ESOCS Devotional 20 December 2024 – Reward For Obedience
MEMORY VERSE: “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isaiah 56: 2 KJV
TEXT: ISAIAH 56:1–5
Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
5 Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
In our text, God, speaking through Prophet Isaiah called on the people to keep justice and do righteousness, signalling that the requirement for righteous living has not been set aside. He further amplified this demand with two very shocking examples of what He was talking about showing that God’s standard or expectations have not changed.
He stated the reason we should keep justice and do righteousness: it is because God’s salvation is at hand and His righteousness is about to be revealed in us. That is, God will empower us to live the kind of righteous lives He calls us to live. Isaiah was saying that we should live upright lives that reflect God’s intended order for life because God, in saving us, will impart His righteousness to us. In ourselves, we cannot be righteous people. If we pride ourselves on being such, then that very attitude of pride is a sin in itself against God. But, by God’s grace, no credit to us, we can live godly, Christ-like lives.
The two examples used in our text to justify the point being made in Isaiah 56:1a were certainly very shocking to the Judeans, who were concerned to show that they really were descended from Abraham and were, thus, legitimate heirs of God’s gracious promises. Both of these classes of people (the stranger … vs 3, 6-8 and the Eunuch … vs 4-5) had been specifically excluded from worship in the book of Deuteronomy. Yet, here they are being commended for their outstanding obedience in binding themselves to God.
Clearly, it is important to point out that God’s covenant promises are for whoever will obey the covenant requirements, while those who do not obey the requirements have no access to those promises regardless of their bloodlines. It is not about your pedigree, but about your relationship with God, as demonstrated in the way you live your life.
That point could hardly be made more strongly than it is with reference to the eunuch (vv. 4–5). Here is a man who can have no children, someone whose “name” will die with him. He is a “dry tree,” a dead stick. Yet God promised him a better kind of immortality than could be had in merely fathering a line of descendants. In God’s house, his name will be remembered forever. He will be given a name better than sons and daughters. God promises spectacular blessings to those of you who remain single in Christ, and He gives you an extraordinary calling for your life. To be single in Christ is, therefore, not a falling short of God’s best, but a path of Christ-exalting, covenant-keeping obedience that many are called to walk.
Faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life; all other relationships get their final significance from this. No family relationship is ultimate; a relationship with Christ is.
- Why is it so difficult to obey God’s command? Do you cherish your relationship with a man more than with God?
- Father, grant me the grace to be obedient unto your commands, in Jesus name.
Further Reading: 2 Samuel 15:17–21; John 3:22–30; 1:1–16
ESOCS Devotional 20 December 2024
