FRAMEWORKS:
Isaiah 58: True
‘fasting'
v.1-5
Confronting Pretense-Religion
v.6,7
What the Lord does want
v.8-12
What He will then do for you
v.13,14
The changes required and the blessings that will follow
[Preliminary
notes: This chapter is possibly one of the most succinct
and clearest chapters in the book of demands to put aside religious
pretense and turn to genuine practical righteousness. The prophet
starts with a confrontation of wrong attitudes and wrong behaviour
[v.1-4] and asks if this pretend-religion is really what God wants?
[v.5] To be clear he then states what God does want of them [v.6,7]
and what He will do in response [v.8-12] but that IS conditional
on them acting [v.13,14]. With such clarity Israel could never
say they weren't warned! However look again at:
i)
the pretense of their religion [v.2-5]
ii)
the range of blessings [v.8,9,11,12,14] He holds out to them if
they will heed His call.
iii)
the things they need to do to bring those blessings [v.7,9b,10a,13]
Total
clarity!]
v.1-5
Confronting Pretense-Religion
v.1
Prophet, confront my people's rebellion
v.1
‘Shout
it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their
sins.
v.2
Confront their pretenses
v.2
For
day after day they [i]
seek me out;
they [ii]
seem eager
to know my ways,
as if they [iii]
were a nation
that does what is right
and [iv]
has not forsaken
the commands of its God.
They [v] ask
me for just decisions
and [vi]
seem eager
for God to come near them.
v.3
Confront their false humility
v.3
“Why
have we fasted,” they say,
“and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?”
‘Yet
on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
v.4
Confront their bad attitudes
v.4
Your
fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked
fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
v.5
Is this what God wants???
v.5
[i]
Is this the
kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
[ii] Is
it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
[iii] Is
that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
v.6,7
What the Lord does want
v.6
Rather doesn't He want to see justice & freedom
v.6
‘Is
not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to [i] loose
the chains of injustice
and [ii]
untie the cords
of the yoke,
to [iii] set
the oppressed free
and [iv]
break every
yoke?
v.7
Doesn't He want to see concern for the poor
v.7
Is
it not [v] to
share your food with the hungry
and to [vi]
provide the
poor wanderer with shelter –
[vii] when
you see the naked, to clothe them,
and [viii]
not to turn
away from your own flesh and blood?
v.8-12
What He will then do for you
v.8
When, when that happens, then healing & righteousness will
flow
v.8
Then
your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your
rear guard.
v.9
Then the Lord will be there for you when you call
v.9
Then
you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say:
here am I.
v.9b,10
Blessing is conditional on you changing
‘
If [i]
you do away
with the yoke of oppression,
[ii]
with the pointing
finger and malicious talk,
v.10
and
if [iii]
you spend yourselves
on behalf of the hungry
and [iv]
satisfy the
needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
v.11,12
Given all that, He will then be there for you…
v.11
The
Lord will [i]
guide you always;
he will [ii]
satisfy your
needs in a sun-scorched land
and will [iii]
strengthen
your frame.
You will [iv]
be like a well-watered
garden,
[v]
like a spring
whose waters never fail.
v.12
Your
people will [vi]
rebuild the
ancient ruins
and will [vii]
raise up the
age-old foundations;
you will [viii]
be called Repairer
of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
v.13,14
The changes required and the blessings that will follow
v.13
…but you've got to make these changes…
v.13
‘If
[i] you
keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and [ii]
from doing
as you please on my holy day,
if [iii] you
call the Sabbath a delight
and [iv]
the Lord's
holy day honourable,
and if [v] you
honour it by not going your own way
and [vi]
not doing as
you please or speaking idle words,
v.14
…only then will these blessings come
v.14
then
[i] you
will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will [ii]
cause you to
ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to [iii]
feast on the
inheritance of your father Jacob.'
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.