Read Isaiah 56:1-57:2.

Introduction⤒🔗

During his entire four-year career at West Point, Cadet Ben Davis lived in a room by himself. He ate every meal alone, and was spoken to only in the line of duty. He swam alone and was unable to earn his Red Cross Life Saving Certificate because no one was willing to be his buddy.

Ben Davis was black. The color of his skin was the only reason for his ostracism. He entered West Point in 1932, appointed by the only black representative in Congress. It was an era when military leaders were convinced that a black man could not and should not command white soldiers. But Ben Davis persevered. “The more difficult they made it for me,” he said, “the more determined I became to succeed.” Ben Davis graduated near the top of his class, became a highly decorated combat pilot in World War II, and went on to become the first black three-star general in the United States Air Force.¹

Will you and I endure that kind of abuse for the sake of Christ? Will we keep going despite closed doors and personal slander or worse, just because we are Christians? The next passage of Isaiah confronts us with this very message: Despite the opposition and difficulties we encounter, let us continue to be devoted to the LORD, because that is God’s command and that is the life that will receive God’s blessing.

Be Devoted to the LORD, Even Though You May Suffer for It←⤒🔗

The ungodly state of the nation is evidenced in the conduct of its leaders, who are here referred to as “watchmen.” They are described as being “blind” and “lacking knowledge” (vs. 10). The very ones whose responsibility it is to guard the nation and be on the alert for its welfare are found to be incompetent and not capable of doing the job entrusted to them. They are characterized by an utter inability to discern the state of the nation and the peril to which it has made itself vulnerable.

What accounts for this deplorable condition? According to verse 10b, the leaders are self-indulgent; they are described as lazy dogs, idly lying around, daydreaming and snoring. These “leaders” enjoy their ease and are averse to exerting themselves; rather than address the evils and the problems of the day and seek to provide solutions, they find it more convenient to ignore those problems and not disturb their own tranquility.

According to verse eleven, these leaders are greedy; they are described as dogs with mighty appetites that are never satisfied, always seeking after greater personal gain. Rather than fulfilling their calling to be servants of God and servants of God’s people, they have disgracefully allowed themselves to become the servants of their own appetites, using their power and position to increase their own wealth. They are described as “shepherds who are unable to understand; they have all gone their own way, each one seeks his own gain from every quarter.”

Indeed, they are shepherds who have lost their understanding; they fail to appreciate that their role is to promote the welfare of the sheep, not their own welfare. They have become like lost sheep themselves, turning to their own way, seeking their own gain, using their power and position to increase their own wealth at the expense of the nation. According to verse twelve, these leaders are immoral; they love their parties and they are confident that the party will go on forever, “Come, [they say, let us] get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! Tomorrow will be like today, or even better!”

Verses 3-10 of Isaiah 57 describe the conduct of the majority of the people of the nation of Israel at this time in history:

³But you, come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! ⁴Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not the children [who are the fruit] of transgression, the offspring of deceit; ⁵you who burn with lust among the oaks and under every green tree, you who sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags? ⁶[The idols] among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings, to them you have presented grain offerings. Should I accept these things? ⁷You have made your bed atop a high and lofty hill; and there you went up to offer your sacrifices. ⁸And you have hung my memorial plaques behind the doors and the doorposts; for you have uncovered yourself to lovers other than me. You have climbed into your bed and made it available; you have made a covenant with them, you have loved their bed, you have looked at their nakedness. ⁹You went to the king [of Egypt], bearing gifts of olive oil and an abundance of spices. You sent your ambassadors to a distant land, and you abased yourself, bowing down as far as Sheol. ¹⁰You were tired out by the distance of your journey, yet you did not say, It is hopeless. You found renewed strength; therefore you did not faint.

These people are described as forsaking the LORD and giving themselves over to every form of pagan practice, no matter how immoral or murderous. “You who burn with lust among the oaks;” they were engaging in pagan cultic prostitution, and even sacrificing their children to pagan deities: “you who sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.” A more “modern” form of such a murderous practice, rampant throughout “civilized” society, is the practice of abortion.

It is little wonder that sandwiched in between the description of the leaders in chapter 56 verses 9­-12 and the description of the people in chapter 57 verses 3-10, we find the words: “The righteous man perishes...the righteous are removed” (Isa. 57:1). In such an ungodly society there was the silencing, the persecuting, and the exterminating of those who demonstrated dedication to the LORD their God, those who practiced righteousness (Isa. 56:1).

But note the commentary given in Isaiah 57:1b-2, “No one understands that the righteous are removed [in order that they may be spared] from the [coming] calamity.” Unbeknown to the apostate nation, the righteous are being mercifully removed, (delivered by death), from the catastrophic judgment that was about to befall the nation. The righteous “enters into peace; they rest in their [death] beds.” Death for the righteous, (those who are united to Jesus the Messiah, covered by His righteousness and being conformed to that righteousness), is the entrance into peace, it is described as a resting in their beds, peacefully waiting the day of resurrection.

Even when living in the midst of an apostate, pagan, godless society, the LORD issues this command to His people: “Maintain justice and practice righteousness; for my salvation is coming soon [sometimes in the form of gracious removal from a wicked society by means of death] and my righteousness is about to be revealed” [in the form of judgment upon a godless, secular, society] (vs. 1).

Let us live for the LORD, even though we may suffer for it. Let us obey the exhortation the Apostle Paul gives to the Philippian church:

Live your life only in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that if I come and see you, or if I remain absent, what I will hear about you is that you are standing firm in one spirit, and with one soul are contending for the faith of the gospel; ²⁸and that you are in no way being intimidated by those who oppose you.

Be Devoted to the LORD, Because True Religion Consists of Worship and Obedience←⤒🔗

Addressing those who have remained faithful to Him within the apostate nation of Israel, the LORD commands, “Maintain justice and practice righteousness” (vs. 1). That is to say, the command is to preserve what justice still remained in the land and to do so by practicing righteousness, the moral law of God being the standard of righteous conduct.

In verse two, the LORD further defines faithfulness to Himself in terms of keeping the Sabbath. The Old Testament Sabbath was a sign of the covenant: declaring that the LORD’s people were set apart to be devoted to Him in worship and to enjoy His rest:

I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I, the LORD, made them holy. Ezek. 20:12

The separation on the seventh day of the week from all secular work was a reminder that the LORD’s people have been separated from the world to be devoted to the LORD their God, in worship, life, and fellowship.

Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹³Say to the Israelites, You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy... ¹⁶The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. ^17aIt will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever. Ex. 31:12-13,16-17a

Today, in the midst of a present-day pagan society, our honoring the LORD by worshiping Him on the Lord’s Day and honoring His day as sacred is a witness to the world; a witness that we belong to Christ and that He is Lord.

The combination of verse one, (with its call for the promotion of justice and righteous living), and verse two, (with its call to observe the Sabbath), shows that true devotion to the LORD consists of both formal worship and daily commitment. As the Lord Jesus rebuked the devil, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and him only shall you serve” (Matt. 4:10).

In verse three, the LORD addresses a special word of assurance to the foreigner who has come into His covenant and to the eunuch:

Do not let the foreigner who has committed himself to the LORD say, The LORD will surely separate me from his people. Neither let the eunuch say, Look, I am a dry tree.

The concern of the foreigner and of the eunuch was that because of their race, (the foreigner being a non-Israelite by birth), or their physical condition, they might be unacceptable to the LORD.

With regard to the physical condition of the eunuch, note Deuteronomy 23:1, “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.” During the O.T. era, the separation from the assembly of those who had physical defects was yet another visible reminder of the LORD’s moral perfection and the requirement for moral wholeness and dedication without defect in the lives of His people. But a passage such as Isaiah 56 reveals that the LORD’s main concern is with the condition of the heart, and the day would come when all the O.T. regulations concerning ceremonial purity would be removed. We might even say that, in light of Isaiah 56:5, (where the LORD promises the eunuchs, “I will give to them...a name [that is] better than sons and daughters”), that the LORD will bestow abundant, even extraordinary, blessing upon those whom He ordained to undergo special trials for the sake of accomplishing His divine purposes.

Now, in verses 5-7, the LORD addresses a word of assurance, first to the committed eunuch (vs. 5), and then to the committed foreigner:

⁵I will give to them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name [that is] better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. ⁶And the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD to minister to him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, everyone who observes the Sabbath and does not profane it, and who adheres to my covenant, ⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called 'a house of prayer for all nations.'

There is a two-fold reason for this special address to the committed foreigner and the eunuch. First and foremost, to assure them of their acceptance with the LORD despite their non-Jewish identity or their physical defect. But secondly it was also intended to impress upon the nation of Israel that what is of ultimate importance is not mere religious heritage or religious formality, but personal faith in the LORD and the outworking of that faith in the form of obedience to His commandments.

These verses are confronting us with the biblical truth that true religion is a matter of the heart, and does not merely consist in the performance of religious rituals. The LORD had previously expressed His displeasure with the outward displays of religion presented by a people who had removed their heart from Him:

Then the LORD said, Because these people [only] approach me with their mouth and [only] honor me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me, and their reverence for me is [nothing more than] a tradition they have learned by rote; ¹⁴therefore, take note, I will proceed to do an astonishing thing to these people, an amazingly astonishing thing. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their intelligent men will vanish. Isa. 29:13-14

But furthermore, true religion is not merely a matter of the heart, it must express itself in a life of commitment to the LORD. The command of verse one is, “practice righteousness.”

Let us be devoted to the LORD, because true godly religion consists of both formal worship and daily obedience to His commandments.

Be Devoted to the LORD, Because He Promises a Sure Reward←⤒🔗

In verse one of Isaiah 56 the LORD urges and exhorts the faithful to remain faithful, because “my salvation is coming soon and my righteousness is about to be revealed.” He is assuring them that He will be faithful to honor and reward their commitment to Him.

True to His Word, that day of repayment and reward surely came. When the Babylonians conquered the apostate nation of Israel, those who had maintained their faithful commitment to the LORD inherited the land:

The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard, carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people. ¹⁰But Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields. Jer. 39:8-10

These poor were the faithful remnant who had previously suffered at the hands of their apostate countrymen, having been reduced to poverty and ostracism because of their commitment to the LORD and His righteousness.

What the LORD did in the days of Old Testament Israel is just one example of His commitment to those who are committed to Him. In His Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus Christ declares,

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹Blessed are you when men shall reproach you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely, for my sake. ¹²Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for that is how they persecuted the prophets that were before you. Matt. 5:10-12

Let us be devoted the LORD, because He promises a sure reward:

A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. ¹⁷They will be mine, declares the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. Mal. 3:16-18

Conclusion←⤒🔗

Cadet Ben Davis graduated near the top of his class, became a highly decorated World War II combat pilot, and then went on to become the first black three-star general in the United States Air Force. All along the way he had to overcome racial bias and discrimination. “The more difficult they made it for me,” he said, “the more determined I became to succeed.”

Despite the opposition and difficulties we encounter as Christians, let us, in reliance upon divine grace, be devoted to the LORD, because that is God’s commandment, and that is the life that will receive God’s blessing.

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What does the LORD tell His faithful, covenant-keeping people to do? See Isa. 56:1a. Why do we as Christians need to be exhorted to continue to practice a God-fearing and God-honoring lifestyle; what do we encounter in ourselves and in our society that would tempt us to give up the endeavor? Note Rom. 7:22-24a and Mal. 3:14-15,

This is what the LORD says, Maintain justice and practice righteousness; for my salvation is coming soon and my righteousness is about to be revealed. Isa. 56:1

For I delight in the law of God according to 'the inward man,' ²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that is in my members. ^24aO wretched man that I am! ... Rom. 7:22-24a

You have said, 'It is vain to serve God... ¹⁵So now we call the proud blessed, for those who practice wickedness are raised up. Indeed, those who tempt God go free!' Mal. 3:14-15

2. What incentive, or encouragement, does the LORD provide for us? See Isa. 56:1b. Note, also, Psl. 130:7-8; Isa. 45:8; 2 Pet. 3:13,

This is what the LORD says, Maintain justice and practice righteousness; for my salvation is coming soon and my righteousness is about to be revealed. Isa. 56:1

O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption. ⁸And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psl. 130:7-8

You heavens above, rain down [righteousness], and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open wide, so that salvation may spring up, and let righteousness grow with it. I, the LORD, have created it. Isa. 45:8

...according to his promise, we are watching for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides. 2 Pet. 3:13

3. What ordinance does the LORD single out for special mention? See Isa. 56:2, 4-7. How is the Sabbath defined in Exodus 31:12-13, 16-17a and Ezekiel 20:12. As a Christian, do you recognize the significance of the Lord’s Day, that its observance identifies you as being devoted to the LORD and distinguished from the world?

²Blessed is the man who does this, the man who adheres to these things, the one who observes the Sabbath and does not profane it...⁴This is what the LORD says about the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths, and who choose the things that please me, and adhere to my covenant: ⁵...I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off... ⁶And the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD to minister to him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, everyone who observes the Sabbath and does not profane it, and who adheres to my covenant, ⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain... Isa. 56:2, 4-7

¹²And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³Speak...to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Surely, you shall keep my Sabbaths, for [the Sabbath] is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you...¹⁶Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever... Ex. 31:12-13, 16-17

Moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and me, that they may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Ezek. 20:12

The observance of the Sabbath as a special day of worship showed both that Israel was committed to the LORD in covenant faithfulness, and a visible reminder that the LORD has set Israel apart to be His holy people, devoted to Him.

4. To whom does the LORD especially address a word of encouragement? See Isa. 56:3. What concern does the foreigner have; what is the eunuch’s concern? As a Christian, do you ever share the foreigner’s concern that you will be cast away; what assurance does the Lord Jesus give you? See Jn. 6:37-40. Do you share the eunuch’s concern with regard to your inability to produce fruit for Christ; if so, what assurance does He give you? See Isa. 27:6; Psl. 1:3,

Do not let the foreigner who has committed himself to the LORD say, The LORD will surely separate me from his people. Neither let the eunuch say, Look, I am a dry tree. Isa. 56:3

All whom the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me I will by no means reject; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰My Father’s will is that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Jn. 6:37-40

...Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Isa. 27:6b

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season...Psl. 1:3a

5. According to Isa. 57:1a, what happens to the righteous man? What is the reaction to this shocking report? See Isa. 57:1b, d. As a Christian, are you surprised by the hostility you witness against Christ and His church; if so, have you forgotten our Lord’s word? See Jn. 15:18-19. Why are the righteous removed by means of death, sometimes violent death? See Isa. 57:1e-2a. As a Christian, do you take comfort in this blessed truth? See, also, 2 Cor. 5:8 and Psl. 23:4,

The righteous man perishes, but no one takes it to heart; devout men are removed, but no one understands that the righteous are removed [in order that they may be spared] from the [coming] calamity. ²The righteous enters into peace; they rest in their [death] beds, each one who walked in the way of righteousness.Isa. 57:1-2

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Jn. 15:18-19

We are confident, indeed, well pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.2 Cor. 5:8

Indeed, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psl. 23:4