11-22-20, Isaiah 58;1-12, God Expects

Isaiah 58:1-12
God Expects
November 22, 2020
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

What’s the number one thing?
The Glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.

• Grogan, Geoffrey W., Isaiah: The Expositor’s Bible
Commentary, Zondervan, 1986
• Guffen, Gilbert L., The Gospel in Isaiah, Convention Press,
1968
• Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament - Isaiah,
Eerdmans, 1866
• Knapp, Christopher, The Kings of Judah and Israel, Loizeaux
Brothers, 1908
• Watts, J. D. W., Word Biblical Commentary: Isaiah, Word
Books, 1985
• Wright, G. Ernest, The Book of Isaiah: The Layman’s Bible
Commentary, John Knox Press, 1964
References

• Young, Edward J., The Book of Isaiah: A Commentary,
Eerdman, 1965
• The New American Standard Bible
References

This passage consists of condemnation,
exhortation, explanation, and ultimately
redemption. We need to jump into it and
read several verses to understand its flavor
before we begin to comment on it.

1 “Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgressions,
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
• The chapter begins with God speaking to
His prophet.
Isaiah 58:1 NASB

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 ordinances of their
God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
• God lays out the problem.
Isaiah 58:2 NASB

3a ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do
not notice?’
• God’s sarcastic depiction of the people’s
attitude.
Isaiah 58:3a NASB

3b Behold, on the day of your fast you find your
desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
• God points out the flaw in their “worship”.
Isaiah 58:3b NASB

4 “ 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.
Isaiah 58:4 NASB

5 “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?
Isaiah 58:5 NASB

God is pointing out the defect in their worship and the
reason they are not finding satisfaction in it. The
immediate issue is fasting, but the problem, as always,
is SIN.
God has given his prophet this message before. Look
back at Isaiah 1:11, 18.

11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle;
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls,
lambs or goats.”
Isaiah 1:11 NASB

18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 NASB

This issue is repeatedly addressed throughout
scripture. The worship of the people of God is not
acceptable because it is detached from a true
dedication of their hearts to Him.
Sin is negating any benefit from acts of worship. God
will have to inject Himself in judgement and
redemption.

6 “Is this not the fast which I chose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free,
And break every yoke?
• God tells them the true way of worship.
Isaiah 58:6 NASB

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?
• God tells them the true way of worship.
Isaiah 58:7 NASB

21 “I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt
offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings
of your fatlings.
Amos 5:21-22 NASB

23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your
harps.
24 “But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:23-24 NASB

6 With what shall I come to the Lord
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
7 Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Micah 6:6-7 NASB

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 NASB

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have
neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice
and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things
you should have done without neglecting the
others.”
Matthew 23:23 NASB

God Hates Hypocrisy and will not Tolerate it!
To summarize:

8 “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.
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,
Isaiah 58:8-9 NASB (The result of their repentance.)

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,
Isaiah 58:10 NASB (The result of their repentance.)

11 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.

12 And 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
breech,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

Let’s catch our breath and consider the style and
setting of this passage. If you have been reading
along in your own copy of God’s Word, you have
realized this is all in the form of Hebrew poetry.
Much of it is in “arched” or chiastic form where ideas
are arranged somewhat like a mirror with the key
idea in the middle.

• 586 BC - Jerusalem destroyed by Babylon.
• 539 BC - Persia under Cyrus overthrows Babylon.
• 538 BC - Zerubbabel is sent to Jerusalem along
with roughly 50,000. He lays a foundation for the
temple, but local resistance frustrates him for
about 15 years. Haggai and Zechariah were able
to get him to restart the work in 520 BC.
• 516 BC - The temple was completed (Ezra 6:13-
18)
Can we nail down the setting?

• 465 BC - Xerxes dies. Artaxerxes become king
over Persian Empire and reigns until 458 BC.
• 458 BC - Ezra comes to Jerusalem with almost
2,000 men including 38 Levites.
• 444 BC - Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem. The wall
is completed in 52 days.

Many scholars, notable among them, J. D. Wash
Watts and G. Ernest Wright, believe the events
described in Isaiah 58 occurred during the reign of
Artaxerxes (465-458 BC) The temple has been
rebuilt, much of the city has been rebuilt, but the
wall and gates are still in ruins.

This period is marked by extreme tension, strife
between factions, dishonest judges, lax or perverted
justice, and abuse of the poor population of Jewish
survivors.
But does anything else help us nail down the period?

• Fasts were institutionalized after the Exile:
• 9th day of the 4th month - Fall of Jerusalem.
• 10th day of the 5th month - Destruction of
temple.
• 2nd day of the 7th month - Murder of Gedaliah.
• 10th day of the 10th month - 1st attack on
Jerusalem.

• Gedaliah was a governor sent back to Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar II with a modest Babylonian
guard. His arrival encouraged many Jews to come
out of hiding and return to Jerusalem. Most of
this group, including Gedaliah, was murdered by
Ishmael son of Nethaniah in about 581 BC. The
survivors fled to Egypt. (Jeremiah 41:2-3)

God, through His prophet, has told His people that
their empty worship is meaningless to Him. Even
worse, He despises it. He has pointed out their sin
and told them what worship (and relationship) can
become after they repent. God really wants them to
understand the enormity of the problem.

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Neither is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God.
And your sins have hidden His face from you, so
that He does not hear.
Isaiah 59:1-2 NASB (Separation from God)

With a separation so great, and the demand of
holiness and justice so fearful, God must take upon
Himself the roles of righteous judge and sinless
redeemer. Isaiah, writing hundreds of years before
the coming of Messiah, records a prophecy of the
salvation God will provide and the ultimate home He
is preparing for His saints.

16 And He saw that there was no man.
And was astonished that there was no one to
intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him;
And His righteousness upheld Him.
Isaiah 59:16 NASB (God’s Answer)

17 And He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for
clothing,
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

1 Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

19 No longer will you have the sun for light by
day,
Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;
But you will have the Lord for an everlasting
light,
And your God for your glory.

20 Your sun will set no more,
Neither will your moon wane;
For you will have the Lord for an everlasting
light,
And the days of your mourning will be finished.

The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this
life to pay the penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death”
explained in Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Anyone who’s lifestyle is one or more of the sins listed in Revelation
21:8, will experience the “second death,” if they do not repent.
• To Repent means to turn around, to go in the opposite direction, to turn
away from sin and believe in Jesus.
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God and he shall be My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explain to us how to be overcomers.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900
or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/

11-22-20, Isaiah 58;1-12, God Expects

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11-22-20, Isaiah 58;1-12, God Expects