Isaiah 58
Notes
Transcript
Proper Fasting
Proper Fasting
We come back to the book of Isaiah, and all through this book there is a standard theme that God loves his covenant people, but calls for them to live righteously before Him
But instead they have wandered in and out of sin, and under the leadership of evil kings and false prophets they have given their worship to false gods and lusted after the things not of God.
God has placed his people in captivity, both Israel, the Northern 10 tribes to Assyria and then the Southern kingdom, of Judah and Benjamin to Babylon.
God will restore them in the days to come, and he will make His promise to Abraham fulfilled as Jesus comes into the world at the right time in the days to come.
But here God speaks to them for the way they fast, there are right ways and wrong ways, so lets see what is happening and what the Lord is saying about their actions.
1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Here the verses gives instruction, the call is for someone to call out, to cry out literally from the throat which seems to call for a loud cry, a cry that exhausts the lungs.
Again, lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell the people of their transgression, sin… literally they have missed the mark,
The house of Jacob represents the call for the people of God.
So the message was to declare to Jacob, their transgression and sin. Cry it out with a loud voice, it is terrible.
Verse 2 Isa 58:2
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
Yet, the people are in sin, but yet they delight in my ways and in me God says, they seek me daily and act as if they are a right nation..
But what is the problem, you can act one way and still not be right with God. The people delighted in coming on their own to the Temple to worship and draw near to God in prayer but what God is saying is a people can act, talk and delight in the things of God, yet still they now not the people of God.
A good, moral, cultural Israelite knows how to act and behave in religious circles, their actions were not it.
Verse 3 Isa 58:3
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Now Isaiah asks a disturbing question of these pious people. Why does God not take noticed of your fasting, God doesn’t seem to notice the fact that you have humbled yourselves before him… Why is this???
We do nto know the particular past unless it is the one associated with the day of atonement, Yom Kippor, when the people gathered at the temple to confess their sins.
But the second part of the verses tells us why all this is happening…
Their focus was all wrong the prophet declares to them from God. They sought their own pleasures and not God’s pleasure.
God is not condemning the fast, but the attitude behind it. They not only sought their own pleasures, but they oppressed their workers. They had no compassion on those who worked for them, so how could God have compassion on them.
If they called for a fast, but didn’t lay off their workers for that day, but made them fast and work, their hearts are missing the truth of the fasting.
Verse 4 Isa 58:4
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
The people thought their “so called actions, trying to be pious and holy” when truthfully they were not, would allow them to manipulate God. But God doesn’t plan their games, and when god refuses to respond to their actions, they cry foul, that their religion doesnt work
And there in is the problem, God was calling for people to know and love him, to walk with Him. he wasn;t justa means to satisfy theie end goals.
God says that actions like yours will not be recignized or heard on high! They have failed...
Verse 5 Isa 58:5
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Here God asks a series of three questions through the prophet.
Would I choose your fast? Was there a true humbling of the Soul, Was this a fast that God would choose and delight in?
The answer is no..
The second question continues to ask about the purpose for the fast, would it be one for God to delight in...
Would one bow their head down like a reed and lay in Sackcloth and ashes in mourning for one’s actions?
And thirdly, God repeasts is this the the type of fast that he would find pleasure in...
So in these three questions, there is no direct criticism of these traditional signs of fastings, but was the heart of the person right who did it..
God really desires the heart to be right when a man comes before him, then these actions like fasting fall in line with the heart… Let me share a word from the prophet Micah.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Now lets move to verses 6-7 Isa 58:6-7
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
So right off the bat, we see the ideals God mentions that would illustrate a right heart in connection with fasting.. If you want to be received by God, demonstrate a right heart in front of him. They have not done that in the past.
Let me share what one person said Dr. Waybray
Isaiah 40–66 Doing as You Please Is Unacceptable (58:1–14)
If the people praying want or expect God to respond and bring them freedom from oppression, the people praying should do everything in their power to assist the hand of God in bringing freedom from oppression to everyone in that community.
Our behaviors must reflect his character...
Opening up, loosening up the bonds of wickedness iimplies that one would help free people from wicked people and wicked habits that entrap them.
And moving into verse 7 we see ways to help poor people with practical necessities of life.
We have the responsibility to watch out for the well being of others who live around us, each person can be part of the process of answering the prayers of others who fast and pray for God to provide for their neeeds.
If you are fasting but see others hungry, can you not feed them but you yourself not eat.
The heart there reflects a heart after God...
God calls for his people help others in times of need.
Verse 8 Isa 58:8
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Here God promises to meet true fasting with true blessings. Unlike the false gods who cannot answer, God does answer and works to help His people.
God will deliver and help, and the ideal of the rear guard is a reminder of long ago did he not protect the children of Israel.
Verse 9 Isa 58:9
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
God promises to answer… can we take delight in that my friends, that the heart that is right before God can expect to hear from God.
The people complained that in their pious actions that God did not answer, and the truth is pious pretending is not enough, the heart must be right before God.
There are three actions that the Lord calls for people to abandon… yoke of oppression, pointing the finder and wicked talk
Isaiah 40–66 Doing as You Please Is Unacceptable (58:1–14)
The yoke (cf. 58:6) that oppresses should be removed so that there will be no legal or social obligation on people who are unjust or oppressive (slavery, financial, or social obligations). “By pointing” the finger at someone (cf. Prov 6:13; Isa 57:4) or “speaking evil” in everyday life or in a courtroom setting, one can threaten or mock someone else and put them in a difficult oppressive situation
Now verses 10- Isa 58:10
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
Instead of the negative acts, positive acts are encouraged..
The pouring out of your soul for the hungry and the satisfying of the soul of the poor, afflicted person.
Instead of just giving food, give of yourself, a much deeper commitment is needed, the measure of success of when the soul of the afflicted person is satisfied.
Thus your light will rise in the darkness, and it will be as bright as the noon day sun.
A light like this that reflects the love and compassion of God will remove the darkness and gloom from this wicked world.
Your light is to reflect the light of God, the salvation and hope he offers.. so others can see and receive that truth.
verse 11 Isa 58:11
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
Here we see how God will guide his people, he will guide them at all times as he did in the past, he will satisfy and sustain your body, your bones… These are pictures of life , vitality and His blessings.
Verse 12 Isa 58:12
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
The holy city of Jerusalem was in ruins, but even worse the people were in spiritual ruins yet, as the people returned to God those ruins would be rebuilt
And the last two verses 13-14
13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Here again these verses concerning the Sabbath is a call for the people to return to right living. To live justly, to walk and live in a way that pleases God
So conisder this, if you want to experience the joy of the Lord, then do not return to your former practices
Instead if one returns to God, they find joy and peace on the sabbath day, on His day
It appears that people had not trusted God and worked on the sabbath laboring to make sure they were provided for… God
But in the call to return is also a call to have faith that when we give our best to God, thought, word and deed. He in turns gives His best to us.
Keeping the sabbath day is a day where we find our hope and joy in the Lord and nothing else.
The abundant care of the Lord will take care of his people, they will ride on or over the heights of the earth, this is where God rides in the clouds, again is the imagery of drawing and being close to God.
If the people return to God he will return to them and answer their prayers
