Be the Sheep-Naked Part II
Instead of following the Shepherd am I yoking people with heavy burdens?
I’m still in the scripture from Sunday’s sermon (Isaiah 58:1-14). You can find that post HERE. I won’t tie up more of this post with that scripture. I’m toying with a new format for this piece of writing. To that end, you might want to have your favorite translation of the Bible handy to turn to whatever scripture passage was used. I don’t think I will keep posting it but the first time in the initial post. I’ll link to that post as I did above, but I won’t reproduce it each time. That just jacks up the word count and editing time.
Yesterday, I didn’t get any further than verse 2 because at verse 3, we start to talk about fasting, and there’s quite a bit in this scripture about that. It is interesting that a scripture about fasting would be used to talk about clothing the naked, but I have an idea why. Remember, Pastor Lee said something I quoted yesterday that gives us a clue. She said, “Diagnose the sickness but also provide the cure.” I have a scripture to relate to when we get there in the sermon, but we’re still in the scripture.
Verse three is a lament of the people who do not believe God heard their calls to Him. They are right, but they don’t understand why. Isaiah relates God’s explanation in verse four.
Verse four opens with an accusation. “Behold, ye feast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness…” Fasting is a tool, like a hammer. God is saying the people of Israel are wielding the tool of fasting like someone swinging the hammer around like a weapon instead of using it to drive nails as intended. Prayer, like fasting, is a tool. It isn’t to be used as a weapon. It is designed to accomplish righteousness, but righteousness as God sees it not as Man sees it. The implication of verse 3 is that if we use it incorrectly, our voices are not heard by God, but when we use it properly, we are heard.
I see verse five as an explanation of what the fast is not. This is what the people of God do at that time that God is relating should not be done. People are instructing others they need to discomfort themselves, bow low, remove their finery and refrain from cleansing themselves. God asks, “Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?”
Right behind it, Isaiah relates how God sees the fast and what it should be. It has a purpose, not to afflict discomfort or burdens on people but to be used to stop wickedness, lift heavy burdens, free captives, and release people from toil. A fast is to take what we would eat and feed someone who does not have enough to eat, to give someone who is homeless shelter, clothe those who are inadequately prepared for the elements outside, and visit our own families. This is the fast God wants to loose the bands of wickedness:
19This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
21Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:19–21 (NASB95)
To undo heavy burdens:
1Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
2Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
3For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians 6:1–3 (NASB95)
Let the oppressed go free:
14And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.
15And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed,
19To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:14–19 (NASB95)
Isaiah 61:1-2
To break every yoke:
10“Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
11“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Acts 15:10–11 (NASB95)
Feed the hungry and clothe the naked:
10And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”
11And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
Luke 3:10–11 (NASB95)
House those who have no home:
12And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
13“But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Luke 14:12–15 (NASB95)
Hide not from our own families:
7Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach.
8But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:7–8 (NASB95)
God asked Isaiah to communicate these things to the people of Israel, but they are just as valid to us. We cannot ignore these things nor turn a blind eye to them, but neither can we attend to all the world's needs, so what do we do? We do our best to address what we see, what God puts across our path, and what our gifts allow us to address.
We do these things because of verse 8. It tells us that we then shine forth as the sunrise in the morning, but not with our own light. We shine, reflecting the love of the Lord to the world that sees us. It is not for ourselves we do these things but should be to demonstrate the better way the Lord has shown us. We demonstrate that better way through living our lives that reflects His light.
Verse 9 says that our fasts, prayers, and cries to God are heard in Heaven when we live this way. I especially like the part where God says, “Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” That’s God declaring where He is. When we live in the way detailed by Isaiah, where God is becomes obvious and apparent. Instead of wondering what God has for us or where His path is, we see it clearly. What an amazing revelation that must be.
Verse 9 gives us a hidden warning. It says, “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke.” What yoke? Is it a yoke I put on someone? Is it a yoke you put on someone? Are these burdens we are responsible for? Ask the question, “What yoke do I put on people?” Because, if it is a yoke I put on them, I can easily take it off. I control it. After all, I put it on someone; therefore, I can take it off. The next line indicates I did this, “The putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity." I told someone what I expected rather than what God expected. That’s my yoke, and I 100% control it.
Verse 10 ends with an assurance that God knows we did these things even though others do not when: “Then shall thy light rise in obscurity and they darkness be as noonday.” Other people, people of the flesh, might not know what we did, but we do.
Verse 11 opens with a fantastic statement, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually.” Oh, to see the day when God is walking immediately in front of me and to see Him like the noonday sun. That would surely satisfy my soul, fill my belly, and make me feel flush with promise.
Verse 12 hints that nothing is unaccomplishable if we live in the spirit of God, walking as He wishes us to walk. If we delight in His ordinances, calling His Sabbath a joy, honoring Him and His ways instead of ours, and seeking His good things instead of what Man thinks is good, then we get verse 14:
14Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:14 (NASB95)