While I try not to repeat blog titles, I see that this one comes up from time to time, most recently back in September. Maybe because it’s one of the central themes of scripture.

We close out Isaiah 14 with God’s declaration against Assyria:

The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.” (Isaiah 14.24, 25, ESV)

How can God issue all these judgments against the nations? (See the list in yesterday’s blog). It’s easy:

This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14.24 – 27, ESV)

This is one of the fun things about reading the prophets. In the midst of complex affairs of the ancient world, you never know when a timeless truth will pop out.

Isaiah 14 begins with a promise that Israel will return from their Babylonian captivity:

For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them. (Isaiah 14.1, 2, ESV)

There follows a series of judgments on nations:

• Babylon (Isaiah 14.3 – 23, 21.1 – 17)
• Assyria (Isaiah 14.24 – 27)
• Philistia (14.28 – 32)
• Moab (Isaiah 15.1 – 16.13)
• Damascus (17.1 – 14)
• Cush (Isaiah 18.1 – 7, 20.1 – 6)
• Egypt (Isaiah 19.1 – 15, 20.1 – 6)
• Jerusalem (Isaiah 22.1 – 25)
• Tyre and Sidon (Isaiah 23.1 – 18)
• “The earth” (Isaiah 24.1 – 23)

In the middle, there’s a section of blessing on Egypt and Assyria(?!) (Isaiah 19.19 – 25). We’ll talk about that next week.

Isaiah 14 also contains another double-meaning paragraph, a peek into the distant past, and a warning against pride. For context, Isaiah is talking about the demise of the king of Babylon:

All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. (Isaiah 14.10, 11, ESV).

Then this:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. (Isaiah 14.12 – 15, ESV)

The five “I will” of “Day Star” = “Lucifer” in some translations:

You said in your heart,

• I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God
• I will set my throne on high;
• I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
• I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
• I will make myself like the Most High

Navigator Skip Gray used to say that Jesus died so that we could become like God. What was Satan’s problem? Pride.

Pastor and Seminary Professor David Wyrtzen wrote on January 15:

The Jewish prophet Isaiah uses the fall of an arrogant ancient ruler in Babylon to give us a glimpse of an angel who believed he was like the “morning star, the son of the dawn” (Isaiah 14:13-15). This angel pridefully declared himself divine, claimed the right to God’s throne, and became the ultimate antagonist in God’s Story from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis 3 he is simply the “serpent.” In Job 1 he is Satan, the “adversary,” and in the Gospel of John, Jesus exposes him as a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

Later this year, we’ll see a similar passage in Ezekiel. Here’s a sample:

Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor… (Ezekiel 28.17, ESV)

An antidote to pride is daily time in the Word:

And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers… (Deuteronomy 17.18 – 20, ESV)

Through the Word, we are reminded that God is in charge. Stay tuned.

Recalling Isaiah’s job (according to Albert Nock in his essay) to encourage the remnant, Isaiah 13 seems to be doing that. Babylon is nasty and will deport Judah to Babylon. But Babylon will get theirs in the end:

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones…Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. (Isaiah 13.1 – 3, 17 – 19, ESV)

“Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them…” Daniel records Babylon’s demise:

That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old. (Daniel 5.30, ESV)

Kings and kingdoms are temporary. Especially those who persecute God’s people.

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead. (Matthew 2.20, ESV)

We come to Isaiah 12 and a reminder of the joy of our Reading Plan – one chapter a day, five days a week. In most plans, we’re hustling through the Old Testament at 2 – 4 chapters a day, and we miss stuff. I have certainly missed this gem, which reads like a psalm.

Hard times, whether personal or national, don’t last: there is joy on the other side. Here is the text without comment, beginning with the last verse of Isaiah 11 for context:

And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

You will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

• Give thanks to the LORD,
• call upon his name,
• make known his deeds among the peoples,
• proclaim that his name is exalted.
• Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
• Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 11.16 – 12.6, ESV)

Amen.

PS The Indiana Hoosiers National Champion football team could certainly relate! “…your anger turned away…God is my salvation!”

PPS My friend Dr. John Ed Mathison, an accomplished athlete – basketball in his youth and tennis for a very long time – wrote about the Hoosiers today. It’s worth the read: Do Your Job

The Cinderella story is complete: the losingest team in college football history at the beginning of the 2024 season has just won the National Championship, defeating the University of Miami 27 – 21. I won’t recap the game: you can read any number of stories, all of which include some version of “The Call of the Game:”

Indiana might not have won by 30, the way it did in previous playoff victories. But the Hoosiers played with the same confident flair, punctuated by the call of the game: On fourth-and-4 from the Miami 12 and the Hoosiers up three points, Cignetti called a quarterback run for Fernando Mendoza. He pushed up the middle and bullied his way through the Miami defense, busting multiple tackles to stretch over the goal line.

That play summed up the season: Cignetti banking on himself and his players and Mendoza delivering in the clutch. – Andrea Adelson, ESPN, January 20, 2026

As I wrote on Sunday, I was rooting for Indiana. It’s a feel-good, fairy-tale story that you don’t get very often.  Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is an outspoken believer and a team player: “I went 98 yards with my boys,” is how he described the game-winning drive when Cal beat Stanford in 2024.

Here are a few takeaways:

• Don’t let the past define you.
• Transformation can occur.
• Don’t underestimate the importance of discipline and unity

This IU team also embodies a basic human hope: The hope that we can overcome doubt (whether ours or others’) and make something of ourselves – the hope that we can enter the lists of life and prevail – the hope that a band of brothers, disciplined and united, can win out. – a school headmaster (quoted in my January 18 blog)

“A band of brothers, disciplined and united, can win out.” This was echoed by Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal:

[Coach] Cignetti’s gotten a lot of attention for his bravado and his menacing sideline presence, in which he paces and stares like a customer who thinks the butcher’s hiding the best T-bones. He’s as amusing a character as the sports world has these days, but the jokes and memes may have obscured how good a coach he is, how his Hoosiers played disciplined, complete team football, and topped it off with a jewel thief’s nerves. – Jason Gay, WSJ, January 20, emphasis mine

And I would add, selfless. When asked to comment on his touchdown run, Mendoza said, “I would die for this team.”

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)

PS Miami fought hard and were within a couple of plays of pulling out a victory at the end. Miami played with discipline and purpose. Their quarterback, Carson Beck, is also an outspoken believer although I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t seem to hang around after the game to shake hands with anyone. A Miami victory, however, would not have brought the same fairy-tale finish as the Indiana victory. I’m glad Indiana won.

It’s MLK Day, a time to remember the importance of taking care of the poor and oppressed.

The good news is we don’t have to break stride in our walk through Isaiah to talk about Dr. King’s goals. Here’s the opening of Isaiah 11:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Isaiah 11.1 – 5, ESV)

The “Branch” – Jesus – shall judge the poor with righteousness and the meek with equity. I think Dr. King would agree with that approach. Jesus will “kill the wicked.”

And there will be a day when predators and prey will live together:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11.6 – 9, ESV)

There’s every reason to think that this paragraph will be literally true, some say in a literal Millennium (see Revelation 20.1 – 6), others believe it will happen on the New Earth (see Revelation 21.1 – 4), or both! But as I read this paragraph on Martin Luther King Day, I’m thinking it’s a nice metaphor for a time when oppressors and oppressed will live together without the oppression.

Jesus will make it happen, also from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor… (Isaiah 61.1, 2, quoted by Jesus in Luke 4.18, 19)

As this blog comes out, the National Championship game for college football will be played tomorrow between The Universities of Indiana and Miami. If you haven’t been paying attention, but you know even a little about college football, neither of those schools would be at the top of your list as championship contenders. You’re thinking Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson (my school, who won in 2016 and 2018), Notre Dame, etc., etc. Until this year, Indiana was THE LOSINGEST PROGRAM in the history of college football.

But in the last two years, under the direction of Head Coach Curt Cignetti, they lost two games last year and none this year. This year they scored more than 55 points, with a winning margin of 30 or more points, SEVEN TIMES. That hasn’t been done since before 1900. In the playoffs, the beat Alabama(!) 38 – 3 and Oregon 56 – 22. And even when they’re up by 30+ points, this is what Coach Cignetti looks like:

So in the spirit of “You’re only as good as your last play,” a Coach Fisher DeBerry quote I’ve mentioned before, usually negatively, I hope Indiana wins.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NKJV, emphasis mine)

PS There are those out there who are still in “who cares” mode, who don’t care about sports in general or football in particular. I like sports, but I’m not a fan of the Big 10 College Football Conference of which Indiana is a part. However, I’m really pulling for Indiana. Why?

Here’s a perspective. A parent of a child in a public charter school posted a letter from the school’s headmaster. The parent writes:

Daughter’s school has announced a 2-hour delay on Tuesday in light of the Hoosiers playing for a national championship. The headmaster puts into brief but eloquent words why sports and community matter in general and why this Indiana team matters so much.

Here’s what the headmaster wrote:

On Monday night, for the first time in its history, IU will play in the College Football National Championship. For that reason we will operate on a 2-hr delay on Tuesday, January 20.

In truth, I hope lots of students will stay up to watch, and the reason goes far beyond football. I think we all sense that, for our community, this game is more than a game. It offers a moment to step in to true festivity. A festival is a joyful pause from ordinary striving – a moment we receive as good, not merely “so that” we can produce more. When a whole community enters that spirit together, we’re tied more closely together and share gratitude and gladness, and it is a reminder that our life together is based on more than utility.

This IU team also embodies a basic human hope: The hope that we can overcome doubt (whether ours or others’) and make something of ourselves – the hope that we can enter the lists of life and prevail – the hope that a band of brothers, disciplined and united, can win out.

“A band of brothers, disciplined and united” – that will preach.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. (Philippians 1.27, 28, ESV)

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.