“Thus
said the Lord: 'Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness. For near is
My redemption to come, and My righteousness to be revealed'.”
(Isaiah 56:1)
God
reminds us that the common principle we share with His Redemption is
righteousness, and it is the “nearness” between both. Hence He
commands us to direct our judgment as discernment towards doing what
is right. Again He calls our attention to understand righteousness as
the cause, purpose and effect of being and doing goodness as Love's
ways and attributes. Thus God reveals His righteousness in His
Redemption as a
fundamental principle
for the Messianic Era. We bring it near as we do what is right.
“O
the happiness of a man who does this, and of a son of man who keeps
hold on it, keeping the Shabbat from polluting it, and keeping his
hand from doing any evil. Neither let the foreigner, who has joined
himself to the Lord, speak saying, 'The Lord will surely separate me
from His people'; neither let the eunuch say, 'Behold, I am a dry
tree'.” (56:2-3)
In
this context righteousness is our happiness, for it is the goodness
God wants us to be and to pursue. Interestingly, He encompasses
righteousness into the Shabbat, for this day is the culmination of
goodness as the eternal principle in His Creation. Keeping the
Shabbat sacred is keeping righteousness in all levels and expressions
of consciousness.
It
is also essential that God refers to the foreigner as the outsider
who finds his way and reason for living part of His
will. Once as outsiders we embrace God's ways and attributes,
He doesn't reject us. Hence, even in the most adverse situations and
circumstances, we must never believe or say that God separates from
us. This also applies for those who have lost essential organs or
limbs. The lack or need of them are not basis to assume God's
separation, nor to assume that our cripple prevents our relationship
with Him. God makes this clear through the words of the Prophet.
“For
thus says the Lord, 'To the eunuchs who keep My Shabbats and choose
the things that please Me, and hold fast My Covenant: I have given to
them in My house, and within My walls a station and a name, better
than sons and than daughters, an eternal name I give to him that is
not cut off'.” (56:4-5)
As
long as we maintain our bond and connection with God by being and
doing what pleases Him (His ways and attributes as expressions of His
righteousness) in addition to keeping His Shabbats, He also holds
fast His Covenant (His bond and connection with us). This means that
we are never cut off, for He has named us in eternal bond. This bond
occurs in His house as the place, time and name that unite us to Him,
far better than being sons or daughters, for in this bond there
is no separation or cut off.
“And
sons of the foreigner who are joined to the Lord to serve Him, and to
love the Name of the Lord to be to Him for servants, every keeper of
the Sabbath from polluting it and those keeping hold on My Covenant.”
(56:6)
God
reaffirms in this verse His earlier words regarding the foreigners
who join His Covenant and its implications of service and love for
the righteousness of His ways and attributes, included again the
observance of the Shabbat. This is the basis of the love of God as
our reason to exist, for by loving Him we realize the His Love is our
Essence
and true identity.
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