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.”
The NEB
translation of this verse reads, “These are the words of the Lord:
Maintain justice, do the right: for my deliverance is close at hand, and
my righteousness will show itself victorious.”
The exiled
Israelites were exhorted to act justly, and to be fair in all their
dealings because the Lord was about to deliver them and thus reveal his
righteousness being exercised on their behalf. The injunction applies
also to us who are living here in a world ruled by Satan. We are to
live by the standards of heaven knowing that our time here is brief, and
that whether by way of the valley of death or by rapture our deliverance
is near. This could be our last day on earth.
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.”
Obedience brings
blessing, the need to keep the sabbath reminding us that the Lord’s
dominion is to be acknowledged by abstaining from all manner of work on
the day He has appointed to be a time of rest for man and beast, He
Himself setting the example by resting on the seventh day after His
great work of making the heavens and earth in the preceding six days.
To work on the
seventh day is to evince a greedy spirit that would grasp more than God
permits, and declare dissatisfaction with the sufficiency of His
appointed portion. Such transgression is evil, and today’s flagrant
abuse of the seventh day as one of rest is nothing less than man’s
brazen defiance of God.
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.”
Taylor has
translated this verse, “And my blessings are for the 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.”
In that early
dispensation when God was dealing exclusively with Israel, the Gentile
convert was no less an heir of blessing than was the Jew. And in that
same age when children were an evidence of God’s favor, the eunuch was
not to consider himself as outside the pale. The Lord, in His Own
inimitable way, would bless him too; and the lesson is that nothing can
separate the obedient believer from fulness of blessing. This is an
encouragement to those called upon to serve in obscurity.
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;”
56:5.
“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.”
A man’s line is
perpetuated in his children, but the faithful eunuch is here promised
something better than progeny: in God’s house, heaven, he will dwell for
ever in honor, and have an eternal reward. What folly is displayed in
the attempt of men to perpetuate their names here on earth where their
only identification is a monument or a plaque on a wall, and the next
generation doesn’t even know who they were.
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;”
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 a house of
prayer for all people.”
The emphasis
continues to be upon an obedient converted state rather than on Jewish
lineage; and in the broader perspective seems to point to what will be
in the Millennium.
56:8.
“The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I
gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.”
This also points
not only to what is occurring during the present age of grace, but to
what will take place in fuller measure in the Millennium.
56:9.
“All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the
forest.”
The beasts of field
and forest are generally understood here to refer to the Gentile nations
whom God is about to use to chastise His rebellious people Israel.
56:10.
“His watchmen are all blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs,
they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.”
The watchmen here are
Israel’s spiritual and political leaders, their being likened to the types
of dogs mentioned declaring God’s contempt of them; and only the spiritually
blind will fail to see that the description is of those who occupy the place
of rulers in today’s apostate church.
56:11.
“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.”
This continues the all
too accurate picture of today’s apostate Christendom, whose leaders for the
most part are as described here, there being only a very small minority who
serve out of love for the Lord and His people.
56:12.
“Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with
strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.”
Wine is one of the
biblical symbols of joy, but here its association with strong drink makes it
clear that the context is evil, the picture being of a pleasure-crazed
Christendom, and only the spiritually blind will fail to see that the
description is of today’s professing but apostate church.
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