Isaiah 58:8

Isaiah 58:8 says, Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.  This chapter begins with promises to those who put their faith the Messiah, Jesus Christ, either in the fact that He was coming in Isaiah’s day, or the fact that He has come in our day.  He was the great Light, and if we put our faith in Him, we will be made spiritually healthy and made righteous with God by Jesus Christ’s righteousness.  Our righteousness will never be anything we earn by our own goodness, but it will always be a gift from God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

Verse nine adds, Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;  Isaiah said that people would call out to the Messiah and that He would say, “Here am I.”  When we call out to Jesus Christ for salvation by putting our faith in Him, He will always hear us and say, “Here am I.”  We just must call out to Him in faith to receive His gift of salvation. 

Verse ten continues, And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:  Isaiah said that if those who put their faith in Jesus Christ would reach out to the hungry and help to satisfy the afflicted soul that their light would rise from obscurity and their darkness would be as bright as noonday.  I believe that God still expects us to reach out to the poor and hungry with both the gospel and help for them physically.  If our light is not burning brightly as Christians today, it may be because we aren’t concerned with the lost people of the world, either their spiritual state or their physical state. 

Verse eleven states, And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.  I believe that this refers to spiritual satisfaction even in times when we may be suffering physically.  Our soul will be satisfied even in times of physical drought, because we have everlasting life with God if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and the things of this earth should no longer have power to cause us to stop rejoicing in the Lord. 

Verse twelve adds, And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.  Isaiah said that after the people returned to living by faith in God that they would begin to rebuild the old places that had been destroyed when they had been disobedient. Though this was talking about a physical restoration of Israel, it also points to the spiritual restoration of people to God forever when they put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Isaiah said that when they returned to God that they would be known as repairers of the breach.  The only way we can repair this breach between God and us is by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  He is the only One qualified to repair that breach, but as Christians it is our responsibility to reach out to others with the gospel, so they might be restored to a right relationship with God. 

Verse thirteen continues, If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:  Isaiah said that if they put their faith in the coming Messiah that they should then begin to observe the Sabbath, dedicating it to the Lord and not to their own desires.  As followers of Christ, we should keep the Sabbath day, or the Lord’s Day as we observe it, holy to God.  We should never treat it as just another day, but we too often do. 

Verse fourteen concludes, Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  Isaiah gave them a promise from God.  If they would obey Him and delight in serving Him, He would provide for them as He had for Jacob.  I don’t believe this meant that they would be materially wealthy but that they would always spiritually delight in God no matter what their physical condition might be.  We should never serve God because we believe that will bring us material blessings.  We should serve Him because He has restored our soul to Him forever through our faith in Jesus Christ, and we can be certain of this because God Himself has spoken it.  The choice is always ours whether to believe this or not.