What True Repentance Involves

Jehovah wants his people to do more than fast over their sins; he wants them to repent.  Then they will gain his favor.  (Ezekiel 18:23, 32) He explains that in order to be meaningful, fasting must be accompanied by a correction of past sins.  Consider the heart-searching questions that Jehovah asks:  "Is not this the fast that I choose?  To the yoke bar, and to send away the crushed ones free, and that you people should tear in two every yoke bar?" -Isaiah 58:6.

Fetters and yoke bars are apt symbols of harsh bondage.  So instead of fasting and at the same time oppressing fellow believers, the people ought to obey the command: "You must love your fellow as yourself."  (Leviticus 19:18)  They should release all whom they have oppressed and unjustly enslaved. Showy religious acts, such as fasting, are no substitute for genuine godly devotion and acts demonstrating brotherly love. A contemporary of Isaiah, the prophet Micah, writes: "What is Jehovah asking back from you but to exercise justice and to love kindness and to be modest in walking with your God?" -Micah 6:8.

Justice, kindness, and modesty call for the doing of good to others, which is the essence of Jehovah's Law.  (Matthew 7:12)  Far better than fasting would be a sharing of their bounty with the needy. Jehovah asks:  "Is [the fast that  I choose] not the dividing of your bread out to the hungry one,  and that you should bring the afflicted, homeless people into your housed?  That, in case you should see someone naked, you must cover him and that you should not hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Isaiah 58:7)  Yes, rather than making a show of fasting, those having the means to do so should give food, clothing, or  housing to needy fellows inhabitants of Judah-their own flesh. 

These beautiful principles of brotherly love and compassion expressed by Jehovah do not apply only to the Jews, in Isaiah's time.  They guide Christians as well.  Hence, the apostle Paul wrote:  "Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith."  (Galatians 6:10)  The Christian congregation must be a haven of love and brotherly affection, especially in view of the increasingly critical times in which we live. -2 Timothy 3:1; James 1:27.

Next time: Obedience Brings Rich Blessings

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001