A House of Prayer for All Nations

Joyful in My House of Prayer

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When Jesus cleared the temple, He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). Those words come from a promise God gave through the prophet Isaiah.

Strangers who love God. In Isaiah 56, God spoke about foreigners, people from other nations who had come to love the Lord. Some of them were afraid that God would keep them apart from His people (Isaiah 56:3).

God's answer. God said He would bring them to His holy mountain and make them joyful in His house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7). He would accept their gifts and their worship.

For all nations. Then God said why: His house would be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7). Mark tells us that Jesus spoke those last words too (Mark 11:17).

God's plan from the start. God chose Abraham's family so that His blessing would reach the whole world. He always wanted people from every nation to come and know Him.

A crowded court. The temple had courts, or open yards, around it. Many Bible teachers think the buying and selling filled the outer court, the one place where people from other nations could come to pray.

No room to pray. If that is right, people who traveled from far away to pray found a market instead. Jesus cleared it out.

More to gather. Isaiah said God would gather still more people to Himself, besides the people of Israel He had already gathered (Isaiah 56:8). God's family was going to grow.

Other sheep. Jesus said the same kind of thing about Himself: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring” (John 10:16).

Jesus opens the way. Jesus came to make a way for people from every nation to come to God. He died on the cross for our sins, and on the third day He rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Nations on the way. Isaiah also saw a day when all nations would stream to the mountain of the Lord's house. Many peoples would urge one another to go up to the house of the God of Jacob so that He could teach them His ways (Isaiah 2:2-3).

What to do. No matter where your family comes from or what language you speak, God welcomes you to come to Him through Jesus. Pray this week for children in another country who have never heard about Jesus.

Matthew 21:13 and Luke 19:46 record Jesus quoting Isaiah 56:7. Mark records the end of the sentence as well: for all nations (Mark 11:17). Isaiah's promise was spoken to people who feared they were shut out.

The foreigner's fear. Isaiah 56:3 pictures a foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord and is afraid the Lord has separated him from His people. The eunuch, a man who could have no children, is afraid he is a dry tree with no future.

The Lord's welcome. God promises the eunuch who holds fast to Him a name better than sons and daughters (56:4-5). To the foreigners who love His name and hold fast to His promise, He says He will bring them to His holy mountain (56:6-7).

Tefillah. The Hebrew word for prayer in 56:7 is tefillah (say: teh-fee-LAH). God calls the temple His house of prayer and promises to make the foreigners joyful in it.

Ethnos. In Mark's Greek, the word for nations is ethnos (say: ETH-noss), the peoples of the world. The English word ethnic comes from it.

The court that was crowded. The temple of Jesus' day had several courts. Many Bible teachers think the trading took place in the outermost court, the only area people from other nations were allowed to enter. If so, the very space set aside for the nations to pray had become a market.

Accepted offerings. Isaiah 56:7 says the foreigners' burnt offerings and sacrifices would be accepted on God's altar. God would accept their worship.

Gathering others. Isaiah 56:8 ends with the Lord, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, promising to gather others besides them. Jesus spoke the same way about other sheep not of this fold whom He must bring (John 10:16).

The cross for the nations. Christ “died for our sins according to the Scriptures” and “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The way into God's presence for every nation runs through the cross.

The nations streaming in. Isaiah 2:2-3 pictures all nations flowing to the mountain of the Lord's house, many peoples urging one another to go up so that the God of Jacob will teach them His ways. Both chapters point toward one house of prayer for the world.

One family. The house of prayer was never meant to belong to one people group. In Jesus, believers from every nation pray to the same Father.

Application. Notice who is left out in your school or neighborhood, and welcome them. Pray for one nation this week by name, asking God to gather people there to Himself.

Prayer from a Far Country

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Long before Jesus, King Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem. When it was finished, he stood before the altar of the Lord, spread out his hands toward heaven and prayed (1 Kings 8:22).

A prayer for strangers. In the middle of that prayer, Solomon prayed for people who were not from Israel. He prayed for a foreigner who would come from a far country because he had heard of God's great name (1 Kings 8:41-42).

Hear in heaven. Solomon asked God to hear that foreigner's prayer from heaven, where He lives, and to do what the foreigner asked (1 Kings 8:43).

So all may know. Solomon said why: so that all the peoples of the earth would know God's name and honor Him (1 Kings 8:43). From the very first day, God's house was meant to help the whole world know Him.

Hezekiah's letter. Many years later, an enemy king sent King Hezekiah a frightening letter. Hezekiah took the letter up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord (2 Kings 19:14).

For every kingdom. Hezekiah prayed that God would save His people so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He alone is the Lord God (2 Kings 19:19). God heard his prayer and saved the city.

What prayer is. Solomon lifted his hands. Hezekiah spread out his letter. Prayer is bringing everything to God, the big things and the hard things, and trusting Him to hear.

Why the market was wrong. God's house was a place where anyone, even someone from far away, could pray and be heard. Buying and selling had pushed that out.

Jesus, the way to God. Today we do not travel to a temple to pray. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). A mediator is someone who brings two sides together.

He opened the way. Our sins kept us far from God. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day, so that anyone who trusts Him can come to God.

The God who hears. David called God the One who hears prayer, and he said that all people will come to Him (Psalm 65:2). Through Jesus, anyone can come.

Pray for all people. Paul asked that “prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). That includes your family, your friends and people in faraway countries.

What to do. Bring your hard things to God the way Hezekiah did. Then pray for one country this week, and ask God to help the people there know His name.

Isaiah 56 was not the first time God's house was linked to the nations. At the dedication of the first temple, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and spread out his hands toward heaven (1 Kings 8:22).

The foreigner in Solomon's prayer. Solomon prayed for a foreigner who is not of Israel but comes from a far country for the sake of God's name (1 Kings 8:41). He would come because people would hear of God's great name, His strong hand and His outstretched arm (8:42).

Hear and do. Solomon asked the Lord to hear in heaven, His dwelling place, and to do according to all that the foreigner called to Him for (8:43). He asked for nothing less for the stranger than for Israel.

The purpose. The goal was that all peoples of the earth would know God's name and fear Him, as His people Israel did (8:43). The house was meant to send the knowledge of God out to the world.

Hezekiah at the house of the Lord. When Sennacherib's messengers sent a letter mocking the Lord, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before Him (2 Kings 19:14).

A prayer about the nations. Hezekiah began by naming the Lord as God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth (19:15). He ended by asking God to save His people so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He is the Lord God, He alone (19:19).

God answered. Through Isaiah, God sent word that He had heard Hezekiah's prayer (19:20), and the city was saved. A house of prayer is a place where God hears.

What the market replaced. In Jesus' day, the courts that should have welcomed praying people were busy with trade. The house that was meant to make God's name known to the nations had lost sight of its purpose.

The one Mediator. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). The prayers that once went toward the temple now go to the Father through the Son, and anyone in any nation can pray.

The way opened. Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day. David called God the One who hears prayer, to whom all flesh will come (Psalm 65:2). Because of the cross, that promise is open to anyone who trusts Jesus.

Prayer for all. Paul urged “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). A believer's prayers should reach as far as Solomon's did.

Application. Bring the letter that frightens you, whatever it is, and spread it before the Lord. Then widen your prayers beyond yourself to people and nations who do not yet know His name.

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