I read Isaiah 56 this morning.
What an amazing chapter to read as I looked out the window, my eyes scanning the horizon of the beautiful Golden city of Jerusalem, longing to go with the rest of our group to visit Mt. Zion, the Upper Room where Jesus met with this disciples, Bethlehem, where our Savior was born, and Yad Vashem, the famous somber memorial in honor of the six million Jewish people who died under Hitler’s reign of terror. I’ve been here two times before, but the sites never fail to touch my heart, to reignite my desire to know my Messiah more, and fill me with love for His chosen people. I desire to be there beside my husband as he leads our very special group from America’s Keswick – with folks from all over the country from NJ and PA to Chicago, New Mexico, Kansas, and Missouri…but today God had other plans. Today, I am confined to the hotel as I tend to our son who was up most of the night very sick.
Sometimes God has something to teach us something that we would otherwise miss apart from His intervention into our best laid plans. Certainly, I wish Jordan weren’t sick. I hate that he is missing the sites on his first full day in Jerusalem. I pray that he recovers quickly and is able to finish the journey with our fellow pilgrims. But today is what we have, so I know that the Lord, Yahweh, has something in this day for me. I never thought about a day alone in the eternal city of Jerusalem. But this gift of time to read the Scripture in the very city that Jesus rode into on an untrained donkey, weeping because of His great love for His people, is one I do not take lightly.
On this journey we have visited the gate where Abraham first arrived in the land of promise way up in the northern finger of Israel at Tel-Dan. We have seen Herod’s palace at Caesarea Maritime. We sailed on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus calmed the storm. We climbed to the cave at Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus proclaimed, “Upon this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” We walked the shore where Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” We dipped our hand in the spring at En Herod and waded in the spring of En Gedi. We paused, while sirens wailed on Holocaust Remembrance Day, for two somber minutes in memory and honor of those six million Jews murdered during WWII. We sat amongst the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweat great drops of blood. We sang, “It Is Well With My Soul” in the church at Jerusalem overlooking the Eastern Gate. We gazed down on the pools of Bethesda where Jesus asked the lame man, “Do you wish to be made well?” And then with His Word, Jesus healed the man instantly and completely.
God’s Word is forever settled in heaven. His promises remain true for His beloved Israel, especially for those who “join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants…” (Isaiah 56:6) But not just for Israel, His promise is for ALL people. (Isaiah 56:7)
What does the Lord (Yahweh) require in Isaiah 56? He declares that the people are to keep his judgments and do justice. (56:1) – to lay hold on these things! (56:2). Yahweh commands His people to keep the Sabbath, not polluting it (56:2,4,6) and “to keep his hand from evil” (56:2). God says to “ take hold”of His covenant (56:4, 6). Oh, have we done this?
Do we practice the Sabbath? (It is one of the ten commandments, yet we have disregarded this commandment, acting as if we can live without the benefits of the rest of God. I am guilty. May the Lord forgive us and show us how to keep His day holy.)
Do we “take hold of” his covenant, lay hold on His truth, the Word of God, Jesus, Who is the fulfillment of His covenant with Adam, with Abraham, and with us. Do we hang on to Him, holding on for dear life, even as He holds us in the palm of His hand? Or do we let go sometimes, even as we know He is there to rescue us, as we chase after some other fancy of this life?
Why does God command us to keep judgment, do justice, keep the Sabbath, keep from doing evil? Because, the Lord says, “My salvation is near to come, my righteousness to be revealed.” (56:1) He is coming, coming soon. It won’t be long until His righteousness is revealed. Will we be found faithful?
What’s the point? Why is this so important? Isaiah 56:3 gives us the answer. “Blessed is the man (and woman, boy, and girl)…” Blessed: This is a word that has come up multiple times on this adventure in the land of Jesus. It has been mentioned, discussed, defined, and described just about daily by each person who has shared a devotional or lesson this past week. Blessed…it’s more than happy, it’s more than joy…According to www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary, the Hebrew term “blessing” has two distinct meanings. “First, a blessing was a public declaration of a favored status with God. Second, the blessing endowed power for prosperity and success. In all cases, the blessing served as a guide and motivation to pursue a course of life within the blessing.” (Retrieved April 25, 2017)
Who is blessed – and who is NOT? Those who are blessed are the ones who:
- Lay hold of God’s judgments (statutes, laws) and do justice. (notice this does not just involve knowledge of the Word but doing what is right. The doing is what makes the disciple.)
- Keep His Sabbath, not polluting it.
- Keep his hand from evil.
Who qualifies? Just the Jewish people? Oh no! This is the awesomeness of God! How could God be just and righteous if He did not give every person the opportunity to be blessed? What kind of God would He then be? We don’t deserve His mercy, but His judgment. Neither do His chosen people, Israel. But He is a good, good Father – That’s Who He is! And He promised. And He is always true and faithful to keep His promises to us.
Yahweh says in Isaiah 56:7, “For My house shall be called a House of Prayer for ALL PEOPLE.” – “Even the son of stranger…” “Even the eunich”, the childless, those who have no one to call their own. Listen to this amazing promise of God, “Even to (these), ‘will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.’”
Wow!!!! This promise is not only for God’s own people, Israel, to whom He promised, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, YET I WILL NOT FORGET THEE!”
This promise is not only for the “stranger” in the land of Israel, but for the “son of the stranger” (Isaiah 56:3). This promise is not only for those who are part of the in-group, accepted in the community, but the promise is for the marginalized, the rejected, the unloved, the “eunich” in Isaiah 56:3. The one who feels “dried up”, useless, worthless, God promises this one, too, will be blessed and have “a place” with Him including “an everlasting name” that will never be cut off!
And this promise is for YOU – and for me. “For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) His eternal household is for ALL people. (Isaiah 56:7). In John 14, Jesus promises that He is “going to prepare a place for you”. This does not mean that we can live however we choose to live. His promise is for those who “lay hold” on His judgments (laws), who “do justice”, who keep His commands – those who “lay hold” on His Covenant (Jesus IS HIS COVENANT, the FULFILLMENT OF HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM. We cannot “lay hold” on this covenant in and of ourselves. It is only through the sacrifice of our Messiah and His mighty hand of salvation that we can claim His promise. “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.” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
Do you know Him? Have you laid hold of His salvation? I pray that you will turn from your own ways and turn to Him (that’s repentance!) and that you will pray and confess Him, trusting in Him, believing in His sacrifice for your sin, realizing that Jesus is “THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life” and that “no one comes to the Father, except through” Him. (John 14:6)
Do you want to be “BLESSED” by God? This is the only way…keep His judgments, do justice, keep the Sabbath, take hold of His covenant.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.