Isaiah Chapter 56 "Reasons for Yehovah's Faithfulness: [1-8]." "The Call to Israel's Enemies [9-12]." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org Isaiah 56:1 "Thus saith the Lord, "Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed." God is telling us to be fair in all matters. Treat people the best that you can. In other words, when you thirst for righteousness, you reveal God's righteousness when the Holy Spirit is within you. Others will feel the presence of the Spirit within you when you seek to keep the Word of God, and do those things that we are instructed to do. Isaiah 56:2 "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." This word "sabbath" from the Hebrew means "rest" in English, for Christ became our sabbath every day of the week when He rose from the dead. Our rest and our sabbath is completely in Christ, as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16, 17; "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." You had better place your rest in Christ all seven days of the week. If you don't, you probably don't have His rest any of the seven days of the week. He is our sabbath and our rest that gives us peace of mind continually. It is God that blesses the man that lays hold of the truths of His Word, and strives to keep God laws and commandments all the time. God is promising you here that if you keep His Word and his Sabbaths he will bless you. It is a promise just as sure as all the other promises that He has given to us. Isaiah 56:3 "Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." "The son of a stranger" is a foreigner, while the "eunuch" is a chamber keeper, and not a member of the royal family. This then is saying that when even a foreigner or outsider to the family of God's people come to know and accept Christ through repentance, they are no longer outside and a dry tree, but a part of God's family just much as you or I. This even applies to a Kenite that comes to the saving knowledge of Christ, and by his faith and repentance in Jesus name, takes Jesus into His heart and mind. These foreigners and eunuchs were not to have any part of God's holy things under the Old Testament. However, because of Christ and because of God's sabbaths, even they have the opportunity to take part in them. They can partake in the salvation of Christ. Remember in Acts 8:26-31 when the Spirit of God told Philip to go near and talk to the eunuch from Ethiopia, when he saw that this eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah [Esaias]. Philip went up to the eunuch and asked him if he understood what he was reading, and the eunuch answered, "How can I, except some man should guide me?'' The eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53:7. Acts 8:32 "The place of the scripture which he read was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:" Acts 8:33 "In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth." Philip was given the opportunity to point the eunuch to the saving knowledge of Christ, through Jesus death on the cross. He told the eunuch of the suffering of Christ, when Jesus opened not his mouth. He did this so that any soul that heard the message from God and believe and repented in Jesus name would be saved. Acts 8:35 "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Did you catch that, Philip started right there in the Old Testament and taught from Isaiah, a prophecy that would be fulfilled over seven hundred years later, when Jesus would pay the price. Acts 8:36 "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Acts 8:37 "And Philip said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip was obedient to God's Word and the Ethiopian eunuch was saved. Acts 8:38 "And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." There are no outsiders in the true sabbath, which is to say the "True Christ". Isaiah 56:4 "For thus saith the Lord "unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;" Remember that "my sabbaths" are the things that Christ became. This is directed to all those eunuchs and outsiders that choose to do the things that God has written in His Word, and abide by those things that are written in His covenant. That New Covenant is the New Testament, while the Old Covenant is the Old Testament. When you do the things given by the Father, then you please our Heavenly Father. Those things are the sabbaths of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father who was obedient to Him to the cross. When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He did not destroy the law. We simply needn't get hung up any technicality and lose the over-all beauty of the salvation plan of the Living God. Jesus Christ is the center of our Father's entire plan for this earth age. Isaiah 56:5 "Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, they shall not be cut off." The name that we are given is "Christian", "Christ's man". Christians have not gone through any specialized changed to become a modified creature; no, they are strictly persons that belong to the Heavenly Father, that were purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ who is the living God. All of God's children, regardless of what race, color or creed were created for God's pleasure. Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." When God created the various races on the sixth day, He rested on the seventh day and then on the eighth day, God brought forth " `eth-`Ha'adam", which we call "Adam", a different man then was created on the sixth day. Genesis 1:26 "And God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:27 "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." Genesis 1:28 "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." This all took place on the sixth day, prior to the rest day of the seventh. It was after the rest day that God created this special man Adam [eth-Ha-adam] to till the soil. Genesis 2:5 "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." Genesis 2:6 "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man [eth-ha-adam] (Adam) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Adam was created "to till the soil", rather then hunting and fishing. It is through that one "Ha-adam", [or Adam] that would come the promised redeemer Jesus the Christ. This was all part of the eternal plan of salvation that started way back in the first earth age, at the fall or rebellion of Satan. When Satan fell, he brought one third of all of God's children down with him, and as we witness the events of these end days unfolding before us today, they also are part of that eternal plan of God. Isaiah 56:6 "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;" It is not just the sons of Adam, but men and women of all of God's creation that have the right to join in unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for any person of any race that sees the condition of their soul, and understands that Jesus Christ's death on the cross was for them also, and repents of their sins to the Father in Jesus name. They then join themselves to the Lord by their faith, through their repentance on an individual basis. When each of them comes to see the love of our Heavenly Father, and His love for them; as well as the love of His Son who willingly sacrifice His life for them, how can he not become a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our sabbath, and we are to go to Him every time we sin to find rest through repentance, and that is how we keep from polluting the sabbath. This is not just for one day a week but every day of our lives. Sabbath is the rest and peace of mind that we have when our minds are free from the guilt that sin places upon us. Sin creates a barrier between God and man and that barrier is removed when we repent. When we pray to our Heavenly Father in Jesus name, we are telling Father that Jesus is our credentials for approaching His throne. We are recognizing the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross as the only payment for our sin, and that is why the name of Jesus Christ became our sabbath. For in that name you can find perfect peace or sabbath. Isaiah 56:7 "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's Holy mountain" is where God expects to set up His camp. This is where the Temple will be established at Christ's return, and where the temple was built in Jesus day. Remember when Jesus took the whip and drove the moneychangers out of the Temple. Matthew 21:12 "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves," Matthew 21:13 "And said unto them, "It is written, `My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.' " The selling of sick and lame doves had become a quick way of obtaining the bird for their sacrifice. The Kenites had created a way to make money in the sale of these doves, and save the people time in their worship routine. They had substituted the a quick sale, a quick way of doing things in substitution for the love that God required of them. Remember what God said back in Isaiah 1:11; "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me?" saith the Lord, "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of he goats." Isaiah 1:12 "When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?" The people of of Israel had lost their love for God, and they had turned their "house of God" from a house of prayer into a house of merchandising even in Isaiah's day. Now some seven hundred years later, after the captivity in Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple, they are right back doing the same things they did before. The Israelites had lost sight of God's true desire; He wanted their love, and when their love was withheld, their burnt offerings and sacrifices became worthless to Him. We see even today that God's houses, the church houses are becoming everything but a house of prayer. There is a time coming in the eternity when all the people will come to the temple of God for all the right purposes, as spoken of in Revelation 21:24. Revelation 21:24 "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." The "nations" are people from all races, and in the Greek it is "ethnos". It is where our English word "ethnic" comes from. These people are the Gentiles, the strangers and foreigners from this flesh age, and they are all the souls that have been saved and will come to the Temple and worship then. The day of judgment is over and Satan and all that followed Him have been turned to ashes in the lake of fire. The "kings" are men and women alike for there is no gender in the eternity. They shall all come to the house of God and bring their glory and honor to the full Godhead. At this time there will be worship for all the right reasons, and those that are saved and living then will worship in love. Christ is our only true sabbath. It is time to wake up and stop getting hung up on the traditions of men, and rob yourself from seeing the higher level of thought that God has for those that love Him. Isaiah 56:8 "The Lord God Which gatheredth the outcasts of Israel saith, "Yet will I gather others to him beside those that are gathered unto him." God is telling you that He has sheep of another pasture. Our heavenly Father is able to save any and everything that He has created, with the exception of those that have passed the point of the law of no return. Satan is the only one that has been condemned to this point in time, for He has already been condemned to hell fire, and that is why he is called the "son of perdition". He is the only one beside the Nephilim that have gone beyond that point. That door to the Father is still open, and it is not too late for anyone to enter. Isaiah 56:9 "All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest." This is another analogy where God is describing the Kenite as the "devourers", they are the children of Satan. Also included in this description are those that would set themselves up as priests when they are not called of God, and these are the beasts of the forest. These priests are the teachers, ministers, and evangelist that preach their own message and not what is written in the World of God. God is going to tell us very plainly what he thinks of them and their teachings and traditions. Isaiah 56:10 "His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." Those that are supposed to be watching for the signs of the end times and the deceptions and false teachings are blind. They simply cannot see what is coming over their people. God is not pleased with any of them, and you have to be pretty stupid to miss God's disgust with all of them. This is our Heavenly Father that is calling them ignorant, dumb dogs that can't bark, and fat cats that love to lay around and sleep. Those ignorant, blind fools just lay around dreaming of their fly-away fairy-tales, dreaming up ways to deceive their flocks. They promote their fluff christianity, filled with false doctrine and call it all of God. We are living in that final generation today, and yet there is no warning from them that the false messiah is coming first. All of the signs of his return are happening right before our eyes and yet their focus is on money and the illusion of their own grandure before their flocks. The true plan of Salvation is set aside and they continue to lay around as the house of God is burning down around them. A dog barks to give the warning that danger is at the door, and Satan's New World Order is in place and taking control, and these ministers and their denominations are rushing to become a part of it. These preachers and evangelists do not see the danger and warning signs because they did not thirst after the truth of God's Word. They go to their semenaries to learn their church systems that drag the people into their church houses, and then get them to take oaths to their systems, and not to God. They never teach them anything of value from God's Word. They have lost sight that the Church is not a building, but a group of people whereby the Word of God is taught in chapter by chapter and verse by verse, from cover to cover. It is all part of God's plan for this age and the next, all the way from the creation into eternity. If this is not done and taught then what ever system is taught is nothing but a fraud. God's house is a house of prayer, and for the study of God's Word. It is open to all people that seek the salvation of the Lord. We don't have to name call those that enter the church for other reasons, for God has told us exact whe He things of them in this verse. If there is a part of God's Word that is not allowed to be read in your church, then you don't have a church, you have a spiritual whore house, and you are to good for God. The problem with false churches is that they don't understand the Scriptures, and they just don't understand that God gets impatient with those who love to be lazy. When Jesus saw the traditions that had crept into His Temple, he groaned with disgust at what was going on in God's house. He didn't pamper them or stop to talk it over, He beat them with a whip and threw the rascals out. That is the righteous way of doing things; it is the way Jesus did it, and it is the way that we are to do it. Isaiah 56:11 "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." You can tell who they are by what they do and say. God calls them "greedy dogs", for they consume most of their time playing the role of a begger. Their begging bag is the central theme of the message, and consumes much of their time. They create ways and causes to get more money, and they play on your emotions. If they taught God's Word they would have had God's blessings and they would not have to degrade themselves to a leper begger. People are intelligent enough that when you teach boldly of God's Word, instead of man's traditions they will give generously. God's children do not beg. It has become a common phrase, "unless we get more money we will be forced off the air". They belong off the air. What is more pathetic then a bunch of poor sheep with a stupid shepherd standing over them? "...they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter." This is exactly as it is being taught today. Every one does his own thing from his own understanding of what he thinks is right. The problem with this type of thinking is that there is no standard to go by, for man's heart and mind is centered on himself only. There is no care for the overall many membered body of Christ, to see that each one is fed and warmed by the truths from God's Word. There is no concerned today that every member of their church is warned of the prophesies given in the Word to prepare them for the on-slought of deception that Satan and his fallen angels are going to bring on the earth very shortly. Can you see why God is so disgusted with the so-called minister of today, that He would relate them to some filthy worthless dog? Friend, we are to enjoy our sabbaths in Christ seven days a week. It is high time that you get studying in His Word before it is too late. Isaiah 56:12 "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." This is exactly how those modern day preachers come at you. They fill the air with their promises, and get you emotionally envolved to where you act like a person drunk out of his mind. They become soothsayers, to where they will promise you anything just to draw you into themselves to where they can get a grip on your mind and emotions. "Strong wine" is "Shekar" in the Hebrew, and it refers to a very intoxicating drink made from barley, honey and dates. It is very common and cheap, and when ingested it blows your mind right out of control. The teachings and traditions of men are the wine that Christians are filling themselves with today in many of their church houses, and Christians are enjoying it. They enjoy it because they simply do not know any difference. God's Word does not need adding to, for it is complete within itself. It is capable of giving you the peace, wisdom, and the blessings of God that you seek. You don't need any more that, because that is true happiness and joy that we can have in these flesh bodies.
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