Reading: Matthew 21, Isaiah 56
I don't think it is merely a passing
comment that, “When [Jesus] entered Jerusalem, the whole city
was shaken, saying, "Who is this?" (Mat
21:10 CSB) The city will be shaken when Jesus hangs on the cross,
and the guards will shake with fear when Jesus is going to be
resurrected (Matthew 27:51; 28:4). But now, Jesus, the King Who
comes bringing salvation, the Son of David Who comes in the name of
Yahweh (Matthew 21:5, 9) enters the city. It
is shaken, and their understanding of who God's people are is about
to be shaken as well—in the very next verses.
Jesus
walks into the temple and begins to drive out those in charge who
were selling doves for sacrifice. This is a familiar scene to us.
It is here that Jesus quotes from Isaiah and Jeremiah
saying,
“It
is written,” he said to them, “'My house will be called a house
of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'”
(Matthew 21:13)
The
first part of this quote is from Isaiah 56:7. In the first part of
Isaiah we see that Israel will not trust in the Lord and will
therefore be led into captivity (chapters 1–39); they will be
delivered from Babylonian captivity (chapters 40–48); they will be
delivered from spiritual captivity (chapters 49–55); and now,
when we might expect the book to end, Isaiah 56 shakes up our
expectations of who these regathered people of God are.
3Let
no foreigner who
is bound to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude
me from his people.” And let
no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.” 4For
this is what the LORD says: “To
the eunuchs who keep my
Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—
5to
them I will give within my temple
and its walls a memorial and a
name better than sons and
daughters; I will give them an
everlasting name that will endure forever. 6And
foreigners who
bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of
the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without
desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— 7these
I will bring to my holy mountain
and give
them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted
on my altar; for my house will
be called a house of prayer for all nations.” 8The
Sovereign LORD declares—he who
gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them
besides those already gathered.”
(Isaiah
56:3-8)
According
to Deuteronomy 23:1-3, eunuchs and foreigners were excluded from the
assembly of the Lord. Eunuchs were people who had had mutilated the
image of God in which they were created. They were excluded; and
they had no heritage. Nothing he could do could change a eunuch's
condition. Foreigners were not part of the chosen people. Only those
with some relationship to the people of God were to be allowed in.
Like us, formerly Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised,"
formerly separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and
without God in the world, these eunuchs and foreigner were excluded,
“but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ.”
(Ephesians 2:11-13) We
are those eunuchs and foreigners!
Have
you ever felt excluded, either because you felt there was no way God
would choose you, or because you had done so much damage to God's
image in which you were created that you were too far gone?
When Jesus came as King, the whole city of God was shaken because He
came to bring people like you right into the very temple of God—the
holy place where the Most High dwells. And Jesus wants to give you
joy in His house of prayer! It is because of Jesus that we can get to
Acts 8:36-38 and discover that nothing prevents the eunuch from being
baptized when he believes! He is not kept out!
Immediately
following this scene in Matthew 21, “the
blind and the lame come
to Jesus in the temple,” we see children
shouting praises to Jesus
in the temple (Matthew 21:14-15), then Jesus rebukes the chief
priests and elders of the Jews for their refusal to repent when they
saw tax collectors and
prostitutes believe
John's message about Jesus (Matthew 21:23, 32), Jesus tells a parable
about how the vineyard (always a description of Israel in the past)
would be taken away from the Jewish leaders and given to foreigners
(Matthew 21:43), a
parable about a wedding banquet opened up for every
imaginable candidate
since the first invited guests refused to come (Matthew 22:1-14).
As
we read these accounts, we should be convinced that we too have been
invited in, not because of who we are, but purely because of God's
mercy. We are the eunuchs and foreigners. And we should realize
that it is vital for us to come—come to the house of prayer and
find joy in God's presence. Have
you responded to His invitation? Do you spend time in His presence?
Your sacrifices are accepted on His altar! But if you don't ever
make them, it matters not. We
are invited to live our lives in His presence. We must begin to live
there by His mercy! You are no longer excluded!
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
For
more on Isaiah 56, listen to this sermon, Upside
Down Expectations.
