Introduction

Some comments need to be made about the application of our passage, Isaiah 58:13-14, to Christians today. The book of Isaiah was written more than 600 years before Christ (Isaiah began to prophecy in 740 BC, cf. 6:1). Our text is part of the OT prophetic message that was addressed to the Jewish nation in the Southern Kingdom during the time of the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom (722 BC). Isaiah also anticipated the captivity of the Southern Kingdom in stages from 603 to 586 BC.  But he looks far beyond these captivities to final restoration, to the new heavens and the new earth (65:17-19).

One way that he summarizes restoration is by means of the Sabbath theme (65:17; 66:1-2; 11:10; 56:2). The restoration is telescoped in the typical fashion of prophetic perspective. He compresses together the restoration that will come after 586, through the death of Messiah (Isa. 53), and at the end of history.

Thus, when he explains Sabbath keeping in Isaiah 58, He speaks to the new Israel that includes both redeemed Israel before and after the death of Christ. Therefore, both OT Jews and NT Christians (the new Israel, Matt. 21:43; Gal. 6:16) are instructed here regarding the depth of the Sabbath for the Lord's people. Ultimate Sabbath rest is out in front of both so both OT Jews and NT Christians have weekly Sabbath rest as a promise for life now and yet to come.

In this light, it is notable that Isaiah 58 does not have a local flavor that is tied inseparably to the Jewish calendar and detailed ceremonial observances. This passage gives very warm and refreshing insights into the true spirit and intent of weekly Sabbath observance. It is similar to the teachings of Christ regarding the true spirit and intent of Sabbath keeping (as in Matt. 12).

Therefore, asking if Isaiah properly applies to Christians is like asking if the teachings of Christ on the Sabbath apply to Christians. Does the spirit of the Sabbath given to us through Isaiah and through Christ in promise of heavenly rest have application only to the restoration of Israel prior to the death of Christ? To say it does is to commit a serious and confusing biblical/theological error. It is a major misreading of the history of redemption. Jesus enters into the fullness of His Sabbath Lordship by the resurrection (by the resurrection He was made both Lord and Christ, Acts 2:36). Resurrection day inaugurated His Kingship as redeemer in a way that is similar to how the seventh day inaugurated the Father's Kingship as Creator. Thus to question the relevance of Isaiah 58 and Matthew 12 to Christian weekly Sabbath keeping would make Jesus the ruler of something that has no relevance. He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mk. 2:38) and He exercises that Lordship on His day, the Lord's Day Sunday but His Kingship over the day would be irrelevant to Christian conduct on Sunday.

Sabbath keeping is simply a part of whole Bible Christianity. It is all for our profit. We are Abraham's children by faith (Gal. 3:29). We are the children of Jacob our father (Isa. 58:14).

Thus the Sabbath principle (Odendaal, Expectation 6, 30, 39) is relevant until that final day dawns as a foretaste of fellowship now with our Sabbath King in token of that final day of rest at the end of history (Isa. 56: 2; 58:13-14; 66:1-2, 1-11). It is taken up in Jesus clarification of the Ten Commandments for the new Israel, the new 12, the new nation with new wine to be taught to the ends of the earth until the end of the age (Matt. 28:19-20).

As a word of caution, an antinomian spirit on one hand (an anti-Sabbath mindset or disposition) should not grip us nor should we be yoked by a legalistic spirit on the other (a "commandments of men" mindset and yoke). To avoid both we need to attend to the commandment of God to discover its true depth and intent.

That is what I propose we do today as we consider the promise of the Sabbath given in Isaiah 58:13-14. The outline is twofold: the promise explained and the promise reinforced.

1A. The Promise Explained

A conditional statement that takes up most of these two verses explains the promise of the Sabbath. There are two parts to a conditional statement, the antecedent and the consequent. We can talk about the "if part" (antecedent) and the "then part" (consequent) of a conditional. Note how the whole of v. 13 is an antecedent and not a complete thought; it is not completed until v. 14 that begins with the word "then." The promise of the Sabbath is explained in the two parts of the conditional statement. Now let's look at each part more closely.

1B. First, certain duties are given in the antecedent (or if-part)

The duties are presented in both negative and positive terms.

1C. Duties presented negatively (13a)

The negative begins with a turning of the foot.

So the movement of the foot reveals the nature of our walk with the Lord. We go where our feet take us. Where our feet take us is where we go about our business of living. What we do in life, how we live, is connected to the direction of our feet. They may take us down the right path or down the wrong path.

Thus the feet can be personified as righteous or unrighteous. With respect to the Sabbath, the foot may disobey God's command. It may break the Sabbath. This personification of the foot directly represents the person who breaks the Lord's Sabbath (where are your feet on Sunday?)

Therefore, "turning the foot" represents repentance. Repentance is both a change of mind and a change of direction. Becoming a Christian means a person turns away from serving idols, from serving the creature or some aspect of the creation. He not only turns away from something but at the same time He turns toward something. He turns away from the creature to the Creator to serve the living God (1 Thess. 1:9).

Here the directive (that is part of the condition to which a promise is attached) is to turn away from breaking the Sabbath by doing your own pleasure on God's day. It is stated with a contrast between "your" pleasure and "my" holy day.

Reading through the chapter, it is not always clear who is speaking. Is it the word of the Lord through Isaiah in such a way that Isaiah tells us what God has said by speaking about the Lord? Or is it the word of the Lord given directly through Isaiah more a quote of the Lord than a report about the Lord? Here it is the Lord that is speaking directly. He adds a depth to the sanctity that we ought to give to this day by strengthening "holy" with "my."

The holy day is the one that God blessed and sanctified from creation week forward for all time (Gen. 2:2-3). It is to be remembered in order to keep it holy (Ex. 20:8-11). That already gives us enough to place a great deal of importance on this day.

But the respect we should have for this day is deepened when God tells us that the day He blessed and sanctified is His holy day (it is my day). It belongs to Him. But all days belong to Him as does all of creation. That is true. The point is that this day belongs to Him in a special and distinct sense. He sets it apart for Himself in a distinct way. It is a day that He owns in a unique and exclusive sense.

All our pleasures are to be brought into submission to the Lord. All our wants are to take second place to what He wants. Don't simply do as you please but do what pleases Him.

There is a sense in which doing what you please is approved on the other days. Within the framework of the other commandments, our days of work and recreation are focused properly in the direction of what we want to do in these days (i.e. the Lord does not command that you be a bricklayer or a draftsman, do as you please).

Implied in the "your" to "my" contrast is that "my" implies that the other days are not mine but yours. And they are for your pleasure, for doing as you please in the direction of your life. And it implies that this day is not for your pleasure but for God's pleasure. Each side of this equation is a matter of accent.

During the week you do your work developing your skills and finding satisfaction in your work. You earn a reward that supplies you with food, clothing, and shelter for your body. You use your mind to choose, design, and maintain your home for comfort and pleasure. All of this is ultimately for the glory of God by His commandments. But there is a proper focus on what is yours.

But this is not to be the case when it comes to the seventh day. God has claimed this day for Himself in a distinct way. We are to see this day in a totally different light.

Our feet break the Sabbath if they take us down a pathway no different than the one we take on the six days. We break the Sabbath with our feet if we simply do what pleases us like we do every other day. We break it if we forget that this day belongs to the Lord in a distinct and exclusive way. He speaks for Himself on this and tells us of His ownership of the day. He says of the Sabbath that it is "my holy day."

If and when we tend to forget this fundamental fact, then we are to turn our feet away from claiming for ourselves what belongs to the Lord! Interesting thought that we might take something from the Lord. It is His and we claim it for ourselves. [the one who gave everything including His very life for us is the one from whom we take].

2C. Duties presented positively (13b)

The Sabbath is to be kept by what you think, say, and do in regard to it (Him? as some translations).

1D. What you are to think?

2D. What you are to say

Think about what it is as Sabbath and Lord's holy day. And then speak out calling it like it is or for what it is. In other words, proclaim, say, and speak a mental attitude toward Sabbath as Lord's holy day.

You are to give the Lord's Day Sabbath some additional names: call by the names delight and honorable. These are descriptive titles where the name informs you of the nature of a thing. This what we are to say about the Lord's Day. So we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Delight-day; we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Honorable-day.

It is not in the first place a report of experience to call the Sabbath a delight. It is not a word about how things went last Sabbath day for you. Instead, this is objective and anticipatory. It is a delight for the people of God. This is like saying various choice foods are a delight. You might be sick and at that time you do not enjoy or delight in the foods you desire most. But they are there for you as a delight; that is the purpose of God in giving these choice foods. Emerging from God's objective provision is our subjective experience. The subjective is governed by the objective. The Sabbath is a delight for me. If I do not see it, then that is because something is wrong with me not with the Sabbath institution. We may come to the Sabbath feast of joy and rejoicing sickly like we come to a luscious dinner. Even if we are sick, it is helpful to know that the foods provided for us are designed for our good, our well being, and our delight. The Sabbath in the big picture and over the long haul is a delight for the people of God. We should say, "it is so." It is a delight-day.

The text also exhorts you (if you) to call the Sabbath - Lord's - holy - day honorable. What does such a claim about the Sabbath imply? Calling it a delight implies that we should enjoy the day. Similarly, calling it honorable implies that we should honor it. Do you remember the implication of the point in Genesis 2:2-3 that God blessed and set the day of rest apart from all the other days of work? As His image bearers, we have to acknowledge that if He honored the day then we ought to honor it as well. That means that the rest day must be given distinctiveness and special-ness in the way that it is oriented to the Lord (belonging to Him in a way distinct from how all the other days belong to Him as sovereign Lord of all the days of history)

3D. What you are to do

Honor the day. That is positive and it sets the tone for the injunctions that follow as to how it is to be honored. You honor the day by setting other things aside in order to give priority to the day. The accent is positive and priority focused. You set aside your own ways, pleasures, and words. This means that they take a back seat to God's ways, His good pleasure, and His words. You will seek the ways that God would have you walk on His holy day different from the ways you walk one foot at a time on the other days. You will especially orient your life to what pleases the Lord on His day such as acknowledgement of His kingly rule as Sabbath king over all that He created and made. His word will be on your heart and lip both in attendance with the church family and in your home.

2B. Second, specific blessings are stated in the consequent (or "then-part") If you meet the conditions by fulfilling the duties of Sabbath keeping then you will find something and God will do two things.

1) What you will find is joy. It is very personal and very special joy. It is personal because it is "your" joy. You will experience the delight of the Sabbath. If you turn your foot in the direction of keeping it, if you put your pleasures in life on the back burner (give them second fiddle), if you call the day a delight and honorable, and if you honor it by going God's way, doing what pleases God, and speaking the word of God, then Sabbath delight will not simply be an objective provision for you but it will be a your subjective and personal joy.

2) Furthermore, the special-ness of the joy comes from where you find it: in the Lord. Is this not remarkable: if you and I honor the Sabbath day then not only will it be a delight but the Lord of the Sabbath will Himself be our delight in life. This is the apex of the Christian walk and worship. What can be higher than to know, glorify and enjoy the fellowship of our Sabbath king?

Next, the two things that God will do amplify the joy and delight that is the core of what is promised by the Sabbath. To feast on the inheritance of Jacob is "to enjoy it and to derive subsistence from it" (Alexander, Isaiah 363). Reference to Jacob reminds us of God's covenant love. To ride the heights of the earth (cf. Promised Land as earth in NT application, Eph. 6:1-2) is to experience "conquest and triumphant possession" (Ibid.). As expressed in Deuteronomy this phrase is associated with the loving care, protection, and leadership of the Sovereign Lord who gives the enjoyable things of life to be enjoyed in His presence:

For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil…(Deut. 32:9-13).

2A. The Promise Reinforced

The very last sentence is a foundational statement. It does two things. 1) First, it grounds the duties (both positive and negative). When we think about these duties (of the "if part") we need to remember that "the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 2) Second, this final sentence confirms the promises in their fullness and goodness!! Looking long term across the weeks of history we know the way to a fruitful and joyful life. It is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's Day, the day that He made by means of the resurrection so let us rejoice and be glad in it. The joy now is a foretaste of heavenly joy yet to come.

Today is the Lord's Day, so look at your feet. Where will they take you today?

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