“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,”
– Isaiah 58:13
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you think that a guy, gal or kid who is a Christ-follower should act 24/7 as a Christ-follower? How do you think that a guy, gal or kid who is a Christ-follower should act 24/7 towards other guys, gals and kids? How do you think that a guy, gal or kid who is Christ-follower should comport themselves 24/7 before God? Isaiah 58 is a harsh appraisal that God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, told Isaiah to loudly pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, who were living in the city of Jerusalem. God made it very clear from the get-go – through the laws and commands that He gave to Moses on Mount Sinai to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals, that He absolutely expected His specially chosen guys and gals to live their lives 24/7 His way versus pursuing other ways to live their lives. God tasked Isaiah the unenviable mission to raise his voice like a trumpet on the city of Jerusalem streets to let His specially chosen guys and gals clearly know that their shallow attempts to worship Him were not concealing their rebellious, hypocritical, sinful hearts. Because God is omniscient, God saw 24/7 through the pretense of His specially chosen guys and gals as they pretended to be eager to know His ways and for Him to come near them. God knew that His specially chosen guys and gals were foolishly trying to fool Him into believing that they were a nation of guys and gals who was always doing what was the right thing to do and that they were not forsaking Him. God’s specially chosen guys and gals really did seem to think that they could hoodwink God by going through the motions of proactively participating in the fasts that were designated – which would have the guys and gals trying to leave a perception of humbling themselves by putting on sackcloth and lying in ashes. These phony-baloney public performances did not have a chance at to get past God’s 24/7 internal monitoring of the hearts and the external observations of the actions of every guy and gal who was living in the city of Jerusalem. God was no longer going to tolerate a guy who while doing a scheduled fast was also exploiting his hired help or a guy who would end a scheduled fast by using his fists to punch another guy or guys or gals who would spend their time during a scheduled fast pointing accusatory fingers at one another and/or using hateful, malicious talk or gossip to try to demean or destroy other guys and/or gals or a guy or gal who would end a scheduled fast by quarreling with other guys and/or gals or . . .
God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, not only had Isaiah denounce His specially chosen guys and gals at this time who were living in the city of Jerusalem; he was told by God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, to remind again His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem how to live their lives for Him. Verse 13 says, ““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,” God in the next verse promises to give His joy spirit to any guy or gal who actively does what He has asked him or her to do. God also promises that He will answer any call for help from any guy or gal if the guy or gal has been utilizing his or her time on behalf of feeding the hungry, if the guy or gal has been devoting his or her efforts to satisfying the needs of the oppressed, if the guy or gal has been providing shelter for poor wanderers, if the guy or gal has been doing whatever he or she can to clothe guys, gals and kids who have nothing to wear, if the guy or gal has been looking for ways to release the chains of injustice from any guy or gal who has been unjustly yoked or unfairly burdened by having been wronged and if the guy or gal has not been turning away from helping a fellow Christ-follower guy or gal who is in need.
What do you think that it means today to keep holy the day of rest – the Sabbath Day, as God mandated that it be? How important do you think that it is today that you meet with fellow Christ-follower guys, gals and kids at a prescribed place on God’s ordered day of rest – the Sabbath Day? Why do you think that it might be today just as important to God that His day of rest – the Sabbath Day, be honored as He wanted it revered 2,600 years ago when He had Isaiah scribe what God – as God the Spirit, breathed on him to scribe? Since your grandmaa and grandpaa relocated about 3½ years ago to Gainesville, Georgia to join Adventures in Missions, your grandmaa and grandpaa have not found a community yet of Christ-follower guys and gals where they have felt accepted and valued. Your grandpaa has become convinced that many of the Christ-follower fellowships of guys and gals where he and your grandmaa have gone to on the day of rest – the Sabbath Day, have morphed into being a social gathering versus being a place where God is being worshipped corporately. Your grandpaa also thinks that Christ-follower guys and gals are having the walls of local fellowships where Christ-follower guys and gals are meeting inhibitors to having ongoing, interactive personal relationships that are 24/7 God-centered. Even though your grandpaa is seeing God’s elected guys, gals and kids interfacing more and more today in diverse micro-groups – apart from Christ-follower fellowships, he knows that God still expects each Christ-follower guy and gal to rest – a Sabbath Day rest, weekly.
Isaiah 58 (1157)