Thus saith Jehovah Keep ye judgment and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Isaiah 56 opens with a command and a reason, and the reason is the surprise: God tells His people how to live because of what He is about to do. The verse sits between the invitation of the previous chapter and the wide blessing that follows, and it answers one question: how should people who have received grace live?
The call comes to people who have already answered an earlier call. One writer ties this verse back to the invitation of the chapter before, and points to the faithful remnant — the few in Israel who responded.
In the chapter before, we heard grace call every needy soul to seek the Lord while He may be found, with the promise of blessing to all who answer that call. In the opening verses of this chapter, the godly remnant in Israel have answered that call, and they are urged to walk in a way that matches the grace that has blessed them. Let such people act righteously, keeping in view God's salvation for the nation of Israel that is "near to come," and the righteousness of God in judgment on the wicked, which is about to be revealed.
The distinction shapes how we read the verse. This is not a call to unbelievers, and the reason attached to the command is not the law of Moses. (The writers quote an older translation of verse 1: "My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed." The ESV reads, "for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.")
The chapter opens not with a call to sinners, as such, to repent and believe the gospel. It opens with a call to the people of God to keep judgment and do justice. And the reason given is in no way the law given by Moses. It is this: "My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed."
A moral demand right after such wide promises is no accident. Grace itself is what rules out careless living.
Isaiah 56 and 57 are made up of moral warnings, and they press all the harder because of the grace that goes out so deeply and so far and wide. Evil offends grace more than it offends law, which openly condemns it. God guards His grace with care against the charges that fallen nature would throw at it... Jehovah's salvation and righteousness turn out to be the opposite of a licence to sin, whatever human nature might wish and think.
The demand itself exposes the condition of the people who first heard it.
He spoke in the name of the Lord. His call for fairness and justice shows that these excellent things were not being practised among the people. His salvation and righteousness were "near to come," though not fully revealed until after Christ came. When we open the letter to the Romans, we meet both salvation and righteousness in verses 16 and 17 of the first chapter. The death and resurrection of Christ show both in full — not as enemies of each other, but in the fullest agreement and harmony.
For the prophet, salvation and righteousness were still ahead. One writer marks how the tense changes once Christ has come.
God's righteousness is no longer near to come, and His salvation is no longer waiting to be revealed (Isaiah 56:1). His righteousness has come, and His salvation is revealed. This assumes that the Lord Himself has come, that His work for our sins is done, and that a wholly new state of things has begun.
Yet the waiting was never empty. Faith held on to something that had no visible foundation anywhere on earth.
Before the flood and after the law, Jehovah was looking ahead to His Christ. In an evil day He spoke through His prophet of His salvation to come, and of His righteousness to be revealed (Isaiah 56:1). No one could see it anywhere on earth, but faith always waited for it. There was no ground for it in man, not even in a true saint of God... Every saint leaned entirely on the One who was coming.
The same call then reaches the people least likely to expect it.
It is a great blessing to see in this fifty-sixth chapter that even the son of the foreigner and the despised are encouraged to take hold of the covenant of the Lord. Moral qualities are looked for in those who are to share the glory to come. This matters so much that even those whom Israel would count as outsiders, if they are marked by these things and "take hold" of the covenant and "join themselves to the Lord," will have an everlasting name and be made joyful in His house of prayer. Those who form His house now should never forget the words, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (v. 7).
- Near — the command rests on what God is about to do, not on what people can earn.
- Answered — those addressed have already answered the call of grace, and now they must walk in step with it.
- Guarded — coming salvation is no permit for evil; sin offends grace even more than it offends law.
- Revealed — what the prophet could only wait for has come: the death and resurrection of Christ, where salvation and righteousness fully agree.
- Wide — the same call reaches the foreigner and the despised, and ends in a house of prayer for all peoples.
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth fast to it; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isaiah 56 opens with a call to keep justice and do right, and then blesses the man who lives that way and guards the Sabbath. Why single out the Sabbath as the test, and how far does the blessing reach?
Verse 1 sets up the blessing in verse 2. It does not speak to the world at large.
The chapter opens not with a call to sinners, as such, to repent and believe the gospel, but with a call to the people of God to keep judgement and do justice. The reason given is in no way the law given through Moses. It is this: "My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed." When the apostle unfolds the good news, he says that God's righteousness is being revealed in the gospel, and shown apart from law.
Those addressed have already answered God's invitation in the previous chapter.
Encouragement for the godly. In the previous chapter we heard the call of grace to every needy soul: seek the Lord while He may be found. God promises blessing to all who respond to that call. In the opening verses of this chapter, the godly remnant in Israel have already responded. They are urged to walk in a way that matches the grace that has blessed them.
Grace can look like permission to sin. It is not, and the Sabbath makes a sharper test than an obvious moral wrong.
Isaiah 56 and 57 are moral warnings. They weigh all the more because grace goes out so deeply and yet so far and wide. To grace, evil is more offensive than it is to law, which is its open condemnation. God carefully guards His grace from the charges that fallen nature would bring against it... The Lord's salvation and righteousness turn out to be the opposite of a licence to sin, as human nature might wish and think. The Sabbath was, and will be, an even truer test. It rests on God's authority alone, not on conscience. Conscience by itself condemns corruption or violence, even apart from God's commandment.
Anyone can see that stealing is wrong. Keeping a day set apart to God shows something else.
In various other scriptures we find the Sabbath singled out and given special prominence as a precious link between Jehovah and Israel, a seal of His covenant with them, and a powerful test of their devotedness to Him. Everyone could recognise the moral wrong of theft and murder; only those who loved Jehovah and His word would love and honour His Sabbath.
Commentators differ on the timing. Some hold that the Sabbath fixes this passage in Israel's future: "the mention of the sabbath clearly shows that... the prophecy has in view the blessing of the Jewish nation in latter days" (Hamilton Smith). Others read it as a duty binding in Isaiah's own day, since "the sabbath was the sign of God's covenant with Israel, therefore it must be observed faithfully" (F. B. Hole).
Kelly quotes an older translation, which calls the person blessed "weak man." The verses that follow show how far the blessing reaches.
"Blessed is weak man who does this, and the son of man who holds fast by it" (v. 2). The following verse (3) is even more explicit: the most distant, "the son of the stranger," and the most desperate, "the eunuch," were not beyond the reach of God's merciful and mighty blessing.
One such man later walked through that open door.
The door was open to any, no matter where they came from, who really feared the Lord and sought Him and His covenant among His people... So our passage gives the eunuch special mention. In Acts 8 we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, one of the "sons of the stranger" who were seeking to "join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord." What the prophet promised to such men came true for him in an even fuller measure. God did not give him a place "in My holy mountain," but rather "called… into the grace of Christ" (Gal. 1:6).
- Coming. The blessing rests on a promise still ahead: God's salvation is near to come and His righteousness about to be revealed.
- Called. The words are not aimed at sinners in general. They speak to people who have already answered grace, and who must now walk in step with it.
- Clean. Grace never excuses sin. Evil offends grace even more than it offends law, and God guards His grace against that charge.
- Chosen. The Sabbath tests the heart because it rests on God's authority alone. Anyone condemns theft; only a lover of God honours His day.
- Comprehensive. The blessing reaches the most distant and the most desperate: the foreigner and the eunuch. Acts 8 shows one such man receiving even more than the prophet promised.
And let not the son of the alien, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak saying, Jehovah hath entirely separated me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree;
Two people had reason to think God's promises were not for them. The foreigner had no birthright in Israel. The eunuch had no children to carry his name. God's first word to both is not an argument. He simply forbids each man to say the hopeless thing about himself.
The verse names two extreme cases. The rest of the chapter keeps coming back to them:
Verse 3 is even plainer: the most distant, "the son of the stranger," and the most desperate, "the eunuch," were not beyond the reach of God's merciful and mighty blessing. The verses that follow say this again about both groups in the strongest words. They close by making the Lord's mind clear for everyone to read: His "house should be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
The eunuch's fear had law behind it. The law shut such a man out of Israel's assembly. One writer sees this in the Ethiopian official of Acts 8, a man of high rank with a heart for God:
He was also an outcast in religion, despite his high position and his heart for God. As a eunuch (if we are to take that literally, as I do not doubt) he could not come into the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1); whatever precious assurances there might be for him of future blessing (Isaiah 56:3-5).
What was once impossible for such a man became fact in his case:
though as a eunuch he could never of old have been admitted into the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1), he could be, and was, admitted into the assembly of God and of Christ.
The verse never asks the foreigner for a family tree. It marks him out by one thing: he has joined himself to the LORD. The whole chapter turns on that:
Isaiah 56 shows the moral character needed to enjoy the blessing. That blessing no longer follows the narrow legal principles of former days. His house will in fact be a house of prayer for all whose hearts are truly turned to the God of Israel, and they will be joyful in it.
The verses that follow answer both complaints. The ground of the answer is grace:
These verses speak especially about the stranger and the hopeless man — the eunuch. They clearly show that the earthly blessings of God's salvation will not be limited to the godly remnant of Israel. Such people need not see themselves as shut out from blessing, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people." Among the nations there may be those who fear the LORD, who keep His sabbaths, who choose the things that please the LORD, and who take hold of the promise of blessing on the ground of grace. They too will have a portion in God's house, and will come into the everlasting blessing and joy of God's earthly people.
The eunuch loses a family name; God gives him one that outlasts families. One writer sees the promise covering both men. Each is called to take hold of the covenant. Each receives "an everlasting name" and a welcome in the house of prayer for all the peoples (H. J. Vine).
Centuries later Jesus stood in the temple and quoted this passage back to the nation that had ignored it:
Even under the law God's thought was, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." The Lord quoted this very scripture on His last visit to the temple, just before He suffered. With sorrow He had to add, "but you have made it a den of thieves" (Matthew 21:13).
Commentators differ over timing. Some look ahead to the blessing of God's earthly people. One writer points to the Ethiopian and sees the promise kept in a fuller way than its words:
In Acts 8 we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, who was indeed one of the "sons of the stranger," people seeking to "join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord." God made good to him what the prophet promised to such people, and in a more abundant measure. He was not given a place "in My holy mountain"; instead he was "called … into the grace of Christ" (Galatians 1:6).
- Shut out. The verse names the most distant man and the most desperate one. Neither is beyond the reach of God's mercy.
- Silenced. The eunuch's fear had real law behind it: he could not enter the congregation. God does not deny his history; He forbids him to make it the last word.
- Joined. What counts is not ancestry but a heart turned to the God of Israel. The narrow legal principles of former days no longer set the limit.
- Named. Those who take hold of the covenant on the ground of grace get a portion in God's house. God gives them an everlasting name.
- Gathered. God always meant His house to be a house of prayer for all peoples. Israel buried that purpose. Jesus said it again in the temple. The Ethiopian received even more than the prophet promised.
for thus saith Jehovah Unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,
God speaks here to a man who had written himself off: a eunuch could father no children, and Israel's law kept him out of the assembly of the LORD. Yet God addresses him directly, and ties a promise to three conditions.
The verse sits in a passage that names the two people least likely to expect anything from God:
The following verse (3) is even more direct. The most distant is "the son of the stranger." The most desperate is "the eunuch." Neither was beyond the reach of God's merciful and mighty blessing. The verses that follow repeat this about both groups in the most forceful language. They end by expressing the LORD's mind, to be known and read by everyone: His "house should be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
The promise is startling because a written command stood against it. Centuries later an Ethiopian official travelling home from Jerusalem lived in exactly that gap:
A man of Ethiopia had been to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning by that desert road. He was also a religious outcast, despite his high position and his heart for God. As a eunuch (if we are to take that literally, as I do not doubt) he could not come into the congregation of the LORD (Deut. 23:1) — whatever precious assurances there might be for him of future blessing (Isa. 56:3-5).
"My sabbaths" is not a random requirement. It was the mark of the arrangement God had made with Israel:
The sabbath was the sign of God's covenant with Israel, so Israel had to keep it faithfully.
That sign still has a future:
Christianity has brought in better and higher things, and the first day, the resurrection day, is the witness of them. But for the earth and God's people on earth, the sabbath will be honoured even more in the future glories of the kingdom.
The three conditions could be read as a checklist of religious duties. One writer argues they cannot be, because of what choosing implies about the person doing it:
Read Isaiah 56, which promises Jewish blessings, and yet only says "my salvation is near to come." God says of these people that they choose the things that please Him and take hold of His covenant. They join themselves to the LORD to serve Him, to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants. Will anyone say that God is here describing unconverted people?
The eunuch and the foreigner had no natural claim. What is offered them is offered on a different footing altogether:
These verses speak especially of the stranger and the hopeless — the eunuch. They show that God will not limit the earthly blessings of His salvation to the godly remnant of Israel. Such people need not think of themselves as shut out from blessing, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from his people." For there may be people among the nations who fear the LORD, keeping His sabbaths and choosing the things that please the LORD, and taking up the promise of blessing on the ground of grace. They too will have a portion in God's house.
Where does this promise land in time? One writer answers on two levels:
The first eight verses of this chapter stand by themselves. Strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and eunuchs, are gathered in. It is the result of the gracious invitation of the previous chapter. That invitation in turn comes from the work of the Servant of the LORD and His suffering in the place of others. While these verses look forward to the kingdom, we have in them a hint of what God does now in gathering strangers.
One writer points to a man for whom this promise came true, and more:
In Acts 8 we read of the Ethiopian eunuch, who was indeed one of the foreigners seeking to join himself to the LORD. What the prophet promised to such people came true for him in a fuller measure. He was not given a place "in My holy mountain," but was "called … into the grace of Christ" (Gal. 1:6).
- Excluded. The law barred the eunuch from the congregation of the LORD (Deut. 23:1) — the promise here speaks straight into that closed door.
- Invited. God names the most distant and the most desperate on purpose. No one is beyond the reach of His blessing.
- Marked. "My sabbaths" is the sign of God's covenant with Israel, so Israel had to keep it faithfully — and the day will be honoured even more in the kingdom.
- Willing. Choosing what pleases God is not the language of unconverted people. It describes a heart already turned to Him.
- Welcomed. Such people receive a portion in God's house on the ground of grace. The promise looks to the kingdom, and hints at what God does now in gathering strangers.
even unto them will I give in my 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.
God speaks here to a man who thought his story was over. His family line would end with him, so he expected no share in the future of God's people. God's answer is a monument inside His own house, and a name that outlives anything children could have carried on.
The chapter names the two people an Israelite would have written off. One writer puts them side by side.
God's merciful and mighty blessing could reach even the most distant, "the son of the stranger," and the most desperate, "the eunuch."
The eunuch's despair was not imagined. One writer describes such a man: high in position, with a heart for God, and still shut out.
Besides that, he was an outcast in religion, despite a high position and his heart for God. As a eunuch — and I have no doubt we should take that literally — he could not come into the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1). That stood, whatever precious assurances of future blessing there might be for him (Isaiah 56:3-5).
God's gift here is a name. In Israel a name carried weight we can easily miss.
In Israel, to be childless was a disgrace. People took the blotting out of a man's name — the dying out of his family — as a special mark of God's displeasure.
That is the wound this verse touches. Sons and daughters would have kept his name alive. God gives the name Himself, and gives better, because this one cannot be cut off.
God does not hand this name out at random. He looks for something in the people who receive it.
God looks for moral qualifications in those who are to share the glory to come. Even those whom Israel would consider outsiders will have an everlasting name, and He will make them joyful in His house of prayer — if they "take hold" of the covenant and "join themselves to the Lord."
The gift has an address: "in my house and within my walls." The man the law kept outside now has a place in the building itself. And he is not there alone.
These verses speak especially of the stranger and the hopeless — the eunuch. They show that the earthly blessings of God's salvation will not be limited to the godly remnant of Israel. Such people need not see themselves as shut out from blessing, as if the LORD had utterly separated them from His people. If there are those among the nations who fear the LORD — keeping His sabbaths, choosing the things that please the LORD, and taking the promise of blessing on the ground of grace — they too will have a portion in God's house. They will come into the everlasting blessing and joy of God's earthly people. For God's house will be called "a house of prayer for all nations."
Commentators differ on the timing. Some point to blessing still to come for God's earthly people. Another points to Acts 8, where an official from Ethiopia met this promise in person.
The eunuch also gets special mention in our passage. In Acts 8 we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, who was indeed one of the "sons of the stranger"… God made good to him what the prophet promised to such people here, and in fuller measure. He did not give him a place "in My holy mountain," but "called… into the grace of Christ" (Galatians 1:6).
In his case the reversal was complete.
In the old days, as a eunuch, he could never have entered the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1). Yet he could enter the assembly of God and of Christ — and he did.
- Shut out. The law barred the eunuch from the congregation, and he knew it. God's promise goes to the very man who thought he had no claim.
- Held fast. God promises the name to those who keep His sabbaths, choose what pleases Him, and take hold of His covenant — whatever their background.
- Named. In Israel, a family name wiped out looked like God's displeasure. God gives what children were meant to secure, and calls it better.
- Housed. The gift sits inside His house and walls. He calls that house a house of prayer for all nations. The outsider gets a place there, not just a pardon.
- Not cut off. Sons and daughters can fail; this name cannot. The Ethiopian official shows it in action. The old order shut him out; grace brought him in.
Also the sons of the alien, that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto him and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast to my covenant;
God speaks this promise over people who had every reason to think themselves shut out — foreigners with no natural claim on Israel's God. What does it mean to join yourself to the LORD? Why is the sabbath named here? And when does this promise come true?
The chapter deliberately widens the circle. It names two cases: the foreigner and the eunuch. Birth shut out the first; his body shut out the second. God's salvation reaches past Israel's own descendants.
These verses that specially speak of the stranger and the hopeless – the eunuch – clearly show that the earthly blessings of God's salvation will not be confined to the godly remnant of Israel. Such people need not think of themselves as shut out from blessing, saying, "The LORD has completely separated me from His people." Suppose there are people among the nations who fear the LORD, who keep His sabbaths, who choose the things that please the LORD, and who make use of the promise of blessing given on the ground of grace. They too will have a portion in God's house.
The phrases in this verse are not empty religious form. One writer reads them as marks of a real change of heart, and presses the point with a question.
Read Isaiah 56, where God promises Jewish blessings, and yet it only says "my salvation is near to come." God says of these people that they choose the things that please Him, that they take hold of His covenant, that they join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants. Will anyone say that God is here describing unconverted people?
What qualifies these people is not ancestry. It is character, and their own grip on what God has promised.
It is a wonderful thing to see in this fifty-sixth chapter that even the foreigner's son and the despised are encouraged to lay hold of the covenant of the Lord. God looks for moral qualifications in those who are to share the glory to come… So even those whom Israel would count as outsiders will have an everlasting name, and He will make them joyful in His house of prayer, if they are marked by these things and "take hold" of the covenant and "join themselves to the Lord."
Why does the sabbath keep coming up here? Because of what it stood for.
The sabbath was the sign of God's covenant with Israel, so it had to be kept faithfully.
The verse leads on to the promise of God's house as a house of prayer for all nations. One writer ties that opening to the last days and to the cross.
Isaiah 56 clearly goes beyond promise to Israel. It moves on to the last days. It secures the blessing for the Remnant, and then passes that blessing on to the Gentile. His house shall be "a house of prayer for all nations" — that is, for those who have taken hold of Jehovah's covenant… It goes on, no doubt, to the new state of things, but its foundation was laid in the Cross.
Commentators differ on how much of this is happening now. Another writer keeps the fulfilment future, though its principles already work in the gospel:
We do not deny that Isaiah 55 gives broad moral principles of grace on God's part, and that Isaiah 56 shows that grace flowing out to the Gentiles. Both are realised now in the gospel and the church, even more fully than anything set out here… So, if this is right, there is nothing to move the fulfilment of this blessed fruit of the cross away from the future, however wide the words may be.
The Ethiopian court official of Acts 8 was both a foreigner and a eunuch. He fits Isaiah's description — and he received more than the prophet promised.
Our passage mentions the eunuch in particular, and Acts 8 tells the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. He was indeed one of the "sons of the stranger" who were seeking to "join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord." What the prophet promised to such people was made good to him in a fuller measure. He was not given a place "in My holy mountain," but was "called … into the grace of Christ." (Gal. 1:6).
- Joined — The outsider acts first: he joins himself to the LORD and takes hold of the covenant. Birth shuts nobody out.
- Loving — The service here springs from love for God's name. Commentators read these marks as the signs of a converted heart, not empty form.
- Marked — The sabbath is the sign of God's covenant with Israel. The stranger who keeps it shares Israel's blessing.
- Gathered — Next comes a place in God's house, a house of prayer for all nations. Its foundation was laid at the cross, and its full display is still ahead.
- Enlarged — The Ethiopian official of Acts 8 fits Isaiah's description. He received more than the prophet promised: not a place on the holy mountain, but a call into the grace of Christ.
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 my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
Isaiah 56 speaks to people who had every reason to feel shut out of Israel: foreigners, and eunuchs who could leave no children behind. God promises them a place in His own house — and He gives that house a name that reaches far past Israel.
One writer reads verses 3–8 as God's answer to people who assumed blessing could never reach them.
These verses speak in particular of the stranger and the hopeless — the eunuch. They clearly show that the earthly blessings of God's salvation will not be limited to the godly remnant of Israel. Such people need not see themselves as shut out from blessing, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people." Suppose there are people among the nations who fear the LORD. They keep His sabbaths and choose the things that please Him. They take up the promise of blessing on the ground of grace. Then they too will have a portion in God's house, and come into the everlasting blessing and joy of God's earthly people.
Another writer traces the promise to a man who was both foreigner and eunuch: the Ethiopian of Acts 8.
This passage, verses 3–8, is one to note carefully. The door was open to anyone, no matter where they came from, who truly feared the Lord and sought Him and His covenant among His people... Our passage mentions the eunuch in particular. In Acts 8 we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. He was indeed one of the "sons of the stranger" who were seeking to "join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord." The prophet's promise to such people came true for him in fuller measure still. He was not given a place "in My holy mountain," but was "called… into the grace of Christ."
The stranger does not just get through the door. What he brings counts like anyone else's.
Since it is all grace here, there is one law and one way for all. The stranger may share in this happy delight of drawing near to the Lord. Isaiah says this about the sons of the stranger in the purpose and grace of God: "their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar."
An open door does not erase every difference. One writer describes a coming age with Jerusalem at the centre and worship reaching far beyond it.
Jerusalem will be the great centre of earthly worship for everyone. Besides that, this passage speaks of literal offerings coming from the nations everywhere... Both belong to the future age, and to that alone. Israel will form the inner circle for the earth. But that does not shut out true and acceptable worship among the nations everywhere; "for My name," He says, "shall be great among the nations, says Jehovah of hosts."
Jesus quoted this verse when He cleared the temple. One writer compares that day with an earlier cleansing.
It was His house, and He claimed His right to cleanse it. He quoted Isaiah 56:7, and He described its condition in the words of Jeremiah 7:11: "My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves." He had cleansed it once before, at the start of His ministry (John 2:14–16). That first time He acted as Son, and called the house His Father's: "Do not make My Father's house a house of trade." Now, as Jehovah Himself, He cleansed it: "My house," He said.
The scene Isaiah paints is still future. Even so, one writer draws a line to today: who prays now, and who will pray then.
There is only one house of God on earth, and it is a house of prayer for all men. It is made up of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ... The difference about the house of God now is that we pray for all. In the future day all nations will be able to pray there themselves. We now pray for the kings and rulers of the nations (1 Tim. 2:1).
- The house — God claims a home on earth and names it Himself. He calls it a house of prayer, and the name settles what belongs there.
- The far-off — God names the foreigner and the eunuch first. The two who seemed shut out are the two He calls in.
- The altar — the welcome goes past the door. God accepts the stranger's offerings on the same footing of grace as anyone's.
- All peoples — in the age to come, Jerusalem stands at the centre and worship rises among the nations everywhere.
- The theft — Christ found the house turned into a den of thieves and cleansed it as its Owner. His people take up its true work now, praying for all.
The Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel, saith Yet will I gather [others] to him, with those of his that are gathered.
This verse closes a section of promise. God names Himself by what He keeps doing: He gathers Israel's outcasts. Then He pledges to gather more. So who are these "others", when does He gather them, and what draws them all to one place?
The verses just before this promise name two kinds of people who had every reason to feel shut out: the foreigner, and the eunuch — a man who could have no children. Neither one is beyond God's reach:
Verse 3 speaks even more plainly. The most distant, "the son of the stranger," and the most desperate, "the eunuch," were not beyond the reach of God's merciful and mighty blessing. The later verses say this again about both groups in the strongest language. They end with Jehovah's own mind, open for everyone to know and read: His "house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
The verse sets two gatherings side by side, and the order matters:
The first eight verses of this chapter stand by themselves. God gathers in eunuchs, and strangers who had no part in Israel. This comes from the gracious invitation of the previous chapter. That invitation, in turn, comes from the work of the Servant of Jehovah and His suffering in the place of others. These verses look forward to the kingdom, yet they also hint at what God does now in gathering strangers. The gathering of the others in verse eight can only take place when the outcasts of Israel are brought in.
Israel failed badly before this promise could be kept. The failure did not cancel it:
Even under the law the divine thought was, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord quoted this very scripture on His last visit to the temple, just before He suffered. And He had to add, with sorrow, "but you make it a den of robbers" (Matt. 21:13). Such was the terrible state the Jews had sunk into… Yet the gracious promise of verse 8 stands. God will yet gather a remnant of His people, who are outcasts among men, and when He does so, He will gather others, who up to now have been strangers. Today God is especially focused on the strangers, visiting "the Gentiles, to take from them a people for His name" (Acts 15:14).
Gathering means there is somewhere to gather to. The promise names a place, and a standing shared by everyone who arrives there:
God would have a house on earth, an earthly sanctuary, but it would be open to all. It would not be limited to Israel. In that future day Israel would have a higher standing than the one they held as Abraham's natural descendants. Others would share that standing with them, even people who were by birth sons of the stranger. Joined to the Lord, these would be brought to His holy mountain, and made joyful in His house of prayer.
Another writer names the ground on which the outsider comes in — grace, not birth:
These verses show clearly that the earthly blessings of God's salvation will not be limited to the godly remnant of Israel. People like the stranger and the eunuch need not see themselves as shut out, as if the LORD had completely separated them from His people. If there are people among the nations who fear the LORD — keeping His sabbaths, choosing what pleases the LORD, and taking hold of the promise of blessing on the ground of grace — they too will have a portion in God's house… Not only will the outcasts of Israel be brought back to their land, but others from among the Gentiles will be gathered to God's earthly centre of blessing.
Right after this promise the tone of the chapter changes sharply. The two parts are not in conflict:
At first sight the second part (Isaiah 56:9 to 57:21) looks like a startling contrast. But it clearly flows from the same principle as the first. Grace goes out so freely to the most miserable, yet of all things it is the least tolerant of evil. It always deals most carefully and jealously with those who are near enough to carry all the more responsibility to reflect Jehovah clearly.
- Gatherer. God names Himself by what He keeps doing: He gathers Israel's outcasts. That same character backs the added promise.
- Reach. It stretches to the most distant, the foreigner, and to the most hopeless, the eunuch. Neither is beyond God's mercy.
- Order. Israel's outcasts come first, and the gathering of the "others" waits on that. Even now, though, God is taking a people for His name from the nations.
- Centre. God gathers them to a place: a house on earth, called a house of prayer for all peoples. Strangers share the standing of the people they join.
- Holiness. The same grace that reaches the furthest is the least tolerant of evil, and it deals most carefully with those nearest to God.