These chapters introduce the main subject of this section of the book, which grows out of what Isaiah revealed previously. If salvation depends on God's grace, do God's servants have any responsibility other than receiving that grace? Simply being a member of the covenant community of Israel and fulfilling the cultic (worship system) requirements of the Mosaic Law might seem to be an adequate response for some Israelites. Isaiah revealed that God had redeemed them so they could demonstrate His righteousness in their lives in the world. This would glorify Him, bring others to Him, and result in Israel's greatest blessing. But demonstrating that righteousness was impossible for them to do by themselves (cf. chs. 1-39). They needed to appropriate His grace as redeemed people, redeemed from captivity (chs. 40-48) and redeemed from sin (chs. 49-55), to become the servants of God that He intended them to be. Chapter 56 contains moral exhortations in view of God's salvation.
This transitional pericope introduces the problem that the previous sections of the book posed, which I have tried to explain just above. It also begins the explanation of the solution by placing in stark contrast two opposing views of what pleases God: simply being a child of Abraham, and living in loving obedience to God.
56:1 This pericope flows smoothly out of the previous section of the book dealing with God's provision of salvation for Israel and the world. The Lord had more to say to Isaiah's audience: "Thus says the LORD."
Since His salvation was about to appear, in return from captivity and in the atoning work of the Servant, His people should practice justice and righteousness (cf. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Titus 3:8). They had a responsibility beyond just believing His promises (chs. 54-55). Notice that practicing justice and righteousness do no accomplish salvation. They should be its consequence; they cannot be its cause.
"We would indeed be blind not to observe that 56:1 reflects precisely where the church stands today: looking back to the once-for-all redemption at Calvary (52:13-53:12) and awaiting a final divine act which will rescue the church from sin, failure and opposition and deal finally with any and every counterforce."636
56:2 Ethical conduct will result in divine blessing. Profaning the sabbath and doing evil are the opposite of preserving justice and doing righteousness. They represent specific acts of obedience (observing the sabbath) and an attitude toward life (doing good). By refraining from work on the sabbath, the Israelite expressed trust that God would provide for his needs as He promised.637God's standard is perfection; His people were to keep their hands from doing "any evil."
"Those who have received mighty blessings from the Lord have an obligation faithfully to do His will, and in the Old Testament dispensation this would be accomplished by keeping the law and observing the sabbath"638
56:3 In view of the priority of heartfelt obedience over mere ritual observance of the Law, the foreigner and eunuch, for example, should not feel hopeless: lifeless or fruitless. All who genuinely seek the Lord (55:6) would find acceptance by Him even though they might not qualify for participation in the cultic worship of Israel (cf. Exod. 12:48-49).
God's exclusion of foreigners and eunuchs from Israel's public worship (Deut. 23:1-8) was not because these types of people were intrinsically evil and therefore unacceptable to Him. God excluded foreigners because He wanted to teach His people that opposition to His will and His people has abiding consequences. He excluded eunuchs because He wanted His people to learn that the destruction of sexual organs that He created has consequences. These consequences affected their worship of the Holy One of Israel as well as their public life or their private life. Ruth and the Ethiopian eunuch are the proof that God accepts people on the basis of their faith in Him in spite of their ancestry or personal history. Non-Israelites and disabled Israelites could enjoy the blessings of God's salvation (personal salvation and millennial blessings) along with normal believing Israelites.639
56:4-5 The prophet prefaced his shocking explanation of the spiritual acceptability of ritually unacceptable people with, "For thus says Yahweh."This was not just his opinion but divine revelation.
The Lord would give eunuchs who obeyed Him out of love an eternal reputation far greater than what they would have had if they had not obeyed Him but had born children who would have perpetuated their reputations on the earth.640This promise of an eternal reward anticipates Jesus' teaching that His disciples should pursue eternal rewards rather than treasures on earth (cf. Matt. 6:1-24).
56:6-7 Similarly God would bless foreigners (non-Israelites) who came to believe in Yahweh and sought to love and follow Him for His sake rather than for personal benefit (cf. Ruth 1:16). They could serve the Lord by ministering to Him.641
"The six marks of the foreigner (v. 6) provide a beautiful description of true godliness, with love as its great dynamic, the very antithesis of Pharisaic legalism."642
The Lord Himself would conduct such Gentiles to the future Jerusalem, as He would bring the Israelites back from exile. There they would have the same blessings as the redeemed Israelites: sins atoned for and access to God in prayer (cf. 1 Kings 8:41-43; Mal. 1:11).
"All of Israel's separation from the world was in order to keep Israel from being absorbed into the world and thus losing the ability to call the world out of itself into the blessings of God. But should Israel ever come to believe that its separation was so that Israel could keep her God and his blessings to herself, than all was lost."643
It was this latter attitude that so infuriated Jesus Christ when He saw how hard the Jews had made it for Gentiles to come to God and worship Him in the temple (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; cf. John 2:16).
56:8 With an unusually strong declaration (cf. 1:24), sovereign Yahweh affirmed that He would gather many other Gentiles to Himself along with the Israelites (cf. 19:25; 49:6-7; 51:5; 55:5; John 10:16). He would not save only Israelites but Gentiles as well.644The Lord was not referring to the Babylonian exile nor to geographical dispersal but to those scattered from Himself.
Whereas heartfelt love for and trust in the Lord make anyone acceptable to Him, reliance on one's position or ability for acceptance will not.
This pericope concludes the section begun at 56:1 dealing with the need for humility and holiness in the redeemed people of God. Isaiah explained that the basis of God's acceptance and blessing of His redeemed people was righteousness (56:1-8). Then he showed that Israel lacked that righteousness (56:9-57:13). Her leadership was wicked (56:9-57:2) and her populace was apostate (57:3-13). Now he explained that the solution to Israel's predicament was Yahweh's enablement. The only way she could be what she should be was with the Lord's help. This section explains how the promise that ended verse 13 could possibly come to pass.
The structure of this section is the opposite of the former one. There threatening ended with a brief promise, but here promise ends with a short threat.
57:14 In the future someone would give an order to prepare the way so the Israelites could return to their land and to their God (cf. 40:3; 62:10). The speaker is probably God, but the speech is more important than the speaker. The figure is of building a roadbed for a highway that would become the path of the Israelites.
57:15 The reason for this proclamation is that God is who He is. He is the utterly transcendent God in relation to space (high and lifted up, cf. 6:1; 52:13), time (lives forever), and character (holy). Yet He is also immanent, dwelling among repentant and humble people. He dwells among them to encourage and enable them. The holy God is with His humble people (cf. 7:14).653
"Earthly sovereigns are thought of as dwelling with the exalted and proud ones; the great Sovereign of all dwells with the humble believer."654
57:16 God will not always be angry with sinners; His anger will come to an end because He has made provision for human sin through the Servant. He becomesangry, but He islove (cf. Ps. 30:5). If God remained angry with sin, humanity could not endure His wrath and everyone would perish (cf. Gen. 6:3).655
57:17 The Lord had been angry with the proud Israelite because of his desire for unjust gain, namely, for more and more for himself. This is the essential sin that results in idolatry (cf. Col. 3:5; 1 Tim. 6:10). God's anger led Him to discipline the proud Israelites and to become inaccessible to their calls for help. Israel, instead of repenting and returning to the Lord, continued in her sinful ways.
57:18 In spite of Israel's response, Yahweh would heal, lead, and strengthen the nation's inhabitants who mourned over their sinfulness. He would take the initiative by providing the Servant to strengthen as well as to save (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-19). It is not so much grace for redemption that is in view here as grace to overcome the attraction of sin as redeemed people.
"The unmerited nature of God's favor has rarely been expressed more beautifully and in v. 18."656
57:19 The result would be that those delivered would praise the Lord. Consequently, there can be peace for the humble because God would heal them whether they live near in Israel or far off among the Gentiles (cf. Eph. 2:17). The duplication of a word like "peace"is a Hebrew idiom for something superlative in kind and total in extent (cf. 6:3; 21:9; Gen. 14:10; Deut. 16:20; 2 Kings 25:25; Rev. 14:8; 18:2). Since shalomwas a conventional word of greeting, the speaker may have intended to give the wayward a warm welcome home.
57:20-21 The wicked contrast with the humble who take advantage of God's provision of grace. Far from being at peace, their existence is as tumultuous as the tossing sea, which is incapable of being at rest. Their constant agitation creates many other problems, like the raging sea casts up debris and mud. No shalomis the portion of the wicked (cf. 48:22).
"Hence if persons have experienced the unmerited grace of God as mediated through the Savior, and then expect to live lives dominated by greed (v. 17) and self-will, propitiating God from time to time with religious behavior, they will find not peace, but constant upheaval."657
