Did you see the news about Christian author Philip Yancey? I have at least four of his books on my shelf including What’s So Amazing about Grace? He’s a quiet, well-mannered fellow. I’ve had brief conversations with him over the years although it’s doubtful he remembers me. I refer to him in a blog written in 2022.

All that to say Philip has just confessed to an 8-year affair with a married woman. I won’t write the details here, but it was reported by Christianity Today and World Magazine. It even made the New York Times in an article republished by The Denver Post (Yancey lived in Denver).

It’s a fair report, written without rancor, containing the brief report from Christianity Today as well as background information for an audience not familiar with him.

Our question is, What do we do with this news? Here are some observations.

• It was an 8-year affair. He doesn’t say when, but it seems certain that he was writing books and doing other ministry during that time. If you read one of those books or attended one of the conferences at which he spoke, how does it feel to have been blessed by a man who was living a lie at the time?
• A few years ago, another famous Christian author, who also lives in this area, confessed to recreational gambling, including at casinos. Is that a disqualifier? Is having an affair (unquestionably a violation of scripture) worse than gambling, which that author saw as a “Christian liberty” issue?
• Balaam, the money-grubbing prophet, delivered some remarkable prophecies, some messianic, proving, indeed, that God can and does use anyone.
• None of these men work for me, nor did they sin against me.
  • So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14.12, ESV)
  • So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. (Romans 14.12, MSG)

Back to Yancey, it’s a sad story, but I don’t think his previous work is automatically nullified. Moreover, the instruction for us is clear:

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Galatians 6.1, NKJV)

We’re in Isaiah 10 in our Reading Plan, but I’m not going to blog it. If you read it you saw:

• Judgment on Israel and Judah for oppression of the poor and needy (verses 1, 2).
• God will use Assyria to punish other nations (verses 5, 6).
• And when that’s done, God will punish Assyria for pride (verses 12 – 15).
• And when Assyria is destroyed, the remnant returns (verses 20 – 22, and quoted in Romans 9.27)

Good stuff, but I want to share something about John the Baptist from my reading from the Apostle John’s Gospel, chapter 1.

First, John identifies himself through Isaiah!

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1.19 – 23, ESV)

We’ll get to the “voice” in chapter 40:

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God…” (Isaiah 40.3, ESV)

The question for John the Baptist, “Are you the prophet?” refers to Deuteronomy 18.15:

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’

Good reasons for reading the Old Testament! And here’s another:

John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1.26 – 29, ESV)

He quotes Isaiah to identify himself, then he evokes the entire sacrificial system (Exodus and Leviticus) to identify Jesus. How else would we know what “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” meant if we hadn’t read the Old Testament?

I wrote from Isaiah 6 the other day that every day I should…

• See God
• See myself
• Receive marching orders

John knew who he was – a voice, from Isaiah 40.

John knew who Jesus was – the Lamb

And John knew his job:

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1.33, 34, ESV)

Baptize with water and bear witness to Jesus.

So I was thinking, What’s my job?

• A fellow invited me to train on teaching leaders how to use questions. A worthy project, I’m sure, but not my job.
• A former Navigator has a ministry revolving around the arts. He teaches people to meet and use the arts to learn about themselves, etc. I love the arts, but I don’t think that’s my job either.
• What’s my job, for example, here in my new neighborhood? God brought us here…for what? I was thinking about that when Tim McConnell, lead pastor at First Pres, Colorado Springs. shared this from Paul’s introduction to Romans.

Paul,

• a servant of Christ Jesus,
• called to be an apostle,
• set apart for the gospel of God. (Romans 1.1)

John the Baptist knew what he was about. Paul knew what he was about, and maybe at some level, we should share his call.

As we move through Isaiah, let’s review the broad outline suggested by Eugene Peterson:

• Messages of Judgment (chapters 1–39)
• Messages of Comfort (chapters 40–55)
• Messages of Hope (chapters 56–66). 

But one of the fun things is that even though we’re in the middle of the Judgment section, there are glimpses of hope, none as powerful as this section in Isaiah 9, often quoted during the Christmas season:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9.1, 2, ESV)

Much of Jesus’ ministry was in Galilee, way north of Jerusalem and Judea. Verse 2 is the inspiration of one of the stanzas of “O Come, O Come Immanuel:”

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

The text continues:

You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9.3, 6, 7, ESV)

Verse 6 provides the lyrics of one of the great choruses in Handel’s Messiah: For Unto Us a Child is Born.

Amen.

We move on to Isaiah 8, which opens with Isaiah’s prophecy that while Israel and Syria are no longer a threat, Assyria is!

The LORD spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” (Isaiah 8.5 – 8, ESV)

So do we focus on the threat? No!

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (Isaiah 8.11 – 13, ESV)

“Don’t fear what they fear…” “Let the LORD be your fear…” I know people (some are strong believers who should know better!) who spend their days watching the news channel of their choice and worrying. It’s no way to live.

And there are others who seek answers everywhere but the Source:

Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion. And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8.18 – 20, NKJV)

“To the law and to the testimony!” The Message has it:

Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.” People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!

The instruction suggested by Isaiah 2 stands:

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)

We come to Isaiah 7, well-known for this verse:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7.14, ESV)

It’s quoted by Matthew:

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1.20 – 23, ESV)

Before I offer a bit of analysis and suggest an application, let me clarify that it’s not my intent to “teach” the prophets this year! I’m not qualified, and it’s way beyond the scope of this blog. We’re just reading through the prophets devotionally, listening as always for God’s word to us today.

The challenge of Isaiah 7 is that its context is an attack on Judah by Israel (“Samaria”) and Syria (“Damascus”).

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it… (Isaiah 7.1, ESV)

Isaiah’s message is that those two nations will not succeed:

And say to [Ahaz], ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands…thus says the Lord GOD: “ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass….and within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. (Isaiah 7.4, 7, 8, ESV)

We’ve read 2 Kings 17! We know the Northern Kingdom (“Israel”, “Ephraim”) is scattered by the Assyrians. And the sign is a baby (verse 14)…

For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. (Isaiah 7.16, ESV)

The immediate fulfillment of verse 14 could be in the very next chapter:

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” (Isaiah 8.3, 4 , ESV)

But Matthew appropriates the promise and applies it to Jesus. Just as Matthew takes the plain reading of Hosea 11.1…

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

…and applies it to Jesus. When Hosea wrote those words, there could be no doubt he’s talking about Israel and the Exodus. But Matthew suggests the double meaning:

And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2.14, 15, ESV)

Let’s do our best this year not to get bogged down in technicalities but to hear the warnings and the messages of hope in the midst of despair. And chapter 7 contains a clear message of hope with a challenge:

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. (Isaiah 7.9, ESV)

We are firm in faith – not in our knowledge, feeling like we have everything figured out!

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11.6, ESV)

Back to Isaiah, we come to chapter 6 which contains the well-known call to Isaiah:

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6.8, ESV)

There’s a lot packed into the chapter. It starts:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6.1 – 4, ESV)

“In the year King Uzziah died.” Isaiah 1 opens with a list of kings Isaiah served under, beginning with Uzziah, one of the good ones. He was good…until he wasn’t. This blog on Mentoring tells his story. So his death would have been a sobering event for Isaiah. He goes into the Temple where three things happen:

• Isaiah saw the Lord (1 – 4)
• Isaiah saw himself and confessed sin, receiving absolution

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”(Isaiah 6.5 – 7, ESV)

• Isaiah responds to God’s call (8)

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6.8, ESV)

So Isaiah was sent…to fail:

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. (Isaiah 6.9 – 12, ESV)

Isaiah’s ministry to the masses failed, but his real ministry was to “the remnant.” Please read The Remnant blog in its entirety. It refers to an incredible (secular) essay from 1936 which contains this description of Isaiah’s ministry:

In the year of Uzziah’s death, the Lord commissioned the prophet to go out and warn the people of the wrath to come. “Tell them what a worthless lot they are.” He said, “Tell them what is wrong, and why and what is going to happen unless they have a change of heart and straighten up. Don’t mince matters. Make it clear that they are positively down to their last chance. Give it to them good and strong and keep on giving it to them. I suppose perhaps I ought to tell you,” He added, “that it won’t do any good. The official class and their intelligentsia will turn up their noses at you and the masses will not even listen. They will all keep on in their own ways until they carry everything down to destruction, and you will probably be lucky if you get out with your life.”

…There is a Remnant there that you know nothing about. They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can. They need to be encouraged and braced up because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build up a new society; and meanwhile, your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it.” – Albert Nock, Isaiah’s Job, published in Atlantic Monthly in 1936.

In the meantime, this introduction to Isaiah’s ministry contains a useful template for our daily times with God:

• See God
• See yourself, confess, and receive forgiveness
• Receive God’s marching orders.

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psalm 5.3, NKJV)

Last Sunday, January 4, I preached the Epiphany sermon at our church, based on an outline I blogged before:

• The wise men at the beginning of the story were inspired (by the star) but not informed (by scripture)
• The Jerusalem religious leaders and scholars were informed but not inspired.
• Finally, the wise men were informed AND inspired, and they worshiped.

Many folks told me after they felt “Inspired” and “Informed.”

On Monday, I took my brother-in-law Jim to Costco to work out something with respect to his Costco account and the affiliated credit card. I didn’t understand the issue, but Jim was concerned he might have lost $400 in bonuses. Afterward Jim gushed over customer service rep Kobe who told him immediately not to worry, that he (Kobe) could fix it. And he did. Jim described Kobe as “Inspired” and “Informed.” He was inspired to care for the customer, AND he was informed enough to fix the problem.

A good and necessary combination! It’s not enough to care if you don’t know how to solve the problem. And if you know how to solve the problem, you must care enough to implement the solution.

A nice real-world application of a simple concept: inspired AND informed, caring AND capable.

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (Matthew 8.1 – 3, ESV)

PS If you want to watch the sermon, at the moment it’s posted here: https://mcpcusa.org/watch. That’s the whole service, and the sermon starts about 33 minutes in.

Please permit me a personal interlude…

A week ago today, January 3, we had a party to celebrate June’s 80th birthday, which was January 2. It’s the first time our four offspring have been in the same room since 2018:

Mark, Matt, Bob, June, Melody, David

Nearly “everyone!” Back row: Melody, Matt and Amber, Bob and June, David and Cheryl, their son Sawyer, Mark’s son Taylor and Marissa, Mark’s daughter, Kesley, Mark. Front row: Matt’s son Emerson, David and Cheryl’s other boys, Davis and Caleb, and Brookie, the dog. Missing are the rest of Melody’s family who are in Grand Cayman: Cody, Shirah and Liana.

About 40 people turned out. We are blessed.

Her children rise up and call her blessed… (Proverbs 31.28, ESV)

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Proverbs 127.3 – 5, ESV)

Flowers from long-time friend and blog-reader Laura McGlothlin. Thank you!

There are a lot of pictures of God’s relationship with his people

• Redeemed from the slave market (Ephesians 1.7)
• Adoption as children (Ephesians 1.5)
• The bride of Christ (Ephesians 5.25 – 30)

In Isaiah 5, we’re a vineyard, and the problem is wild fruit.

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. (Isaiah 5.1 – 3, ESV)

What were the “wild grapes” – the wild fruit?

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (Isaiah 5.7, ESV)

Our problem is not bad teaching and poor “worship” practices. Our problem is how we live. Where is the justice and righteousness?

Micah, Isaiah’s contemporary (compare Isaiah 1.1 and Micah 1.1), wrote:

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.6 – 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

As we walk through Isaiah and all the prophets, let me be clear that I’m not equating Israel (specifically, Judah in Isaiah) with the United States. Some do as if America is the chosen nation. What we can do, however, is see what kinds of things make God angry…and stop doing those things!

Wild grapes? Even in Isaiah’s day, alcohol was a problem:

Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. (Isaiah 5.11, 12, ESV)

Many give themselves to alcohol and entertainment, “but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD…”

Here’s a story that falls into the category of “you can’t make this stuff up.” Disneyland, the “family” vacation spot has a problem with alcohol consumption at Epcot. An article in the Wall Street Journal opens:

Rusty Featherstone and Willy Donnellon began their most recent trip to Epcot with palomas in Mexico. They chased the cocktails with two Norwegian beers, then moved on to China for some hard hibiscus iced teas.

At that point, the duo was still in the early innings of the “Drinking Around the World” challenge—a worrisome fact for a theme park built around families and fairy tales.

More than eight drinks later, with the challenge complete, both Featherstone and Donnellon were hammered: “I could walk out of there on my own two feet, but I was like, ‘I need to go lay down,’” Donnellon, a 25-year-old content creator, said…

Drinking Around the World, a fan-made challenge that entails ordering a drink from each of the 11 countries in Epcot’s World Showcase, has existed for decades. But a recent surge of social-media attention has pushed the tradition into the spotlight. It has also highlighted the thin line between magical and messy at the Disney park. – Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2025

Isaiah doesn’t want us to miss it so he repeats:

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink… (Isaiah 5.22, ESV)

The text could have been written today about the US.

Here’s the condemnation:

They do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands…for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 5.12, 24, ESV)

Wild grapes.

It’s useful to remind ourselves early in our reading of Isaiah that we (at least I) won’t understand everything we read. We might not even be able to find an application. Here’s an example and some suggestions.

We’ve just read chapter 2’s warning against idols, and chapter 3 is more judgment in keeping with the general themes that we mentioned Sunday:

• Messages of Judgment (chapters 1–39)
• Messages of Comfort (chapters 40–55)
• Messages of Hope (chapters 56–66)

Here’s the end of chapter 3:

Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.” (Isaiah 3.18 – 4.1, ESV)

Bad news.

Then, short chapter 4, a chapter of Comfort and Hope in the middle of the Judgment section. It opens:

In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. (Isaiah 4.2, ESV)

It’s the first mention of the “branch.” Later we’ll read:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit…In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11.1, 10, ESV)

The “Branch” is Jesus.

I have no idea what the meaning or application of the rest of chapter 4 is:

…when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. (Isaiah 4.4 – 6, ESV)

First, fire for judgment. Then fire for protection and guidance as we read in Exodus(?). Then a booth, a canopy, that provides both shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.

So what to do when we read something we don’t understand?

• We can keep reading until we find something we do understand.
• We can pray and ask for insight (see Proverbs 2.1 – 5)
• We can “feel” the passage. This one feels hopeful: shade by day and a shelter from the storm and rain.
• While we’re in the Prophets, we can keep one finger in the gospels, maybe reading a short section to see what Jesus is doing.
• Per our challenge from yesterday’s “New Day’s Resolutions,” we’ll come back tomorrow and try again.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29.29, ESV)