July 8, 2026 - Isaiah 56-59

In chapter 56, Isaiah addresses the destiny of the faithful among Israel:  “Blessed is the man who does [righteousness] . . . ,who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil” (56:2).  He also addresses the foreigner:  “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’” (56:3).  And to the faithful eunuch, he says, “I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name       better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off” (56:5).  Isaiah is not finished:  “The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, ‘I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered’” (56:8).  The promise of Genesis 12 and of Revelation 5 and 7 is declared by Isaiah, i.e., that God will save for himself a people from both Israel and the Gentiles.  Kingdom citizenship is not premised upon physical birth, skin color, culture, or any of all those things that distinguish us from one another.  Israel, the foreigner, the eunuch, the outcasts of Israel, the Gentiles, all will be found gathered around the throne of the Lamb in eternity!  What a picture that will be!

Ten thousand times ten thousand

in sparkling raiment bright,

the armies of the ransomed saints

throng up the steeps of light.

‘Tis finished, all is finished,

their fight with death and sin;

fling open wide the golden gates,

and let the victors in!

O then what raptured greetings

on Canaan’s happy shore,

what knitting severed friendships up

where partings are no more!

Then eyes with joy shall sparkle,

That brimmed with tears of late;

orphans no longer fatherless,

nor widows desolate.   -- Henry Alford (1867)