The House of Prayer

I. Introduction: 

A. Good morning for those of you who do not know me I am Todd Erickson, an Elder here at PVCC, I have the privilege to speak this morning as a fill in for Charles

B. We are in a series on Prayer, Last week Charles spoke of how we approach God, when we have sinned

C. This week we are going to talk about “God’s House of Prayer” and my inspiration was drawn from several commentators as well as sermon by Matthew Johnson from Grace Baptist Church Utah

D. Matthew 21: 12-13 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He *said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN."

E. Jesus makes a scourge, whip, and drives out the merchants that set up in the temple, they happen to be in the Court of the Gentiles. Jesus is not talking about the Temple itself, but rather the people. How often are believers referred to as the house of prayer? We are called the people of God, of truth, of righteousness, but how often do we think of the body of Christ as the House of Prayer.

F. Prayer  - Lets take a look at the verses that Jesus takes His quote from.

G. Isaiah 56: 1Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon My salvation will come, and My righteousness be revealed.2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lordsay, “The Lord will surely separate me from His people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose the things that please Me and hold fast My covenant, 5 I will give in My house and within My walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant— 7 these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.”

H. Isaiah is the most Christian book of the old testament just as Hebrews is the most Jewish book of the new testament, Isaiah has more references to the prophesies of Christ than any other old testament book. Written in Hebrew it is considered a prophetic perfect which is a grammatical construction where a prophet describes a future event using the present or even the past tense verbs, as if the event is occurring or has already occurred. This usage is used to convey certainty and confidence in the eventual fulfillment of the prophecy.

1. Starts with the Birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death of Christ, and His second coming, it is like a mini Bible

2. We look back at Isaiah 53 and the redemption of Calvary, and forward to the final divine act of rescuing the Church from sin, failure and opposition in chapters 65 and 66. Everything in the middle can be considered  a reflection of the book of Acts, the Church and what it should look like We have seen the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of the Christ, so what is to come? His return, when all of mankind will know His righteousness, truth and justice. We are in the era of waiting for the return,  Isaiah 56 begins what do we do while we wait.

II. Isaiah 56:1-2 1Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon My salvation will come, and My righteousness be revealed.2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

A. Keep justice and do righteousness –This is very simple; we devote our self to worship and the will of God.  Walk with God daily that we may do what is right and just,

B. Soon my salvation will come – This is a reference to the second coming. We receive salvation when we…  Hear/ have faith /repent /confess/ are baptized/ and become disciples. There is the final aspect of salvation that comes with Jesus’ second coming where believers are freed from the presence of sin and God’s righteousness will be known to all. We will no longer need faith to believe, because the promise will be fulfilled and no one will be able to argue with the truth

C. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast:  There is a joy, a happiness, when we grow in the Lord, much like Psalms 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. It is through our walk with god that we can have the peace that Paul talks about in Phillipians 4

D. Who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, what was the Sabbath, it was the seventh day of the week, the day God rested.

1. The Sabbath was a representative of the creation, but also a remembrance of deliverance from Egypt where there was no rest from work.

2. It is always referred to as the day of rest, but in Leviticus its definition of a day of rest is often followed by  the phrase “and a holy convocation”, which is a holy reading, as in an assembly. Jews would attend synagogue for a service, enjoy family meals with special prayers, studying the Torah.

3. The focus on spiritual matters is the point of the Sabbath, the one that keeps the Sabbath is gathering with other believers in the reading/studying of God’s Word.

E. The verse then ends with;  keeps his hands from evil:  He is not just a Sabbath believer; he is walking the walk the rest of the week. These  verses are not a call to the nonbeliever to come to God, but for the believer to stand firm in his faith

III. Isaiah 56: 3-6 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from His people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose the things that please Me and hold fast My covenant, 5 I will give in My house and within My walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant 

A. The foreigner – The eunuch - these are representative of the outcasts- anyone that was not part of the covenant of Abraham

1. In Deuteronomy 23, the outcasts were specifically excluded from the assembly so does this mean the bible is contradicting itself in Isaiah? No, something has happened between Deuteronomy and Isaiah 56, Isaiah 53 - the prophesy of Christ. Abraham was the chosen man of God, due to his life, faith, and worship. God promised he would be the patriarch of many nations and that his seed would bring forth the Messiah.  During the time of Deuteronomy, the laws laid forth how to keep the blood line pure, God did not want Israel to mix with the nations around them.

2. The laws of the sacrifice, the gathering in the tabernacle/Temple were al l for the cleansing of the Jews, that God may dwell among them, but during Old Testament times, outcasts followed God, we even see the Court of the Gentiles in the drawings of the temple.

3. God walked with Adam and Eve, but after the fall He could no longer walk with man, his dwelling became the tabernacle/Temple and the Holy of Holies was the joining of heaven and earth when. Christ became the sacrifice, we were cleansed by His blood, and there is no longer a need for a high priest or the Holy of Holies. His dwelling is a temple of a different sort, it is the believer’s hearts. Christ is now the joining of heaven and earth, and all are welcomed  

B. The outcasts that keep the Sabbath, hold fast God’s covenants, He will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cutoff. We see in the New testament; John 1:12 : Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. AndRevelation 3:5: The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. We will be written in the book of life, and by living in God’s will, we will not be erased

IV. Isaiah 56:7-8 these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.”

A. My holy mountain – This is a reference to where God dwells. Moses met with God on mount Sanai, the temple was built on mount Moriah a prominent hill within the city of Jerusalem , he is bringing the believers to Himself

B. My house of prayer shall be called a house of prayer for all people –the word house has several meanings (in English and Hebrew) – in Joshua 24 he states that “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord” he was not talking about the stone structure. There are several  “houses” where we should be involved in prayer:

1. The church, Christ’s body – we assemble to praise and worship God in prayer, fellowship, and God’s word.

2. Ourselves – we need to spend time with God, Jesus often left His disciples to be with God

3. Discipleship – we see that Christ also met with his Apostles, they met for the praise and worship of God in prayer, fellowship, and to discuss God’s word

4. Family – we should meet with our spouses and children, they are our greatest mission field

C. Isaiah ends this section with the all inclusiveness of God’s desire to have man come to Him 

V. Conclusion –

A. What is a House of Prayer?  A person or a spiritual community dedicated to prayer, worship, and communion with God

B. With what is happening in the world, in our nation, it is imperative that we dwell in God’s house of Prayer and live according in God’s will, which means 

1.  We are to have a personal relationship with God,

2.  We are to be involved in the body of Christ, through ministry

3.  We are to be involved in Discipleship, both as someone who is being discipled and as someone who is discipling