Isaiah 58-59

Isaiah 58 
- The Israelites fasted and humbled themselves to please God (Isaiah 58:3).

- God say the Israelites really sought to please themselves, for God said, “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.”

- God was displeased with Israel’s approach to “try” to please God, for such superficial offerings and methods were not true display of love for God’s two most important commandments: Love God and Love our neighbors. God reprimanded the Israelites by saying, “Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?” And in Isaiah 58:6-9, God told the Israelites it is not the act of fasting and humbling that matters. It is the heart, the love, revealed by such actions that matters. Fasting, for the sake of fasting, humbling, for the sake of humbling, are not nearly as important as sharing our fortunes with the hungry, the poor, the naked, and our own flesh and blood. 

Leviticus 16:29–31 

- The true purpose and attitude of fasting is atonement, a day for cleansing. It is a time to cleanse ourselves from all our sins.  

- The kind of fasting that God desires is the spiritual kind, the kind that comes from the heart. We fast, not to deprive ourselves of food, but to emphasize consideration for others. What we do not eat, in our loves for others, we share with those who are less fortunate. Fasting with a heart of love for others would expand far beyond the simple act of “not eating”; it stems from true humility and culminates in extending our love for God to all children of God. 

Exodus 20:8–11; 31:12–17

Isaiah 58:13 

- God made the heavens and the earth for six days and rested on the seventh. God blessed this day to be the Sabbath day and made it holy. We should thus aim to keep it holy. As God’s people, we therefore must observe Sabbath day as a sign of our loyalty to God and also as a reminder of God’s love for His people and how we are encouraged to share God’s love with all others. Observing the Sabbath is thus our acknowledgment of the covenant we have with God. For it has been said, “The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant” (Exodus 31:16).  

- If we can adhere to the Sabbath day with our heart, it means we can also adhere to other aspects of being a Christian. If we follow Sabbath day only to “not work,” then we are only doing, acting with no heart, no care. Following Sabbath is holy in itself, but it also symbolizes all we do in the name of God. Sabbath is holy, and we are taught to observe its holiness. In the same way, anything we do on non-Sabbath days, we are to remain fast to God’s Way, to observe God’s holiness and the holiness of God’s Way. To stress the importance of keeping God’s Way holy, we have been warned that should we not observe the Sabbath, we would be cut off and be put to death. That is, if we stray away from God and His Way, we will suffer eternal death.  

- Hence, if we observe the Sabbath, if we hold fast to God’s Way, if we follow God and not do only as we please, then we will find joy in the Lord. If we love the Lord with all our heart, we will see the Sabbath as a delight (as opposed to a boring duty to be fulfilled with empty actions) and walk the Way with the Lord, becoming true children of God and receiving the inheritance of Jacob granted through our convenant with God. 

Matthew 12:1–12 

- The Pharisees were firm observers of the Law and often found ways to fault Jesus. When Jesus’ disciples worked on the Sabbath to feed their hunger, the Pharisees saw their chance to indict them. However, Jesus said, “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent” (Matthew 12:6). That is, the act of resting on the Sabbath means nothing if the heart is not in the right place, for God demanded us to rest on the Sabbath not because He wanted us not to work but because He wanted us to remember our covenant with Him, our love for Him, and therefore, our love for each other. “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,” said Jesus (Matthew 12:12). 

Mark 2:27–28

John 5:10 

- Jesus said, “The said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). This reiterates the fact that Sabbath itself has no meaning. Observing the Sabbath allows us to remember our creator, our Father, the Lord. Hence, through the Sabbath, we reflect on our ways and are able to return to God’s side. And so, the Sabbath was made for man as a means to return to God. But man was not made for the Sabbath. 

John 9:14

- Sabbath is defined as “the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes” (John 9:14).

- God promises those who devote themselves to Him and help others in need the inheritance of Jacob (Isaiah 58:13-14).

- For us to delight in our time spent with God, we must first learn to love God. This will not happen in a day but will require our active will to get to know God. For example, it is hard for us to enjoy a stranger’s company. Why? Because we don’t know him/her. However, if we strike up a conversation with this stranger, we beging to learn a bit more about him/her. And if we find this person interesting, we may form a friendship. Through this friendship, we begin doing more things together, spending more time together, which allows us to develop love of friendship and perhaps of marriage of best friends. 

- Our love for God develops in a similar way. Through the Bible, we can learn more and more about God. Through our prayers, we can communicate with God and deepen our relationship with God. Through such interactions, we will therefore understand God’s love for us and eventually learn to truly love God. And as we mature in our understanding of God and of our love for God, we will then more and more be able to delight in our time spent with God. It is a process that takes time and care to nurture, and we must nurture it if we want to return to God. 

Isaiah 59:1–15

Romans 5:12–21

James 1:13–18; 2:10

1 John 1:8–10 

- “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But that your iniquities have separated you from God” (Isaiah 59:2). Such iniquities are all derived from sin, and sin was introduced to man through Satan. When we refuse to seek God’s help or to walk in His Way, we are more likely to be influenced by Satan. Therefore, it is written, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”  

- It is therefore important for not only the Israelites but also ourselves to recognize it is our iniquities that separate us from God. God’s love encompasses us but can save us only if we CHOOSE it to. We are born sinners. And when we choose to continue to sin, we choose to stray away from God and be exposed to temptations of Satan. When we are separate from God, it is not that God does not hear nor that He is helpless, but that our choice to sin blocks His presence from us. Once we make this realization, we can then identify the root of our problems (sin) and start fixing the problem (follow God and receive salvation). 

Isaiah 59:1–15 

- Sin separates us from God. Sin hides His face from us and makes Him deaf to our cries. 

Isaiah 59:16–21 

- God was displeased that there was no justice, no truth to be found, and “he was appalled that there was no one to intervene” (Isaiah 59:16). Therefore, God sent His one and only Son, one who is perfect, on who can provide justice and stand for truth, and redeem us all.

- The Redeemer is just and stands for truth. We who need redemption are unjust and hold no truth. The Redeemer offers salvation through grace and mercy. We who need redemption need to receive salvation. We need to be saved through God’s grace and mercy. 

- Those who repent of their sins are granted salvation through Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. 

- It isn’t just one thing about Jesus or one thing done by Jesus that allows him to fulfill the covenant. The Bible documents all the miracles of Jesus and all the miracles performed by Jesus that fulfill all the prophcies ever foretold about Jesus being the Messiah. This website provides a good description of these documentations:

http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/m_prophecies.shtml