56:3
Isaiah is perhaps the strongest prophet in terms of God’s salvation going out to all people (though he is by no means the only one). Foreigners were regarded as outsiders by the Jews, and this attitude persisted through to Jesus’ day. But this was not God’s view and never had been. In it is the foreigners who are called to change their attitude. They regarded themselves as outsiders, probably largely because of the attitude of the Jews. They thought that God wanted nothing to do with them. They were to get rid of this attitude. If they had bound themselves to the Lord, He was committed to them. In the same way we need to watch our own attitude, watching that we do not explicitly exclude certain groups of people. At the same time we need to note that promise in this verse applied to those who “have bound themselves to the Lord”, not to those who persist in sin. Under the Law eunuch’s were excluded (eg Deut 23:1).
56:4,5
The verse in Deut 23:1 says that the eunuch’s were excluded from the temple. Here we get the precise opposite, again applying to those who choose what pleases the Lord. This is not a free-for-all in that sense. So how do we square the command in Dt 23:1 and the promise here? The answer is that the gospel is not about Law. Under the gospel all who repent and believe are welcomed. The promise overcomes negative effects of emasculation. For they will have an everlasting name.
No comments:
Post a Comment