Sermon Tone Analysis

Isaiah 56:1-8; 61:1-3; 66:17-24.

! Introduction

            Several years ago, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.

We had a back yard open house.

We had a great time with friends, family and people from the church.

At one point in the afternoon, the people from our church presented us with this.

It was a gift that was much more than we expected.

They had worked hard at making the quilt and had thought of us when they made it.

Have you ever received far more than you expected?

Perhaps you were expecting one baby and got twins, perhaps you were expecting 35 bushels an acre and got 45.

Perhaps you were expecting socks and underwear for Christmas and you got an item that you had not even dared hope for.

When we get less than expected, we are disappointed.

We are content when we get what we expect, but how wonderful it is when we get far more than we expect.

You have been studying Isaiah and have learned about the words of God which Isaiah speaks to Israel at a time when they were about to be destroyed for their wickedness.

In the context of warnings there are many words of promise which encourage the people that God is not abandoning them, but will restore them.

This morning, we will see how the promises of restoration that God gave to the people are far greater than the people would ever have expected.

The promises extended not only to the restoration of Israel, the people of God, but to all nations.

The key verse from the various passages we will look at today is Isaiah 56:7 - “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

We will also see how these promises have implications for us.

!

I. Background

It isn’t that many years ago that traveling in the southern United States would have allowed you to observe how restricted it was for African Americans.

At that time, there were signs all over the place reserving all the best places for “whites only.”

If you were black or coloured, you could not enter.

To understand the promise of restoration, we need to understand the background of the understanding of the people of that time.

At this time and even at the time of Jesus, there were a lot of “signs” up in Israel which said, “Jews only” and “perfection only.”

Their religion was filled with exclusions.

The laws of exclusion communicated the difficulty of access to God.

It was not good enough that you wanted to meet with God, the religious system, supported by the Old Testament laws, restricted access to God.

For example, in Deuteronomy 23:1 we read, “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.”

In other words a neutered male or a eunuch, whether made so by accident or on purpose, could not go into the presence of God in the temple because he was not whole.

Of course this exclusiveness is seen most clearly in the call to Israel to be the people of God.

They understood that they were the people who had been chosen by God for an exclusive relationship with God.

In Exodus 19:5,6 it says, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.

Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’”

When they entered the promised land, they were told to destroy all the nations around them.

Leviticus 20:23,24 says, “You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you.

Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.”

The exclusiveness of access to God extended to the next level in that not even every Israelite had full access to God.

Only the priests, and even they within limits, could come into the presence of God.

They had to be Levites, Deuteronomy 10:8, of a certain age, Numbers 8:24,25 and having no defect Leviticus 21:21.

When we get to the time of Jesus, this kind of thinking was deeply engrained in the Jewish people and we see it in various attitudes expressed by the people in Jesus time.

The truth of such an exclusive attitude is well expressed by Paul in Ephesians 2:11-13, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

!

II.

Promise

This summer, we had the privilege of visiting the Goddard Space Flight Center in Annapolis, Maryland.

They offer tours and anyone can go on a tour and see the museum and various areas of the center and learn about how they send satellites into space.

We went with my uncle and aunt and he was an electrical engineer at Goddard for many years and continues to have a keen interest in space flight.

Because he was an insider, we were able to go to a few places where not every tourist will go and were given information which not every tour guide is aware of.

We enjoyed the privilege of access.

Isaiah gives the people of Israel a promise of restoration which speaks about an access that is much greater than anything the people of Israel had expected.

!! A. Eunuchs

            In Isaiah 56:1-8, Isaiah speaks about eunuchs.

According to what we read earlier in Deuteronomy, eunuchs would have been restricted from access to God.

They could not “enter the assembly of the Lord.”

I do not know why he speaks particularly about eunuchs.

Perhaps it would be that some would be forced to become eunuchs in order to serve foreign kings or in the houses of foreign lords.

Such men would not only have suffered the loss of the ability to have children, but would also have lost access to God - through no fault of their own.

But look at the promise of restoration which God gives to these people.

To the eunuchs…I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.”

One of the great blessings of life is having children.

In many cultures, and certainly in the Jewish culture at that time, having children was a way of extending your name to future generations.

The promise of God’s restoration was that He would accept these eunuchs and bless them in ways even better than having children.

They would be given a name that would not be cut off.

The promise is speaking the language of the people, a language which is intended to communicate God’s grace, acceptance and inclusiveness rather than the exclusiveness they expected.

God is giving them much more than they expected.

!! B. Foreigners

            The promise of restoration also extends to foreign nations.

In 56:1-8, there is also a great promise of inclusion.

In 56:3 we read, “Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.””

In 56:7 we read our theme verse, “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

This promise had already been made previously.

When God came to Abraham, he told him in Genesis 12:2, “all nations will be blessed through you.”

In many passages in Isaiah this theme comes out clearly.

In Isaiah 49:1-7 - esp. vs. 6 - it is too small a thing for you to be my servant, I will make you a light to the Gentiles…” Isaiah 52:10 - All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 60:1ff.

- nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn” and so on.

Once again we see how God reverses exclusiveness and promises something far greater than they expected.

!! C. Outcasts

            If you turn over to Isaiah 61:1-3 we see further words which extend that inclusiveness and make a broad and welcoming invitation.

There we read, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

Again we see grace instead of law and inclusion instead of exclusion.

!! C. Priests and Levites

            Then turning over to chapter 66, where we see another illustration of the inclusive invitation that comes from God as he promises to restore his people.

Remember that earlier we noted the exclusive nature of the Israelite priesthood by which only Levites, of certain families and certain qualifications had this special privilege.

In chapter 66:21 we have a surprising promise when we read, “And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD.”

The people he is speaking of here is those who come to God from among the nations.

In other words, not only will others in Israel be priests, but those from among the Gentiles.

The calling to priesthood goes way beyond the narrow limits which had been set earlier.

So we see how much greater is the promise of God’s restoration of a broken and rebellious people than what could ever have been expected.

Not only will Israel be restored, but the Gentiles and the weak and the defiled and the broken will all be brought in as well.

Furthermore, even those who could never imagine that they would be priests, will also have that opportunity.

God’s promise of restoration is far greater than any in Israel could have imagined!

If we adequately understand the exclusive background which I spoke about before, then we will also understand the radical nature of these promises and what a wonderful message they communicate to all the world about God’s desire to restore all of his creation.

!! D.

Not Universalism

            As we read these promises and notice the welcome which is extended to all nations, it might cause us a little bit of concern that the invitation is a little too broad and smacks of universalism.