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)

Sometimes, one of my friends posts something I can’t improve on. Mike Metzger, whom I quoted as writing “Believing is seeing” in my December 30, 2025, blog, wrote a brilliant piece on “New Year’s Resolutions” on December 31. He advocates for “New Day’s Resolutions.” (The link goes to the essay on his blog page where you can sign up to receive his blogs for yourself.) He writes:

This is the time of year when people make New Year’s Resolutions. But for most folks, those resolutions have gone poof in a month or so. They were either too hard or too ambitious.

I suggest we instead make New Day’s Resolutions. That’s what the Apostle Paul recommended for the Church in Corinth which was a hot mess. There was disunity, sexual immorality, and doctrinal disputes, internal chaos, factions, disputes over spiritual gifts, and so on.

But Paul hadn’t lost hope in them. In his second letter, he writes something that I find very encouraging: “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). In other words, now – today – is the best time to respond to God’s graces.

Today is a great day to begin again.

I’m following Paul’s advice this year. I’m making some New Day’s Resolutions.

Each day I’m giving the first portion of my day to being with Jesus. Praying. Reading. Listening. Pondering. Loving God. I have a routine, but my point is I’m taking it one day at a time. If I fail to do it one day, I begin again the next day. Today – this day – is the best day to begin.

I’ve got a few more routines beyond trying to love God with my whole heart, soul, body, and mind. I seek to love my wife Kathy. Some days I do OK. Other days I pretty much fail. If I fail to love Kathy on a given day, I begin again the next day. Today – this day – is the best day to begin.

I tore my rotator cuff tendon this year. Had it surgically reattached a few months back. Began rehab two months ago. My prognosis is I’ll have full range of motion by May. Maybe.

To get full range of motion by May, I must do physical therapy three times a day. I’m taking it one day at a time. If I fail to rehab one day, I begin again the next day. Today is the best day to begin.

I’ve got a few more goals or resolutions for 2026. But they’re not New Year’s Resolutions. Too many of those resolutions have gone poof in the past. Nope, tomorrow is New Year’s Day, so I have several New Day’s Resolutions for January 1, 2026. If I fail, I begin again on January 2.

You might consider taking this one-day-at-a-time approach to 2026. Remember, in God’s everlasting love and mercy, now – this day – “is the time of God’s favor, the day of salvation.”

Today is the best day to begin. – Mike Metzger, December 31, 2025

It’s January 6, Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men to the child Jesus. I wrote about it last year, reprising an earlier blog. Feel free to meditate on that visit.

In the meantime, let’s continue our foray into Isaiah – Isaiah 2 in our reading plan.

Without getting technical and trying to figure out all the details, it’s instructive when we read the prophets to find out the kinds of things that displease God. For example:

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because

• they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and
• they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
• Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures;
• their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
• Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. (Isaiah 2.6 – 8, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

Do you see any parallels to modern-day America?

• Eastern religion and psychics?
• Worshiping wealth?
• No end to our cars!
• Idols? We love and bow down to our technology, and AI is fast becoming an idol, as I have observed before.

And for that kind of behavior and lifestyle – a lifestyle of pride and rejection of God, there will be judgment:

And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away. (Isaiah 2.17, 18, ESV)

The end of St John’s first epistle (not his gospel) is terse:

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