PROMISED BLESSINGS

PROCLAMATION

“This is what The Lord says: ‘Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed.  Blessed is the one who does this …’”  Isaiah 56:1-2 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

These are the words of The Lord God which were spoken to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah.  The Lord God charged His people to keep His Holy Word, to be just, and to do that which is right.  He said blessed is he who does this and blessed is he who keeps the Sabbath. (Isaiah 56:1-2)  Foreigners who have accepted The Lord God and all those who serve Him will also be blessed. (Isaiah 56:3-7)  Then He blasts the weak and inadequate religious leaders and rulers of Israel. (Isaiah 56:9-11)

APPLICATION

Once we become believers it is expected that we will do that which is right.  We are to be fair and just with our fellowman.  All too often those who claim to be believers, and are regular church-going Christians, are committing gross injustices to some of God’s people.  In case you did not know it, some of the slave ship traders, and some of the slave owners, and some of those who lynched folk, bombed churches, and burned down communities were church-going Christians.  By allowing us to remain among the living, The Lord God still blesses all of us, the sun shines on all of us and the rain falls on all of us, the just and the unjust, the good and the evil. (Matthew 5:45)  However, we are not blessed because we are church-going people.  We are promised this conditional blessing for treating our brothers justly and for doing that which is right in the eyes of The Lord.  He is currently blessing us, and He has promised us additional special blessings if we would obey His Holy Word. (John 13:34 and 15:12)