Isaiah 56:9-57:2.  As we began this last section of the book of Isaiah yesterday we saw God encouraging people to take advantage of the salvation he was offering.  We saw in Chapter 55 that the salvation comes at no cost to us.  In yesterday’s reading we saw that it was available to all who really wanted to have a relationship with God.  God used the idea of the Sabbath (the seventy day of the week which Jewish people were instructed to keep as a special day not a common day of work) as an example of having a relationship with him.  The Sabbath was to be a day when our actions especially honor him (Remember though that the other days of the week are not to be used to honor him too. See 1 Corinthians 10:31).  But the message is not all happy thoughts and roses.

Isaiah 56:9 calls all the animals to come and eat.  The beasts of the field, or farm animals, and the beasts of the forest or wild animals.  In the following verses (Isaiah 56:10-12) we see a description of the religious leaders of Judah.  They are called watchmen (kind of like guards keeping an eye out during the night for invaders), silent dogs (they cannot warn of an intruder), zoned out sleepy dreamers, dogs who never get enough to eat, shepherds who do not know what they are doing, and selfish and self-centered.  These leaders waste their lives partying and think they can get away with it forever.  Scholars aren’t really sure what the beasts represent but it looks like they could be talking about foreign nations.  The “farm animals” would be friendly nations that the kings of Judah have made alliances with to protect them and the “wild animals” would be enemy nations like Assyria.  In both cases the leaders have allowed these nations to hurt their people.  The friendly nations by mixing their false religions into Israelite society (like during the reign of Ahaz) and the enemy nations coming and destroying parts of the kingdom while kings like Hezekiah try to use politics and alliances to save the people.  In both cases the leaders are not teaching the people who God is (the one and only God) and that he can provide and protect.

The first verse of chapter 57 continue to describe the effects of bad leaders  by telling us that people who love God are suffering and dying because of the leaders lack of care.  In the end of verse 1 and in verse 2 we see hope for those who love God though.  Death is not the end of the story, those who lived for God are at rest and have peace in death.  In the days of slavery in America many slaves had faith in Jesus and found hope in promises of eternity with God.  Songs like “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” talked about that hope.  One line from that song goes, “I looked over Jordan and what did I see, coming for to carry me home?  A band of angles coming after me, coming for to carry me home.”  The idea is that they were in the wilderness across the Jordan River from the land promised to God’s people and God was sending angles to carry them across to that promised land.  A land described as flowing with mild and honey in the Bible.  A picture of peace and abundance.  So while the false leaders were finding their comfort here and now the people who love God realize it comes in God’s forever kingdom.

When Isaiah 56:12 says that the lazy drunk religious and political leaders though that things were going to keep going the way their were with them living the party life there is a hint that they are going to be surprised by reality some day.  In Luke 16:19-21 we get a glimpse of reality about a very similar situation.  There is a rich man who is living a very satisfying life, nice cloths and plenty to eat.  And there is a poor man, Lazarus, who is by the gate to his estate wanting just the crumbs off of his table, “Just sweep the floor in your dining room and let me eat what you sweep up.”  The poor man was sick.  Eventually the poor man died.  In the story his soul or spirit winds up in some sort of place where souls of the dead went, Sheol or Hades.  We see that he joins Abraham in that place.  Next the rich man dies and his soul also goes to Sheol.  But we find out that Sheol contains some pleasant “rooms” and some not so not so pleasant ones.  Evidently there is an impassable canyon in the middle of Sheol.  The side where Abraham and Lazarus are existing is comfortable but the side where the rich man is existing is hot and he calls it torment.  There must also be some water somewhere because the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus over to give him a drink but Abraham tells him that there is no way to cross.  The really sad part of the story is that this place is only temporary, like a holding cell in jail.  The Bible teaches that while Jesus’ body was in the tomb that he went to Hades and gathered all of the souls of those trusting and waiting for God’s salvation (like Abraham) and took them to Heaven (Ephesians 4:8).  Those on the other side, like the rich man, are evidently still there and according to Revelation 20:13-14 at the end of a 1000 year reign of Jesus as the promised king descended from David there will be a resurrection (the word means to rise up) of all the dead souls in Hades.  But it will not be to join the others in God’s forever kingdom.  They will be judged by their own works (instead of by Jesus’ work on the cross) and will be sent away for eternity to a place described as “the lake of fire”.  That is the reality that is hinted at in Isaiah 56:12.  But remember  Isaiah 56 started with god calling us to have a relationship with him.  And in Isaiah 55:1, the last mini message in the last section starts out with an invitation to be a part of God’s forever kingdom, for free.

The good news is God has a plan that could save every person who has ever lived no matter how bad they have been.  But it requires us to give up and let God help us, and many of us are too proud to give up.  The bad news is those who do not put their faith and trust in God and his suffering Servant, Jesus, will be sent away from God and all of his goodness forever.  God I know that to many people this reality seems harsh.  But you are pure and special and have good and right standards.  I know you don’t want people to spend eternity in the lake of fire, you even tell us that it was originally created for the Devil and those angles who followed him it rebelling against you.  But you also are not a tyrant who forces people to love you.  You gave us a choice and all choices have consequences.  God help many people make the good choice.  Help those of us who have thrown ourselves at your feet be willing to show your love to those around us.  Let us be your giving hands and our serving feet.  Help us make people thirsty to have a relationship with you so that they will come and drink the “water without cost”.  Help us all lose our pride and enjoy your care.

Isaiah 56:1-8.  We now come to the last section of the book.  It is interesting to me so far how God has used the prophet Isaiah to try to reach out to the people of Judah and encourage them in their relationship with him (God).  It kind of reminds me of the book of Revelation.  Revelation (the last book of the Bible) was written as a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  Those churches were about 30 years old and had gotten a little lazy in their relationship with God.  So God had John write to them with some specific things each church needed to work on and some encouragement for the things they were doing right.  The rest of the letter was a detailed picture of event surrounding the end of normal human history, the establishment of the promised kingdom of the Jews (by the servant, Jesus), the final judgment of evil, and the establishment of a new universe without sin.  This book of Isaiah does a lot of the same things for the people of Judah around 700 BC.  God is just so caring and works hard at reaching us and helping us have a better relationship with him.

I started this post this morning and had the opportunity to spend most of the day studying.  In a couple of past posts I struggled with the idea of “getting behind” and mentioned how I though that was an odd thing to say about a relationship.  It kind of challenged me about how I looked at these times I spend reading the Bible.  They are supposed to be about hearing God’s voice and learning to honor Him with my life.  It’s about relationship not about religious tasks.  But it was cool to study for a long time and see some of the awesome things in the sections of Isaiah that we haven’t read and I haven’t posted yet (Well maybe someone out there has already read them and is waiting for the posts).  It was like getting to spend a whole day with God.  Awesome!

In this section the LORD, Yahweh, talks to the readers and tells them to maintain justice and do what is right.  Both things are very similar but if you remember the beginning of the book you might recall that some of the leaders were abusing poor people in court or not even letting them get to court(Isaiah 1:17, 21-23).  Here in the end of the book we see God telling them that they need to bring back justice. The second idea gets more personal and tells them to not just do the right thing in public but also in their private lives.  It’s interesting how in our society some people want to be able to do just about anything as long as it doesn’t “hurt” some one else.  The problem is when God laid out the rules for living they just weren’t about what we wanted but about what we needed to learn about Him and eternity.  What we do in private matters because it reflects what we believe about God and ultimately who God is.

The reason God tells them to do what is right both as a society and as individuals is because salvation is coming.  Obviously God looks on the bright side of things but the other side of salvation is judgment.  We will see that in the next few days.  But here he is saying, “I’m coming to pick you all up so get ready.”  In Matthew 25:1-13 there is a parable (a story that compare something we understand with something we don’t.  In this case guests for a wedding feast who are supposed to be ready when the groom appears but weren’t.  They are compared to people wanting to be a part of God’s forever kingdom.) teaching us that we need to be ready when God starts to move on his plan to save people from their disobedience.

The good news is not just for the people of Judah but God uses foreigners and eunuchs, as examples of outcasts or outsiders, to teach us that his forever kingdom is available to everyone.  But remember it is for those who preserve justice and live rightly.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Heaven is for people who live a good enough life though.  In the last section we learned that everyone was invited to come into God’s kingdom without cost to them, Heaven is free (Isaiah 55:1).  When verse 2 tells us that a person will have the right kind of life (be blessed or happy) if he doesn’t do any evil and does not dishonor the Sabbath it is telling us that they are serious about doing what make God happy.  Notice the parallel in verse 4 where “keeping the Sabbath” is compared to “what pleases God”.  In Acts 15 the leaders of the first church, in Jerusalem (and most if not all of them Jewish people), told the many new Gentile believers (non-Jews) that they needed to be respectful of the Jewish believers in Jesus by not hooking up with people they were not married to and by not eating blood nor animals that had been strangled to death.  Notice there is no mention of the Sabbath.  The leaders in Jerusalem wanted the new Gentile believers to be sensitive to the Jewish Christians.  In Mark 2:23-28 Jesus told the religious leaders that you could work to do good on the Sabbath, the Sabbath is for us so we can keep God in an important place of our lives.  It’s not about us serving some religious rules.

In verses five and  six we learn that no matter who we are if we really love God he will recognize us and give us an everlasting name and a forever place in his kingdom.  Foreigners and eunuchs may have been outcast in the society but they are not necessarily outcasts by God.  In Luke 10:38-42 there is a story of two sisters who have Jesus into their home.  One sister sits at the feet of Jesus and soaks in all that he is teaching.  The other sister, Martha, is working hard as the hostess of the party.  When Martha complains that Mary is not helping out Jesus tells her that Mary has made the better choice, to spend time with him.  I think that is what god is trying to point out when he talks about the Sabbath in today’s reading.  The Sabbath represents spending time with God it’s not about sitting around doing nothing saying, “Look how good I am.”

In the last two verses God tells us that the people who really love him will absolutely be brought into his forever kingdom.  He will accept their lives because his kingdom is about relationship not about how perfect our works are.  In verse 7 when he calls his kingdom a “house of prayer” he is telling us it’s not about putting on a great party for him but about spending time talking to him.  The last verse reminds the people of Judah that his kingdom will include them and all who love him.

It’s awesome to me how important it is to God to help us have a good relationship with him.  The salvation that is coming cst a great deal.  The Servant from chapter 53, Jesus, paid for our disobedience with his very life and paid brutally.  Here in chapter 56 as he begins the conclusion of the book the first thing God does is tell us, “Get ready.  I’m coming to save you.”  It’s not, “You better look out I’m coming to punish you.”  Yes, punishment is the other side of the coin.  People who don’t want a relationship with God won’t be forced to have one they will be sent away.  But it is cool how God tries to move us with the good news of a fixed relationship rather than scare us.  Peter tells us that God is not willing that any should perish but would prefer that everyone would turn back to him.  Unfortunately many will not.  God thank you for loving me, loving us, so much.  Thank you for wanting the best.  It really seems that punishment and judgment is the last thing you want.  But of course you are pure and perfect and sin cannot be ignored.  Thank you for taking the punishment so there is a way to be friends again.  Help me show my love for you by dong what is just to others and right with my own life.