgent Plea Coming from God Himself.
“Thus Says the Lord” (Vv. 1–2).
1) First,
God pleaded with the people to live just and righteous lives. Observe God’s
law. Keep His commandments. Obey Him. Treat people justly and always do what is
right. Why was God so forceful in demanding that the people live
righteously? Because God’s salvation was at hand. Isaiah foresaw that
Israel would be set free from Babylonian captivity. They would be given the
opportunity to return to the promised land. Thus, the people would need to
prepare themselves by turning back to the Lord and obeying His commandments.
However, when the day of liberty came, only a few Israelites were prepared.
Only a few accepted God’s offer of salvation and returned to Jerusalem. Most
stayed behind. Why? Through the years, God’s people had become settled
in worldly Babylon. A spirit of unbelief gripped their hearts, and they were
simply not willing to give up the jobs, homes, investments, and businesses they
had secured nor the carnal pleasures, comforts, and recreation they enjoyed
among the worldly Babylonians. Many had even begun to worship their idols, the
false gods of the world.
For these
reasons, God’s people desperately needed to turn their lives around. Repentance
and righteousness were demanded. The people needed to forsake their sins and
turn back to God. They needed to respond to the invitation, the plea of God to
live righteously. They needed to obey God and keep His holy commandments.
But Note:
God’s plea was not given only to the exiles in Babylon. God’s demand for all
generations is for people to live righteous lives. Even the Jews who returned
to the promised land soon slipped back into their worldly, wicked ways. Reading
the prophets who preached during the period of restoration—Ezra, Nehemiah,
Haggai, and Malachi—clearly shows this. Thus, God’s plea and demand for
righteousness are extended to all people of all times. Everyone must turn away
from the carnal comforts and fleshly pleasures of this world. They must turn
away from and forsake wickedness, evil, and sin. In the words of Scripture, God
demands that we “live self-controlled, righteous and godly lives in this
present world, while we look for that blessed hope—the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:12–13).
V “For I say unto you, that except your
righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees [hypocrites, false
religionists], ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:20).
V “Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some
have not the knowledge of God: I speak this
to your shame” (1 Co. 15:34).
V “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness” (Ep.
6:13–14).
V “And this I pray, that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and in
all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be
sincere and without offense till the day of Christ; Being filled with the
fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise
of God” (Ph. 1:9–11).
V “But refuse profane and old wives fables and
exercise thyself rather unto
godliness” (1 Ti. 4:7).
V “But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art
also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Ti. 6:11–12).
V “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit.
2:12–13).
V “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Pe. 3:10–14).
Note Another
Fact as Well. God forcefully demanded righteousness because the day of righteousness, the day of final
judgment, would soon be revealed (v. 1). Judgment day was at hand.
This is the meaning of the statement: “My righteousness will soon be revealed”
(v.
1, NIV).2
Isaiah was predicting that a righteous intervention
was about to take place on earth. God will soon execute a final judgment on all
the unrighteous and ungodly of the earth. For this reason, people must turn
away from sin and turn to God and His righteousness.
V “For the Son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to
his works” (Mt. 16:27).
V “When the Son of man shall come in his glory,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the
goats on the left.… Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels” (Mt. 25:31–33, 41).
V “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming,
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:28–29).
V “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him” (Jude
1:14–15).
V “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which was in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which was in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Re. 20:11–15).
2) The
second plea of God is to observe the Sabbath or weekly day of worship (v. 2).
Keep in mind that observing the Sabbath was a special sign that God’s people worshipped the true and living God
(Jehovah, Yahweh). God established the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship so
that people could rest their bodies and replenish their spirits. He even made
the observance of the Sabbath one of His Ten Commandments: “Remember the
seventh day to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). Do not defile God’s Day of rest
by working and neglecting worship. God established the day of rest and worship
for every generation of people. The Jews set aside the seventh day as a day of
rest because God had rested on the seventh day after creating the world. After
Christ’s resurrection, the early believers switched the day of rest and worship
to the first day of the week because the Lord had risen on the first day. The
first day of the week became known as “the Lord’s Day.”
V “Now when Jesus
was risen early the first day of the
week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven
devils” (Mk. 16:9).
V “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his
speech until midnight” (Ac. 20:7).
V “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no
gatherings when I come” (1 Co. 16:2).
V “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and
heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last: and, what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches” (Re. 1:10–11).
V “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates” (Ex. 20:8–10).
B. The Lord
Invites the Foreigner and The Eunuch to Be Part of His People (V. 3). Throughout
the ancient world, there were Gentiles who became heartsick over the immoral
and unjust cesspool society had become. As a result, the moral and just laws of
Israel attracted them; and some turned to the Lord to become followers
(proselytes), of the Jewish religion. The Lord had always had His arms open for
people of all races to come to Him (Nu. 10:29; Ex. 12:48–49; Ru. 1:16).
But when foreigners turned to the Lord, they feared they would not be as
acceptable to Him as the Jews were. This was a natural fear, for God had
appointed the Israelites to be His special witnesses to the world, the people through
whom He would send His Word and the promised Messiah. Thus, the Israelites were
set apart as distinct, different people. Sometimes foreigners felt excluded,
shut out, separated, and cut off from God’s promises and people. This was
usually because the Jews became prideful and exclusive in their religion,
prejudiced and discriminatory toward others. Thus, some foreigners—even when
they wanted to turn to the Jewish religion because of its high moral
demands—felt unqualified, detached from God’s people, and unacceptable to God.
Eunuchs had a special handicap. Whether castrated, crushed, or born disfigured, they could not bear children. Bearing children was extremely important to the Jewish race, for God had given Abraham the special promise of a large nation of descendants. Bearing children was so important that God had forbidden any Israelite to ever become a eunuch (De. 23:1). But as with some other Scriptures, the Jews misinterpreted this to mean that no eunuch could become a true follower of the Lord. However, this was never the meaning of the law. God’s arms and invitation were always open to save eunuchs and to receive their worship (Ac. 8:27–38).
C. God
Gives Strong Assurance to All Foreigners and Eunuchs. No Person Is Excluded,
Shut Out, Separated, Or Cut Off from God’s Salvation or Promises.
His salvation is open to all eunuchs (all who have no spouse or are handicapped or disabled). However, note that God’s promise to eunuchs is conditional (Vv. 4–5). They must keep the Sabbath and live righteous lives, pleasing the Lord and holding fast to His covenant of commitment. If they are faithful to the Lord, they will be given a place before God in the temple and a name that is better than children. Their names will never be cut off but will live forever.
D. God’s
Acceptance of Foreigners Is Also Conditional (Vv. 6–8).
For any
unbelievers of any race to be accepted by the Lord, they must commit themselves
to Him. They must love, obey, and serve the Lord, and they must keep the day of
worship holy. All unbelievers who make this commitment to the Lord are given
four wonderful promises:
Ø
They will be accepted in God’s Holy Mountain, His
temple, and His presence (v. 7).
Ø
They will be filled with joy as they pray and
worship the Lord.
Ø
They will have their worship and offerings
accepted by the Lord. This suggests that prior to their commitment, their
worship was false, empty, and unacceptable to God.
Ø They will be accepted by God just as the Jews are accepted. Note that this is an oath sworn by God Himself.
No matter who
people are—foreigners or eunuchs, unbelievers, or backsliders, able or
disabled, Jews or Gentiles, if they accept the salvation of the Savior and
commit their lives to the Lord, they will never be excluded. They will never be
shut out, separated, or cut off from God’s salvation and promises.
V “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. Amen” (Mt.
28:19–20).
V “And the gospel must first be published among
all nations” (Mk. 13:10).
V “And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15).
V “Also, I say unto you, whosoever shall
confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels
of God” (Lu. 12:8).
V “But we believe that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Ac. 15:11).
V “For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved” (Ro.
10:13).
V “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ep. 2:8–9).
V “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”
(Tit. 2:11–14).
V “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that
is begotten of him” (1 Jn. 5:1).
V “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Re. 22:17).[2]
Our Prayer of Thanks
for the Invitation to Live Righteously & To Worship the Lord
Lord, we again
thank you for calling us to yourself and enabling us to love and honor you and
your ways. But, Lord, we really cannot be just and fair to all those around us,
especially to those who look to hurt, harm, and or ruin our lives. When so many
people these days Lord look to treat us with a biased partiality that denies
the reality of your existence, that leads to doing wrong and evil; behaviors that
make us feel as if you are not coming to save us, that you have abandoned us. But
we know that is not true Lord, it is you, Lord, that can do what is right and
good, we fall miserably short of your ideal ways continually. Therefore, Father
God, we need your mercy and compassion poured out upon us so that we can walk
in your ways to the best of our human abilities.
Lord, we want
to do those things that are good and pleasing to you, behaviors like that honoring
your day or rest and restraining our behaviors that please our flesh. But again
Lord, we cannot do anything without your help, so we beg you, Father God, help
us to honor you. Lord, there are so many areas in our lives that need your
touch of grace, we often do not know where to begin to ask for help. Thus,
Lord, show us where we need your touch or mercy and compassion, not only in our
lives but in the lives of those you need for us to serve. As we minister and
witness to others of your love, grace, and mercy, Father, help us to be vessels
in your hands of love and compassion to them for your honor and glory.
Lord, we also
know that we could have a curse upon our lives because of our rejection of you.
That we could be miserable piles of dung, treated as the dirt of this world
even as fuel for the fire, but in your loving compassion, you have accepted us as
your adopted children. We recognize that anyone who calls on your name will
receive salvation from the least to the greatest, all we need to do is call on
you in sincere repentance of heart and you will receive us. Father God, we are
speechless as to your mercies, as your children we are honored beyond measure
and we long for the day when we will live eternally with you in our new home,
our new heaven, and earth. Thank you, Father God, we look to that day when we
will be home with you, until then may we honor you with our lives more, may you
increase, and please may we decrease.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
Pic 1. provided by Relentless Jess.
Pic 2. provided by JK Nick Nichols
[1] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
2 H. C.
Leupold. Exposition of Isaiah, Vol.1,
p. 263.
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2005. Isaiah: Chapters 36–66. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
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