Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
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.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
This rebellion must be cried out against. God's people make a great show of trying to seek Him out and eagerly studying His ways, but they have not done what is right and they have forsaken His commands. They seem eager for the Lord to be near them, calling for His Spirit to come and fill their sanctuaries, and perplexed about why, after all their effort, the Lord remains far from them.
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling 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.
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?
Fasting is designed to deny the flesh, to bring the flesh into submission. The Lord's people desire to crucify their flesh, but they do it their own way, in their own strength, and the flesh continues to live. The flesh may seem subdued, and God's people may have achieved the appearance of humility, but they have done it their own way, not His. They seek to subdue the flesh in the strength of the flesh. That is why they continue to live wickedly. God does not desire for His people to wallow in humiliation before Him, trying to prove to Him that they are zealous enough. He desires that they would come and die, and take up the life of the Spirit.
“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?
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?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [also translated "your Righteous One," who is indeed our righteousness!] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
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,
and if you spend yourselves in 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.
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.
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.
Do you really want the Lord's nearness? Do you really want the life of the Spirit? It will destroy you. You must be prepared to cast off every false construct that you have used to keep your flesh in tow, to keep the Spirit at bay. You must take up His banner, be led by His righteousness, be guarded by His glory. No more false yokes. No more false righteousness--be courageous enough to stand in the righteousness of the Son! Then the Lord will be your guide, your satisfaction, your strength. He will bear your fruit in you. Be willing to be broken down to nothing, and then He will show you how to rebuild a much better, more ancient and noble way, established on the Foundation of His Christ. The walls that were broken to allow an acceptable measure of the flesh and an acceptable fear of the Spirit--rebuilt in Him. The paths of the Spirit, that way in which we walk and dwell until we are really Home--restored in Him.
“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 honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
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.
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?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [also translated "your Righteous One," who is indeed our righteousness!] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
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,
and if you spend yourselves in 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.
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.
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.
Do you really want the Lord's nearness? Do you really want the life of the Spirit? It will destroy you. You must be prepared to cast off every false construct that you have used to keep your flesh in tow, to keep the Spirit at bay. You must take up His banner, be led by His righteousness, be guarded by His glory. No more false yokes. No more false righteousness--be courageous enough to stand in the righteousness of the Son! Then the Lord will be your guide, your satisfaction, your strength. He will bear your fruit in you. Be willing to be broken down to nothing, and then He will show you how to rebuild a much better, more ancient and noble way, established on the Foundation of His Christ. The walls that were broken to allow an acceptable measure of the flesh and an acceptable fear of the Spirit--rebuilt in Him. The paths of the Spirit, that way in which we walk and dwell until we are really Home--restored in Him.
“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 honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
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.
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