Isaiah 58 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 58. Let’s go!
Isaiah 58:1 (NIV)
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
On verse 1: In Isaiah 57:14-21, Isaiah declared the forgiveness, the mercy and the freedom from captivity to sin that God has made possible for His people. Yet here in Isaiah 58, God tells Isaiah to raise his voice like a trumpet and declare to the people their rebellion and their sins. What does this teach us? Even after we have received the forgiveness, the mercy and the freedom that God freely makes available to us, there is still work for us to do. It’s the sanctification after the salvation. It’s the growing up after being born again. It’s about becoming mature after you become a member of God’s family.
Isaiah 58:2-10 (NIV)
2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
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.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling 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.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
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.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
On verses 2-10: With great eloquence (for example, I love Isaiah’s play on the words “flesh and blood” in verse 7), Isaiah communicates God’s displeasure at how His people have been fasting. Isaiah is not saying that fasting is wrong or unnecessary. Later in Matthew 6 Jesus would give us instructions on what to do “when you fast”, not if you fast. But Isaiah here and Jesus in Matthew 5 are talking about the heart with which you do anything spiritual, such as fasting. It’s about the condition of your heart. It’s about integrity. In the case of Isaiah’s people, they were fasting and yet also exploiting their workers at the same time (v3). They were fasting and at the same time quarreling and fighting with one another (v4). God is saying that fasting is just a show if while you fast there remain glaring sin and injustice issues in your life that you are not dealing with. God is very practical. He is not interested in superficial worship or token offerings. He wants hearts that are truly humble, open and surrendered to doing what pleases Him.
Also, Isaiah is pointing out that sometimes the reason why we don’t hear from God, don’t sense Him, don’t experience Him is because sin has gotten in the way. Wait, JB! If God has already forgiven me of my sins, how can sin still get in the way between God and me? Let me give an analogy: When my wife and I got married many years ago, we entered into a marriage covenant, a legal relationship with one another. Now if I sin against my wife (say I foolishly speak a hurtful word to her or act selfishly), and I keep doing so, does that change my legal relationship with my wife? No. She’s still my wife no matter how badly I behave. But does my sin affect the emotional relationship between my wife and me? Of course it does.
The same goes for your relationship with God. Once you receive Jesus into your life, you entered into a new covenant with God, a legal relationship that sin cannot separate you from anymore. But when you continue to sin after becoming a Christian, can your sins affect your emotional relationship with God? Yes. That is why the New Testament says “Do not grieve the Spirit of God, with whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). When we sin, we can grieve the Holy Spirit and in addition dump a pile of shame, guilt and restlessness on ourselves. Like ear wax, sin gets in the way, such that we find it tough to hear from God or to sense His presence. That is why it is important to confess our sins, to clear the emotional air with God. When we “do away” (v9b) with our sin through repentance and drawing near to God, that’s when we can hear from God again. That’s why repentance is so important.
Isaiah 58:11-14 (NIV)
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
On verses 11-14: When we repent and start living as God wants us to live, not only do we clear the air with God and experience His presence again, but even more:
– We let God guide us and satisfy us, such that even in a desert season, like a well-watered garden we won’t lack what we need (v11).
– God will use us to build His age-old kingdom in our modern world. We step into our calling as those who restore God’s glory to our world (v12).
– We will find joy in God again and experience His blessings (v14).
Thank You Father that You continue to work on us even after You save us. To the extent that I’ve allowed sin to get in the way of our relationship, please help me to see it and repent from it, so that You can have maximum room to work in and through my life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
