True and False Fasting
Isa 58:1 “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.
Isa 58:2 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.
Isa 58:3 ‘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.
Isa 58:4 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.
Isa 58:5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
Isa 58:6 “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?
Isa 58:7 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 them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Isa 58:8 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.
Isa 58:9 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,
Isa 58:10 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.
Isa 58:11 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.
Isa 58:12 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.
Isa 58:13 “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,
Isa 58:14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
1 The prophet, being sent to reprove hypocrisy, 3 expresses counterfeit fast and a true. 8 He declares what promises are due unto godliness, 13 and to the keeping of the sabbath.
True and False Fasting
Isa 58:1 “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.
In ch. 57:15–21 Isaiah presents Heaven’s message of reconciliation and peace. In ch. 58 he gives instruction as to what repentance involves, and what is essential before the promised blessings may be realized. A call to repentance cannot be effective unless it sets forth clearly what men must do about sin in their lives (see Eze. 13:10–16). A call to reformation is a call to decisive action. Compare
Leaders who fail to draw a clear line between right and wrong, that the people may understand the principals involved, are “blind leaders of the blind” (Matt. 15:14; Luke 6:39; see on Matt. 23:16).
Isa 58:2 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.
Outwardly the nation of Judah professed to follow the Lord, but inwardly they were far from Him. They held to the external forms of religion but neglected its basic principles.
They fasted and prayed, observed the Sabbath, kept the sacred feasts, brought their offerings to the Temple, and attended solemn assemblies, while they engaged in every form of iniquity (ch. 1:11–15).
Theirs was an incongruous attempt to serve both God and mammon (see on Matt. 6:24–34). They professed to love the light but chose to live in darkness (see on Matt. 6:19–23). They wanted all this world had to offer—and heaven too. They thought to enjoy the privileges of obedience but were loath to shoulder its responsibilities.
Isa 58:3 ‘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.
Why have we fasted? Hypocrisy had permeated their religious life (see on Matt. 6:2). These hypocrites thought to make themselves acceptable to God by undergoing various forms of bodily affliction.
Fasting, they believed, would atone for iniquity. Their darkened minds failed to realize that God is righteous and that He requires righteousness of His children. They forgot that the essence of true religion is the exercise of justice, mercy, and humility (Micah 6:8; see on Isa. 57:15).
These hypocrites fasted because they thought thereby to earn God’s approval. They did not grasp the spiritual meaning of such things as fasting and Sabbath observance and thought that adherence to the forms of religion gave them license to gratify their own passions and to oppress the poor and the helpless.
Isa 58:5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
Their fasting was not of God’s appointment, and therefore entirely unacceptable to Him. They fasted merely to gain favour with God and to secure His approval of their evil deeds, as if abstention from food was of more importance in God’s sight than abstention from iniquity! See on Matt. 6:16.
Isa 58:6 “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?
To loose the chains of injustice.
True fasting was designed to purify the motives and reform the life. But with the Jews the practices of religion had become a cloak for oppression of the weak, robbery of widows and orphans, and all forms of bribery, deceit, and injustice (Isa. 1:17, 23; Hosea 4:2; Amos 2:6; 3:10; 4:1; 5:11; 8:4–6; Micah 6:11, 12).
The true purpose of religion is to release men from their burdens of sin, to eliminate intolerance and oppression, and to promote justice, liberty, and peace. God intended His people to be free, but the leaders of Israel were making slaves and paupers of them.
Isa 58:7 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 them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Share your food. True religion is practical. To be sure, it includes the rites and ceremonies of the church, but it is in the life lived before one’s fellows that the presence or absence of true religion is manifest.
It is not so much a matter of abstaining from food as it is of sharing food with the hungry. Practical godliness is the only kind of religion recognized at the judgment bar of God (Matt. 25:34–46).
Isa 58:8 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.
Healing. What we contribute to the well-being of others reacts to our own good. Our own welfare is intimately related to that of our fellow men. As we walk in ways of God’s choosing we can be sure of His protecting presence.
Isa 58:9 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,
The promises of God are conditional upon obedience. Isaiah points out the difference between prayer God can answer, and worship that is not acceptable to Him (chs. 1:11–17; 58:2–4). Were God to shower favours upon those who do not approach Him in sincerity and truth, the result would be to confirm them in their evil ways.
Do away. By criticism, fault-finding, gossip, and innuendo, many professed Christians make the burdens of their fellows almost too heavy to bear. Many a noble Christian has been crushed and sent to his grave in discouragement and defeat by having the finger of scorn pointed at him by a fellow Christian. God cannot draw near to His people while they are engaged in criticizing and oppressing their fellows.
Isa 58:10 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.
If the church would live up to its opportunities and responsibilities, if its members would be Christians in spirit as well as in name, its task on earth would soon be completed and the Lord would return in glory. Lives of unselfish service for others shed abroad the light of the glory of God (see chs. 9:2; 60:1, 2).
Isa 58:11 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.
The Lord will guide. God cannot lead those who are stubborn, conceited, and self-centered. Christians who would be led by God must first put self aside and give themselves fully to the work of the Master. The Christian experience of many today is bleak and barren because of a lack of love for their fellow men.
In times of spiritual drought God promises to refresh those who have sought sincerely to be a blessing to their fellow men.
Isa 58:12 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.
When, eventually, the Jews should return from captivity they would find Jerusalem in ruins. But the nation’s moral edifice also lay in ruins, and this must be rebuilt. Here is pictured a great work of revival, reformation, and restoration.
A breach had been made in the wall, as it were, because of the failure to practice true religion (vs. 3–5). Nevertheless, the foundations remained, and upon them a new structure was to be reared. The manner of rebuilding the “old waste places” has been set forth in vs. 6–10; it consists of a revival of practical religion. The place where reformation is to begin is indicated in v. 13.
Restorer of streets. That is, right courses of action. Ancient pathways once trodden by God’s people are to be restored (see Jer. 6:16). Right principles are to be honoured and followed in all the relationships of life. All over the world the work of restoration is in progress.
The Sabbath is being restored to its rightful place in the law of God and in the lives of men. Again, men and women are being taught to walk in the ways of the Lord. They are being invited to enter the city of God and to take their place in the living temple that is being built (1 Cor. 3:9–11, 16; Eph. 2:20–22; 2 Tim. 2:19; 1 Peter 2:4–9).
Isa 58:13 “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 honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
The work of restoration is to begin with a revival of true Sabbath observance, the essence of which is communion with God and remembrance of His creative power, on the day that He made holy. The fate of Israel as a nation was determined by its attitude toward God’s holy day (see Jer. 17:24–27). The Sabbath was never intended to be an end in itself, but rather a means by which man might become acquainted with the character and purposes of his Creator (see on Ex. 20:8).
Doing as you please. The essence of sin is selfishness—doing what one pleases, irrespective of God or man. The Sabbath day presents man with an opportunity to subdue selfishness and cultivate the habit of doing things that are pleasing to God (1 John 3:22) and that contribute to the well-being of others.
Rightly understood and observed, the Sabbath is the key to man’s happiness both here and in the hereafter. True Sabbath observance will lead to the work of reformation pictured in Isa. 58:5–12. Those who do not enter in the spirit of the Sabbath as God ordained it, little realize what they are missing. The Sabbath is one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon men by a loving Creator.
A delight. The mere form of Sabbath observance is of little value. Those who think of the Sabbath as a burden have not discovered its true meaning and value.
Honour him. Here is the acid test of what is right and proper on the Sabbath—does it honour God? Any activity entered with the objective of learning more of the character, works, ways, and will of the Creator, or that is made a channel whereby His love may reach the hearts and lives of our fellow men, is indeed an honour to God.
Isa 58:14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Those who make the Sabbath what God intended it to be, enter into a close fellowship with Him that others cannot know. Compare Ps. 40:8; see on Eze. 20:12, 20.
High places of the earth. Material as well as spiritual prosperity is promised those who enter wholeheartedly into the spirit of the Sabbath (see on Matt. 6:33).