Isaiah 58 "The Eschatological Sabbath II"



56:1-8 opens with three declarations from Yahweh

56:9-12 contains the word of the blind watchmen

57:1-13 contains the word of you mockers

57:14 then contains the word of the true prophet

and 57:15-21 follows with three more statements from Yahweh



Chapter 58 then gives the seventh word from the LORD-

the promise of the future inheritance to those who trust in the LORD.

"For the mouth of the LORD has spoken" (58:14)

Chapter 59 contains the eighth word from Yahweh.

If the seventh word contains the promise of Sabbath rest,

the eighth in chapter 59 contains the fulfillment of that promise.



Tonight we are looking at the seventh word from Yahweh-

God's criticism of the religious practices of the house of Jacob.

The special focus is on fasting and Sabbath-keeping.

Fasting and Sabbath-keeping were proper expressions of true piety,

but only when used in faith.



Piety is a word that has fallen on hard times.

"Oh, aren't you pious!" is generally a sarcastic retort.

It is often associated with a "holier than thou" attitude.



And there is a reason for that.

Piety refers to religious practice.

And there are many hypocrites who focus on the external aspects of religious practice.

They look good on the outside,

but inside they are "whitewashed tombs"-they are filled with death.

External religious practice must never be divorced from that which gives its life:

namely, the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.



58:1-2 The Call to Repentance

the Word of God goes forth to convict of sin.

The trumpet summons the people to come and hear what God is saying.



What is Israel's sin?

The problem with Israel's practice of fasting and Sabbath-keeping

was that they did not understand the connection between piety and ethics.

In other words, they were following a magical understanding of piety.

If we do X and Y, then God must do Z.

They do not understand that true piety cannot be divorced from ethics.

If you perform all the right religious acts,

if you fast when you are supposed to and keep Sabbath,

and bring your sacrifices at all the right times,

then God will bless you, right?

No.

Because the practice of piety (the first four commandments)

is intimately bound up with ethics (the last six commandments).

You cannot love God without loving your neighbor. (58:3)



And so Isaiah contrasts the fast of the wicked with the fast of the righteous:

58:4-5 doesn't that sound like fasting?

Isn't it right for a person to humble himself through fasting?

The only fast required in the OT was the Day of Atonement.

All Israel was to join together in a public and corporate fast on that day.

It was designed as an outward sign of repentance,

as all Israel confessed their sins.

But there were many other occasions of fasting:

Judges 20:26 After the sin of Benjamin, God still did not give the Benjamites into the hand of Israel for two days, so on the third day, all Israel fasted and asked God's blessing upon their armies in bringing righteousness to Israel, and destroying sin from their midst.

1 Samuel 7 Israel repents of its apostasy and calls a day of prayer and fasting as they seek God's forgiveness

1 Samuel 31-2 Samuel 1 David fasted for Saul and Jonathan and all the house of Israel, after their slaughter by the Philistines

2 Samuel 12 David fasts and prays for his son, asking God to have mercy after his sin with Bathsheba

1 Kings 21 Ahab repented with prayer and fasting-and God heard his prayer

Esther 4 Mordecai and the Jews fast on behalf of Esther as she prepares to go before the king

Ezra 8 The Exiles fast before leaving Babylon for Jerusalem, entrusting themselves to God's care (refusing the guard that the king had offered)

Nehemiah 1 Nehemiah fasts as a part of his confession of the sins of Israel and his prayer for God's mercy upon the Restored Exiles-especially the regarding the rebuilding of the wall of the city

So while there was only one annual fast required in the law,

Israel would hold occasional fasts

where they would humble themselves and seek God's blessing.

The outward practice of fasting was to deprive yourself of the comforts of life.

When you fast, you abstain from food.

(throughout history, the church has always made provision

for children, the elderly, and those who cannot safely abstain entirely from food.

Such persons should eat the minimum in quantity and quality of food

that they may safely consume.

So if you need to eat, just have bread and water (or vegetables and water

for those on low-carb diets!)

Likewise the community would wear sackcloth-a rough cloth that did not feel comfortable.

The point is to deprive yourself of worldly comforts in order to draw your attention to God.

But as with all outward actions, there is a danger in fasting.

Because when fasting becomes merely a religious practice,

when it is detached from ethics,

(in other words, when it is detached from a faith that works by love)

fasting becomes hypocrisy.

Because if you engage in all of these outward acts,

with your piety is directed toward God only,

then your piety is not directed toward God at all!

Because what are you trying to do?

You are fasting and praying and pleading with God....

For what?

For yourself?!

How DARE you!

As you are fasting-depriving yourself of worldly comforts-

your brother, who is made in the image of God,

is hungry, naked, and alone.

He doesn't have those comforts to begin with!

So as you're making this pious show out of "devotion" to God

(see, there is a valid use to the sarcastic "pious"!)

you are demonstrating that you don't love your neighbor.



And so in response to Israel's fasts, God declares 58:6-7.

Outward conformity in religious practice is meaningless!

Note the structural parallel between 5a and 6a

Which fast does God choose?

Is it this? or is it that?

The fast that God has chosen is the fast that strives to create a just society.

Verse 6 emphasizes the structural side:

"To loose the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the straps of the yoke,

To let the oppressed go free

And to break every yoke"

Fasting-depriving yourself of the comforts of this life-

cannot be divorced from paying attention to the fact

that some folk do not have such comforts at all!

And so verse 7 turns to the personal side.

You must be personally active in this:

To share your bread with the hungry

To bring the homeless poor into your house;

To cover the naked

And not to hide from your own flesh, when they are in need.

The fast that God has chosen shatters our man-made barrier

between religion and ethics.

True fasting and true Sabbath-keeping

are not simply the practices of personal, private religion.

They are the corporate acts of the people of God.



How do we do this?

How do we put this into practice?

As the moderator of the Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario,

I have called for a day of prayer and fasting on Friday,

prior to my installation service.

The session has also called for a day of prayer and fasting on Friday

for our congregation.

While our worship service will begin at 6:00 p.m.,

we will be gathering at 5:00 for a season of prayer.

It may seem odd, in light of God's scathing rebuke of Israel for their false fasting,

to call for a day of prayer and fasting!

But notice that the problem with Israel's fasts is that they think that by their fasting

they will now receive favor from God.

Fasting alone is worthless.

Fasting is useful for humbling ourselves and seeking the face of God,

but if our fasting is not connected with loving our neighbor,

then it is not truly God's face that we seek.

As we fast on Friday, let us repent of our sins-of our failure to love our neighbors,

and let us seek how we-as a church-

can more effectively bring the gospel of Christ to this area.

What sort of diaconal ministry can we use to love our neighbors

in Granger, Mishawaka, South Bend, Elkhart, Edwardsburg, and Niles.

How can we show the love and justice of God to those around us?

The day of prayer and fasting on Friday should not be a day of selfishness

where we say "bless us! bless us! bless us!"

No, the fast that God calls for is a fast that prompts us to love and good deeds.

And when we fast in a manner that is pleasing to God.

When our piety is conjoined with righteous living,

(Verses 8-9a).

If you do justice and love mercy,

then God will hear you.

An outward show of good deeds and pious living will get you nowhere with God.

There must be a heart that loves the living and true God,

and therefore manifests that love in the service of others.



Verses 9b-12, though, begin to show us what this seventh word is all about.

In this seventh word-the sabbath word-God calls his people to give rest to others.

"To pour yourself out for the hungry,

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted."

But notice what will happen then:

the one who does this will restore Zion (read 11-12).

You will be like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

What does that remind you of?

Psalm 1.

You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.



By this time, the English reader should be getting suspicious.

Of course, the Hebrew reader saw it coming back in verse 7.

Because in verses 1-4, the "you" is plural,

but in verses 5-14, the "you" is singular!

You (plural) have fasted in a way that is an abomination.



But if you (singular) will fast in a manner that is pleasing to me,

if you will bring justice to the oppressed and pour yourself out or the hungry and afflicted,

then you shall be like a well watered garden.



The only way that rest will come to the people of God,

is if there is one who delights in doing God's will on the Sabbath.



Now, the Sabbath was not a fast, but a feast.

Whereas a fast was a day of repentance and asking God for mercy,

the Sabbath was a day of rejoicing in God's provision,

both in creation and redemption.

This seventh word of Isaiah 56-59 calls attention to the Sabbath day,

as the day of delight-a day of rejoicing in God's provision.



But there is a measure of uncertainty here.

The seventh word provides a conditional situation:

"if" you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable;

"If you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure,

or talking idly,

THEN you shall take delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth."



Now, Isaiah probably did not use the singular here in order to apply it only to the Messiah.

The distinction between the plural and the singular

is to distinguish between the wicked and the righteous remnant.

But there is no doubt that God inspired the singular "you" with the Messiah in view.

Because it is only when Jesus observed the Sabbath in the way that God commanded,

that righteousness came to the people of God.

And you may be thinking of how Jesus observed the Sabbath in his life.

And that is true.

Jesus' Sabbath-observance was indeed holy.

But I am referring especially to Jesus' holy Sabbath-observance on that final Sabbath.

That final Shabbat when he rested in the grave.

Jesus went to the cross on the day of Preparation for the Sabbath.

He called the Sabbath a delight.

A day when he would say, "not my will, but yours be done."

He spent that final Sabbath giving eternal rest for his people.

And on the first day of the new Creation,

he arose from the dead, and God made him to ride on the heights of the earth,

he exalted him to the his right hand, and gave hi the heritage of his father, Jacob.



Our Sabbath-keeping, then, is done in imitation of Christ.

We must always keep in view the fact that Jesus is the one

who fulfilled the fourth commandment.

He is the one who brought this seventh word of Isaiah to completion.

(And as we'll see next week, he does this through fulfilling the eighth word!)



The fourth commandment has certainly been transformed in Jesus Christ.

We now gather on the first day of the week in order to worship him

and to anticipate our eternal rest.

But Isaiah's way of describing the day as a day for God's words and works

is very useful for us as well.

Often when I hear people complain about the stricter observance of the Lord's Day,

what they are really saying is, "I want to be selfish on Sunday."

I want to seek my own pleasure.

I have no interest in coming up with a list of proscribed activities for Sunday.

But I greatly desire to see Michiana Covenant Church delight in the Sabbath.

-to spend the whole day in doing the Lord's deeds and speaking his words.

In this way the Lord's Day does indeed become the pattern for all of life.

The true piety of Christian Sabbath-keeping overflows into the other six-days,

so that our whole life is lived with our eyes fixed upon our glorious Savior