ISAIAH 58:3-12
TRUE FASTING
Job 32:17-20 / Matthew 23:13-36
Going through the motions of religion, even those of sacrifice and fasting, does not move God. A true and vital relationship with God does not come through external religion and ritual. What brings the response of God into life is a genuine compassion for the poor, the helpless, and the oppressed. A true seeking after relationship with God will result in seeking justice for the oppressed and acting compassionately toward the needy.
Though the people wanted the blessings of God, they were not interested in allowing God to change their heart, their attitude, and their actions. They wanted their religion to gain them special favor with God so that they would win the dog eat dog struggle for power, position, and possessions. God though wants to fill their hear with compassion.
I. THE PERSISTENT PROBLEM, 1-2.
II. THE PEOPLE’S PRESSURE, 3-5.
III. THE PROPER PATTERN, 6-7.
IV. THE PRECIOUS PROMISES , 8-12.
[The seriousness of the people’s self-absorbed religion is proclaimed in verse 1. "Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. (2) "Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions. They delight in the nearness of God. The people thought themselves right with God. They performed the prescribed ritual observations as if this was the way to right relationship with God. God will reveal the futility of perfunctory religious formalities.]
II. THE PEOPLE’S PRESSURE, 3-5.
In verse 3 the people voice their complaint that they were in difficulty though they were doing what the Law required. ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers.
The people now present how they view their religion. They had observed their prescribed religious activity, even engaging in fasting (Lev. 16:29; Zech 7:5-6). They thought their act of fasting in itself was humbling themselves before the Lord. Their fasting though was thoughtless or done as an attempt to obtain a selfish end. It was employed only for religious show or to engage God to act on their behalf. (See Mt. 6:16-18).
Fasting is an act of self-denial to draw closer to God, to hear God better. The prescribed annual fast on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29) was to afflict one’s soul for the purpose of mediation on the seriousness of one’s sins and the greatness of God in making a way of atonement for them [Oswalt, NIC, Isaiah, 497]. They saw fasting as denying themselves some food so that they might gain something worldly of God in return. Their religious behavior was in order to get something from God in return. Neither repentance nor fasting should be to get God to do anything. They are expressions of the conviction that my ways are wrong and God’s ways are right, whether He does anything for me or not [ibid, 497].
Their fast was simply an affliction of body and not an affliction of soul. They fasted to obtain their desire, not the desire of God for them or others.
Verse 4 continues to lay bare the real motive behind their behavior. "Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
The reason for their fasting was to make their oppressive, contentious acts more successful. Fasting was to be the cause for God to effect or enact their covetous desires. [Or it could mean that they took out their bodily affliction caused by their fast on the others.] When it became obvious that their fasting wasn’t having the desire effect, they then fasted to know why not. So God told they that the purpose of their religion was to acquire more, not to improve their closeness, their relationship with Him, as it was originally intended.
Verse 5 relays that they have been focusing on external ritual rather than on the realization that they need to be changed. "Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
Because they have been focusing on their selfish ends (even in their fasting) rather than the desire for a change of heart, attitude, and action their prayers remain unanswered. The sacrifices of God are a broken heart and a contrite spirit. If they call their bodily sacrifice alone a fast they are badly mistaken. They need to take a long serious look at their attitude and their actions.
Fasting often involved symbols. Bowing one’s head like a reed was a sign of weakness and humility. Putting on Sackcloth and siting in ashes are external signs of repentance (1 Kgs 21:27-29; Jon 3:5-8), but unless they are accompanied by an inward submission to God and turning from sin, they mean nothing. The problem was that they were proud of their humble practices. It therefore was not acceptable to the Lord.
A recent news feature chronicled the growing search for STRESS RELIEF through spas, massage, pills, and exercise tapes. The craving to ease tension has spawned an entire industry, including walk-in back rub stores in shopping malls across the country. The report ended by saying, "Although people will pay to fix their stress, they are not about to change the lifestyle that is causing it."
No matter what the problem, our initial response is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause.
During the days of Isaiah, God’s people were not experiencing the Lord’s blessing. They went through the motions of worship and couldn’t understand why God wasn’t noticing their religious efforts. But while they were fasting, they were also exploiting their workers and fighting among themselves (vv.3-4). Isaiah condemned their hypocrisy and told them they needed to change. If they would free the oppressed, share with the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked, God would bless them with healing, answered prayer, guidance, strength, and joy.
Religious activity is no substitute for an obedient heart. With God’s help eliminate the root problems, not just the symptoms. Religious activity is no substitute for an obedient heart.-DCM
The Christian, life is not To church one day a week;
God wants us to obey His Word, Each day His will to seek. -Sper
III. THE PROPER PATTERN, 6-7.
Fasting is to let go of the normal and natural daily nourishment of this world in order to reach out and grasp the empowering of God needed to live righteously in this world. In verses 6 & 7 we learn the desired out-come of fasting. "Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?
The purpose of true fasting is proposed with four infinitive verbs which all pertain to liberation. It is obvious that the true reason for fasting is not ritualistic but for spiritual strength that brings liberation to God’s people.
The first desire or porpose of the true fasting which God honors, or honors God, is to loosen the bonds of wickedness. Fasting that God would open the wicked bonds that have been placed upon you or someone else or a congregation.
The second clause is to undo the bands of the yoke. It indicates someone that is in interdependent bondage with someone else. We are to fast that this oppressive yoke of burden and misguidance or direction over us or them is broken.
The next clause is to let the oppressed go free or send the crushed ones free. Fasting so that those who are oppressed in whatever form will be set free to serve God.
The summary statement break every yoke pictures the complete destruction of the means of oppression. The concept is that God’s justice is enacted in all realms. Those who are freed by God should spread that freedom.
The results that true fasting pursues is continued in verse 7. "Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Not only does it require God’s power to enact justice it requires God power to enact benevolence. God’s people were not to neglect each other. When someone shared with one in need, it was a reminder that everything he owned belonged to the Lord.
True fasting will change the heart and make it compassionate. You is singular. Thus the statements are directed to each person to each of us.
First, God honored fasting will enable one to provide food for those that need it. Notice you are to divide your bread with the hungry or the same food that you are eating. We must deny ourselves, that we may share with him that is hunger.
Second, you are to provide lodging for those that do not have a house. Provide shelter for the cast out poor, the one forced from his dwelling, turned out of house and home.
Third, we are to provide clothing for those who lack them. Our own flesh probably refers to close relatives (Gen. 37:27). God expects that we see the situation of our family and take care of them. God’s people are to share with those who lack the basic needs of life. Those who know in their own lives the compassionate blessing of God should extend it to others.
These acts on behalf of others are the outward evidence of inward faith and righteousness (Job 31:17-20; Ezek. 18:7,16). Jesus identified with the hungry and naked (see Mt. 25:35-36). Our faith lacks integrity when it doesn’t reach out to others. True fasting is to be concerned with more that our physical and spiritual benefits. God wants our us to go beyond concern for our own spiritual growth. Our growth should lead to acts of kindness, compassion, generosity and justice. True fasting is more than not eating. It is the emptying of our life of empty selfish pursuits in order find what we need in Christ in order to please God in word and deed.
IV. THE PRECIOUS PROMISES , 8-12.
Verse 8 begins to set forth some of the blessings upon a life that becomes right with God. "Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
The introductory then points to the time or the people who will do those things just described. God offers precious promises for those who fast to be changed and have the situation of those in need changed. God wants them to know that He will honor them that fast in order to so honor Him.
Four blessings are promised here: light, healing, guidance and protection, and God’s presence. The first promise to those who live to enact justice and benevolence is your light will break out like the dawn. When we focus our life on self, the result is darkness. Bursting forth suddenly replacing man’s darkness is God’s light. Unless Christ is the center of interest, life will be headed toward darkness.
The next blessing is your recovery will speedily spring forth. This recovery indicates healing or restoration. Again the spontaneous rapidity of its appearance is emphasized.
The people’s right behavior causes the righteousness of God to protect and guide their way. As the vanguard and the rearguard provide protection so the righteousness and the glory of God (revealed in His manifested presence) will guard against whatever came against them. Thus the repentant people are surrounded by divine protection.
If the people had inner righteousness (revealed in outward acts of justice and mercy, 6-7), then...the Lord would bless them (Deut. 28:1-14) with light (often a picture of blessing; Isa. 58:10), healing (spiritual restoration), righteousness (high standards), and protection from trouble.
Other conditional promises are added in verse 9. "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
Under these fulfilled conditions the faithful believer could call upon God and expect answered prayer. They had been trying to use God while oppressing the weak and needy. God thus was holding back His response (the complaint of vv. 1- 3).
Selfish religious activity is a hindrance to prayer (1:15; 59:1-2). God is active for His people when they are active for others.
The Israelites wondered why God seemed unreal to them. They had gone through the motions of religion but continued to live for themselves (Isaiah 58:2,4). Isaiah told them to repent and become real-to free the oppressed, to share their bread with the hungry, to house the poor, and to clothe the naked. Only then would God be real to them.
In the second half of verse 9 Isaiah again points out some problematic areas. The first of the three problematic concerns is the need to remove of the yoke. Pointing a finger of accusation and blame at another or gossiping maliciously (speaking wickedness) about another is sinful and pushes God away from the perpetrator.
An 89-year-old man who enjoys creating new words to describe old problems calls a person who finds fault with everything an againstovist. "Whatever you suggest," he says, "that person is against it, and will find something wrong with everything you do."
I have pondered his words and too often find myself guilty of being the kind of person he described. What I call being a "realist" is, in truth, more like being an "againstovist." And that is not pleasing to God.
If I’m oppressing someone by my critical spirit and stinging words, then God says it’s time for me to change. He doesn’t want me to find fault; He wants me to free and release those captured by sin. Instead of pointing an accusing finger, I am to lend a helping hand. Build people up, don’t tear them down.
[It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving, But it scattered the night like morning light and made the day worth living. ]
The conditions for blessing are restated in verse 10. And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted. Then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.
God desires that we demonstrate our devotion to Him by alleviating hunger in others. Then He asks us to minister to those who are really afflicted.
To do such things brings wondrous blessings from God. He promises their light will shine in darkness and in their gloom will become like noonday brightness. It is the shining light of hope, of confidence, of trust, and of love.
The list of conditional blessings continues in verses 11 & 12. "And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
The Lord promises guidance, satisfaction, strength, and refreshing (like a spring).
Oh to be guided continually by God through the decisions of this life; To be satisfied when the world is ablaze with thirst. To be pleasing and attractive like a well watered garden to those around us. To be fountains of joy and comfort to the dry and weary soul with whom we live. All this and more for fulfilling certain conditions.
God now promises in verse 12 restoration and the rebuilding of the ruins of man. "Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
God promises to His compassionate people that ruin and destruction can be overcome by His blessed people. Though the sin of the fallen human race eventually destroys everything it touches, God is greater than our sin. He gives us the power to restore and repair what has been ruined. [Oswalt, NIC, 507].
Oh to be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets where people dwell! God will enable us to put back together that which was ruined and broken.
CONCLUSION / TIME OF RESPONSE
A true relationship with God is to make a difference in human relationships, especially in how we relate to acquisition and selfish pride. God extends to those willing to forsake their way of life a transforming hand of wisdom and empowering. This transformation of life will be seen in the way they treat other people, especially those who do not have the same advantages they do. For those who take hold of God’s transforming hand of grace that opens the heart to the poor and afflicted, will receive the promised abundant, comprehensive blessings of clear wisdom, physical health, answered prayer, and continual guidance. I pray that these earthy and eternal blessings will be yours.
