Isaiah 58:1-2 Cry Aloud, Preacher

Isaiah 58:1-2 (KJV)
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

That standard, and perhaps most appropriate, interpretation of this passage is to view it as a rebuke of the formal but dead religion of the Jews under Manasseh. 

• They sought God daily
• They delighted to know His ways
• They did righteousness 
• They forsook not the ordinance of their God
• They asked of God ordinances of justice 
• They delighted in approaching God

But they did it all of their own power. They boasted of the flesh and of the national ability to do (in their own eyes) the right thing. 

• Truly Israel was like this in the days of Christ.
• Truly I have met some who today attempt righteousness through obedience to the law
• Truly I know plenty who even attempt it through obedience to New Testament doctrine

There is another application of the passage I want to briefly consider. The best of us, as Christians; those who:

• Seek God daily 
• Delight to know His ways
• Do the right thing 
• Forsake not His Word and 
• Obey His instructions and
• Approach the throne of grace regularly 

Even those of us who do all of this are but sinners. We are saved, but we, like Paul count not ourselves to have apprehended. We press toward the prize[1]realizing we have not yet obtained it. 

It is our great desire then that our preachers, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

If we are to apprehend that which the Lord has for us, we are going to need our preachers to faithfully urge us to it. 

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[1]Philippians 3:14 (KJV) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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Isaiah 58:1-2 Cry Aloud, Preacher

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