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743. Bible Study: Isaiah 56 (Sabbath emphasized; Stay connected to God) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 56 from the book of Isaiah.
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  First, let's pray, Dear God, please be with us and give us
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  wisdom and insight and let us be open to the words that you've
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  given your prophet Isaiah and so that we can apply them to our
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  lives and have a deeper understanding and appreciation
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  for you. We ask for this in Jesus name.
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  This is what the Lord says, maintain justice and do what is
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  right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness
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  will soon be revealed. So I, I think this was obviously
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  something that Isaiah was speaking to the people who were
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  going to be going into captivity and it had an immediate bit of
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  encouragement to it, but it also had a long term implication.
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  Like I see this with an eternal perspective because when it says
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  my salvation is close at hand in the book of Peter, he says like
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  for the a day is like 1000 years to the Lord and 1000 years is
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  like a day. And then it also states in
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  Scripture that God is not slow, but he's patient.
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  He's not slow in returning, but he's patient in his in this long
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  time that we've experienced for us because he wants everyone to
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  come to salvation. And so it says in my
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  righteousness will soon be revealed.
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  And I, I look at this like an eternal perspective and when
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  Jesus the salvation is close at hand, a couple things.
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  Jesus dying on the cross. I mean, that was the first part.
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  That was what made salvation possible, was Jesus death on the
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  cross. And then ultimately it, it will
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  be when Jesus returns to gather his people and to bring them
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  into God's Kingdom. So I think there's a, there's
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  all these, that's the way this prophecy really works is that
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  there are almost multiple fulfillments of this and things
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  that keep every generation looking forward to the eventual
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  arrival of the Kingdom of God. So blessed is the one who does
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  this, the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath
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  without desecrating it and keeps their hands from doing any evil.
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  So this says that there is a blessing for the person who
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  keeps the Sabbath, which is the 7th day of the week.
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  And it's the day that the Lord set aside for to keep it holy,
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  to acknowledge him, to recognize him.
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  And I think that was one of the things that people needed to be
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  reminded of is idolatry, to not have anything become more
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  important in their life. And maybe because of our sinful
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  nature, we needed this reminder on a weekly basis that put
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  everything in perspective. Everything you have, everything
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  you receive is from God. And don't forget God in the
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  process. Don't get so busy with life that
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  you forget God and fall away from him.
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  And I think that's what the Sabbath truly is about, is about
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  recognizing God for who he is, paying attention to it,
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  reflecting on it, keeping connected to God on at a minimum
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  a weekly basis. And also Jesus said it wasn't an
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  obligation. It was, it said, you know, that
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  man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was
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  made for man. And then Jesus is the Lord of
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  the Sabbath. So those were a couple different
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  things that he said. So he's overseas.
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  The Sabbath day, the Sabbath day is a day of rest to rest from
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  work. So we should be relaxing and
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  reflecting on God like that is our time to be thankful for
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  everything we've been given, be thankful for all the things that
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  God has done for us, and to always do this, like every week
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  at a minimum, to stay connected to God.
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  And if you think about that, that's what relationships
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  require, right? I mean, there needs to be
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  communication. If you have no communication,
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  how long is that relationship going to last?
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  It you know it, you could come back to it, but you're not going
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  to have that deep relationship if you are not speaking to one
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  another. So if we are not talking to God,
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  we're not going to have a deep relationship with him.
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  We're going to be pretty distant.
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  And when Jesus returns, we don't really want him to say depart
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  from me. I never knew you.
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  So if we're not communicating with him regularly, do we run
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  the risk of that, that we are not, you know, keeping our eyes
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  focused on him? And again, Jesus is the Lord of
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  the Sabbath, so that's another thing.
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  And a day of rest. So Jesus's death on the cross is
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  ultimately what the Sabbath brings.
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  Rest from the work that was required.
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  All of the different laws that the Israelites had to obey were
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  basically, you know, that made them fail.
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  It just proved to humanity that no one is able to keep up with
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  all of the laws. Like because of our sin nature,
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  because of the corruption, we are not able to do what God puts
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  in front of us. So God saved us with His own Son
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  because He became the sacrificial lamb, the symbolic
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  lamb who was required to die for us so that God allowed a life
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  for a life, a substitute life and a perfect life which could
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  who could atone for all humanity.
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  So Jesus is the final sacrifice. He gave us a a day of rest.
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  I mean, like, this is everything turns out in the Bible that it
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  all points to Jesus. Just like if Jesus is the Lord
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  of the Sabbath, that means he's very connected to the Sabbath.
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  So maybe that could be why God wanted everybody to remember the
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  Sabbath, the day of rest, because that's what Jesus would
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  bring. So ultimately he's pointing us
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  to Jesus and saying, you know, this is who I'm talking about.
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  It's just I see the Sabbath repeated several times in this
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  chapter 56. So let no foreigner who is bound
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  to the Lord say, the Lord will surely exclude me from his
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  people, and let no eunuch complain.
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  I am only a dry tree. For this is what the Lord says
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  to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what
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  pleases me and hold fast to my covenant.
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  To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial
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  and a name better than sons and daughters.
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  I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
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  So there's something about doing what pleases God, and again, we
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  have to remember it. See, the obedience thing really
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  ties into this. Because Jesus says if you love
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  me, obey my commands. So we can't get away from from
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  obedience. We can't be disobedient.
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  And so I, I don't know what I was actually trying to say
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  there, but there is a reward that God has.
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  It's very clear that there is for what people do in in their
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  lives, even if they aren't in a perfect situation like a eunuch
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  is or but if they keep his Sabbaths and choose what please
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  and hold fast to my covenant, there's a reward for that.
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  So and foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord, to
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  minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his
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  servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it.
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  Is that just because we are those who keep the Sabbath are
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  recognizing God and reflecting God on a regular basis perhaps,
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  and who hold fast to my covenant.
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  You know, the other thing is work can become idolatry to us
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  as well. We can get so wrapped up in our
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  work. You know, there are things like
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  people are workaholics where you can just get so focused on what
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  work would bring you. If you're looking for success or
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  material things or recognition, you can get so wrapped up into
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  work that that can become an idol that can become more
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  important than God. So even something that, you
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  know, there's one extreme where people don't even want to work
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  at all, but then there's another extreme where people will work
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  because that's their identity. And we have be careful and
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  protect ourselves from that because God should be our
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  priority. So we need to stop, we need to
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  cease the work and take a day of rest and focus on God and be
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  grateful to God. And because of Jesus being the
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  new covenant, then I think we, it's clear it's a, there's a
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  good resource that's going to do a lot better explanation than I
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  about the Sabbath day. If you go to a website, they
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  even have an app to got questions, gotquestions.org.
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  And then you can put in Sabbath and then get all of these
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  different articles and scripture references about the Sabbath
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  because the Sabbath is obviously very important or God wouldn't
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  have put it on the lips of Isaiah to speak about it.
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  And it's very much tied to Jesus as well.
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  So again, here we are in another chapter and it's pointing us to
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  Jesus. But I think it's good to go
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  there if you have questions about the Sabbath because it
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  seems like this is something that's kind of being emphasized
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  here. Like this is one of those
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  benchmarkers. It says so all those who keep
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  the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold fast to My
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  covenant. These I will bring to My holy
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  mountain and give them joy in My House of prayer.
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  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on
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  My altar, for My house will be called a House of prayer for all
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  nations. We hear a lot about that right
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  now. There is, you know, this Third
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  Temple discussion right now in the world, and it's been talked
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  about for a long time. Israel's very ready for it, and
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  we'll see if we're getting close to that actually happening.
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  But it is supposed to be called a House of prayer for all
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  nations, all nations honoring the one true God.
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  So there might be some confusion when we start saying that
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  there's going to be all these different religions worshipping
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  God. It's not all the same God.
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  Because the problem with all the religions is that they don't
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  recognize Jesus. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
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  So if you exclude Jesus, that's not the intention behind this.
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  So we'll have to see what happens, but the sovereign Lord
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  declares he who gathers the Exiles of Israel, I will still,
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  I will gather still others to them besides those already
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  gathered. So this is going to be like
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  there will be people from all nations eventually in God's
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  Kingdom, but they're all going to worship the one true God and
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  the Son of God and the Son of God will be the one that'll be
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  king over all. And it will be a a wonderful
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  time ahead. But before we get there, there's
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  going to be some very severe times that we go through.
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  If we are alive, we will be going through that or a portion
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  of that. But just as Jesus said that to
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  put your faith in him because he has overcome the world.
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  So in this world we will have trouble, we will have trouble,
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  tribulation, but to He has overcome it.
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  So we put our faith and trust in Him and we look towards eternity
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  and not towards our immediate circumstances if we are
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  experiencing trials, troubles and tribulation.
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  Now there's another part of this that talks about the wicked, and
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  now we're getting to that. Come all you beast of the field,
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  Come and devour all you beast of the forest.
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  Israel's Watchmen are blind. They all lack knowledge.
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  They are all mute dogs. They cannot bark.
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  They lie around and dream. They love to sleep.
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  They are dogs with mighty appetites.
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  They never have enough. They are shepherds who lack
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  understanding. They all turn to their own way.
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  They seek their own gain. Come, each one cries.
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  Let me get wine, let us drink our fill of beer and tomorrow
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  will will be like today are far even better.
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  So I mean, that's the end of it. So this is kind of that foolish
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  optimism and that also that attitude of you only live once,
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  like let's just celebrate for the day, make it a wild and
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  crazy and fun day and you only live once with that kind of
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  attitude. If you're not doing things in
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  accordance with with what God says is righteous, then it is
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  very foolish and you want to be prepared because Scripture does
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  say that as in the days of Noah. So it will be when Jesus returns
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  and people will be eating and drinking and being given in
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  marriage and life will be going on.
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  So it's you don't want Jesus's return to happen at a time where
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  you are not putting him first. You are not putting God first
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  and you are falling away from God and you're celebrating like
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  the world in an attitude that's you only live once and you're
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  not living righteously because Jesus will say, depart from me.
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  I never knew you. So it's very important that
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  people wake up and there aren't there are certainly if you want
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  to call it Watchmen now that are warning people, but it also
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  there's a lot of people who are not even churches and those are
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  the shepherds who are not warning people about being
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  prepared. We should always be prepared
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  because you never know when our lives will go when God says your
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  time's up or when we don't know when Jesus will return either.
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  And so if we are we're not prepared, then we could have bad
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  consequences as a result of that.
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  So I'm going to read through the questions and answers for the
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  study guide and then we'll conclude this.
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  This will be a short 1. So why give observance of
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  Sabbath such importance? In Hebrew law, moral
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  requirements such as not committing murder are found
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  alongside ritual requirements such as keeping the Sabbath.
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  Isaiah referred to both here. He expected the people to uphold
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  the moral code, to maintain justice and do what is right, as
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  well as to keep the religious rituals the Sabbath.
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  What will God do for the foreigners in the eunuchs?
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  These verses look forward to the magnitude of God's offer of
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  salvation. Outcasts such as foreigners and
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  eunuchs will not be rejected in this new era ushered in by the
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  servant of the Lord. Neither eunuchs nor foreigners
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  could change themselves physically, but that wouldn't
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  matter. Faithfulness to the Lord
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  expressed by quote. Keeping the Sabbath will give
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  them a secure place in God's quote temple and joy in His
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  quote House of prayer. What does God's holy mountain
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  refer to? This refers to Jerusalem,
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  specifically Mount Zion, where the temple was located.
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  God promised that those who had formerly been excluded would be
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  given access to Him. The court of the Gentiles was a
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  kind of symbol and foreshadowing of this, and it was from there
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  that Jesus expelled the merchants, quoting the last part
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  of this verse. And then who were Israel's
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  Watchmen? The Watchmen of Israel were
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  especially the prophets, those who those called to see what was
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  coming and prepare the people for it.
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  But since Isaiah associated them with shepherds, a common
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  metaphor for political rulers, he likely had the entire lead.
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  He likely had the entire leadership of the nation in
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  mind. Sadly, these leaders were
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  spiritually blind and mute, and they sought their own gain
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  rather than feeding God's flock. So that concludes chapter 56.
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  We will come back to 57 next time.
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  Hope you join.