Isaiah 56:6 says, Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; God then begin to talk about the sons of strangers that came to live by faith in His word. People of the world may be strangers to us as Christians today, but if they come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, then they are no longer a stranger, but are servants of Jesus Christ, and our brother or sister through their faith in Him.
Verse seven adds, Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. God continued by saying that the stranger, or non-Jew, who put their faith in Him would be brought by Him to His holy mountain and join in genuine worship of Him. We may not like certain people based on any number of reasons, but if they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, then they are a part of God’s kingdom forever, and we as Christians need to start viewing them not as strangers but as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Verse eight continues, The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. Isaiah continued by saying that God would not only gather the Jews who had been cast out of the land of Israel and Jerusalem, but He would gather others also. God’s plan was always to offer salvation to everyone and not just to the Jews. They were simply the ones that He was going to work through to reach the whole world, but they often took the attitude that they alone were worthy of salvation. We as Christians cannot afford to think the same thing. We are all but sinners saved by grace, and all other sinners are offered that same gift of salvation. We as followers of Christ are tasked with reaching out to them with the love of God.
Verse nine states, All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. There is a switch from assurance that God would deliver them from captivity to a new theme that refers to the punishment they had brought on themselves by their disobeying God. Isaiah said that the beasts of the fields would devour them. If we lose God’s protective hand on our lives because we have been disobedient to His commandments, we should not be surprised if we suffer physically from doing so.
Verse ten adds, His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Isaiah said that all those who were supposed to be watchmen for God had failed to be good watchman. He said God pronounced them to be sleeping and slumbering instead of being alert and watchful and referred them as being as dumb as dogs, which Matthew Henry says refers to their greed and never being satisfied with what God provided for them. There are seaveral times when this prophesy could have meant, but the main thing that we need I believe that we must understand is that we cannot afford to sleeping or drowsing watchmen.
Verse eleven continues, Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Here the fact of their greed is made even clearer. The ones who were supposed to be watchmen, or shepherds of the flock as Matthew Henry says, were looking only for their own gain, or what was best for them in other words. With this attitude, they certainly would not have been willing to suffer, much less die, to protect the flock. As Christians, we can never afford to have the attitude that we are only going to do what is best for us and not have any concern for our fellow believers.
Verse twelve concludes, Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Isaiah said the watchmen of people of Israel were content to continue to drink wine and enjoy life, saying that nothing was going to change tomorrow, unless it just got better. They weren’t concerned with being held accountable for their sins. This is the attitude of many people in the world today.
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