Exposition by Max A Forsythe
As you look at the title of our meditation in the bulletin today, you may well be wondering if you have stumbled into some imaginary starship in the humanistic twilight of the twenty-fourth century. Well, relax, our launching pad comes from a description of Christ’s church based on our passage in Isaiah today. Charles Ellis notes that the Church growth experts have discovered that those congregations which experience the greatest growth are generally those with a homogeneous constituency. But, he goes on to observe that God may be more pleased to receive greater glory through smaller, struggling churches with wide open doors for any people who are different.
If he is right and the model of the first twelve disciples is any indication, we might be justified in thinking that the ideal congregation is more like a barroom or bridge scene in Star Trek. There is our first Trekker image. If you think about it, I’m sure you can think of some Klingon and Ferengi like Christians as well as more modest types. Our second one is reported by James Michener from the early history of South Africa. Like the American Pilgrims, the early Dutch Calvinists witnessed and ministered to the natives as they began the task of nation building and expanding Christ’s Kingdom. If the foundation of both U.S.A.’s had continued as they began what a greater glory might have been recorded for our Father and our God. Unfortunately, both Trekkers and Pilgrims were followed after by thousands of settlers of less stern spiritual stuffings, and history has taken a more natural and sinful course.
Yet, these brief shining moments are not well reported in our time, and the official politically correct history of the moment chooses to remember less glorified images like those displayed at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. The successes of American patriots and the establishment of material success is not high on the list of important events to remember. Even less remembered are the Christian roots of the Pilgrim forefathers and the foundational premise of lovers of Christian charity and liberty. Yet our history as Christians ought to be better remembered. Yes, there were arguments, even wars, divisions and persecution.
However, the first generation of Christians well exemplified the Trekker image before us today. There were Zealots and tax-collectors, who anywhere but in the company of Christ, would have knifed each other in dark alleys. There were former prostitutes, thieves, soldiers and pious Jews plus multitudinous groups of gentiles all gathering together in their New Testament congregations. This wondrous fact was seen ahead of time by Isaiah in our first eight verses of Isaiah fifty-six which our NIV subtitles “Salvation for Others”. As we observe the Church of both Testaments here in these short verses there are several lessons that we should learn well.
Our first lesson, in the opening verses, is that keepers of the Covenant both before and after the coming of Christ have some minimal obedience to give to our Sovereign Lord. Wherever the Lord’s Pilgrims and Trekkers would go in the wide world it is expected that we would “Maintain justice and do what is right.” And this is not a rightness as the worldly might decide it at any given moment. No, this justice and rightness of living must be measured against the very Word of God. In all places and all times the worldly will gain their first impression of our awesome God and Father through the way His elect live and love. So since we have His salvation we ought to live as becomes the sons and daughters of our God in heaven. For the people of Isaiah’s time there is the prophecy that God’s salvation and righteousness will soon be revealed within God’s plan. The atonement which leads to our salvation is very much in mind here.
And we who have a greater knowledge than expectation of those blessed events are called to be more faithful in our witness to His greater glory and love. “Blessed is the man”, the Lord continues who does these things inwardly and outwardly. Yes, there is another demand of our God and King in the second verse. This is the outward visible witness of remembering the Lord’s Sabbath. Isaiah will have much more to say about this essential practice in a later chapter. I remember hearing about a Jewish merchant in Franklin county who was noted for his closing of his stores each and every Saturday for many years. I also remember an old Covenanter Pastor who when preaching about sin, suggested in this context that if a person had determined to sin, at the very least they could avoid committing the sin on the Lord’s Sabbath. In the Middle Ages it was against the laws of warfare to fight on the Lord’s Day or on any Church feast day. One of the Medici supposedly observed that if the Church continued to multiply the feast days in Europe it wouldn’t be too many decades before there wouldn’t be any day of any week left to practice the marital arts! Be that as it may, we are all called to these three minimal tasks of maintaining justice, doing what is right and holding up the Lord’s Day as a special day belonging to the Lord our God.
The second lesson before us in our text today is that all kinds of people are coming into God’s eternal Kingdom and we must be prepared to accept them in the love of the Lord and give them time to be rooted well in the Kingdom. Foreigners of every land and place are welcome into Christ’s Kingdom. In Jesus' time, some of the Jews were amazed that even the Gentiles believed in God’s Anointed One! We have to appreciate that many generations of God’s elect have thought too highly of themselves and their kin. Just as the Irish were sometimes amazed that any of the Scots believed, so did a Scots paraphrase of the Bible have only one character speak perfectly the King’s English: old Satan himself! Ethnic envy and conflict has not been limited to the Balkan peninsula of Europe.
Verse four would teach us that the handicapped, like the Eunuch, are welcome just as well as those more fortunate. Once there was a mentally retarded child whose mother’s church tried everything possible to offer the Gospel to her daughter. Everyone was frustrated that no progress was made and no prayer for salvation could be comprehended and no visible commitment could be attained. How much comfort everyone concerned could have had if they had given more credence to the Calvinist opinion that the Lord is absolutely sovereign in these matters. Just as we ought to teach our little children to trust in the Lord for their eternity, so should adults learn the same trust for those who have no apparent viable spiritual understanding because of their natural mental disabilities. To all of these, the keepers of the Covenant, the foreigners and the handicapped there is the promise of verse five. Within Zion’s holy walls, within the Covenant Church there is blessing and promise and eternity.
The same list, slightly amended to those who are able to commit themselves is repeated in verse six. The eternal promise is also repeated in verse seven as being brought to God’s holy mountain where they may have the joy of being in God’s house of prayer. This theme is further expanded to serve all of the nations who will gather in that holy house. And there all of the nations are invited to offer their heartfelt prayers. And to His house trekkers from the four corners of the earth have come in. Truly in more languages than any other faith, our God is praised and glorified on each and every Lord’s Day. Somehow we just don’t appreciate the large multi-national gatherings of one day in seven. Let me give you an example of coast to mid-continent communications for the proper mental image.
In the year 1945 when word of the German surrender was cabled across the Atlantic to Washington D.C., the government wished to tell the American people as quickly as possible. Members of the Media were summoned and telegrams were sent out officially. Some federal workers heard the good news and hurried to the nearest Church to ring the bells. Now, bell ringing had been largely discontinued so that they could be used for invasion or air raid alarms. A few blocks away another church, then another took up the glad tidings. Soon the message had spread out into Virginia and Maryland, then across the mountains and rivers to the Mid-West, South and Eastern coasts. My father was working in the fields when he heard the three bells in Rushsylvania, then Harper, then Hopewell, Northwood and the three bells in Huntsville. All in a matter of minutes. In fact the word was spread so fast by the bell ringers that the people in St Louis knew the good news before the official telegrams arrived. In this manner each and every Lord’s Day the congregations of Christ’s Church take up their prayers early in the morning each and every Sunday. Minute by minute, hour by hour the prayers of Christ’s Church circle the globe not once like the extraordinary event at the end of World War Two, but each and every seven days. Truly the promise of the Lord in verse eight was, is and will be fulfilled as He gathers others into His Church. Let us be prepared to welcome these elect into our midst and pray always for the increase that is His.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
Youngblood, Ronald F. The Book of Isaiah: An
Introductory Commentary.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
04 December 1994
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.