Supplication in Our Prayer


"I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
—Isaiah 56:7 WEB*

The passage in Isaiah 56:3-8 is foretelling of a time, during the Messiah's millennial reign on earth, when God will be openly worshipped by believers from all nations. All will offer to God continual thanksgiving, worship and praise, described here simply as "prayer" (the Hebrew tephillah). These will be the "sacrifice" (the Hebrew zebach) and the "burnt offering" (the Hebrew olah). These will be placed on God's "altar" (the Hebrew mizbeach).

No longer literal sacrifice, but spiritual sacrifice will be offered that is genuine and sincere (Psalm 141:2; 51:17; Malachi 1:11). Jesus quoted from this passage of Isaiah as He cleared the temple of merchants and money changers (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46). While Jesus knew what people were like inside (John 3:24-25), He was probably struck to witness in person just how far they were from God's ideal of sincere worship.

Thanks to the love of God, the only things that separate all of us from the Creator of the Universe are our willful sin and our unbelief. Our thanksgiving, our praise and our worship are the very least that we can give in return. Isn't it amazing that these are the very things that God requires of us?


* WEB - The World English Bible, a Public Domain, Modern English translation of the Holy Bible developed by Rainbow Missions, Inc. URL: ebible.org

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