Isaiah 56:1-8 – Welcome the stranger – sermon notes
Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8:27ff. He asked, “Of whom is the prophet speaking?” He might also have asked, “To whom is the prophet speaking?” The answer is here.
Last section of Isaiah – addressed to those returning from exile.
1. Gospel welcome
Addressed to all (v1-2), but specifically to ‘eunuchs’, v4, and ‘foreigners’, v6.
Gen 12:2 – “All people on earth will be blessed through you.”
Rahab, Ruth.
Cf. Deut 23. ‘Special measures’, cf. Ezra, Nehemiah.
Jn 10:16 “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
Who are the outsiders today? How effective is our welcome?
2. Gospel entailments
Neither conditions nor options.
V1, “Maintain justice and do what is right.” Vv 2,4,6, Sabbath.
Jn 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
Heb 12:14, ‘Without holiness no-one will see the Lord.’
‘Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you joni yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes not your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly by happy, if you had not been holy on earth?’ (Ryle)
God meets us where we are, but he does not leave us there. He saves us from our sins, but he does not save us in our sins.’
3. Gospel blessing
V2, ‘Blessed is the man who does this.’
V5, ‘A name better than sons and daughters’.
V7, ‘Joy in my house of prayer…a house of prayer for all nations.’
V8, ‘The sovereign Lord declares – he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”’
In Africa, what a vast harvest followed the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. And what a vast harvest we may yet reap, as we extend this gospel welcome, commit ourselves to these gospel entailments, and experience this gospel blessing.