Isaiah 58:1-12
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 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.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and You see not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast YOU FIND PLEASURE, and EXACT ALL YOUR LABOURS. Behold, YOU FAST FOR STRIFE and DEBATE, and to SMITE WITH THE FIST OF WICKEDNESS: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 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? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
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 YOU BREAK EVERY YOKE? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rereward. Then shalt you call, and the LORD shall answer; you shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE MIDST OF YOU THE YOKE, the PUTTING FORTH OF THE FINGER, and SPEAKING VANITY; and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday:
And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
An acceptable fast?
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One thing I have learned is that before we can effectively build (with the help of God), according to Jeremiah 1:10, we must first:
(1) Root out
(2) Pull down
(3) Destroy
(4) Throw down
After we do this, we can move on to (5) building, and (6) planting effectively. This is why God did not straightway begin this passage of Scripture we are examining in Isaiah 58 with first telling them how He wanted them to fast. He began by saying: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” So, before we talk about the fast that God is looking for, lets examine what Israel was not doing right that made God reject their fast.
(1) You find pleasure
(2) You exact all your labours
(3) You fast for strife, and debate
(4) You smite with the fist of wickedness
I am going to share some of my research on this passage, but I am sure there is still so much more that we can learn from this. So many times when we hear that fasting is supposed to “loose the bands of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and brake every yoke” as if someone else put those BANDS, BURDENS, OPPRESSION, and YOKES on the person we are fasting for, but this passage is the complete opposite of that. This passage reveals that the one who is fasting is the one that put those BANDS, BURDENS, OPPRESSION, and YOKES on other people. I will prove this.
(1) YOU FIND PLEASURE: The people claimed to be afflicting their souls, but God said they were finding pleasure. God knows our hearts better than we know ourselves. The focus of a true fast is not about our own benefit or pleasure, but the benefit of someone else.
(2) EXACT ALL YOUR LABOURS: Many people think this means you are not allowed to go to work when you want to go on a fast, but “exact all your labours” actually means “OPPRESS all YOUR EMPLOYEES.” When you read the whole context it becomes clearer that this is what it means because “BANDS of wickedness, heavy BURDENS, OPPRESSED, and YOKES” were placed on other people by these Israelites that claimed to be fasting. Our attitudes and how we are treating people can make or break our fast in the eyes of God. EXACT means to OPPRESS, and if we are spiritually oppressing someone God will not except our fast.
More to come….
Very good teaching! It’s funny you say fasting is not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of someone else, because I can personally say that that has been one of my mistakes. Very interesting topic & very well written. I can honestly say I learned something new today. Blessings!
I been trying the best I can to finish this study for a while now, but time has not permitted me. I will add more to my first reply as I am able to complete this topic. I thank God that it can be of some help to someone. I am trying to make it simple, and as easy as possible to understand.