Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
[1] Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my righteousness be revealed.
[6] “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
[7] these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
[8] The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
The Gospel is all promise, all our Lord’s doing, His giving, His working. Another way to see His promise or His Gospel of all sins forgiven in Christ alone, is to see that it is 100% God’s action, in other words is it always God who is “doing the doing” so to speak in all of our salvation. He gathers, calls, forgives, keeps, and is ALWAYs the God who saves.
At the same time there are often times where it seems that He is not acting in ways we can understand with our rational thought, things don’t make sense to us, and His timing is not what we can understand or even expect. This holds true with both when God acts in giving His gifts, or confirming His promise, as well as to whom and for whom God acts in giving His gifts.
There’s also our wrongful and sinful determination of who His gifts or promise is for. Is it one group of people, one type of person, just the “good guys”, those who are born into “Christian” homes, just the homeschoolers, just those of a certain economic status, those of certain ethnicities, those belonging to certain political parties, those in certain countries or even just the “good” people in our families, neighborhoods and cities versus the really bad people out there. Surely, we’re tempted to think, the promise of the forgiveness of all sin isn’t for the people doing THOSE things or involved in THOSE groups.
It is no different for the ethnic Israelites, whether it be during Isaiah’s time of being a prophet, during the exile and divided kingdom, where they had been taken captive by evil nations and were surrounded by awful idolatrous nations who hated their God, cursed their God and practiced all kinds of evil in the site of both God and man. Surely, it’s not for the Canaanite woman who lives in a sinful and idolatrous community who teach all kinds of blasphemous things.
WE might even consider the prophet Jonah, and the awful Ninevites, those who deserved to be annihilated for their evil and sin, to whom God sent the prophet Jonah to preach of the gift of repentance and faith in Yahweh’s promise to forgive, despite Jonah absolutely NOT wanting to preach to them. They were awful, enemies and definitely didn’t deserve to be forgiven.
Yet, it’s in this context that our texts today, each one of them speaks. The OT, Epistle and Gospel texts speak of a God who pursues, saves and loves people that others think unlovable. He forgives and delivers those considered unforgivable. Showing us once again that that our Lord comes for sinners, for the sick, for the idolator, for the blasphemer, for those who we may be tempted to label as beyond hope. THIS is who He loves, forgives and even uses to build His kingdom and give His amazing gifts and Promise. In fact, from Adam and Eve forward this is how God works and redeems those lost, those who don’t seek Him, but rather He saves and blesses those who are His enemies.
In Isaiah 56 he tells us:
“these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
[8] The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.” (Is. 56:7-8)
And Who are THESE that Isaiah speaks of:
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,”
Here we have the scope of who it is for whom the Lord has come, to call and gather to His Name. The Hebrew word here we have translated into English “joined” isn’t referring to their decision to be joined, or their choosing, but rather to those having been joined to the Lord, having been gathered, or brought to the Lord, being made by God His people.
This is also how the Lord has come to you, who were born into sin, guilty as charged, but the Good Shepherd who has laid down His life for the sheep, has laid down His life on a cross for you, and washed you completely clean by His very blood. Having been repented, baptized in the Name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. AS Paul tells us in the letter to the church in Ephesus
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Our Lord gives His promise of sins forgiven to those who haven’t heard it, to “all nations” as He told His disciples, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. He gives His gifts to those where were once “not a people” but now, He brings a preacher, one to proclaim this good news in His name, in the power of the Holy Spirit gathering Jew, Gentile and all sinners to Himself to make a holy nation, a royal priesthood.
This is the way the Gospel works, not according human devising or grouping, but our Lord will build His church, Jesus said, and the gates of hell itself will not prevail against His promises. His building and gathering His people, to forgive their sin and be their God.
So, there is real hope for the sinner, the doubter, the idolater, the atheist, the agnostic, and even the self-righteous religious fundamentalist. Jesus has been crucified for all, for the whole world. We wait and pray in hope for our neighbors, our family members, we commend to our Lord who has given Himself for sinners those who may seem beyond reach in our eyes with, knowing that His promise is both for us and for them. He leaves the 99 sheep to rescue the one. The life of faith, the new man in Christ rejoices in this and extols the only Name under heaven by which we are saved .
Faith believes in the Promise of Yes, even when we currently see NO.
Faith receives the promise, receives and extols His gifts, trusts in His Name, and believes that He will deliver, save and cleanse sinners. Faith hopes and looks to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith who has accomplished our salvation, not generally or generically, but specifically for us. Faith believes the “for you” of the Gospel, the “for you” of the cross. The “for you” of Jesus as Lamb of God who takes away “your” sin.
Faith looks to even the crumbs that fall from the Lord’s table, things that seem to be insignificant, like water, bread, wine, but now have the promise of His Word, and we see by faith all that is being given even in them. For not some of the Gospel is given in baptism, but all of it. Not some of the Gospel is given in the bread and wine, but truly the body and blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?
Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, Amen”
-Rom. 11:35-36
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.