Isaiah 56-59
First, a quick note on chronology… Let’s not forget that Isaiah lived and prophesied about 250-300 years prior to our most recent readings in Nehemiah. Yet here we are now reading the last eleven chapters of Isaiah, because the editors of The Chronological Study Bible seem to think that these chapters speak to the postexilic period more than Isaiah’s day. Maybe so. Or maybe Isaiah speaks of things that are timeless…
Thus says the LORD:
Isaiah 56:1-2
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon My salvation will come,
and My righteousness be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
Two days ago the topic of the Sabbath came up in Nehemiah 13. Here it is again. And then we see it again and again in Isaiah 56:3-7; 58:13-14. I’m guessing that the LORD has a different view of the Sabbath than what we see all around us in our culture today. We know His view is not that of the Pharisees, stuck in a loveless legalism of prohibitions, but neither is He lackadaisical about the Sabbath. He clearly considers the Sabbath of much greater importance and value than the typical evangelical believer does, let alone our secular culture. Perhaps we should stop to think about what we might be missing…
There is, of course, much more in today’s reading than these references to the Sabbath. We should recognize that the first verse above leads off with the need to keep justice and do righteousness. Yet it becomes clear that justice and righteousness are woefully lacking among the human race:
Justice is turned back,
Isaiah 59:14-16
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then His own arm brought Him salvation,
and His righteousness upheld Him.
Yes, we need to pursue justice and righteousness, but ultimately it is entirely up to the LORD to bring it about.