“Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 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.” ” (Isaiah 56:1-2, ESV)

This chapter marks another transition in the book of Isaiah. We move from PROPHETIC POETRY that spoke almost exclusively of the coming Messiah, to a series of EXHORTATIONS that describe what life should look like as we prepare for the return of Christ.

In these first 2 verses we see an exhortation to KEEP JUSTICE and DO RIGHTEOUSNESS in light of the Lord’s coming.

In the second verse this primary exhortation is expanded on with a call for each one of us to HOLD FAST, KEEP THE SABBATH and KEEP OUR HANDS FROM EVIL.

As believer’s in Christ we tend to talk a lot about HAVING righteousness because of what Christ has done… here we are called to DO righteousness because Christ is coming. Because of the relationship we have with Jesus, a relationship that has brought us into a place of right standing with God, we have the resources necessary to go out into the world and LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY. As we do so, we can make it a point to KEEP JUSTICE - in other words, we make sure that as those who have been justified, we live justly, act justly and promote justice in ALL areas of our lives.

We do this by:

HOLDING FAST - We stay on the path God has set us upon - the straight and narrow. We don’t run off to the left or the right, but we remain faithful to Him and the calling He has placed on us. What is that calling? To be set apart from the world, for Him; and to be sent out as His witnesses. We are witnesses FOR God, TO the world, OF the things we have seen and heard.

HONORING THE LORD - We have a Sabbath in Jesus Christ; according to the New Testament He is our rest. However, there is a place for setting aside time, at least one day in seven, for the purposes of worshiping the Lord and remembering who he is, what he has done, and what he has called us to do.

KEEPING FROM EVIL - As we walk and work in a fallen world, we can become sidelined by being drawn into the evil that is all around us. As we follow the exhortations already outlined, we need to make sure that we are careful to keep our hands from being involved in the work of the enemy. Notice, Isaiah doesn’t say to remove ourselves from the presence of evil, but to be sure that OUR HANDS are not the ones doing the evil.

Don’t forget, we do these things by God’s power… a power made available to us by Jesus death and resurrection. Also, a reason for using that power that has given to us is anticipation of His return. Salvation will soon come, God’s deliverance will soon be revealed… in light of that, we need to allow Him to work in and through us for His purposes, preparing us for His kingdom and using us to help prepare others to receive it!