What is the meaning of Isaiah 56:3? Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” • The verse opens by addressing anyone from outside Israel who has turned to follow the LORD. In earlier days foreigners could feel like perpetual outsiders (see Exodus 12:43–45), yet the Lord here rules out that fear. • God promises full belonging. Isaiah has already painted this welcome: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7). Jesus echoes that in Mark 11:17. • Throughout Scripture the Lord embraces believing foreigners: – Ruth the Moabitess is folded into Israel and even Messiah’s lineage (Ruth 2:12; Matthew 1:5). – Solomon prays that God would hear “the foreigner who comes” (1 Kings 8:41-43). – Paul writes that once-alienated Gentiles are now “fellow citizens with the saints” (Ephesians 2:12-19). • The promise is not merely tolerance but inclusion. Believing Gentiles share the same covenant blessings promised to Abraham (Galatians 3:14). And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.” • A eunuch in ancient Israel carried a double sorrow: physical incapacity for children and exclusion from temple worship (Deuteronomy 23:1). Isaiah’s word overturns both. • God assures fruitfulness where there seemed none. He soon adds, “I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:5). • Scripture spotlights this promise fulfilled: – In Acts 8:26-39, an Ethiopian eunuch believes and is baptized, immediately finding welcome in Christ. – The Spirit often highlights barren or childless people receiving unexpected fruitfulness (Isaiah 54:1; Luke 1:7, 13). • For anyone who feels sterile—whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually—God offers an enduring legacy through faith, not biology. He makes lives fruitful in ways that matter eternally (John 15:5, 16). summary Isaiah 56:3 wipes away two deep insecurities: the foreigner’s fear of never truly belonging and the eunuch’s despair of fruitlessness. God promises that everyone who clings to Him in covenant faith is welcomed, treasured, and given lasting fruit. Outsiders become family, and the childless receive an everlasting name. The passage anticipates the gospel’s wide embrace—fulfilled in Christ, proclaimed through the church, and available to all who come. |
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