Gathered In (Isa 56:8)

Let us Pray: Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the love You have shown us, both in Your promises and Your integrity to keep those promises. Today, as we study what Your Son Jesus told the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, please send the Holy Spirit so that we realize that the word sent to Isaiah 2700yrs ago, is the same word that applies to us. We pray this through Your faithful Son Jesus, who is the Word made into flesh, and who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Setting: The prophet Isaiah had a long history of prophesying. He was based in Jerusalem and was somehow part of the king’s court from 740-681BC. That’s a 61yr history of periodically receiving the Lord’s word and conveying His word to the people of Jerusalem, Judah, and into the Northern Kingdom. I’m only 65, and so I stand in awe of how long Isaiah was in service!
- He prophesied in the same era with minor prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Each was calling the Israelites to repent from their evil ways. Probably the single-most indicative statement about how God saw the Israelites were acting is from Isaiah 29:13, …“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[1] It’s downright insulting to our Lord to go through the motions of worship without having any personal meaning behind those words and motions. This is why it’s a good idea to change our order of worship periodically, while retaining every element of proper worship of our Lord, so that we don’t just go through the motions.
- Biblical scholars have thought the book of Isaiah is more like 2-3 volumes. They based their theory on the changing content and focus of Isaiah over the course of those 61yrs in which he wrote. But one thought is universally held; this book could easily be referred to as an Old Testament (OT) Gospel.
  - The portion of ch#56 that served as our OT reading for today is a good example of a Gospel message intended for God’s chosen people, the Israelites. However, the Gospel doesn’t stop with them, because God wasn’t only thinking of the Israelites. He also had in mind foreigners as Isaiah recorded. We know those “foreigners” to be the Gentiles of all ages – including us today. Just about every prophecy recorded in the OT had both a short-term and long-term prophecy in scope. Additionally, the calls to repentance, delivered to God’s people of the OT, also apply to generations of God’s people up to today and beyond.
Profane the Name: For instance, just a little bit up the page from our text, God takes seriously keeping the sabbath. We read from Isa 56:2 - “How blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”[2] You might say, “we don’t have a sabbath day as Christians.” This is true, but we, as God’s people, still nonetheless want to reserve one day of seven days in a week, to specifically devote to pausing from whatever we normally do and receive the blessings of God’s Word and Sacraments. That day of the week for Christians is normally Sunday. Sunday is the first day of a new week, because it is a celebration of the day when Jesus rose from the dead.
- So, it is quite possible for us today to profane the Sabbath, now known as the Lord’s Day, by not keeping it holy. To profane something (Lord’s Day included) is the opposite of keeping it holy. The clearest demand from our Lord to make holy versus profane is found in Lev 10:10 - …make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean.[3]
  - If you’re like me, you memorized the 3rd Commandment in the King James language - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Thou shalt sanctify the holy day.)[4] To sanctify something is to make it holy. Martin Luther gave us some guidance in the Large Catechism, on how to sanctify one day of each week:
    - At whatever time God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or pondered, there the person, the day, and the work is hallowed, not on account of the external work, but on account of the Word that makes us all saints. Note, then, that the power and force of [the 3rd] commandment consists not in the resting but in the hallowing, so that this day may have its special holy function.[5]
  - By coming to Bible class and church on the first day of each week, you are receiving and contemplating God’s Word. And so, what Jesus said to His disciples also applies to us, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”[6] It’s the word of God which cleanses us profane sinners into holy children of God. And God was saying through Isaiah that we should always make the Lord’s Day holy, and not profane it by neglecting His word and forgetting about doing what His word says.
Short-term prophesy: I mentioned a moment ago that OT prophecies have both a short-term and long-term intent behind them. I’ve always found incredible this example from Isaiah. God prophesied through Isaiah that there would one day be a king who would gather together God’s exiled people back into the Promised Land of Israel. Additionally, He also named the king who would do this! We see this prophesy in two places of Isaiah; in Isa 44:28 and 45:1. About 170yrs after this prophecy, there was a man named Cyrus who became king of Persia. It was under Cyrus that the Judahites, that is those who were the remnant of Israel, would be allowed to return to their homeland.[7] The OT book of Ezra documents the return of the temple worship items and a group of people from modern day Iran to Jerusalem. These people were the “dispersed of Israel” Isaiah and another prophet, Jeremiah, prophesied about.[8]
Long-term prophesy: You might think 170yrs is not so short of a time to be fulfilled. Admittedly this is true, because there were prophecies fulfilled in a shorter amount of time. But in the grand scheme of the entire span of history, 170yrs is comparatively short. So, here’s an example of a long-term prophecy given in Isa 56:6 - “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant.”[9] Anyone hearing this prophecy in Isaiah’s time had to be wondering who these “foreigners” were. There were limited places where Gentiles could go in the temple that Solomon built. There were places where only men were allowed in. And still other places were off-limits to everyone except the priests.
- Who were these “foreigners” that God would allow them to minister to Him? It would profane the temple if any old foreigner came in. In fact, we see this concern centuries later when the Apostle Paul entered the temple with four men who were thought to be Gentiles. It’s this concern that started a riot in Jerusalem, … “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man [Paul] who preaches to all men everywhere against our people, and the Law, and this place [the temple]; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”[10] The ensuing riot was so fierce that Roman soldiers had to break up the crowd. How could foreigners keep the Sabbath without profaning it?
- Our Epistle reading for today skipped over a concept the Apostle Paul wrote in a metaphor about an olive tree and its branches. The tree is God’s chosen people. The root is Jesus. The original branches of the tree are the Israelites. God the Father broke off branches that were not bearing fruit. In their place were branches grafted in. Those branches grafted in were believing Gentiles.[11]
  - This concept of God the Father being a gardener and Jesus being the root was earlier spoken of by Jesus in John ch#15. Jesus was the vine (John 15:4) and the Father did the pruning (John 15:2). These metaphors are not only describing gardening functions associated with members of the Trinity, they’re also describing how both Jews and Gentiles are being included into the kingdom of our Lord.
- There are no foreigners in God’s kingdom. He knows everyone personally – by name. He knows who is hearing the Word of God and applying it, because the Holy Spirit is in the heart and soul of each branch grafted onto the tree. And the root is supporting the tree, not the other way around. The root knows how to care for the grafted in branches as well as the naturally grown branches. Therefore, I ask again; who are these foreigners of v6? Us! We were foreigners Isaiah wrote of in prophecy.
- This brings us to our verse of the day from Isa 56:8 - The Lord Yahweh, the one gathering Israel's dispersed ones, said, "I will still gather [others] upon [my mountain] besides its ones already gathered."[12] Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah all were prophesying to Israelites. They may or may not have understood who the foreigners were. And it probably didn’t matter to them, because their main focus was to call the Israelites to repentance from their evil thoughts, words, and deeds. It’s worth noting that in John 10:16, Jesus is quoted as making a similar statement to our verse of today. He said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.[13]
- It may have seemed odd in our Gospel reading today that Jesus would be so rude to a woman who came to Him urgently seeking His help. At first, He didn’t even bother to respond to her pleadings. The disciples wanted to shoo her away. Jesus then tells her He was only seeking the lost sheep of Israel. Then, adding what can only be an insult, He implies she is a dog! Jews at the time considered Gentiles as dogs. Even so, she persisted, because she believed Jesus was the Son of God and was the only person who could help her daughter. What did Jesus ultimately say to her? “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.”[14] And this foreigner woman’s daughter was healed that very hour.
Implications: I hope I’ve painted a clear enough picture for you that we are the foreigners of Isa ch#56, and that the prophecy of being gathered onto God’s holy mountain has not yet occurred. This prophecy will be accomplished when Jesus is sent to us a 2nd and final time to harvest the earth.[15] And so, the long-term prophecy includes you & me! We are the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit who builds faith in us to believe the unbelievable.
- I haven’t touched on v7 of our text, so in our final moments, let’s look at that briefly. I mentioned earlier that Gentiles were not allowed beyond a certain point on the temple grounds. That area is what God indicated through Isaiah as the “house of prayer”[16]. Centuries later, when Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, He tossed them out of the area where the Gentiles were allowed to come and pray. How could they come and pray when all the space was taken up by people getting rich off from pilgrims coming from all regions to purchase an animal for Passover? Jesus witnessed the Gentiles, those foreigners, getting crowded out of what should have been a house of prayer.[17] With zeal, He threw everyone out of the house of prayer area, because they made it a den of robbers.[18] Already early in Jesus’ 3yr ministry[19], He showed His love for us Gentiles by providing us a place where we could come and speak to Him in prayer.
- Both Old and New Testament era followers of Jesus will be gathered when He returns.[20] As sinful as we have been, we on our own merits don’t stand a prayer of being gathered in. But what is equally true of us, is that we are those who hold fast to God’s covenant. That’s because we are the foreigners who the writer to the Hebrews had in mind when he quoted Jeremiah 31:34 - “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”[21] Jesus took away our sins and nailed them to the cross. Therefore, there are no sins for the Father to see that would profane His holy place! Jesus is the sin offering that ended all requirements for sin offerings.[22] You’re eternally allowed into His house of prayer. There’s nothing to prevent you from coming in.
- What then should we be doing while we await entry into His holy place? The writer to the Hebrews has sagely advice - 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while,
  He who is coming will come, and will not delay.[23] All I can add to that is a plea to come, Lord Jesus, come! Amen.

[1] Isa 29:13 from NIV11 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/isa/29/13/t_concl_708013

[2] Isa 56:2 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/isa/56/2/t_concl_735002

[3] Lev 10:10 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/lev/10/10/t_concl_100010

[5] Luther, Martin, as translated and edited by Kolb, Robert and Wengert, Timothy J, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2000, p.399

[6] John 15:3 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/jhn/15/3/t_conc_1012003

[7] Reference Eza 1:2-4

[8] Reference Jer 50:17

[9] Isa 56:6 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/isa/56/6/t_concl_735006

[10] Act 21:28 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/act/21/28/t_conc_1039028

[11] Metaphor of Rom 11:17-24

[12] Original translation from Isa 56:8 of the Septuagint at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/isa/56/8/t_concl_735008

[13] John 10:16 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/jhn/10/16/t_conc_1007016

[14] Mat 15:28 from NASB95 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/mat/15/28/t_conc_944028

[15] Reference Mat 24:35-36

[16] Reference Isa 56:7

[17] Reference Mat 21:13a