Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.”Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.Neither let the foreigner, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
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… and listen to what this prophecy says about the eunuch. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And listen to this. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree. for thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath who choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off to the eunuch who is not able to physically reproduce I will give them an everlasting name a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. And so with that background, now go to one place in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19. You see the picture here? And just as a side note, we were obviously talking about singleness here, but hear this. …
… trusts in God and leads others to life in God than the one who's in labor, has physical children. You get two chapters over, Isaiah 56, verse 3, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to The Lord said, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I'm a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant. I will give in my house, within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I'll give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Did you hear that? Eunuchs, don't worry. You're single. But you're not a dry tree. your name will not be cut off. Your name will be better than having sons and daughters because God's kingdom comes through spiritual offspring, not ultimately dependent on your physical offspring. Now, all this was promised in the Old Testament, but it wasn't a part of Old Testament culture, which is why people were astonished when Jesus came on the scene and he started talking about marriage. And in Matthew chapter 19, verse 10, listen to this, the disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it's better not to marry. And Jesus stunned them with his response. He said, not everybody can receive that saying, but only those to whom it is given. …
… I'm going to give a couple translations of verse 3. Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely exclude me from his people. Another translation is let no immigrant who has bound himself to the Lord say, the Lord has surely excluded me from his people. Another translation, let no undocumented immigrant who has bound himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely exclude me from his people. And let not any 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 not, that they will not be cut off from, and foreigners, immigrants, undocumented, who bind themselves to the Lord to serve God, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship God. …