Theatrics of the Pious: The Fast God Chooses Text: Isaiah 58:1-12
Introduction: The Scent of Burnt Plastic
We live in an age of curated spirituality. Modern American evangelicalism, in many quarters, has become profoundly skilled in the art of religious performance. We have our spiritual disciplines checklists, our aesthetically pleasing Instagram posts with calligraphed Bible verses, and our worship services engineered for maximum emotional experience. We know how to look pious, how to sound pious, and how to feel pious. We are very concerned with our spiritual sincerity. We want to be authentic. But what if God is not grading on sincerity? What if the entire performance, no matter how heartfelt, smells to high heaven like burning plastic? What if our solemn assemblies and our disciplined fasts are an offense to the nostrils of God?
This is the disquieting message of Isaiah 58. It is a divine trumpet blast, intended to shatter the stained-glass illusions of a people who had perfected the art of religion while completely missing the point. They were active, they were zealous, they were orthodox in their external observances, and they were deeply offended that God was not impressed. They were putting on a great show, but the divine audience was not applauding.
This chapter is a divine confrontation with all who would substitute religious busyness for true righteousness. It is a declaration of war against the kind of piety that can compartmentalize a "quiet time" in the morning from oppressing an employee in the afternoon. It exposes the lie that we can draw near to God with our lips, our bowed heads, and our empty stomachs, while our hearts and hands are far from His actual commands. This is not a quaint historical rebuke of ancient Israel. This is a mirror held up to the modern church. And we must have the courage to look into it.
The Text
"Call out from your throat, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me day by day and find pleasure in knowing My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the judgment of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; They find pleasure in the nearness of God. ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh? Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To release the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the afflicted homeless into the house; When you see the naked, you cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, And if you offer your soul to the hungry And satisfy the soul of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your thick darkness will become like midday. And Yahweh will continually guide you, And satisfy your soul in scorched places, And fortify your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places; You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the paths for one to inhabit."
(Isaiah 58:1-12 LSB)
The Indictment of In-Name-Only Religion (v. 1-5)
The passage opens with a command to the prophet. God tells him to shout. This is not a time for subtlety.
"Call out from your throat, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins." (Isaiah 58:1)
A trumpet is for alarms and for war. God is not interested in a gentle, therapeutic suggestion. He wants a blast that will wake the dead. And who is this for? "My people." This is a message for the covenant community, for the church. It is a word for those who think they are on the right side of things. The greatest danger is not from the pagans outside, but from the rot of hypocrisy within.
And what is their sin? Verse 2 describes it, and it is chillingly familiar. They look like a model congregation. They "seek Me day by day," they "find pleasure in knowing My ways." They love theology. They enjoy a good sermon. They show up for Bible study. They appear to be a nation that has "done righteousness." They even "ask Me for righteous judgments," wanting God to intervene and set things right. They love the idea of being near to God. In short, they love religion. They just do not love God.
Their true heart is revealed in their complaint in verse 3. "Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?" This is the language of a business transaction. They see their fasting as a payment, and they are angry that God has not delivered the goods. Their piety is a form of spiritual manipulation. They are trying to put God in their debt. They have done the work, afflicted their souls, and now they are presenting the invoice for services rendered.
God's reply is a brutal takedown of their entire charade. First, their fasting is entirely self-serving. "Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers." Their day of "self-denial" is actually a day of self-indulgence and injustice. Perhaps they are using their fast day as an excuse to get out of paying their day laborers. Their piety provides a convenient cover for their greed. Second, their fasting makes them contentious. "Behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist." Their spiritual disciplines make them mean, arrogant, and pugnacious. Their "holiness" is a weapon they use to beat other people. This is the dead giveaway of false religion. It does not produce the fruit of the Spirit, but the works of the flesh: strife, jealousy, and fits of anger.
God then mocks the very aesthetics of their piety in verse 5. "Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?" God is not impressed with the posture of humility if the heart is filled with pride. He is not interested in the external props of repentance if there is no actual repentance. To call this pathetic display an "acceptable day to Yahweh" is an insult to His intelligence.
The Fast of True Righteousness (v. 6-7)
After demolishing their counterfeit, God lays out the genuine article. Here is the fast that He chooses.
"Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To release the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:6 LSB)
Notice the shift. The fast God desires is not about introspection and self-affliction; it is about outward action and justice. It is about actively intervening in the world on behalf of the vulnerable. This is not the counterfeit "social justice" of our day, which is rooted in envy, resentment, and identity politics. This is biblical justice. It means using your power, your influence, and your resources to free people from actual bondage. This could mean helping someone out of a crushing debt, standing against a corrupt employer, or defending the defenseless in your community. It is about breaking yokes, not just feeling bad that they exist.
And it gets even more practical in verse 7.
"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the afflicted homeless into the house; When you see the naked, you cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Isaiah 58:7 LSB)
This is tangible, costly, personal mercy. It is not about writing a check to a faceless charity so you can feel good about yourself. It is about sharing your food, opening your home, and giving your coat. This is hospitality as a central mark of true faith. And notice the final phrase: "not to hide yourself from your own flesh." This is about covenantal responsibility. The people you are called to help are your kinsmen, your neighbors, your fellow church members. True religion is not an abstract feeling; it is a concrete love for the real people God has placed in your life.
The Blessings of a Repaired Breach (v. 8-12)
What happens when a people repent of their religious games and begin to practice this kind of robust, justice-oriented faith? The second half of the chapter is a torrent of glorious covenantal promises. The word "Then" appears repeatedly. The blessings are a direct result of obedience.
"Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 58:8 LSB)
When you live this way, your witness becomes undeniable. Your righteousness is not a hidden, private affair; it goes before you like an honor guard. And God Himself protects you from behind. Your prayers become effective. "Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’" (v. 9). The static on the line is gone because your life is now aligned with the will of the one you are praying to.
The promises pile up: your light will rise in the darkness, God will continually guide you, He will satisfy you even in barren places, and He will make your bones strong (v. 10-11). You will move from being a spiritual drain to becoming a source of life for others, "like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."
And this personal renewal leads directly to cultural and civilizational renewal. This is the postmillennial vision at the heart of the gospel.
"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places; You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the paths for one to inhabit." (Isaiah 58:12 LSB)
True faith does not just save souls for heaven. It rebuilds ruined cultures on earth. When the people of God practice the fast that God chooses, they become agents of restoration. They repair the breaches that sin has made in our families, our communities, and our nations. They restore the foundations of justice and righteousness so that society can flourish. This is the cultural mandate in action. This is the work of Christian reconstruction.
The True Faster
As we read this, the standard is impossibly high. Who among us has perfectly loosened the bonds of wickedness? Who has always shared his bread, always opened his home? We all fall short. We are all, to some extent, guilty of the very hypocrisy that God condemns.
But there was one who perfectly fulfilled this fast. Jesus Christ is the ultimate repairer of the breach. He saw us in our sin, oppressed by a yoke we could not break, and He came to set us free. He is the one who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor. He became hungry so that we might be fed with the Bread of Life. He was cast out so that we might be brought into the house of His Father. He was stripped naked on the cross so that we might be clothed in His righteousness.
His entire life was the fast that God chose, culminating in the ultimate affliction of His soul on Calvary. And because of His fast, God heard His voice. Because of His suffering, our sins are forgiven. His righteousness goes before us, and the glory of God is our rear guard.
Therefore, we do not engage in acts of justice and mercy in order to get God to like us. That is the old hypocrisy. We do these things because, in Christ, God already loves us with an unshakable love. We are free, so we work to free others. We have been fed, so we feed others. We have been brought into a home, so we practice hospitality. Our good works are not the root of our salvation, but the joyful and necessary fruit of it. So let us repent of our religious theatrics, and by the grace of God, let us get on with the business of repairing the breach.