A chilling paragraph in Isaiah 29 that can be applied to scripture:

Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.” (Isaiah 29.9 – 12, ESV)

This picture of the sealed book has always impressed me (or depressed me). There are a lot of folks who believe that they can’t read the Bible for themselves. To them, it’s a sealed book. For example, when a friend tried to encourage his father to read the Bible to hear from God, his father replied, “If the priest wants me to know something from the Bible, he’ll tell me!”

It’s sad because…

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (1 Corinthians 2.12, ESV)

The warning about the sealed book is followed immediately by another warning:

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29.13, 14, ESV)

From The Message:

The Master said: “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren’t in it. Because they act like they’re worshiping me but don’t mean it, I’m going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing.” (Isaiah 29.13, 14, MSG)

The chapter closes with a promise that things will turn around:

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day

• the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and
• out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
• The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and
• the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29.17 – 19, ESV)
• …
• And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction. (Isaiah 29.17 – 19, 24, ESV)

PS Happy Friday 13th! I hope you don’t have paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Yesterday, I promised one more important lesson from Isaiah 28, which ends with a lovely metaphor on the disciple-making process that I mentioned last week. I wrote about the lessons from Isaiah 28.23 – 29 in detail back in 2021. Here’s the summary with links to the original blogs, which I urge you to read for more detail:

Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? (Isaiah 28.23, 24, ESV)

Repentance is important, but it’s not ongoing.

When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. (Isaiah 28.25, 26, ESV)

We sow different kinds of seed according to individual differences, led by the Holy Spirit.

Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. (Isaiah 28.27 – 29, ESV)

There are individual differences in bringing people to maturity also, and God is standing by to lead us in this area, too.

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.28, ESV)

A hodge-podge today from Isaiah 27 and 28.

Isaiah 27 opens with a short paragraph on Leviathan:

In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27.1, ESV)

And once again, I wasted time thinking about Leviathan, something only a few verses of scripture mention, and none of us really understands. “Punish Leviathan” here in Isaiah could mean that Isaiah is using Leviathan as a metaphor for the nations wreaking havoc on Israel: Assyria and Babylon. And the “dragon that is in the sea” could be Satan.

Turns out I wrote about Leviathan last April and concluded it was primarily a distraction. I need to remember lessons learned!

On to Isaiah 28, which has several lessons. The first is about the dangers of alcohol:

Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand…These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left. (Isaiah 28.1 – 4, 7 – 8, ESV)

I know alcohol is fashionable these days. I just read a piece on why we should use real wine in our Communion celebrations, and it included the sentence, “All the evangelicals I know now drink—and so do their parents, who once abstained.” I guess he doesn’t know us…

Alcohol may be fashionable and OK in moderation, but according to Isaiah, it can get ugly. Solomon agrees:

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20.1, ESV)

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” (Proverbs 23.29 – 35, ESV)

And right after Isaiah’s diatribe on “the drunkards of Ephraim,” we have this nugget:

To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. (Isaiah 28.9, 10, ESV)

How does God teach us?

• Precept upon precept
• Line upon line
• Here a little, there a little

Gradually. One thing at a time. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Daily time with God. Bible study. Reading good books. Paying attention to sermons… And, as always:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

PS There’s one more important lesson from Isaiah 28. Stay tuned.

Back to Isaiah, we left off with Isaiah 25, a chapter of hope, and go right to Isaiah 26, with a message of peace.

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26.1 – 4, ESV)

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you…” The idea comes up again:

The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous…O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. (Isaiah 26.7, 12, ESV)

Growing up, we memorized verse 3 in the King James:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.

And we learned a lovely song:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on Thee:
When the shadows come and darkness falls,
He giveth inward peace;
Oh, He is the only perfect resting place.
He giveth perfect peace;
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on Thee.

You can hear the song here: https://youtu.be/8fOZJBCXrBs

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16.33, ESV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14.27, ESV)

We closed yesterday’s blog with observations on John 3.36:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

We noted that “believes” in contrasted with “does not obey” and concluded that “believe” is stronger than we think, and its opposite is “does not obey.” This is why Scott Adams’ deathbed “conversion” probably isn’t.

Scott Adams is the brilliant creator of the comic strip Dilbert which did a marvelous job capturing the absurdity of life in the modern corporation. He died on January 13 of cancer. Before his death he said in a widely reported quote:

You’re going to hear for the first time today that it is my plan to convert. I’ve not been a believer. I am now convinced that the risk-reward is completely smart. If it turns out that there’s nothing there, I’ve lost nothing… If it turns out there is something there, and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win.

He closed with…

Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me, so here I go: I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and look forward to spending an eternity with him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved if I wake up in Heaven. I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I still qualify for entry.

I’m not his judge, but many of us are questioning whether his “acceptance” is “enough.” When my son Mark sent me word of this, he observed, “It’s not my part to figure out what’s going to happen between God and Scott Adams, but I don’t think this actually works.”

Mark is not alone. A lot of people have weighed in (not that it makes any difference to God what we think!). A Catholic website explains that Scott’s reasoning comes from Pascal:

Hardly the words of a man deeply converted. Instead, his posture echoes an application of Blaise Pascal’s famous wager. Pascal argued that reason alone fails to deliver certainty regarding God’s existence, yet reason still presses man toward a necessary decision. The wager is a pragmatic argument, suggesting that it is rational to bet on God’s existence; in a nutshell, if God doesn’t exist, you’ve only lost a little and would have lived a good life, but if God does exist and you don’t believe, you lose everything.

In short, Pascal’s wager is a decision theory argument, not a positive proof. It does urge a life of faith, albeit for the best possible outcome even if God doesn’t exist. – Marcus Peter, January 15, 2026

It’s a good article: I recommend it in its entirety. Marcus makes many of the same points that non-Catholic articles do, namely, it’s not a good strategy to wait until one’s deathbed to convert. One might not even have a “death bed.” A friend of mine, my age, went to church a couple of weeks ago, came home, dropped dead. Others are killed in car accidents, or lose their mental capacities. So waiting until the last minute is not a good idea.

Last-minute conversions do occur, of course, but repentance should accompany confession, and I don’t see any sign of that in Scott Adams’ experience. His “confession” contained neither belief nor obedience (from John 3.36).

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23.39 – 43, ESV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7.21, ESV)

We looked yesterday at John the Baptist’s reaction to Jesus having more followers, a section which ended with:

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3.30, ESV)

Then a remarkable set of declarations about Jesus. I don’t know why ESV (and others) close John the Baptist’s quote at verse 30. Why wouldn’t he say the rest of chapter 3, verses 31 – 36? MSG has it as John the Baptist speaking. NIV closes John the Baptist’s quote at verse 30 with a note that “some interpreters end the quotation at verse 36.”

Maybe the declarations of that paragraph go beyond what John the Baptist knew, and therefore, interpreters see it as the Apostle John filling in. But John the Baptist clearly knew who Jesus was. At any rate, it’s good stuff whether said by John the Baptist or John the Apostle:

• He who comes from above is above all.
• He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.
• He who comes from heaven is above all.
• He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.
• Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
• The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
• Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
• whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3.31 – 36, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

The last two bullet points are John 3.36, which I learned in the King James as:

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Notice that KJV has “believeth…believeth not.” While ESV contrasts “believes” with “does not obey.” But the Greek is “disbelieve.” NAS has “not obey” also with a footnote to “not believe.” Amplified uses “disobey.”

And he who believes in (has faith in, clings to, relies on) the Son has (now possesses) eternal life. But whoever disobeys (is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to) the Son will never see (experience) life, but [instead] the wrath of God abides on him. [God’s displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually.]

So “believe” is stronger than we think, and its opposite is “not obey.” Which leads us to the alleged death-bed conversion of cartoonist Scott Adams, brilliant creator of Dilbert. Stay tuned.

I’ve been camped out in John 3.22 – 36 the past few days… As a friend would say, “dense text.” Let’s start with John the Baptist’s well-known reaction to the fact that more people were now following Jesus than John. Here’s how it sets up:

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” (John 3.22 – 26, ESV)

We’ve already observed from John 4.2 that Jesus himself wasn’t baptizing – I don’t know why that’s important. And it’s amusing that “a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification.” Apparently there have been “discussions” about baptism/purification for centuries!

But John’s response is classic:

John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3.27 – 30, ESV)

• “My ministry” isn’t mine.
• “I’m not the Christ.” (Just a Voice – Mark 1.1 – 8)
• “He must increase, but I must decrease.” – Not a bad attitude for any of us! End of story on the alleged importance of John the Baptist.

There’s more, and I don’t want to rush through… Stay tuned.

We never know what we’re going to get with Isaiah! Judgments on the nations from chapters 13 – 23. Judgment on the whole cursed world in chapter 24. And then…(BOOM!)…Isaiah 25, a message of hope.

O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. (Isaiah 25.1, ESV)

…

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat… (Isaiah 25.4, ESV)

…

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25.6 – 8, ESV)

Compare Revelation 21:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”(Revelation 21.4, ESV)

And this praise:

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25.9, ESV)

It’s really nice in The Message:

Also at that time, people will say, “Look at what’s happened! This is our God! We waited for him and he showed up and saved us! This GOD, the one we waited for! Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation. (Isaiah 25.9, MSG)

Amen.

We’re moving through a section of Isaiah that pronounces judgment on various nations (Isaiah 13 – 23). In chapter 24, Isaiah pronounces a curse upon the whole earth:

The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. (Isaiah 24.5, 6, ESV)

Is this reminiscent of Romans 8?

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8.19 – 22, ESV)

Somehow we think that the natural order of things ought to be peace and joy. And for most of us in the US, it is, most of the time. Then violence breaks out in Minnesota, for example. Oh my! But for some people, maybe most people in the world, that’s ops normal. We’re coming up on the 4th anniversary of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, for example.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that we’re not yet on the New Earth:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21.1 – 4, NIV)

We’ll have death, mourning, crying and pain UNTIL the former things have passed away.

I was continuing my parallel reading in John’s gospel while also following our Prophets Reading Plan. I started to read the last half of John 3 about Jesus and his disciples baptizing people in the Judean countryside along with John the Baptist. But I wanted to find the verse that said that Jesus didn’t baptize. It’s in John 4:

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples)… (John 4.1, 2, ESV)

But it’s verse 1 that grabbed me: “Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.”

Years ago, Randy Pope, a Presbyterian pastor in Atlanta, told us at a Navigator staff conference that he disagreed with our use of the word “disciple.” We were living by a progression. I was taught:

• Decision (as at a Billy Graham Crusade or responding to someone sharing the gospel one on one)
• Convert (Someone that sticks. When I was on staff of a large church, we would send out teams to the apartments behind the church to share the gospel. From time to time, someone would burst into my office: “Bob, we were sharing the gospel and someone made a decision for Christ! Now what do we do?” I had a plan for following them up, but… we never saw any of those people again. The “decisions” didn’t turn into a “converts.”)
• Disciple: the convert is followed up and begins to grow.
• Disciple-maker: the disciple matures and begins to reproduce the process.

This is widely accepted terminology. I just saw this in an email from The Forum of Christian Leaders:

Why is it that so many women are believers but not disciples? How can we faithfully call women to true discipleship? In this talk, we discuss the current landscape of women’s discipleship, are reminded of why discipleship is so important, and gain practical resources in paving the way forward for women to make disciples who make disciples.

“Believers” -> “Disciples” -> “Disciple-makers”

This is not a bad rubric, but Randy said it wasn’t consistent with scripture. And here’s the verse: “…making and baptizing disciples.” Randy said, “We make a disciple, then we train a disciple.” Combine John 4.1 with Matthew 28.18 – 20, and we have:

• Make disciples
• Baptize disciples
• Train disciples

Disciple just means follower. It doesn’t connote any level of proficiency. The baptism marks the beginning of the journey. After baptism, they have to be trained.

As an analogy, an Army recruit becomes a soldier immediately upon signing the paper. He’s given a uniform (baptism?). Then he’s trained. Before long he’s training others. But he’s a soldier from the beginning.

The Marines do it a bit differently. They earn the title “Marine” by completing boot camp.

Does it matter what we call the stages of the process? Probably not, as long as we remember there is a process, a process that sometimes isn’t completed:

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6.66, ESV)