Isaiah Part 7: The New Jerusalem 7.1

Prayer Requests:

Pam—Gaylene, doing better, platlet count up! recovery

Ann—Marie Phillips, stamina low, birthday in May

Schroeders, Lynn

Suzanne McGurk, starting chemo radiation on Monday

Ilene, Gordon

Mike, Joann recovery

Pam, granddaughter Emma getting married (Jordan)

Judy, Bob, possible back surgery

Arlene, daughter Christy blood transfusion, prayers for her and the chemo

Miguel, Candy started chemo and radiation this week

Laura, country peace, usa military

***Movement 5:

Isaiah 55:10–11 ESV

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Verses 10–11 use the metaphor of rain and snow descending from heaven to illustrate how God’s word operates on human hearts and lives. It establishes the power and efficacy of God’s word itself. God’s word functions as “a special messenger of God on a mission to change the lives of people and bring them under God’s grace and pardon in Christ.”

So verses 10–11 shift the focus from what we must do to what God’s word accomplishes. Just as rain inevitably produces growth in the earth, God’s word—empowered by the Spirit—inevitably produces spiritual fruit in those who receive it. The transformation isn’t something we achieve through willpower; it’s something God’s word works within us. This answers your earlier question: the hope lies not in our capacity to match God’s ways, but in the transformative power of His word operating within us.

The point is that we don’t bridge the gap ourselves; the Holy Spirit is connected with the gospel at all times, which always makes it effective.

And finally, the climactic end here: Movement 6—

Isaiah 55:12–13 ESV

12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

We rejoice! If you come to the Lord and listen, you will go out with rejoicing and peace, you’ll be singing with all of creation itself and you will never be cut off from the Lord.

A people in exile are the original audience. A people who would have felt totally cut off and depleted, no peace, no rejoicing. This is their future just as it is ours in Christ Jesus.

Those are the six movements of Isaiah 55, let’s move on to chapter 56—And this really represents a whole new part of the book of Isaiah that will include the next four chapters. Here will see God’s continued vision for Hisp eople and that is contrasted with the actual state of the lives, showing us our neediness before God.

Let’s get into—Isa. 56:1-8

Isaiah 56:1–8 ESV

1 Thus 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 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— 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.”

We ended 55 with rejoicing, now God is giving a call to his people to “keep justice and do righteousness.” What does that mean: keep justice and do righteousness?

And we should ask that question because look at v. 2: Blessed is the one who does this! Does what? Keeps justice and does righteousness. But the exhortation goes on in v. 2 to include keeping the sabbath and keeping oneself from evil.

We often think of righteousness as doing the right things, NOT sinning, I guess you might say. But we must not think of righteousness merely as the list of rights and wrongs and maintaining a perfect track record. Justice and righteousness are inherently connected to relationships—our relationships toward one another and toward God.

One commentary put it this way: to keep justice and do righteousness is to fulfill relational obligations, both toward people and toward God. Toward others, keeping justice and doing righteousness involves concrete acts of fairness and protection—NOT killing my neighbor, NOT stealing from my neighbor, NOT coveting my neighbor. Do those things sound familiar? But it also involves defending the poor and the needy, the fatherless, and the widow, and the afflicted. It means guarding against oppression.

Toward God, justice and righteousness means that we honor his commands and his relationship with us. Walking in his way.

Some of you were there when we studied Exodus a couple of years ago, you may remember when we were in our Exodus study and looking at the ten commandments, one of the most helpful frameworks I used came from Darrel Johnson, he talks about the ten commandments as these laws established to protect and promote our freedom and flourishing. First centered on God as laws that remind us who He is, our liberator and redeemer who is worthy of our worship, and then the commandments about how we treat our neighbors, protecting our neighbors from ourselves.

Isaiah is giving a reminder of the ten commandments. Foundationally here is the reminder of Sabbath, Sabbath is a great protector of ourselves and our communities, Sabbath protects against oppression, against taking advantage of others, against idol worship, against our own ego, and it protects us from sin.

Do good! Keep the Sabbath. Again, we might be reminded of the difficulty these things are for us, and we are drawn back to the image of the servant who died in our place to make us righteous! That’s right there in Isaiah 53:11 “11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” This new community of people God is rescuing is founded on the suffering servant who went in our place!

The chapter then pivots to the community of those who worship God.

I. Membership in the Community Worshiping Yahweh (56:3–8)

v. 3: “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to YHWH say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people.” Do you see what’s going on? God is addressing the pagan, the foreigner, the gentile—specifically those who have joined themselves to Him—and he says: you do not need to fear being separated from me or my people, for you are among my people now! So hold this in your mind—God is addressing the fears of the foreigners who have come to put their faith in him.

Now, what do we know of those who put their faith in the Lord? Romans 10:11 “11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.””

Hold on to that.

Then. v 3 continues with another concern: “Let not the eunuch say, behold I am a dry tree.” The image there of a dry tree is that of one who is devoid of offspring, producing no fruit, so to speak. There is despair for the eunuch because of the importance descendents were to maintain some connection to the future of the community. With the eunuch, the family line was ended.

So both to the foreigner and the eunuch, God hears there fears. And then he responds, firs to the Eunuch:

Isaiah 56:4–5 “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.”

Again, an emphasis on sabbath keeping and on choosing righteousness, here is what God says to the eunuch: I will give you my house, you will dwell with me forever, you will never be cut off from me in the way that you are cut off from parts of society and culture. It is a permanent place in God’s hosue with God forever.

To be a part of the family of God and counted as one righteous under the suffering servant, this does not require physical descendents (again, something som emphasized in the ancient world; COCO as an example). The dry tree becomes fertile not by producing fruit, bu through spirtiual belonging, and inclusion in the covenant of God that can never bee taken away.

Then he responds to the fears of the foreigners:

Isaiah 56:6–8 ESV

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.”

Again, what do we see: sabbath-keeping, covenant keeping, choosing the way of righteousness, love of God, obedience, those who join themselves to YHWH. The emphasis here is on allegiance, those who hold fast to God rather than the gods of their fathers. For these people: they will be brought to God’s holy mountain, they will be made joyful in God’s house; their sacrifices will be accepted! What a radical idea, considering that in the temple in Jerusalem a foreigner would only have been allowed in so far as the outer gate, no closer! But God accepts their offering and sacrifices! He brings them in, to Himself, to His presence.

And then that great statement: God will call his house a house of prayer for all peoples! And he gathers his people to Himself.

All because of the suffering servant who went in our place, who died to make us righteous. I want you to hear this today: if there is any reason why you’re tempted to think you’re excluded from God, maybe you think your faith isn’t strong enough, maybe you think your not from the right Christian family, you don’t have the perfect track record, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.

Personal story: belonging in the church.

III. Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders (56:9–12)

Beasts are summoned to devour (v. 9). The watchmen are blind and lack knowledge; they are silent dogs unable to bark, dreaming and loving to slumber (v. 10). The dogs have insatiable appetites (v. 11), and the shepherds lack understanding, turning each to their own gain (v. 12). (Isa 56:1–12)