Isaiah 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness... Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and you have not seen?... Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry... (Isaiah 58:1–7)

When religious people kept every fast yet wondered why God stayed silent, the prophet learned that sin—not God's weakness—was the wall between them.

The Watchman's Call to Cry Aloud

The call of God resounds once again to the prophet. The Lord tells Isaiah to speak up and tell His people what they have done wrong. As if the list could get any bigger—after more than a year going through Isaiah, we have seen God give detail after detail of why Judah was being judged.

By Isaiah 58, we are near the end of Isaiah's life. Chapter 57 corresponds to the time of King Manasseh, and Isaiah has served as a prophet to Judah and Jerusalem for well over thirty years. Yet little has changed. The people continue to walk in wickedness. So God says, cry aloud, do not spare, speak like a trumpet.

Remember the watchman placed on the wall of a city like Jerusalem, given a trumpet to keep watch for an enemy. When he saw danger coming, he would sound the alarm. Isaiah is God's watchman on the wall, and the Lord says he must sound the trumpet, because judgment is coming upon the people because of their sin.

A Self-Deceived, Religious People

Verse 2 makes it appear that Judah was doing what they were supposed to do—seeking the Lord, delighting in His ways, walking in righteousness, seeking justice. But that was not the case. Judah was self-deceived by her daily religious rites.

The nation observed daily prayers at morning and evening. They offered sacrifices, held their feasts, kept their festivals, and even fasted. Because they kept these things, they thought themselves righteous. The temple services were kept; outwardly the evidence seemed to be there. But it was only a show of righteousness.

In verse 3 they complain: "Lord, we've done all the things You told us to do, and You aren't keeping Your end of the bargain. Why aren't You blessing us?" Their expectation was, "God, if we do this, then You ought to do that." But their fasting was just an external observance, not real righteousness. So the Lord answers: "In the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors." Even while fasting, they sought pleasure and oppressed those who worked for them.

This is why Jesus told His disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The people of Isaiah's day were just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day—their supposed standing with God rested only on external things, not the heart. And the heart is the major issue. These people had unclean, wicked hearts, yet trusted in their own doings.

The Pharisee and the Publican

By their own standard they excused themselves while accusing others, pointing the finger at everyone else. This is like the parable Jesus spoke in Luke 18 to those who trusted in their own righteousness and despised others.

Two men went up to the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. (Luke 18:10)

The Pharisee prayed within himself, "God, I thank you that I am not as other men... I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The tax collector stood afar off, would not lift his eyes, and smote his chest, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus said this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, "for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased."

That is exactly how the people of Judah were. "I thank You we're not like the other nations You've destroyed, not like the ten northern tribes consumed by Assyria." Yet though they had the temple, kept the feasts, fasted, and offered sacrifices, their hearts were far from God. All the way back in Isaiah 1, God said their incense was an abomination and their hands were full of blood. Now in chapter 58, their religious service is still sin to Him.

A Warning for Us

There is a very real danger that we begin to think we have a right relationship with God because we attend a Bible study, tithe to a church, or serve in children's ministry. We can make our relationship with God depend on what we do rather than the position we have in Christ.

That is the key question: Are we in Christ? Has His blood atoned for our sin? Do we have a relationship with God the Father through His Son? Do we have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the desires of the flesh? The people in Isaiah's day did religious things, but they did not deny their flesh.

As Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 23:28, "Even so you outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." God's law touches deeper than external activity. These people oppressed their workers and fasted "for strife and debate." They fasted from food, but all the while fought with everyone around them—the flesh acting out. And when our flesh acts out, that is when we need to bring it before the Lord and crucify it, not bite at the people around us.

Is This the Fast I Have Chosen?

They even seemed to fast to make their voice "heard on high," as if to push their agenda through with God. We are tempted to do the same—"The Lord isn't answering my prayer, so I'll go on a hunger strike until He does."

But God asks the all-important question: "Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow down his head as a bulrush, to spread sackcloth and ashes?" They did all the external things—hung their heads, dressed in sackcloth, spread ashes—but only for one day. Then they went back to business as usual.

We see the same thing today. Many are sincere about Ash Wednesday, but before Lent they celebrate Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday to the fullest—"go all out, eat up life, because now you have to deny yourself." They have failed to recognize the purpose. It becomes a labor. The people of Isaiah's day reasoned the same way: "Next week we have to fast, so let's live it up this week."

The fast God chose was not mere external exercise. It was a denial of earthly desires rooted in the heart—a fast that reminded them of what God calls them to do: loose the bands of wickedness, free those wrongly imprisoned, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke, release brothers and sisters from usury, feed the hungry, bring the poor into your house, clothe the naked, and "hide not yourself from your own flesh."

That last phrase recalls Corban—when a person dedicated his money to the temple so he wouldn't have to help his own father or mother. God says: Is this not wickedness? What I have called you to do is reach out to those in need.

Judged by Mercy: The Sheep and the Goats

Consider how God judges at the very end, when He separates the sheep from the goats.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory... before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:31–32)

To those on His right hand the King says, "Come, inherit the kingdom... for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you came to me." When did they do this? "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me." To those on the left He says, "Depart from me, you cursed," for they did none of these things.

The righteous were those who reached out to people in need, revealing they were children of their Father. The unrighteous were those who did not. The people of Judah thought themselves righteous because they went to temple, kept the feasts and Sabbath, and fasted. No doubt many will stand before the Lord thinking themselves righteous for their religious deeds, only to hear, "Depart from me."

I am not saying works earn salvation—if so, those who did religious works would be saved. But certain works are characteristic of someone transformed by the life of Christ. "For by grace are you saved through faith... not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8–9). Yet verse 10 says, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God ordained beforehand that we should walk in." Those good works are the very things in Matthew 25.

The Blessings of the True Fast

If they will keep the fast God called them to keep, then comes the result of verse 8: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearguard." They will call and the Lord will answer; they will cry and He will say, "Here am I."

If they reform their ways and turn from wickedness—the evidence of an inward heart change—they will see God move mightily. As John the Baptist said, "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Stop pointing the finger, stop the unrighteous oppression, and start ministering to the hungry—not with obligatory religious giving, but cheerfully, giving of yourself.

Paul was the example. He said, "I gave you not only the gospel but my own self" (1 Thessalonians 2:8). "I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls" (2 Corinthians 12:15). "If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2:17). That is what God called Judah to do for their brothers and sisters—but instead they were backbiting each other. You can be religious and not righteous.

This is hard to understand, because in our minds we relate to God on a works basis: if I do this, He will do that. Yet we have received grace—getting what we do not deserve—because we laid ourselves before Him saying, "Lord, I can't do it in my own strength." If you want to relate to God on a works basis, you can receive the wages due: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). No one wants to relate to God that way.

Verse 11 continues: "The LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought... thou shalt be like a watered garden." I cannot read that without thinking of Psalm 1—the man who delights in the law of the Lord "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." If Judah would return to keeping God's ordinances with a right heart, delighting in the Sabbath that was made for man, God would lift them up again. Humble yourself before God, and He will exalt you.

His Hand Is Not Shortened

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God. (Isaiah 59:1–2)

Judah felt they had been unjustly dealt with. They were doing everything God ordained, yet He did not stand up for them. Some began to doubt whether He could—maybe He is unable, maybe deaf, maybe too weak. But it was not that God's arm was short or His ear clogged. Their sin separated them from Him.

Back in Isaiah 50 God reminded them, "Is my hand shortened... or have I no power to deliver? At my rebuke I dry up the sea." He recalled parting the Red Sea. Our God is the King of kings, Creator of all things seen and unseen. He is not hindered by weakness. The only thing that hinders Him from coming to us is our unbelief and our sin. Notice the end of verse 2: "He will not hear"—not that He cannot, but that He will not. His help is withheld because of their sin.

What was their sin? "Your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue has muttered perverseness. None calls for justice nor pleads for truth" (Isaiah 59:3–4). This is the exact charge of Isaiah 1:15: "When you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood."

Thirty-Five Years and No Change

Consider how long it had been—from Isaiah 1 to Isaiah 58, more than thirty-five years—and Isaiah had seen no change in his people. That would be deeply discouraging. I think that is partly why chapter 58 opens with "Cry aloud, spare not." The Lord comes to encourage the prophet: do it one last time.

Read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles to follow the nation from Uzziah, who died in Isaiah 6, through Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and finally Manasseh. As we saw in chapter 57, Manasseh rebuilt all the high places Hezekiah had torn down, leading the people to worship Baal on the mountaintops, Asherah in the groves, and Molech in the valleys. He passed his own children through the fires of Molech, burning his infants. Isaiah, in his old age, no doubt heard the drums of Molech's priests from the Valley of Hinnom outside the western walls, pounding to drown out the cries of the children. And God says, "Go, cry aloud, spare not."

While all this happened, the people accused God of being unjust for not blessing them. What foolishness—and it is no different today. We stamp "In God We Trust" on our coins and call ourselves a Christian nation, then grow angry that God is not blessing us when the dollar falls and jobs are lost. As we have learned in Isaiah, these are indications that God has removed His hand of blessing—because of our sin. "Your iniquity has separated you from your God."

A. W. Tozer used to say Christians don't tell lies—they just sing them in church every Sunday. When we sing of how devoted we are to God, yet all week our actions show otherwise, our Sunday words can be called lies.

A Brood of Vipers, Trusting in Vanity

"They trust in vanity, and speak lies." In Ecclesiastes the word translated "vanity" carries the sense of emptiness—soap bubbles, worthlessness. Could we be called a nation that trusts in empty things?

"They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity"—conceived in the heart, brought forth in action. They are "a brood of vipers," the very words John the Baptist used for the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 3:7. Our nation, in many ways, is filled with Pharisees and Sadducees—actively engaged in religious exercise, even called a spiritual people, yet filled with iniquity and perversity in heart.

"Their webs shall not become garments." Their wicked plans bring forth nothing to cover them; their works are works of iniquity, leaving them naked and ashamed. "Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood... the way of peace they have not known." Paul quotes this very passage in Romans 3: "Their feet are swift to shed blood... there is no fear of God before their eyes."

Groping in Darkness

Because they refused to follow the Lord, "judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity" (Isaiah 59:9–11). God had promised that if they turned to Him they would walk in light, but now justice and salvation are gone—only darkness remains, so great that the people grope like the blind, stumbling at noonday.

As Isaiah 5 warned, they call evil good and good evil, bitter sweet and sweet bitter, darkness light and light darkness. So they find themselves in desolate places, ready to die, howling and begging for judgment and salvation—and God says it is far from them, because of their sin.

"For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us" (Isaiah 59:12). They knew their sin, for God had repeatedly told them. They were liars who departed from God, spoke oppression, and rebelled against His word. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). "Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." They had slain truth. The prophets who spoke truth were killed—and Isaiah himself, under Manasseh, would ultimately be put to death for the message he brought.

God Looked, and There Was No Intercessor

"He that departs from evil makes himself a prey" (Isaiah 59:15). Perversity and lies so took hold that anyone who desired godliness found himself persecuted. It is the same today—stand up to follow righteousness, and persecution comes, if not in bodily injury then in media that speaks ill of anyone pursuing the Lord.

"The LORD saw it, and it displeased him." Though the people foolishly thought they had hidden their sin, God saw it. Turn to Isaiah 29:15: "Woe to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD... that say, Who sees us? Who knows us?" And Isaiah 47:10: "Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None sees me." Twice in Judges we read that everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and seven times that Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. God saw. Jesus told Nicodemus men love darkness because their deeds are evil.

God was grieved even more when He saw there was no intercessor—no one standing in the gap for the poor and needy, no one pleading the cause of the fatherless and the widow, no advocate for the oppressed. The nation was full of corruption. So what can be done?

God Puts On His Armor

"Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him... For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head" (Isaiah 59:16–17). Since not a single advocate would stand for righteousness, God Himself steps in.

Where have you heard of the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation? Ephesians 6—the armor of God. Paul likely had Isaiah 59 in mind when he wrote it. But notice in Isaiah 59:17 two other articles that are not given to us as our armor: "He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak."

Just as God looked down on Sodom and Gomorrah, heard the cry, and acted—saving Lot but also bringing judgment—so here He puts on righteousness and salvation, but also vengeance and zeal. These belong to the Lord Jesus when He returns.

The Coming One Clothed in Vengeance

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?... I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. (Isaiah 63:1)

Isaiah sees a man coming from the east in glorious clothing, traveling in the greatness of His strength—Jesus, mighty to save. Isaiah asks, "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?" The answer: "I have trodden the winepress alone... for the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."

The cloak of zeal is given to Jesus alone; we do not hold on to it as armor. We see the same picture in Revelation 19:11—"I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True." His robe is dipped in blood; His name is the Word of God; the armies of heaven follow Him in fine linen, white and clean—they do not wear the garments of vengeance. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword to smite the nations, and on His robe and thigh is written, "King of kings, and Lord of lords."

There is coming a day when Jesus returns wearing the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness—but also the cloak of zeal and the garments of vengeance. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay" (Isaiah 59:18). "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him" (Isaiah 3:11).

The Standard Against the Flood

"So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19). From east to west the whole world will reverence God.

People love that verse, but often don't know what "lift up a standard" means. Rabbi David Kimchi, in the twelfth century, explained that the standard-bearer was always the one who began the battle, the first to smite the enemy. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord goes forth first to meet the battle. Those who go against sin and Satan with the Holy Spirit at their head are sure to win the day.

The Everlasting Covenant

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob" (Isaiah 59:20). He will be the Lord of those who repent. "As for me, this is my covenant with them... My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth... from henceforth and for ever" (verse 21).

God has an everlasting covenant—His abiding Spirit and Word—for those who turn from their transgression, from generation to generation. This is the promise we have in Christ: when we turn from our wickedness, repent of our sin, and receive Christ Jesus as Lord, we are given this everlasting covenant and shall be with Him eternally. We will be with Him when He returns wearing the breastplate of righteousness and helmet of salvation with which He redeemed us—but also clothed in the garments of vengeance and the cloak of zeal, executing righteous judgment on those who have not turned.

So God says to Isaiah, "Cry out, spare not; tell the people of their transgression"—that they might repent. I believe the Lord gives you and me the same call today: cry aloud and spare not; do not stop pleading with sinful man to repent, because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth. None of us wants to see anyone we know—even an enemy—under the wrath of God on that day. So cry aloud, tell the people their transgression, and tell them the gospel of peace and the Lord who will return.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that when the enemy rises against us in our lives, You fight on our behalf—just as Joshua fought Amalek in the valley while Moses sat on the hilltop with his hands lifted high, Aaron and Hur helping to hold up his hands. May we recognize that we are not the ones fighting in the valley, but in the position of Moses, praising You; and as our hands are lifted high, we see victory. Help us to maintain that position and to stay in constant fellowship with brothers and sisters, helping one another lift our hands in praise and adoration, for then we see You victorious and glorious. Lord, in our lives today we desire that You would have victory over anything that exalts itself against You, that we would be bright shining lights in a dark place. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.