Shout it out! Show my people what is wrong with their lives. These pious snobs pretended to enjoy Bible reading and temple services, but their mind and heart was empty. They folded their hands in prayer and bent the knee─but their hands were stained with blood. This people fasted, prayed and pretended. All they wanted was the almighty dollar. Their leaders judged for bribes─priests taught for cold cash─prophets predicted for pay─they abhorred judgment and perverted equity. On fast days they gathered to quarrel, they squabbled and wrangled till it broke out into a fist fight. This was not the kind of fast that God wanted─he wanted broken hearts and broken lives mended─but instead they put on a gunny sack and marked themselves with ashes. These people were out to skin anyone and everyone. They were vultures waiting for someone to default on a note so they could repossess their home and farms and sell their children as slaves. If they got their act straight God would light their morning with sunshine─restore their health and be their guide and rearward and then when they prayed God would answer. God would reveal to them where to go and they would be like a well watered garden. You will build homes on old foundations. From the past life you will build a new righteous life. You will be able to fix anything and everything─restore, renovate, and rebuild. Finally you will find your happiness in the LORD─you will ride on high and soar like an eagle and you will eat the heritage of Jacob.
Experiencing True Fasting and Repairing the Breach
Isaiah 58:1
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Shout the message at the top of your lungs. Show my people what is wrong with their lives.
Cross References
- Jeremiah 1:17-19: Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them...
- Isaiah 56:10: (Read for context on watchmen.)
Isaiah 58:2
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
These people showed up for temple service and pretended to love the reading of the law but all the while in their heart they despised the commandments of the law. Their piety was as artificial as saccharine. They prayed but their hands were full of blood.
Cross References
- Isaiah 1:11-15: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD... I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting...
Isaiah 58:3
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Why wasn’t God impressed with these folks? They fasted, prayed and pretended. They used the fast days to do business as usual─oppress the workers, and exploit people. Leaders were judging for rewards─priests were teaching for money─prophets divine for money─they abhorred judgment and perverted equity.
Cross References
- Jeremiah 34:9-12: That every man should let his manservant... go free... But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return...
Isaiah 58:4
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
When they fasted they became quarrelsome, they squabbled and wrangled till they got into a fist fight.
Cross References
- Proverbs 21:27: The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?
- 1 Kings 21:9-13: (Read regarding Jezebel proclaiming a fast to destroy Naboth.)
Isaiah 58:5
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Can this be the kind of a fast that I called for? Is this what God wants─bowing ones head like a weeping cherry tree─putting on an old gunny sack and marking oneself with ashes? Is that what God wants to see?
Cross References
- Ezra 10:6: Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God... he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression...
- Nehemiah 9:1-2: Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes...
Isaiah 58:6
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
These people were picking peoples flesh to the bone and skinning everyone they could─they were charging a high rate of interest─they were vultures waiting for their brethren to default on their notes so they could take their homes, vineyards, and farms and sell their sons and daughters.
Cross References
- Nehemiah 5:10-12: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands...
- Micah 3:2-4: Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them...
Isaiah 58:7
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
They were evading the simple duties and in doing so violated the second commandment with promise. They should have provided the wanderer with shelter─clothed the naked─(they would sell ones shirt of his back) they pretended that they didn’t know what was going on.
Cross References
- Job 22:7: Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
- Proverbs 28:27: He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
- Daniel 4:27: Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor...
Isaiah 58:8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.
If they would do this their light would spring forth like morning sunshine─you will recover from your health problem─your own righteousness will go before you and God will bring up your rearward.
Cross References
- Psalm 97:11: Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
- Psalm 112:4: Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness...
- John 12:46: I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
Isaiah 58:9
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
And then when you pray God will answer you! All you need to do is straighten up─stop unfair practices─quit gossiping─be generous with the hungry─cease perverting justice and then you will glow in the dark─you will have a new light to walk in.
Cross References
- Isaiah 65:24: And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer...
- Psalm 91:15: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble...
Isaiah 58:10
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
If you open your heart to the hungry─it will be like thick darkness suddenly exposed to the bright sun at noon time.
Cross References
- Deuteronomy 15:7-10: Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother... Because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee...
- Psalm 37:6: And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
Isaiah 58:11
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
The LORD will show you where to go. He will prepare a table before you. You will be like a garden with automatic sprinklers─like and ever flowing spring, even in time of draught.
Cross References
- Isaiah 49:10: They shall not hunger nor thirst... even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
- Job 5:20: In famine he shall redeem thee from death...
- Jeremiah 31:9: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way...
Isaiah 58:12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
You will take old foundations and build new homes. You will raise up the foundation of many generations─from the past life you will build a new righteous life. You will be able to fix anything─restore old things─rebuild and renovate─this place will be livable again.
Cross References
- Isaiah 61:4: And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations...
- Nehemiah 2:5: That I may build it.
- Nehemiah 6:1: I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein...
Isaiah 58:13
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
God calls on his people to not use the Sabbath for personal advantage─celebrate God’s holy day and not use it for business as usual. Use the Sabbath as a day of joy for the LORD.
Cross References
- Exodus 20:8-10: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy...
Isaiah 58:14
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Then you will find your happiness in the LORD. You will ride high and soar like an eagle. You will eat the heritage of Jacob─see I God have spoken it.
Cross References
- Job 22:26: For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
- Isaiah 33:16: He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks...