This document provides a summary and analysis of Isaiah 58:1-12. It examines God's condemnation of hypocritical worship among his people, who were going through the motions of fasting and prayer but without true repentance or care for the oppressed. God explains that true worship requires acts of justice, mercy, and humility. The document places this passage in historical context during the post-exilic period when the temple had been rebuilt but Jerusalem's walls remained in disrepair. It concludes by connecting Isaiah's prophecy to the ultimate salvation God provides through Jesus Christ.

1. Isaiah 58:1-12
God Expects
November 22, 2020
His Followers Sunday School Class
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.
References
• 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
• Young, Edward J., The Book of Isaiah: A Commentary, Eerdman, 1965
• The New American Standard Bible
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.
Isaiah 58:1 NASB
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.

2. Isaiah 58:2 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 58:3a 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 58:3b 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 58:4-5 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.
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?
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.
Isaiah 1:11, 18 NASB
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.”
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.”

3. 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.
Isaiah 58:6 NASB
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?
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.
Amos 5:21-24 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.
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.
Micah 6:6-8 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?
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?

4. Matthew 23:23 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.”
To summarize:
God Hates Hypocrisy and will not Tolerate it!
Isaiah 58:8 NASB (The result of their repentance.)
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,
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,
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.

5. Can we nail down the setting?
• 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).
• 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?
Can we nail down the setting?
• 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.

6. Isaiah 59:1-2 NASB (Separation from God)
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.
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.
Isaiah 59:16-17 NASB (God’s Answer)
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.
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.
Isaiah 60:1, 19-20 NASB (God’s Answer)
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.”

7. 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.”

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