For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 58:1-4

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.
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.
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.
4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling 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.

A. Find Out:

1. How was Isaiah to speak? v.1a
2. What was he to do? v.1b
3. What had Israel appeared to do? v.2
4. What had they done? v.3a,b
5. Yet what also were they doing? v.3c
6. How did their fasting end? v.4

B. Think:

1. How were Israel appearing to be spiritual?
2. Yet what were they doing at the same time?
3. What was the Lord’s conclusion?

C. Comment:

Yesterday we saw how the Lord was saying that although He was coming to bring peace, peace could not exist in the wicked whose heart was constantly turbulent. Now today the Lord speaks against something else that cannot be.

He starts with a call to Isaiah to expose what the situation is. There is rebellion and sin in Israel. Then what comes is a total surprise. The people are appearing to be completely spiritual, indeed highly spiritual! The seek after God, they ask God for guidance, they fast and apparently humble themselves. In all these ways they appear very spiritual!

Appearances can be very deceptive! The reality says the Lord is that their hearts are obviously not right for their exploit their workers and they squabble and fight among themselves, even breaking out into violence. On the one hand there are “spiritual exercises” being carried out while on the other there are acts of unrighteousness! What is going on here? Here is a people who are self-centred and who are seeking to use God. It is a very common feature, even today, of a people who know deep down that they need a relationship with God, but who nevertheless want to be in control, want to still carry on exercising their own will, doing what they want, how they want.

The truth is that spiritual exercises should come out of a right heart and if they don’t then they are merely a ‘window dressing’ being used to make the person look good while in truth they are not!

D. Application:

1. Does my Bible reading come out of a love for God?
2. Am I surrendered to God or is this window dressing?

Passage: Isaiah 58:5-7

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? 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?
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?

A. Find Out:

1. What does the Lord now ask? v.5a,c
2. What three signs of fasting are given? v.5a,b
3. What does He then ask? v.6a
4. What does the Lord suggest are proper signs? v.6b,c
5. What further does He suggest? v.7

B. Think:

1. What signs of fasting was the Lord saying were inadequate?
2. What did He say fasting should be accompanied by?
3. Summarise the point that the Lord is making.

C. Comment:

In these verses we find the Lord putting the axe to the root of “religious activity”. He has already said this people appear to seek Him (v.2) yet are showing signs of unrighteous attitudes (v.3c,4a) and has concluded that they cannot expect to be heard by Him like this (v.4b).

Now He details what He sees them doing in their “fasting”: apparently humbling themselves, bowing their heads, lying on sackcloth and ashes. All of these things are outward religious expressions to show the watcher just how sincere they are. The only trouble is, that the rest of their lives are completely contrary to this.

So the Lord then details what He considers to be important: dealing with injustice, letting the oppressed go free, providing for the poor and hungry, looking after those in your family; these are the issues the Lord holds before them.

What is He saying? You can do all you like to ‘look spiritual’ but spirituality isn’t something you just do on a Sunday or in some other religious environment, it is something that should pervade every area of your life, so that your life is righteous in every way. This was Jesus’ main criticism of the ‘religious’ people of his day, that they appeared one thing on the outside but on the inside they were quite different. Outside is to be a true reflection of the inside, or to put it the other way round, we are to ensure that our inner attitudes are right so that the good things we do in life are a true expression of what we have allowed the Lord to do in us, on the inside.

D. Application:

1. Are there two ‘me’, one on Sunday, one for the rest of the week?
2. Do I try to make up on Sunday for the rest of the week?

Passage: Isaiah 58:8-10

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.
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,
10 and if you spend yourselves on 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.

A. Find Out:

1. What are the first consequences of true fasting? v.8a
2. What are the second? v.8b
3. How will it affect our relationship with the Lord? v.9a
4. What is to be stopped? v.9b
5. What is to be done instead? v.10a
6. What will then happen? v.10b

B. Think:

1. How are righteous and unrighteous behaviour contrasted?
2. How will this affect our relationship with the Lord?
3. How will this affect us personally?

C. Comment:

The Lord has just chided Israel for their appearances of spirituality while in fact maintaining unrighteous behaviour. There is a small repetition of this in these verses (v.9b,10a). Negatively He says to do away with oppression, with the pointing at others and speaking badly of them (in other words, treating others badly), and instead give yourselves for the care of the poor and oppressed. The way we treat other people has a direct relationship to the way the Lord view us and treats us. Righteous behaviour in respect of others is to be an expression of our relationship with the Lord.

But in these verses the Lord gives us the consequences that will follow if we do live in the way He says. First, light (or life, which light so often represents) will burst forth (v.8a). There will be a sudden change in them which will be seen. Then healing will come (v.8a). Whether this is healing of their relationship with the Lord or literal healing, isn’t specified, but health will come as part of the blessing of the Lord. Third, their righteousness will be seen (v.8b) and, fourth, the glory or presence of the Lord will come an act as their protection (v.8b). Fifth, there will come a new closeness in relationship with the Lord (v.9a) so that when they cry for help He will speedily answer them. Finally (v.10b) in these verses, He says it will be like daylight will come to all their dark places so (implied) they will see and live in new ways. They will not stumble around but will live guided purposeful lives in their restored relationship with the Lord.

D. Application:

1. Do we pay attention to how we treat others? Is it righteously?
2. Are we living in the light? (1 Jn 1:5-7)

Passage: Isaiah 58:11-14

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.
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.

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,
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.

A. Find Out:

1. What 3 things will the Lord do? v.11a
2. What will they be like? v.11b
3. What will the people do? v.12a
4. What will they be called? v.12b
5. How are they to treat the Sabbath? v.13
6. What will the Lord then do for them? v.14

B. Think:

1. How is provision one of the outcomes of obedience?
2. How is restoration another?
3. Why do you think Sabbath keeping was an important issue?

C. Comment:

The Lord continues to elaborate the blessings that will follow if they will stop being concerned with external religion and focus on true righteous behaviour towards one another.

The first thing in these verses is that the Lord will guide them, provide for every need and strengthen them. This is a very real and practical list of blessings that come from a good relationship with the Lord. The end outcome for them is that they will be like a garden with a never ending spring that waters it – that is always lush. What a wonderful picture!

The Lord then goes on to declare that they will then become restorers of what was broken down in the past. Not only the physical structures that were broken down by the enemy (the city), but also the structures of society that are essential to bring order and blessing, will no doubt be the things that are restored when a right relationship with the Lord is re-established.

Then the Lord focuses on the way they treat the Sabbath. Note within this the words that indicate motive for behaviour. The Lord doesn’t want just external behaviour, He wants reality: “delight” – its use comes from the wonder of their relationship with the Lord. “honour” – actions indicate how they esteem the Lord. The indication is that they use it as the Lord has said in the past, putting Him first and foremost. When they do this, it will be an indication of the quality of their relationship with the Lord. Outward behaviour will follow heart cries.

D. Application:

1. Am I like a well watered garden?
2. Is God my guide, my provider, my strength?