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the  Preachers  blog

Blogs are posted every Wednesday, except in July and August

The True Fast (By Rev. Deacon Margaret Friesen)

5/4/2021

 
TEXT: Isaiah 58-61

OBSERVATION
If you have not been able to keep up with the readings, please take some time to watch the two Isaiah videos. You might also want to read last week’s Bible Blogs.

  • As noted previously, Isaiah is full of prophecies about the Messiah and promises for a future hope. In today’s chapters, we hear about the kind of fasting God desires, then a chapter that decries the blatant sins of the Hebrew people, and then a triumphal declaration of the return of the captives and then the Messianic news that the Lord has anointed Jesus who has come to free the captives.
  • Chapter 58 – The true fast.
  • Chapter 59 – Injustice and transgressions will reap only more evil.
  • Chapter 60 – How incredible it will be when the exiles return to home – full of celebration and joy.
  • Chapter 61 – God has anointed Jesus the Messiah; God is anointing us, the church to do good on the earth; to proclaim liberty, to comfort those who mourn, to bring praise rather than a faint spirit.
 
INTERPRETATION
  • We are told that the outward signs of fasting are totally inadequate. God seems to be saying that only when fasting leads to changes that will see the hungry get fed, the naked being clothed, the prisoners freed, and the needy being comforted—that’s when God is honoured.
  • Notice the poetry in these chapters – highly descriptive language is used and concepts are repeated in colourful paired phrases… (58:8) your light shall break forth like dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…(11) you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail”.
The poetry stimulates me to think in pictures and to imagine what could be—to tap into my own creativity.
 
APPLICATION
There is much to think about in all these chapters –what is true fasting and why do it? What does God promise his people  in response to a true fast (58:8-14)?
How does God view our sins and wickedness (59:1-18)?
The return of the exiles is beyond description for the joy (60:17).
Who is the Anointed One? And what does God promise to do through this Messiah?
 
QUESTION
Have you heard God’s call to you to bring good news to those who are oppressed? To those who are broken-hearted? This is God’s call, not just to the individual but to the church as a whole. Take some time to reflect on God’s call to you, to us—the church.

PRAYER
Ah Lord God, we are a broken and exiled people who call to you for mercy. We ask for help in our need. We pray for full salvation for our body, mind, spirit. Show us the path that leads into Your Presence. And please use us in your kingdom.
 
Song: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

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St Aidan’s Anglican Church
274 Campbell Street | Winnipeg, MB R3N 1B5
Phone: 204.489.3390 Email: [email protected]
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Youth
  • Give
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2025 Videos
    • 2024 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2023 Videos
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101