Devotions

Clear the Way!

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It is, and always has been our behavior, our sin that has separated us from God. The Lord says, “Call!”, say “Here is your God!”, “Lift up your voice like a trumpet”, “I will heal him; and I will lead him”. The Lord asks one thing, “turn away from transgression”. There is a God kind of life. There is a way for us to find peace and it begins as we “remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech … offer your soul to the hungry”. He says to “Clear the way!” 

Clear the Way!

Isaiah 57:14–21
This message from Isaiah 57:14 “Build up, build up! Clear the way! Remove the obstacles from the way of my people!” “echoes Isa 40:3”1 which then goes on to say in Isaiah 40:6 “A voice is saying, “Call!” And he said, “What shall I call?” with an answer in Isaiah 40:9-10 “Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense in his presence”.

This is fulfilled in John the Baptist as recorded in each of the gospels. It says in

John 1:23 He said, “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

It is not the Lord’s heart though, to bring condemnation, his desire is in

Isaiah 57:18–19 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; and I will lead him and give him and his mourners comfort as a recompense, 19 creating fruit of lips. Peace, peace to the far and near,” says Yahweh, “and I will heal him.

But there are those, the wicked, and of them in

Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

 

Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet

Isaiah 58:1–14
There is a truth that fasting quiets the voice of our flesh and helps us become more in tune with God’s spirit. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-2 after being baptised with the Holy Spirit and before he began his ministry. Jesus also taught people in

Matthew 6:17–18 But when you are fasting, put olive oil on your head and wash your face 18 so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And in the early church, we know they gathered to pray and fast as in

Acts 13:2 And while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

But here in Isaiah, the Lord is speaking to those that claim His name and claim to live for the Lord, and don’t in

Isaiah 58:2 Yet they seek me day by day, and they desire the knowledge of my ways like a nation that practiced righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of its God; they ask me for righteous judgments, they desire the closeness of God.

These people are fasting to get God to do what they want, to make their voice heard so their will is done. As it says in

Isaiah 58:4 Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on the height.

There is a different purpose for fasting, it is not for self abuse and “humiliation” instead it is in Isaiah 58:6-7 “to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and tear every yoke to pieces … break your bread for the hungry … bring home the poor … cover (the naked)”. Also in Isaiah 58:9-10 “remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech, 10 if you offer your soul to the hungry”. This fast is not anything about what you need or want from the Lord, this is about expressing righteousness and justice or as Jesus said in

Mark 12:30–31 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

There is no Justice

Isaiah 59:1–11
It isn’t that the Lord cannot save in Isaiah 59:1, it is that in Isaiah 59:2 “your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God”. This is the bleak and simple truth in Isaiah 59:3 “your hands are defiled with blood” and in Isaiah 59:4 “There is nobody who pleads with justice”. Or as it says in

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Which leaves us separated from God in

Isaiah 59:9 “Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look! there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness”.

 

A Redeemer Will Come to Zion

Isaiah 59:12–21
The world is lost because “truth is missing” but even worse than that, anyone that would stand for the truth (“turn aside from evil”) is attacked (“plundered”) in

Isaiah 59:14–15 “And justice is pushed back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth stumbles in the public square, and straightforwardness is unable to enter, 15 and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil is plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice”.

But in Isaiah 59:16 “so his arm came to assist him” and in Isaiah 59:20 “And a redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,” declares Yahweh.

The Lord makes a promise to those that will “turn away from transgression” even though they know they will be “plundered”. Some versions say they make themselves “a prey”, “They (people of the world) have distanced themselves so far from the truth that they openly combat those who turn away from perversity and choose the good”.2

But here is God’s promise, the beginning of life with God’s blessing that grows and progresses through Isaiah 60-61 in

Isaiah 59:21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have placed in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”

The Glory of Yahweh (the Lord) Has Risen on You

Isaiah 60:1–11

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Isaiah 57:14-21
  • Isaiah 58:1-14
  • Isaiah 59:1-21
  • Isaiah 60:1-11

References

  • 1. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Is 57:14). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 2. Elliott, M. W. (Ed.). (2007). Isaiah 40–66 (p. 223). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.