"Thus says Jehovah: Keep the law, practice righteousness; for my salvation will soon come, and my righteousness be soon manifested. Happy the man who practices this, the mortal who holds fast thereto, keeping the Sabbath, so as not to profane it, and keeping his hand from any evil. Let not the foreigner, who has joined himself to Jehovah, say: Jehovah will surely separate me from His people; and let not the eunuch say: Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says Jehovah: As for the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose that which I delight in, I will give them, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a memorial better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting memorial which shall not be cut off. And as for the foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah to minister to Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be His servants,--everyone who so keeps the Sabbath as not to profane it, and who lays hold on my covenant, I will bring to my holy mountain, and gladden in my house of prayer; his burnt offerings and his sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The oracle of the Lord, Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel is: Yet will I gather others to Israel, to those of Israel who are already gathered. All you wild beasts in field and forest, come here to devour! My watchmen are all blind, and know not how to give heed; they are all dumb dogs which cannot bark, crouching and lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs are greedy, they know not how to be satisfied, they all turn to their own way, each for his own lucre. Come, they say let me fetch wine, let us carouse with mead, and tomorrow shall be as today, an exceeding high day." (Isaiah 56:1-12,Polychrome)
This is a wonderfully comprehensive chapter, showing the essential unity of the Gospel message in all times, and linking the days of the ancient prophets with ours. Here we have an exhortation to keep the law, based on the fact that the salvation of the Lord is near. This corresponds with the message in: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:7)
In this chapter we find that the conditions of salvation were the same in the days of Isaiah that they are today, and that the relation between God and all people, whether called Jews or Gentiles, has not changed in the least in the last four thousand years.
Gentiles Commanded to Keep the Sabbath
We often hear the question asked, "Where in the Bible do you find that the Gentiles were ever commanded to keep the ten commandments or the Sabbath?"
The answer is that we find it everywhere in the Bible; for God's commandments are for all mankind; but here in this chapter we have the matter very definitely stated. First, we have the general command, "Keep the law, practice righteousness." (Isaiah 56:1,Polychrome)
Then the foreigner, the Gentile, is especially singled out, and the promise is made to him, if he will keep the Sabbath. "Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me from His people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; 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 my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet willI gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him." (Isaiah 56:3-8,Polychrome)
Then, as well as in the days of Peter, the promise was unto all that were "afar off": "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Act 2:39)
There can be no question as to which day is referred to in this connection. Nobody ever questions the fact that in the times before the first advent of Christ, at least, no other day than that kept by the faithful Jews, the seventh day of the week, was ever called the Sabbath. This is the day that the Gentiles are exhorted to keep. And since the special exhortation is based on the nearness of the salvation of the Lord, it follows that until the coming of the Lord, the call to the Gentiles to keep the Sabbath holds good. "The Sabbath was made for man," (Mark 2:27) and every creature that comes under that head is under obligation to God to keep it.
Only One Nation Acknowledged
God recognizes only one nation on earth, and it is not one of the nations of earth. That nation is the nation of Israel, of whom it was said by inspiration of God, "the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." (Numbers 23:9)
It is "the righteous nation which keeps the truth," (Isaiah 26:2) and that does not describe any nation recognized as a nation on this earth. The people of Israel, God's own chosen nation, are on this earth counted as strangers and foreigners, (Hebrews 11:13) their names and their citizenship being recorded only in heaven. "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20) "To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven," (Hebrews 12:23) "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20,RV)
On the other hand, all "Gentiles in the flesh ... [are] aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." (Ephesians 2:11-12)
Only when they come to God, being reconciled to Him through the blood of the cross of Christ, are they "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." (Ephesians 2:19-20)
It is God's "eternal purpose" (Ephesians 3:11) to "gather together in one all things in Christ," (Ephesians 1:10) and the kingdom of which He is the Head is that of Israel. It is a nation of overcomers. Israel means a prince, (Genesis 32:28) and everyone of the subjects of Christ is a prince, a king. Jesus Christ is King of kings. (Revelation 17:14) All His subjects have high rank. There are no "mean persons" in all His dominions.
The God of the Gentiles Also
From this chapter we learn that God was as solicitous for the salvation of the Gentiles in the days of Isaiah as He is today. There was never a time when God was exclusive, shutting himself up to a particular class. He was the God of the Gentiles then as well as now. "Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith." (Romans 3:29-30)
And He is the God of the Jews today as much as He was then, for He has not cast off His people. The text says, "my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people," (Isaiah 56:7) and these are the words that Jesus quoted when He cleared the temple of the buyers and sellers. "And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but you have made it a den of thieves." (Mark 11:17)
Therefore we find that never was the temple designed by the Lord exclusively for the people called Jews. It was never the design of God that any person should be deprived of the privileges of His sanctuary. The wall separating the "court of the Gentiles" from the sanctuary proper, where the Jews were permitted to enter, was the "middle wall of partition" (Ephesians 2:14) which the Jews themselves, in their selfish pride, had erected.
Gathering the Gentiles to Israel Jesus said: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd." (John 10:16)
This is exactly the same thing that is stated in our lesson. "The Lord God which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those that are gathered to him." (Isaiah 56:8)
And this also is the same thing that was stated by James at the meeting of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem: "Simeon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says the Lord, who does all these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." (Acts 15:14-18)
The Lord is the same from the beginning, and His works are always the same. He works no differently in the closing part of the Gospel from what He did in the beginning. He called Abraham when he was but one, (Isaiah 51:2) and took him from among the heathen. "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many." (Isaiah 51:2,RV) "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac." (Joshua 24:2-3)
All along in the history of Israel He kept adding to them from among the heathen, as in the case of the harlot Rahab, and Ruth the Moabitess, both of whom are among the ancestors of Christ after the flesh. God also sent prophets to the Gentiles, as in the case of Jonah, warning them to repent; and one prophet, Jeremiah, was even before his birth ordained to be a prophet to the Gentiles. "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)
The word "nations" is exactly the same that is rendered elsewhere "heathen" or "Gentiles." In the Bible, "nations," "heathen," and "Gentiles," are all the same. Israel was begun by the calling of one from among the heathen; it was built up by the calling of others, in spite of the prejudices of those who did not understand the plan of the Lord, and who wished to make Him as exclusive as they were; and the promise still is, "Yet will I gather others to Israel, to those of Israel who are already gathered." (Isaiah 56:8,RV)
And when all have been gathered out, through the preaching of the Gospel, there will then be but one nation in all the earth, for the word of the Lord is, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish." (Isaiah 60:12) "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name One." (Zechariah 14:9)
The people who are thus gathered to Israel will all be Sabbath keepers. The characteristic of that nation will be that every individual will keep the truth, the law of God. It will be established in righteousness. "In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you." (Isaiah 54:14)
Of those who obey the message, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," (Revelation 14:7) which is the message set forth in this chapter, it is said, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12)
There are glorious promises to those Gentiles who keep the Sabbath of the Lord in spirit and in truth, and who by their faith and trust in Christ become members of God's household, the commonwealth of Israel. (Ephesians 2:10-22) Who will accept the whole Gospel, and not be content with man's narrow perversion of it?
Perils of the Last Days
The last days are to be perilous, because "Men shall be lovers of their own selves, ... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2 Timothy 3:2,4-5)
The prophecy before us, like to many others in the Bible, warns us that in the church of God, among those who have been set to be watchmen, to feed the flock of God, and to give warning of danger, there will be those who will feed themselves rather than the flock, and will feed upon the flock. "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:28-30) "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them." (Ezekiel 34:2-6)
Men's hearts will be "overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, ... and so the day of the Lord will come upon them unawares." (Luke 21:34)
Eating and drinking will be the snare of the last days. Not that people should not eat and drink; that is a necessity of nature, and is designed by God to be the great means by which He is recognized and glorified. In the preceding chapter God calls men to "eat that which is good;" (Isaiah 55:2) but the trouble is that men have perverted the good gifts of God, and as their table has become a snare to them, they have been overcome with a spirit of slumber. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6)
This chapter is given to us as a warning; shall we not heed it?--Present Truth, April 19, 1900--Isaiah 56:1-12.