Life From a Dry Tree

The Lord was pleased to touch my heart this past Sunday during our pastor's sermon. His text was Isaiah 56:1-57:21. What meant the most to me was the gospel-drenched first eight verses of chapter 56:

1 Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,

for soon my salvation will come,

and my righteousness be revealed.

2 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.”

3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;

and let not the eunuch say,

“Behold, I am a dry tree.”

4 For thus says the Lord:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

5 I will give in my house and within my walls

a monument and a name

better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

that shall not be cut off.

6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,

and to be his servants,

everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,

and holds fast my covenant—

7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

for all peoples.”

8 The Lord God,

who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

“I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.”

What touched me was the part about God's kindness toward the eunuch. The eunuch has no hope of having any family heritage. He is, in a sense, a counterpart to Sarah, the wife of Abraham. However, as in Sarah's case, God promises the eunuch a heritage. Granted, Sarah's was physical, in the form of Isaac, but God promises to give the eunuch a monument and a name better than sons and daughters (verse 5). God, as He often does, is telling us to see things differently, to value things differently. The everlasting name that God gives is better than sons and daughters as the world evaluates them.

God, as He has done so many times before, brings life out of lifelessness. Like when He saved me.