Isaiah 56:5, commentary and pictures

Even to eunuchs who keep His Sabbaths, choose what pleases Him, and hold fast His covenant, God gives in His house and within His walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Childlessness does not shut the faithful out or leave them fruitless, worthless, or forgotten, for worth, belonging among God's people, and lasting honor do not depend on having descendants. The promise reaches all who obey Him, do justice, keep the Sabbath unpolluted, and refrain from evil, including the stranger joined to the Lord and the sons of the stranger who serve Him, love His name, and take hold of His covenant, whom He brings to His holy mountain and makes joyful in His house of prayer. Taking hold of the covenant is the loyalty pledged at Sinai to do all the Lord said and be obedient, to be a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, which is still in force and is to be pledged by God's people in the last days, with acceptance depending on faithfully fulfilling its terms. God may give the childless faithful work teaching others to do His will, becoming missionaries who care for and educate children they take into their homes.

Recipients and Promised Blessing

The promise is made to eunuchs who keep God's Sabbaths, choose the things that please Him, and take hold of and hold fast His covenant, and to them God gives in His house and within His walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters, an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Their standing is honored and secure among His people, better than the legacy and status that descendants could provide, and their place and name can never be taken away. The same assurance reaches all who obey God, do justice and judgment, keep the Sabbath from polluting it, and keep the hand from doing any evil.

Childlessness does not exclude the faithful, and lack of descendants does not make them fruitless, worthless, forgotten, or separated from God's people. Worth, belonging, and lasting honor with God do not depend on having or raising children. God may instead give the childless faithful work in teaching others to do His will.

To make oneself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake is self-denial and consecration to the work and cause of God, putting His cause above one's own plans and above centering the soul on one's own little family. Faithful childlessness kept toward God is no loss. To bring a child into the world when the moral atmosphere is polluted and children are controlled by Satan is more an occasion of grief than of rejoicing.

Men do not view things as God views them, for they despise the faithful as a dry tree, handle them roughly, and count them imperfect, odd, and utterly separated from His people. God does not separate them but honors them when they keep judgment and do justice, keep the Sabbath from polluting it, and refrain from evil. Contempt and rough handling of a conscientious God-fearing person stand rebuked, for to injure such a child is to injure Christ in His child.

The name God gives is greater than worldly honor and than a name gained by joining worldly institutions and learning from those who do not honor God. It gives light in darkness and belongs to the highest education, which is found in the Word. The verse stands within a presentation of two parties and assures one party of God's love.

Covenant and Wider Invitation

Taking hold of the covenant means far more than a general promise, for it is the loyalty pledged at Mount Sinai to do all the Lord said and to be obedient. In return God pledged to bring His people safely to the prepared place, to prosper them above all nations, to be an enemy to their enemies, to bless their bread and water, and to take sickness from them. That covenant is still in force, and through obedience its richest blessings of heaven can still be received.

It is the same covenant made at Sinai where Israel pledged to obey His voice and keep His covenant in order to be a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. That pledge is to be made by God's people in the last days, for God includes in His covenant all who will obey Him. Acceptance with Him depends on faithfully fulfilling its terms and faithfully keeping the agreement made with Him.

The promise reaches all who obey God, do justice and judgment, keep the Sabbath from polluting it, and keep the hand from doing any evil. It assures the stranger joined to the Lord that he is not separated nor utterly separated from His people, and assures the eunuch that he is not a dry tree. It welcomes the sons of the stranger who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and love His name, who keep the Sabbath from polluting it and take hold of His covenant, bringing them to His holy mountain and making them joyful in His house of prayer with burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted on His altar. For His house shall be called a house of prayer for all people, as the Lord who gathers the outcasts of Israel gathers others besides them.

No faithful obedient one is separated from God's people, for salvation is near to come and righteousness to be revealed. The message is to be proclaimed with earnestness and fervor now with no time to delay, because persecution is coming to those who proclaim the truth and trouble will soon be all over the world. All must seek to know God and come to the waters without money and without price. No faithful worker need be separated from the work, but those who walk humbly, work in harmony, make clean thorough work in life, and accept His salvation receive His converting power and are made workers to recover others. A great work is to be done by institutions established by His direction as His people cooperate with Him and do not let human principles without sanction in His Word, self, and pride of opinion give the enemy room to hinder.

The passage belongs to Isaiah 50-58, which leaders in the cause and those connected with institutions must study with diligent study and spiritual awakening. It carries the Lord's reproof for disregard of great light, for accepting only chosen words without thorough consecration to God, and for neglected duty to warn the people what is truth. Received with faith and followed on to know the Lord, with all complaining and every evil work stopped, it brings understanding of God's purpose and manifestation of His power in the conviction and conversion of souls now unwarned. The verse is among the promises given to encourage God's people when they see spiritual weakness in churches or individuals, to be claimed in times of need to strengthen faith and service to God.

Faithful Living and Service

The promise belongs to those who keep God's Sabbaths, choose what pleases Him, and hold fast to His covenant, giving them a place in His house and an everlasting name that will not be cut off, better than the name and legacy of sons and daughters. Their worth and place with God do not depend on raising a child of their own. God may instead give them work teaching others to do His will. They may become missionaries who care for and educate children they take into their homes.

This belongs to the grand and noble work of faithful shepherds and guardians of the flock, so ministers' wives to whom God has not given children of their own should consecrate their powers to God as Christian workers and co-laborers with Christ in helping their husbands, educating others, and giving the message. They should not voluntarily tie their hands by the constant care of an adopted infant. God will bless men and women as they share their homes with orphans, with first choice to be given to children left orphans by Sabbathkeeping parents.

The chapter is pointed to in connection with God's care for His loyal commandment-keeping people, including those who suffer loss and hardship for the truth. To those who belong to Him He gives a lasting place and honored name in His house. The verse promises a place and a name among the people of God to those who profess to believe present truth and live as reformers in accordance with that faith.

A church member who manufactures wine or cider for the market must be faithfully labored with, and if he continues the practice placed under censure of the church. If he will not be dissuaded he is unworthy of that place and name. Worthiness of the promised place and name means being a follower of Christ and setting heart and influence against every evil practice. Those who encourage the use of stimulants that pervert reason and destroy virtue, purity, and love of God will meet in the day of God's judgments the drunkards made through their influence. Living in the antitypical day of atonement when cases soon come in review before God, they will not stand in the courts of heaven.