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.
