ISAIAH - CHAPTER 58 - Keys to Riding Upon the High Places of the Earth

Pastor Carolyn Sissom (6536 views)

ISAIAH – CHAPTER 58

KEYS TO RIDING UPON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH

Tuesday Morning Bible Study

March 3, 2015, the Year of Our Lord

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

 

 

The prophet’s voice rises like a trumpet which was regularly sounded at the start of sacred days.  “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet…”   The people had been quarreling with God because they had not received the deliverance for which they had been fasting and praying. “…and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

 

The Lord again answers them through the voice of the prophet.  The Lord is still able as ever to help.  His hand is not shortened.  His power is not lessened.  The Lord spoke to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short”? (Num. 11:23)

 

Isa. 58:2-3: “Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God; they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.  Why have we fasted, say they, and you see not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors.”

 

Chapter 58 begins the third and final section of Isaiah 40-66.  Chapters 40-48 told of the purpose of peace.  Chapters 49-57 exalted the Prince of Peace.  These last nine chapters reveal the program of peace. 

 

Today we heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveal the program of peace.

 

Chapters 57-59 declare to God’s people the conditions of peace.

 

We are given 14 sins in this chapter that are stumbling blocks to our prayers being answered.  If we meet the conditions, then we can step up and claim the 20 promises of blessing.

 

This is a reproof first to the Jew, then to the Lord’s followers of every age for a vain dependence on the performance of the outward forms of worship.  The nation here is represented as diligent in the performance of the external rites, and expecting to avert the Divine judgments and receive the Divine blessing by the performance of those rites.

 

God calls His people to true godliness by showing the difference between real religion and the mere pretence of it.  The people’s sin consisted of making religion a mere matter of outward observance without devotion of heart.

 

They complain that God ignores their fasting in which they engage without benefit. 

 

58:4-7: “Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.  Is it such a fast that I have chosen---a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?  Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to do the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?  Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?

 

This is a very important chapter on the subject of fasting. 

 

Fasting is intensified prayer.

 

Matthew 6:16-18:  “When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to fast.  Verily I say to you.  They have their reward.   But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face.  That you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in secret; and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly.”

 

Fasting is in three dimensions:

 

1. (Body) – abstaining from food in the natural realm.
2. (Soul)   - abstaining from mind food (newspapers, T.V., etc.)
3. (Spirit) – abstaining from conscious, rigid, religious activities that may become duty or addictive rather than spiritual.  This is the fast for which the nation is being reproved in Isaiah 58.

 

There are different kinds of fasts:

 

1. For Vanity – NO!!!!!
2. A Personal Fast – done because of a Bible principle of example.
3. Proclaimed Fast – Calling the church to fasting and prayer – Joel 1: 13-14: “Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests; howl you ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God; for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.  Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry to the Lord. (2:12) Also now, says the Lord, turn you even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and  with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and  turn to the Lord your God.”
4. Purposed Fast – This is a Fast called by the Lord which could be for an individual or the whole church.  (Isa. 58:6) “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?  Will you call this a fast, and unacceptable day to the Lord?  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to do the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
5. Prophets Fast – Do not initiate this exceptional fast unless you know it is the will of God!  No food or water, a supernatural sustaining by the Presence of God as in the case of:

(a)    Moses – 40 days (Ex. 24: 17-18; 34:28)

(b)    Elijah – 40 days (1 Kg. 19)

(c)     Jesus 40 days (Mt. 4:2; Lk. 4:2)

 

Fasting is taught by example in the Bible:

1. David (11 Sam. 12; Ps. 35: 13; 109:24)
2. Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra (8:21-24; 10:6; Neh. 1:4)
3. Esther and Daniel (Esther 4: Daniel 9 – 21 days)
4. The nation Israel’s Day of Atonement (Num. 9:27; Acts 27:9)
5. The early church (Acts. 13: 2-3) “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them.  And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” (14:23): “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

6.   Paul (Acts. 9:9   (11 Cor. 11:27) “In weariness and painfulness, in watching’s often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

 

The purpose of fasting is twofold:

 

1. It is a God-given means of breaking the power of the flesh (body), rendering it submissive and mastered.  (Gal. 5:17) “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.”
2. It is good for our natural health: house-cleaning for all the toxins, wastes, and poisons; will produce healing.

 

Fasting can have the wrong motivation.  (1 Ki. 21:4)  “And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezrelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.  And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.”

 

Luke 18:9-12:  Jesus spoke this parable to certain which trusted in them that they were righteous, and despised others. “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week.  I give tithes of all that I possess.  And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

 

The proper motivation for fasting is for the benefit of others.  It is not for self-promotion or our own interests per se.  (James 4:2-3)  “You lust, and have not; you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not.  You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consumer it upon your lusts.”

 

We seek through the crucifixion of the self-realm to become acquainted with the fullness of the mind and purpose and person of God. (Eph. 5:17) “Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”

 

We should fast when directed by the Spirit of God. (Luke 4: 1-2)  “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40-days tempted of the devil.  And in those days He did eat nothing; and when they were ended.  He afterward hungered.”

 

In Genesis 3 when Adam and Even ate of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the heavens closed.  The heavens will open when the hand is withdrawn from food during a fast!

 

There are many bible characteristics of fasting:

1. Accompanied by prayer (Daniel 9:3)
2. Accompanied by confession of sin (1 Sam. 7:6)
3. Accompanied by humiliation (Dan. 9; Neh. 9:1-2)
4. Accompanied by the reading of the Word of God (Jer. 36:6)
5. Habitual (Anna, Cornelius, Paul)
6. Can be prolonged (Daniel, Moses, Elijah, Jesus – There is no set length.)
7. A Holy assembly (Joel 1:14)
8. Unto the Lord (Zech. 7:5)
9. A mark of discipleship (Matt. 9:14-15)
10. Requires sacrifice and discipline (“Give:” of 1 Cor. 7:5)

 

There are many benefits to fasting:

 

1. Fasting Intensifies Prayer (Is. 61:3) “To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”

(1 Cor. 9:27) “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; less that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.”

      2.  Fasting brings answers (Dan. 9; Acts 9: 9-15; 12: 1-4)

       3.  Fasting brings deliverance and victory (11 Chr. 20; Esth. 4; Mt. 17: 14-21) “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, why could not we cast him out?  (A lunatic and sore vexed) And Jesus said to them. “Because of your unbelief; for verily I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard see, you shall say to this mountain, Remove here to yonder place; and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible to you.  However this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting.”

       4.  Fasting Precipitates the Latter Rain (Joel 1:14; 2:13; 15 with “after this” of 2: 25-28)

       5.  Fasting bring the dunamis of God (Luke 4: 1-4 with verse 14)

 

Fasting is learned by doing.  Enter with positive faith.  Pray to receive the full benefits of fasting.  Read and study the word.  Enter a fast when you are up and not down.  Avoid boasting.  Be pure in motives.

 

The Lord charges them with selfishness even in worship, declaring that their prayer is not heard, affirming that He does not accept the prostration of the body which is unaccompanied by affliction of soul. 

 

God’s response to our prayers will be assured when we respond to His requirement of righteousness.  The principles laid down for the fast that God chooses fall into two categories: (1) abstinence from every form of oppression; and (2) the exercise of positive benevolence toward the destitute.  The truths have both a natural and a spiritual application.  The Lord is primarily interested in our motive and attitude.

 

58:8-9: “Then shall you light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rearward.  Then shall you call, and the Lord shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am, If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity.”

 

If our hearts will go out in compassion to needy fellowmen, then the Lord’s compassion will go out to His people in continual guidance and material sustenance.

 

58: 10-12: “If you draw out your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day; and the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones.  You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.  They that shall be of you shall build the old waste places.  You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.”

 

The benefits of Godly fasting include the light (understanding) of this New Day and the manifestation of health and life.  The “Noon Day” or the “Double Light” is the portion of them who fast in righteousness.  This is the double portion (the portion of the firstborn) of 11 Kg. 2 and reveals the principle of life and immortality.  Light and life go together.  These shall be preserved in time of drought and become an unfailing fountain of Jesus’ life.  The requirements for this ministry are given in verses 9-10.  Legalism, criticism, and insincerity must be put away.  Then the bones will be invigorated.  This is a ministry of restoration and is sent to restore the principle of the home and family (natural and spiritual). 

 

The ministry revealed here has a Word and ministry of reconciliation, and stands in the gap as a mediator, intercessor, reconciler, and compassionate priest. 

 

 

In a passage so filled with beauty, true religion with its rewards is described.  It is expressed in rightness of action; and tenderness, which is rewarded by light, fellowship and answered prayer.  In these external observances, such as that of the Sabbath, we must be free from all selfishness.

 

58: 12-14: “”If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words; Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, an feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

 

 

  He, as our righteousness and glory, will encompass or clothe us with Himself.  He will become our immediate answer to prayer, in contrast to the complaint of 58:3.  This is the evidence of harmony (oneness) re-established between God and man.

 

He will then cause us to ride upon the high places of the earth with the full blessings of the House of Jacob.

 

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from K.J.V.  I entered into the labors of Dr. Kelly Varner from the Sermon on the Mount and Principles of Present Truth on Isaiah;  sermon notes by Pastor Carolyn Sissom, When You Fast, 5/17/2010 www.eastgateministries.com