Isaiah 56

Wesley: my salvation is that eminent salvation by the Messiah, and without this you shall have no share. “Is near” is Scripture’s way of speaking of things still at a distance as if they were at hand. Righteousness here is the same thing he called salvation.

Arminian interpreters hear a sincere nearness: keep justice because the Messiah’s rescue is truly held out. The command is not a ladder into grace; it is the fitting walk of those to whom salvation is coming. Justice and righteousness remain duties while the door stays open.

Calvin: as soon as God holds out tokens of favor, he demands a conversion that changes mind and heart, and then the fruits of repentance. Judgment and righteousness name the second table—not only refusing wrong but helping the neighbor. He calls it “his salvation” and “his righteousness” because he pours them out on men, not because he keeps them shut up in himself.

Nearness excites godliness; it does not wait on our merits. Paul will say the same: put on the armor of light, for salvation is nearer than we thought (Rom 13:11–12). The approaching gift is God’s, and it summons a new life.

Wesley: the man is every man—not only Jews but Gentiles, as the next verses explain. The Sabbath here, like sacrifice elsewhere, stands for the whole worship of God.

Blessing is pronounced on the one who holds fast. Worship and a clean hand are the life of those who receive the coming salvation. The beatitude is sincere toward Jew and Gentile alike; holding fast is a grace-enabled perseverance, not a closed caste.

Calvin: he calls them happy who, having embraced this doctrine, walk uprightly—lest the wickedness of many who will be deaf retard the elect. Sabbath belongs to the first table; with the hand kept from evil it sketches both tables. God does not rest in ceremony or indolence but demands earnest self-denial.

There is no other way of serving God aright but sincere piety and a blameless life. Salvation is offered by free grace; we are not to be deprived of it by delay. The Sabbath, as synecdoche, includes the whole of religion.

Wesley: the stranger is the Gentile who has turned from dumb idols to the living God. The eunuch is joined with him because Deuteronomy 23:1 forbade him the congregation. Under these two instances he understands all excluded by birth or ceremonial pollution, and so throws open the door to all true believers. A dry tree is a fruitless tree, accursed with barrenness.

No joined foreigner and no covenant-keeping eunuch is to preach despair over himself. The Lord forbids that speech. Grace sincerely gathers those the old marks would have shut out.

Calvin: even they who formerly were estranged, against whom the door might be said to have been shut, may obtain a new condition. The consolation belongs to those who have followed God when he called; many eunuchs and foreigners never join themselves. He includes under these names all who appear unworthy of being reckoned in his people.

Look not at yourselves; fix the mind on God’s calling, as Abraham hoped against hope. Peter’s word stands: in every nation the one who fears him and works righteousness is accepted (Acts 10:34–35). Adoption once aimed at Israel is not locked against the joined Gentile or the dry tree God will name.

Wesley: take hold—that steadfastly keep the conditions of my covenant. The eunuch is not blessed as a eunuch, but as one who keeps Sabbaths, chooses what pleases the Lord, and holds the covenant.

Choosing and holding are acts under grace. The old disability does not veto a living grip on the covenant. What God asks is not pedigree but a kept Sabbath and a held promise.

Calvin: sincere worshippers who keep the Sabbaths and follow the righteousness of the Law, though they be eunuchs, shall have a place in the Church. With Sabbath-keeping he connects obedience and adherence to the covenant—hence the Sabbath was not an idle ceremony but a figure of perfect holiness.

They are permitted to “choose,” not whatever they think fit, but what God declares pleasing. Hypocrisy and inconsiderate zeal are condemned. The high rank of the Church is not external. Believers may be despised in the world and still rank high in the sight of God.

Wesley: in mine house—in my temple. Better—a far greater blessing and honor than posterity: my favor, my Spirit, and eternal felicity. The dry tree is given a name that sons cannot supply and death cannot crop.

God himself writes the name. Barrenness in the flesh is not the last word. An everlasting name is gift, held out to those who hold the covenant—comfort for every believer who feared being cut off from the people.

Calvin: a place and a name—yd for place, or even dignity as children of God. Better than of sons and of daughters: the dignity of believers is higher under Christ than it was under the Law. The name is perpetual because it is written in heaven.

Wicked men want a name on earth that fades. This name makes us heirs of the heavenly kingdom. The temple once shut to such persons now holds a memorial God gives, not one they father by succession.

The foreigner is not a tourist in the covenant. Join, minister, love the Name, be servants, keep Sabbath, hold the covenant—seven marks of an attachment.

Wesley’s earlier line still governs: the door is open to all true believers. Arminian reading stresses the verbs as sincere, enabled response. Love of the Name is not a Jewish franchise; it is the life of whoever comes and holds fast.

Calvin repeats: God will open the temple to all without distinction. Those joined to God by the word—the bond of adoption—are the betrothed of Hosea 2. Not a temple only, but an honorable rank: even those formerly heathens acknowledged as those who minister.

The end of the calling is that they love his name. Hypocrites are excluded; service must be willing. Sabbath again stands for the whole worship, and they must embrace the covenant constantly, not withdraw.

Wesley: mountain—my house on Zion. Joyful—by accepting their services and comforting their hearts with the sense of my love. Accepted—as free access as the Jews themselves. Evangelical worship is described under the expressions then in use. The house is for all peoples; Jesus will cite this word in the temple (Matt 21:13).

Arminians hear the wideness as sincere: God brings, makes joyful, accepts. All peoples are named as welcome to pray, not as a footnote to Israel’s remnant only.

Calvin: foreigners formerly excluded are called; the distinction of circumcision is abolished. This cannot mean mere proselytes—that would be nothing new. Grace is diffused through the world, Gentiles united to Jews as one body. He paints the spiritual kingdom of Christ, in which we may everywhere lift up pure hands.

Sacrifices are acceptable not from their own excellence but from undeserved kindness, and only as sanctified by Christ our altar. The temple is enlarged through the whole world. Calling upon God is the highest sacrifice; those who neglect prayer have no boast in the Church. The vail rent, all peoples call him Abba.

Wesley: the Lord will gather to himself, and bring into their own land, those cast out of their land. Yet—I will make a far more comprehensive gathering of the Gentiles.

Israel’s outcasts are not forgotten, and yet others keeps the door from slamming. The same God restores the scattered and gathers the nations. The invitation of 55 and the justice of 56 meet in a gathering still unfinished until the peoples come.

Calvin: repetitions strengthen feeble minds when restoration looks incredible. It belongs to the Lord to gather the dispersed of Israel (Ps 147:2). He will assemble them, and not them only: various peoples added, the Church numerously increased. “Still more will I gather upon him his gathered.”

Whenever calamities draw us to doubt the gathering, interpose this shield—it belongs to the Lord. He has never ceased to gather. The outcasts of Israel and the others besides are one work of the God who restores.