Introduction: The answer to the question asked in the title is “no”! So in wrestling with this passage, and we are meant to humbly wrestle with the Word of God, I have tried in colour to indicate who is speaking and to whom!
1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins. – Spoken by God to the Prophet Isaiah. A command for him to obey emphatically!
And I postulate spoken to and meant for modern day preachers!
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God. – Spoken by God to the Prophet about the people’s attitude to Him, Almighty God.
God was expected to act justly as they saw justice but God claimed that by their actions they were not themselves righteous!
3 Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ – the people speaking to God claim to be righteous by their fasting. They accuse God of ignoring their righteous acts!
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high. – God answers the people by highlighting their hypocrisy.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD? – God challenges the people’s concept of fasting – comparing their actions to His desire as listed below!
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? – God speaks with authority declaring to all people forever what He desires of people who fast in worship of Him! The last bit ‘not to hide yourself from your own flesh?‘ says ‘and don’t forget your responsibility to your own family’!
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. – Here begins God stating His actions if/when His people begin to obey His commands. Salvation is a gift given by Grace in response to true faith. This does not mean that goodness doesn’t play a part in what happens in life! Tomorrow’s passage is exciting!
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Prayer: Please guide me and help me to be persistent and courageous in my obedience to You, Lord Jesus. I want that You be my Lord as well as my Saviour!