You might not expect to find a message about same sex attraction in the Book of Isaiah, and some might say I'm being wishful that there even is one. In this article we look at the "eunuchs" of Isaiah 56, this time in the context of identity, specifically the mysterious and elusive "name better than sons or daughters" that God holds out to them:
Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
—Isaiah 56: 3–5
The fact that God expresses kindness toward eunuchs in this passage ought to to startle us. Eunuchs are those who are excluded from "normal" reproductive life for some reason, including congenital deformity of the sexual organs or violent castration. The Mosaic Law bans them from participation in God's assembly:
No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.
—Deuteronomy 23: 1
If eunuchs are excluded from the assembly, why does God offer them a ray of encouragement in Isaiah? God is reminding them of His mercy, which a cautious reader of the Law will note is brought up earlier in the book, suggesting that subsequent points of law should be interpeted with mercy in mind:
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
—Deuteronomy 7: 9
Isaiah's message is that even if eunuchs are ceremoniously "unclean," if they love God and embrace His sovereignty, then they can become clean and have a place in His Kingdom. And not just a spot in a dark corner. Let's look again:
[T]o them [=the eunuchs who love me] I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
—Isaiah 56: 5
Jesus informs us that there are three types of eunuchs: 1) those born that way; 2) those made that way by men; 3) and those who make themselves that way for the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19: 12). This third category refers to those who are not sexually deformed or emasculated but who offer sexual abstinence as a gesture of devotion to God. Obviously, a same sex attracted person who embraces celibacy to honor God falls into this category as well. God's use of the phrase "sons and daughters" is important here, since the eunuchs of the Old Testament were generally understood to be male, not female. God is referring to men and women here—not your "ordinary" eunuchs.
So what is this "memorial" and "name better than sons or daughters" that is everlasting? No one knows, but God's promise of special blessing—a better name—to a small group of ceremonial and social outcasts is extraordinary.
Names are important, and so is naming. One way we know this is because Satan is obsessed by it. Recall that in the temptation of Christ he twice identifies Jesus by his title—the Son of God—yet does so questioningly: "If you are the Son of God..." (Luke 4: 3; 9). Jesus does not fall for this dig, because he has already been told by God Himself that he is the Son of God (Luke 3: 22). God has also been clear in telling us who we are:
We are male or female (Genesis 1: 27)
We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139: 14)
We are children of God (1 John 3: 1)
We are chosen (Ephesians 1: 11)
We are God's handiwork (Ephesians 2: 10)
We are Christ's friends (John 15: 15)
We are more than conquerors (Romans 8: 37)
We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (1 Peter 2: 9)
...and many other things!
Since God has made so many specific assertions about who we are, it makes sense that the Father of Lies seeks to sow uncertainty in us about these very things. Satan's best attack is not on what we do, but on who we are. Think about it. You commit a blunder and your first thought is, "Oh, I am such a bad person (or: bad father, bad mother, bad husband, bad wife, bad son, bad daughter, bad friend, etc.)!" This self-talk is harmful because it blurs the facts of our identity, and if we repeat it enough, we will soon believe it and act as if it is true.
Secular culture has embraced this kind of self-talk to the point that it verges on pathological. Culture presses us to identify deeply with every one of our failures, our insecurities, and our imperfections—including all sorts of things nobody should want to claim for themselves, such as "I am manic-depressive" or "I am an alcoholic."(1) In his book Unwanted, Christian psychotherapist Jay Stringer attributes these kinds of identifications to not having enough sources of delight in our lives.(2) There should be no surprise here, since a key sign of our identity as children of God is our delight in Him:
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
—Psalm 37: 4
Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.
—Psalm 112: 1
Satan takes aim at our delight because in our delight, we experience God most personally. Without delight in God, we have no choice but to delight in other things. These things then edge their way into our being and form an insidious, counterfeit identity.
Is it any shock that the Enemy has devoted so much attention to confusing the identity of the ones God has called to receive "a name better than sons or daughters?" If the mere abbreviation LGBTQIA+ is any indication, naming is everything, and yet with all its variations and themes, it has ironically become meaningless.
Identity can't be sought, uncovered, or revealed. It can only be received:
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
—Romans 3: 22
And when the time comes, those who pursue holiness through chastity before God will receive a "name better than sons or daughters" as well.
—Rick E.
Rick is the director of Free in Christ Ministries
References:
(1) Please don't read this as meaning that manic depression and alcoholism aren't real. They certainly are real! The point is that there is nothing to gain by claiming these things as cornerstones of one's identity, and yet there is much to lose.
(2) Stringer, Jay. 2018. Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing. Colorado Springs: NavPress, p. 231.
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