Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Isaiah 56: No Second-Class Citizens In The Kingdom!

The scope of God's love extends well beyond the natural descendants of Abraham.  It also includes foreigners who bind themselves to the covenant as well as eunuchs who will not be passing on a heritage to future generations.  When these groups ask if there is room in God's family for them, too, the answer is a resounding yes!  Isaiah's message in chapter 56 is that there are no second-class citizens in the kingdom!

"Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely separate me from his people'; and do not let the eunuch say, 'I am just a dry tree'" (vs. 3).  Apparently there were those in these two camps who felt that the blessings of the covenant would not extend to them.  They felt somehow spiritually deficient.  Because they were not born into the faith, or because could not pass it on to children of their own, they thought of themselves as excluded, outcasts, second-class.

But that is decidedly not God's message to them through Isaiah!  "For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons or daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off" (vs. 4-5).

A similar word is given to those foreigners who love the Lord and keep His commandments.  God promises to bring them to His holy mountain in Jerusalem where they will worship in the temple.  "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (vs. 7).  The God who gathers the outcasts of Israel together will gather these with them, too.

One final word: the concluding verses of Isaiah 56 deal with corrupt shepherds.  Rather than the Good Shepherd of Jesus Christ who lays down His life for the sheep, Isaiah's "bad shepherds" have no understanding and have all turned to their own way in pursuit of selfish gain for themselves (vs. 11-12).  They have made themselves drunk and focus only on the physical.

In several ways, this chapter is a foretaste of the approach of Jesus, who invited the outcasts into His kingdom while chastising and criticizing those who felt they were Israel's shepherds, but were blind guides!

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