True Sabbath

“This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed. Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. No foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord should say, “The Lord will exclude me from His people”; and the eunuch should not say, “Look, I am a dried-up tree.” For the Lord says this: “For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord minister to Him, love the name of Yahweh and become His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to My covenant — I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” This is the declaration of the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah‬ ‭56‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Loyalty, commitment and personal sacrifice are not ideals that hold much value in our modern society. Most are motivated by what appeals to them in the moment, what satisfies their immediate desire, what makes them happy right now. People abandon their marital vows and family commitments as if they were written in vanishing ink on rice paper, never intended to be kept long term. The average length of first marriages in America is 8 years while the median length is 20 years.

This is also evident in our spiritual and religious lives. As a pastor, one of the things that has always bothered me is the tendency many church members have to change churches when they become dissatisfied with something at their present church. To be fair, many pastors do the same thing. When things get difficult, challenging or attendance isn’t growing at the desired rate at their present church they often feel “called” to a different church. As the old saying goes, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.

As we prepare for this week’s focal passage, I would encourage you to include Isaiah 55:12-13 as you read the passage above. While many scholars feel that chapter 55 begins a new section of Isaiah – and often attribute it to another author – an overview of the entire book clearly indicates the three sections (Isaiah 1-40, 41-55, 56-66) are a unified whole. Isaiah condemns and judges the idolatrous sinful actions of the nation in the first section, then he proclaims the hope, salvation and restoration of the Servant in the second and then calls them to obedient, covenant-keeping, God-glorifying faith in this final section.

Those final verses of chapter 55 describe how creation will respond when God’s people begin to live righteous lives in the saving grace of God’s Servant, the hills will sing, the trees will clap their hands and the thorns and briers will give way to blooming flowers. The Apostle Paul describes the same thing this way: “For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility — not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it — in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭22‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) All of creation groans under the weight of our sin but anticipates the glorious freedom of our complete redemption!

But we often leave that ideal hanging as if it would remain hidden, unseen and inaccessible in our present age. Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls this cheap grace: “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” In other words, the righteousness provided by the Servant in the previous section of our study in Isaiah requires nothing more of us, no obedience, no pursuit of righteous, holy living. While the ideal of Isaiah 55:12-13 and Romans 8:19-22 won’t be fully realized until the end of the age and the return of Christ, it is being realized in those of us who faithfully follow Him, right now.

Listen, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.” God tells us that when the righteousness of the His Servant has been bestowed upon us, then we are expected to live in obedience to His Word. To be “just” is not permission to be judgmental towards others. Only God has that right. To be just means to act like God would towards them, to seek and desire God’s will and way for their life. It means that you don’t take advantage of them in their weakness and poverty or to oppress them when you have power, ability and opportunity to do so.

Then He expounds upon it, “Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” Anyone who properly keeps the Sabbath holy and keeps doing it will truly be a happy man. In case you’re not making the connection, this is EXACTLY what Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. The Beatitudes of Jesus are the embodiment these verses, finding happiness by preserving justice and living right before God. Living just is the fulfillment of obedience to God’s law.

But notice, true happiness is also equated to keeping the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who keeps his hand from doing any evil. We often misunderstand the real meaning behind the command to keep the Sabbath holy. Jesus points out to the Pharisees that God’s intent is not found in their extensive list of Sabbath prohibitions. It would seem pretty clear that Jesus’ reference in Mark 3:4, regarding the healing of the man with the paralyzed hand, is to God’s declaration in Isaiah 56:2. Observing the Sabbath is not fully embodied by a strict observance of the restriction on work. Based on our current passage, the essence of the Sabbath is found in being just towards your fellow man and in doing what is right before God. That’s not only the source of true happiness, it’s also real worship…

Now we get into the practical application of these truths, living out justice and practicing righteousness in our daily lives and through our worship. The foreigner and the eunuch are two examples of people who were specifically excluded from Temple worship. It is extremely important to note, the foreigner and eunuch are included when they join themselves to the LORD, love Him and obey Him. This is in direct contrast to the cultural assumption that true love accepts us as we are and leaves us unchanged. 

God offers redemption to any who will come to Him and fall humbly and repentant before His throne of grace, but He never leaves them in their sin and separation. To hear and heed His call to redemption is also submission to His will, obedience to His word, preservation of  justice and the pursuit of righteousness. While verse 4 addresses the eunuch and verse 6 addresses the foreigner, they are saying the exact same thing. Those who are far from God can draw near to Him through the work of His Servant and find healing, cleansing and restoration (we often call it salvation) when they love, obey and walk with the LORD as He deserves and demands.

Why single out the foreigner and the eunuch for this outpouring of God’s grace? Because they are representative of all men who pursue life on their own terms and live outside of God’s will. The foreigner loves and seeks the favor of false gods and the eunuch defies God’s design by mutilating and deforming his own body. But when they find and love the One True God, they keep His Sabbath, choose what pleases Him, hold firmly to His covenant, join themselves to the LORD (align their lives with Him), minister to Him (worship), love His name and walk with Him as servants. If you’ll read Jesus’ words in Matthew 5-7, you’ll find that they outline these very principles. 

At the end of verse 7, we find these familiar words: “for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” They’re familiar to us because Jesus quotes them in direct response to His encounter with and outrage at the moneychangers in the Temple (see Matt. 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:46, and John 2:15). Jesus was reacting to the way the actions of these men and their sanction by the religious leaders violated the very will and word of God, as stated in our focal passage. When a denomination, a church or its leaders exclude or take advantage of those seeking to know God, love God and pursue obedience to God, then He WILL respond in judgment upon them. 

The stinging whip of Jesus’ anger is intended to purge and restore, but continued disobedience indicates a much, much deeper issue: willful disobedience and rejection of God’s will that accompanies unbelief and a love of self. Take heed, or you will fall.

My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations… 

I want to end our time together with some observations on Sabbath worship. Like those condemned by Jesus, we have a tendency to put religious tradition and cultural values ahead of people who are truly seeking to know God and follow Him. We tend to value those with money and power because we believe those things can benefit us and fulfill our personal desires. But God is very, very clear that a proper understanding of the Sabbath and His will for us will change our view of worship and our response to it. 

Our worship has become so self-focused that we don’t even realize our worship has little or nothing to do with God where we preserve justice and do what is right. We think worship revolves around things that make us feel good about ourselves while it stays on our set schedule and within our prescribed parameters. But God is more pleased with someone who is just and does what is right than He is with someone who never misses a Sunday morning worship but oppresses and takes advantage of his family or employees. 

Have you ever considered that the essence of the Sabbath is to provide a time of rest for the common man when he can stop his work for one day and focus his attention on God? When a woman can put aside her never-ending tasks and consider God’s love for her? He gives us the chance to silence the noise, turn off the incessant social media, put away the distractions and entertainment and listen for God’s voice. He demands a time when all of those things that control, oppress and deprive us of justice will stop for 24 hours and let us pursue what truly makes us all equal before Him who will set all things right.

So, true worship is not singing a favorite chorus or hymn when our lives are missing these things. Real prayer is not composed of the right words if it is devoid of a humble spirit and righteous living. And real worship does not flow out of a dynamic sermon when it is delivered by a sexually deviant and controlling pastor. God desires to gather “still others” into His family, but those of us who claim His name must recognize that our actions reflect our true beliefs. 

If we want God’s blessings, we must fall before Him in humility, contrition, repentance and confession and then get up and walk by faith in obedience to His word and clothed in His righteousness alone.