ISA 56:3-7

I. This passage follows the announcement of the eventual but certain salvation of God and the revelation of His righteousness. ISA 56:1-2. II. Consider especially the promise to the eunuchs. A. Under the O.T., a eunuch could not be admitted into the congregational service of God's house nor admitted to the priesthood. LEV 21:20; DEU 23:1. 1. He could produce no family, no fruit. In a culture that looked for Messiah to come through their generations, his impediment was a great stigma. 2. Those who do not produce the fruit of repentance and faith similarly have no access into the N.T. church. MAT 3:8; GAL 5:22 c/w ACT 2:38-41. B. Here the promise is made to eunuchs that God would give them a place IN GOD'S HOUSE. Therefore, a change of conditions is implied within this prophecy that would apply to them if they would: 1. keep God's sabbaths. 2. choose those things that please God. 3. take hold of God's covenant. 4. join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, to love His name, and to be His servants. C. The Ethiopian to whom Philip ministered the gospel was both a stranger and a eunuch to the O.T. church. ACT 8:26-40. 1. The O.T. sabbaths were merely a shadow of Christ and His finished work of salvation. COL 2:16-17. a. Sabbath means rest. b. When a person believes the gospel he enters into rest, thus keeping the N.T. sabbath. HEB 4:2-3; MAT 11:28-30. c. Thus, by believing the gospel the Ethiopian eunuch kept God's sabbaths. 2. The eunuch chose the things that please God. a. He obeyed the commandments of God to repent, believe the gospel and be baptized. b. Keeping God's commandments, especially these, pleases Him. ACT 20:21 c/w 1JO 3:22-23. 3. The eunuch took hold of God's covenant. a. Jesus Christ was given as “...a covenant of the people...” (ISA 42:6). b Belief and baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are commandments of the New Covenant. c. When a person is properly baptized, he PUTS ON CHRIST (GAL 3:27). Now, that's taking hold of the covenant! 4. Since in baptism the eunuch put on Christ, he certainly joined himself to the Lord to serve Him. This is the very purpose for baptism. ROM 6:3-4 c/w 1CO 6:17. 5. Under the law, the house of God was a distinct entity within the church. a. The nation of Israel as a whole was the O.T. church. ACT 7:38. b. The tabernacle or temple where the ark of the covenant was kept, where sacrifices must be brought (LEV 17:3-8; JOS 22:29) to only be made by God's priests (NUM 18:7) and where communion could only be had with God (EXO 25:22) was the house of God. 1CH 6:48; 2CH 5:14. c. A eunuch could under the O.T. be a church member, but not have full access to the house of God: a second-class citizen. d. But under the New Covenant, the church IS the house of God (1TI 3:15). To be joined to one is to be joined to the other. 6. The Ethiopian eunuch met all four requirements of ISA 56:3-7. a. As such, the Lord had said He would give him a place IN HIS HOUSE, which logically must be concluded as the gospel church. b. When any person does as this eunuch, he may expect the same. ACT 2:47; 5:14; 11:24. c. As a church member he is made a priest of God's house and so is authorized to make sacrifices that are acceptable to God. 1PE 2:4-5. 7. The Ethiopian eunuch “...had come to Jerusalem for to worship” (ACT 8:27). a. He was a proselyte to the Jewish religion of the O.T. who would have been confined to the outer court of God’s house under that system. b. In conversion to Christ, he was admitted “...into the holiest by the blood of Jesus...” (HEB 10:19-22), fully and nearly approaching God through Him without regard to his compromised flesh. c. God didn’t send Philip to the eunuch until after he had left Jerusalem. His experience is a model of conversion from Moses to Christ: it is only after one has left O.T. worship that he is fit for a better hope and approach to God: the model for all bound under Law to purify and perfect their worship. ROM 10:4; HEB 7:19. D. Unto such eunuchs, God also promised to give them “...a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (ISA 56:5). 1. Abraham’s name was great because God made him a father of many nations. GEN 12:2; 17:5-6. 2. A eunuch’s name was cut off with him. c/w 2SAM 18:18. 3. But in Christ’s kingdom, all former impediments are negated: uncircumcision, aliens, females, even eunuchs. GAL 3:27-28; 5:6 c/w MAT 19:10-12. 4. In lieu of biological descendants to preserve a name, God gives the eunuchs a better name that shall never be cut off. c/w REV 2:17; 3:12. a. They are even named after God’s only begotten Son. ACT 11:26. b. They are admitted to the highest possible honor: regarded as the sons of God and treated as such. 1JO 3:1. c. They are justified by Christ and deemed righteous in Christ; thus their memory is blessed and preserved. PRO 10:7; PSA 112:6. 5. As long as one has the fruit of repentance, faith and good works, he is qualified for the N.T. house of God and is as honorable therein as any other with similar fruit. 6. Even the uneven distribution of spiritual gifts in the church are evened out so that all are honored. 1CO 12:18-31.