Isaiah 58: Week Five

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0:00 The rest of us, we're like working our way through Lent. We'd have just a couple more weeks actually. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday right before Easter where we celebrate the triumphal entry. And then of course, two weeks from now, two Sundays from now is Easter where we'll celebrate the resurrection. And so for Lent, we've been working our way through Isaiah chapter 58, and we're on the last couple verses of Isaiah chapter 58, if you've been following along there.

0:36 And so we're gonna kind of work through the last several verses here this morning and try and see what we can take away for ourselves. Let me just read the chapter for us. It's not too long. Remember that Isaiah is this prophet, speaking on behalf of God to the people of Israel. And here he's, God is speaking to Israel because he perceives that the Israelites are frustrated,

1:07 that doesn't seem like God is listening or responding to their prayers. And God through Isaiah is describing why that might be. And what if you listen, you find that he says that you're worshiping me basically in name, but not in heart, you're fulfilling practices, but don't have a transformed heart. You're not actually concerned with the things of God you just like looking like you are. And he says that doesn't work to connect to God.

1:37 So Isaiah chapter 58, cry aloud, God says, and do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 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 judgment, God says they delight to draw near to God and why have we fasted and you hear it not?

2:10 Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it, the people say. And God says, behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. 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 heard on high. God says, is such the fast that I choose a day

2:40 for a person to humble himself? Is it to slow down or to bow down his head like a reed? And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call that a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose? God says to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

3:13 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, then shall your light break forth in 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. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from under your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking wickedness,

3:46 if you pour yourselves out for the hungry and satisfied the desires of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noon day. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy the desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. That's how far we've gotten. We got through that far so far in the last several weeks.

4:18 In the recap for you, remember that God is saying, the type of worship he's looking for is not the kind of simply inward looking personally pious activity. He's looking for people who move out of themselves, for whom their devotion to God drives them to address wickedness, brokenness, hunger, neediness. He's asking, he's saying that the people of God are the ones who move towards the places of brokenness,

4:52 who respond to brokenness with healing, who respond to injustice with acts of justice, who respond to places of need with mercy. And God says, when you do this, when you move towards these places, he says, your light will shine. And we talked about last week how the light he's talking about is the light of God will come into your place and reflect off of you to where you're going.

5:23 So that as you move towards the places of brokenness with healing, towards the places of injustice with justice, towards the place of need with mercy, God says, then I come and I strengthen your bones for the work, and I make you like a well that never runs dry. And we talked about how when we walk towards those places, what God is saying, it's not as though we have to have the answer. God is saying as you move towards those places,

5:55 his light comes and shines. His strength fortifies you. His well of water satisfies you in the places. So that you don't need to know the answer for injustice to walk towards it. You don't need to have all of the mercy required to meet the needs in order to move towards the needs, that God comes with you and brings these.

6:25 And now what he's about to say is what sort of people do you become when you do that? He's telling Israel when you respond this way, when your worship looks like moving out into the world with love and generosity, then God joins you there. And now he's about to say, and then when he joins you there, you become these people in the world. And so it's the last couple verses of Isaiah 58

6:55 starting at verse 12. He says, and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. And you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairs of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. Now I gotta pause there for a minute just because I really like those words together.

7:26 The repairs of the breach, the restorers of the streets. Isn't that a fun title? If someone were to call you the repairr of the breach, the restorer of streets to walk in. What kind of dude is to be true? Oh man, he's a guy, he's always repairing the breach, he's like fixing the street. That's pretty good.

7:56 And it is good. And then I was thinking about a little bit more, looking at it a little bit more and realizing how contextual the words are, right? I mean, I'm grateful that we don't think Isaiah wrote this, probably some scribe of Isaiah wrote it, Isaiah spoke this, and by the time we're here in 58, they know when Isaiah speaks, it carries weight so they should write it down, right? And so Isaiah probably didn't write it down,

8:28 but he had some scribe, and then, and then it was written and transcribed several times, it was lost, some of the kings lost the word of the prophets and the Torah, was buried in the temple, then brought back. The oldest kind of Hebrew text that we have is the oldest original Hebrew text that we have, excuse me, is from like the 10 hundreds from this group called the Masaretes.

8:58 It's consistently stored and they write the consonants and then make the vowels with dots and stuff above it. We have some older versions that they translated the Hebrew into Greek and what we call the Septuagint, and some of those are older, but the tradition of the Hebrew, I'm just trying to tell you, I'm glad this came to us. Right? It had to go through a lot, there was a season where the Romans were persecuting the church and they would spare bishops' lives

9:31 if they turned over the copy of the scriptures. Not everybody had a copy of the scriptures, but the bishops tend to have a copy and they would spare the bishops' life if they would turn over the copy of the scriptures, so many of the bishops burned their copies of the scriptures. A few remained. This has gone through a lot to get to us and I'm really glad it did because we can pull great learning from the word repair of the breach and aspire to be repairs of the breach and restorers of the road.

10:03 But it's worth reminding you that when Isaiah spoke these words on behalf of God, he wasn't speaking to Demetrius or to me. You're speaking to Israel and when Isaiah says on behalf of God and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt and you shall raise up the foundation of many generations and you shall be called the repairs of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

10:35 He's saying, hey, when you guys left or got conquered by Babylon and taken away, remember how they destroyed the whole city and they left some people, but they took the best of you on fish hooks and left you out and for 70 years, you lived as exiles in Babylon. He says, you'll come back and you all, the ones who have moved towards brokenness, injustice, and need, you all who for whom God has come

11:07 to strengthen your bones in the work of doing good in the world, you will make your way back and restore the foundations of generations. You'll rebuild broken walls, you'll repair streets. He's saying, you'll go back to a place and fix it. Why? Because in the time of Isaiah and the subsequent generations,

11:38 if God would be known in the world, it would be in the walls of Jerusalem, in the courtyards of the temple. If God would be found in the time of Isaiah, it would be walking on the streets to get to the temple to make the sacrifices. God through Isaiah says, you all, the people whose bones have been fortified,

12:09 who have wells springing up in them that will never run dry. You all, for whom the light of God has come to shine and direct you out in the places, you'll be the people to restore Jerusalem, the breach in the wall. You'll restore the foundations of Jacob. And he goes on further. He says, if you turn back your face from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day

12:41 and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable, if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly. Sabbath, they make a big deal out of Sabbath, you know? They want him to keep Sabbath, they make a big deal out of Sabbath. He doesn't call out any of the other laws here. Any other of the Ten Commandments,

13:13 if you think about it, in Babylon and Israel, there were no labor laws, right? Kids could work whenever, they didn't even have to pay people, you know? And so people worked all the time, so if you go out, the sun's up, you do work. And God from the beginning had told Israel, hey, I'll take care of you. You survived not on your own hard work,

13:44 but on the provision of God. So take a day off and thank God that he provides for you. And so for Israel and for God, you can see why the Sabbath became such a big deal, because it's this little linchpin that unlocks all the other places of faith. If I have the courage to take a day off and trust that God provides for me, then it means I trust him, that I'm depending on him. And God is saying, if, he says, you walk towards mercy,

14:15 you walk towards injustice, walk towards brokenness, walk towards need with justice, healing, and mercy. And then he says, if you keep my Sabbath, and remember that I'm the centerpiece for you, that I provide for you, that I take care of you. He said, if you start to set aside a heart that trusts God with the everyday things of the week, that you even take a day off and let me provide for you.

14:45 He says, if you keep the Sabbath, then verse 16, then you shall take delight in the Lord. And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, or the mouth of the Lord has spoken, to ride on the heights of the earth is to have authority and power. When you have the high ground, you beat all your enemies,

15:17 you can see every enemy coming. And God says, now you have directed your path towards justice, healing, and mercy. And you've oriented your life around an understanding that it's God that provides for me. So I take the Sabbath day off, then he's like, you'll be the repairs of the breach, the restores of broken walls, the reputation of God, you will restore in the world, and I'll set you up to walk on the heights

15:48 and to take the benefit of the promises of Jacob that say, you will be a light to the world, a blessing that all the world will know the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of creation and life because of Israel. And God says, there is time yet. Who does he say it to? People who have lost the land, who have failed, who are in exile. And he says, when you set your hearts right,

16:23 then you'll get to be the people again. If you orient yourself, your heart, and your life right, he says, then you'll get to be the people again. I wonder how many of them it worked out for, who read it. I mean, not none, but it's true that like,

16:59 when Cyrus lets him back out of Babylon, says you guys can go back, a lot of the Israelites decide to stay. If you read the story, they give money to Ezra and Nehemiah and the people going back. Here, we've accumulated lots of bounty, it looks uncomfortable and difficult to travel back to a broken and busted up city. We'll stay here in Babylon. Good luck.

17:30 Repairs of the breach, no thank you. Restores of the roads, no thank you. Build up the foundations of Jacob, ride on the heights of the hills, no thank you. I've got a really nice house. I can't be depending on God like that, he's too unpredictable. I can't bet on God like that, it's too uncomfortable.

18:03 Take some money. It didn't work out for none of them, but it didn't work out for all of them either, right? If then. A group of them figured it out, right? The if then, they picked up enough of the if that they went back and got the then, they did rebuild the walls.

18:36 They did restore the temple. Of course, it's a famous story at the dedication of the temple. Like the rebuilding the wall was difficult, they had mortar in one hand and sword in the other because people didn't want them to build the wall in the neighborhoods around there because these Israelites who had kept themselves pure Babylon were coming back and all the Israelites who had been left behind and intermarried didn't want these zealots coming back and rebuilding a wall and rebuilding a temple and creating a cultural hegemony, they didn't like it. And so they had like mortar to rebuild the wall

19:07 and a sword to protect themselves. And then they rebuilt the temple. And it's a famous story at the dedication of the temple that people wept because the temple that they had rebuilt was such a shadow of the ones in their memory. It was so small and sad compared to the one that Solomon built, just a echo of what it had been. So they pulled off the if then, but look, here's the punchline. You and I are not good at if then with God.

19:40 But if we have to hold up our side of the bargain, we're gonna lose. Because you'll get it right sometimes, but the trick is you'll also get it wrong. And when you get it wrong, you can't fix it. When you get it wrong, you can apologize,

20:12 but you can't restore. When you get it wrong, you can do the next right thing, but you can't go back and undo the wrong thing. You'll get it right sometimes, but you'll also get it wrong. And when you get it wrong, you can't fix it. And so if we're ever in an if then with God, we lose. Of course, this is why Jesus comes.

20:49 To do the if then for you. This is why he said, I didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. You can't keep the Sabbath, he did. You can't respond always with mercy, he did. You can't respond always to brokenness and be a force of healing in the world. Sometimes you'll aggravate the brokenness around you. That's okay. He always responded with healing. You can't respond to the need around you

21:21 every time with the appropriate mercy. Sometimes you can't always even figure out what the appropriate mercy is. That's okay. He always responded with mercy. Jesus came to fulfill all the law and the prophets. To restore all the ifs so that you get all the thens. You know what that means.

21:56 Then you are the restorers of the breach. Oh, but is the reputation of God? Sullyed in the world? You are the repairers of the breach. Have people been led astray? They can't figure out how to find their way back to the God who made them and loves them. You are the restorers of the street.

22:31 You are. And when you move to the move to repair walls and build up streets, then the light of God will come upon you, reflect off of you. Then your bones will be restored and strengthened. Then you'll have a living well living inside of you springing up for eternity. When you move towards the places, this is who you are now. Repairs of the breach, restorers of the street. When the breach on the wall is the reputation of God.

23:02 When the streets are the way to find him, you are the ones to restore, because Jesus has gone through all the ifs and given you the thens. And so it doesn't matter how many times you fail at the job. He has satisfied the if, you get the then. Let him do all the if, you take the then, and you go forward, rebuild the walls, the reputation of God, restore the streets and welcome people back to him. This is the call, the opportunity, the identity.

23:36 This is who we are, the inheritors of Jacob. He says you'll feast on the inheritance of Jacob, which is to be like the light of the world, the blessing for all. This Lenten season, I don't know about you, it's been kind of weird for me. I haven't been able, it feels like there's a lot happening.

24:08 And sometimes it's hard to keep my eyes on the things I can do, when there's so much else happening in our worlds. And your call is big but concrete. Your opportunity is endless but also directed. You get to be the repairs of the breach,

24:41 the restores of the street. Jesus has gone through the if, you get the then. Then be God's people in the world. Mercy, healing, justice, repairing reputation, opening the street, that all might find their way back to the God who made them and loves them and satisfied all the law that they would get all the benefit. Let me pray that we could do that. Hey Lord, thank you for this room of repairs.

25:12 Strengthen their bones, satisfy their hearts with your purpose and direction with your love and restoration. Teach us what it means to be repairs of the breach and restores of the street, that your reputation and the way to you may be, no. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.