Monday, January 19, 2009

Isaiah 58:2-4a,7-9a,11a

Over 2500 years ago, Isaiah spoke and wrote important, vital messages to the nation of Israel. Over 2500 years later (a.k.a. today), we read them, and the Holy Spirit can apply to the messages to our hearts with just as much vitality as ever. Isn’t that amazing?!

One of the major issues within Christianity today, and all down through the centuries is that of ‘false religion’. That is, people making a show of ‘obeying’ God, or doing ‘good things’, without any internal change of heart. Initially it was the Pharisees, whom Jesus rebuked sharply. In Paul’s letters, he refers to the Judaizer’s, who claimed that all Christians must be circumcised.

The strange thing is, most of the time when God rebukes such behaviour, He tells the accused that they should be doing something else. For instance, in Isaiah 58. I don’t want to write the whole chapter down here, so if you want to know exactly what it says, I suggest you read it.

The chapter reads in four parts:

1) What the Israelites are physically doing (vs. 1-3a)

2) What their spiritual intent or backing is. (vs 3b-5)

3) What God wants them to be doing and their attitudes in this regard (vs 6-7)

4) The result of this (the blessing of the LORD) (vs 8-14)

Although the last two parts are sort of intermingled a bit.

Now there is a line of thought which possibly makes us think that God would say to the Israelites: ‘this is what you are doing, but your spiritual intent behind it is wrong, so I will make it clear to you that it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s all dependant upon your spiritual belief, which is why you’re wrong.’

Now, this would be correct. And God does say this to the Israelites in a way, but He also makes it very clear that it does matter what they do, because this represents what the heart believes.

So let us expand on the four points:

1) ‘Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways’ ‘…Did not forsake the ordinances of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.’ ‘Why have we fasted…and You have not seen?’ (Isaiah 58:2,3a)

2) ‘In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness.’ (Isaiah 58:3b-4a)

3) ‘Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him’ (Isaiah 58: 6-7)

4) ‘Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rearguard. Then you shall call and the LORD will answer…The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones’ (Isaiah 58:8-9a, 11a)

So, primarily, God’s anger was directed towards the attitudes of the Israelites, not their actions. But He uses their actions as evidence of their heart. They were fasting, but they were fasting for others to see, and they were exploiting their laborers in doing so. They were causing strife and debates with their fasting and ‘approaching’ the LORD. And that wasn’t what God instructed them to do. That wasn’t the primary reason for fasting in the first place! God wants them to fast in order to bring freedom to the oppressed, and hope to the down-trodden. To forego food in order to feed those who are hungry. To forego sleep to help those who are weary. Not just as a show! And so, we have the situation where God is saying to them ‘It’s not about what you do, it’s about the internal change!’ but also is saying simultaneously ‘You shouldn’t be doing that, but you should be doing this’. This is not a contradiction. It merely expresses that an internal change will re-order the inner workings of the heart, and therefore bring about changes in the external dealings as well!

Likewise, today for us, we need to be focused on doing these things that God has instructed. Doing them with a right attitude and from a genuine heart for the LORD, rather than from tradition or a want for attention. This is what God wants from us. And there are so many blessings associated with doing these things! This is the way to satisfaction in the LORD, and the way that we will shine in the darkness so that all may see God’s glory. So let us always be ready to help those that are poor, hungry, homeless and lost. Of course, the best way is to lead those that are spiritually poor, spiritually hungry, without a spiritual home, and spiritually lost, to our Lord Jesus Christ!

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