DAILY DEVOTIONALS

Isaiah 56

Isaiah 56 by Pastor David Groendyk This last major section of Isaiah from chapters 56–66 depicts what it will look like for God’s people to experience the New Jerusalem (chapter 60), their coming salvation (chapter 62), the year of the Lord’s favor (chapter 61). What will it look like for God’s people to inherit this brand new kingdom and new life? It begins in chapter 56 with a total reversal. The true “people of God”…

Isaiah 55

Isaiah 55 by Pastor Mark Hudson                 This is a great chapter on being satisfied with God.  We are not a satisfied people.  Well, we think we are satisfied with the purchase of a better vehicle until we see even a better one next to us.  We like the feeling of buying things until that wears off.  We often think certain things we know we should not do will satisfy until we once again are…

Isaiah 54

Isaiah 54 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            Moving from the Servant of the Lord to the servants of the Lord, Isaiah describes the people of Israel in this chapter as a barren woman, a widow, and a wife deserted.  But there is hope for the barren woman for she will have children and for the widow for she will not be disgraced, and for the wife deserted for she will be loved by her husband. …

Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 by Pastor David Groendyk How will the salvation of God’s people described in the previous chapters come about? It will be through the sacrificial suffering of God’s chosen servant. So even though Judah would return from exile long before Jesus was born, full salvation and return and restoration would not happen until this servant would come on the scene. Even though this is an Old Testament passage written 700 years before Christ was…

Isaiah 52

Isaiah 52 by Pastor Mark Hudson                 While these expressions in Is. 52 may sound somewhat unusual, even foreign, to us that is because it is foreign to us.  How many Americans have been exiled?  We have imprisoned Japanese, treated Africans horribly, treated the Irish, Italian, etc. beyond poorly, we not many Americans have been forcibly removed from this country.  So, we may fail to appreciate what the fuss is about.             For those of…

Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            Once again Isaiah returns to the theme of comfort in this chapter.  And here he is clearly addressing the remnant of God’s people who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord.  They have endured great hostility and loss through the Babylonian captivity, but through the means of the mysterious servant of God, the Lord will bring salvation to Israel, and God’s kingdom will be restored in all its…

Isaiah 50

Isaiah 50 by Pastor David Groendyk In chapters 49–55, it is made much more explicit what the true Servant of God is going to accomplish. This chapter highlights the failure of the people of God and contrasts it with the success of God’s chosen servant. The call, then, is to obey the voice of that successful servant. In verses 1–3, the exiles of Judah feel as though they’ve been abandoned by God. They feel like…

Isaiah 49

Isaiah 49 by Pastor Mark Hudson             This chapter begins a new section in this part of the book.  I want to focus on structure for this devotional. I find it helpful not only find out what a  verse means, but where I am in the argument of the author.  What is the big idea Isaiah is teaching.  Once we understand the larger context, we are guided as we strive to understand individual verses.  The…

Isaiah 48

Isaiah 48 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            Like the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, Isaiah is dealing with a people who are very dull of hearing and who do not seek the Lord in truth, even though they continually claim that they are.  They boast in their heritage and in their lineage but do not really trust the Lord.  In the second half of the book of Isaiah, the prophet is showing them some events far into…

Isaiah 47

Isaiah 47 by Pastor David Groendyk The Lord continues his condemnation in this chapter of the wicked enemy nation of Babylon who had taken Judah into exile. At the heart of Babylon’s wickedness is their own pride (vv. 8–11). In these verses, we see some of the ways Babylon’s pride plays out. One way is that their pride has given them a false sense of security (v. 10). Notice that multiple times Babylon is quoted…

Isaiah 46

Isaiah 46 by Pastor Mark Hudson             In Isaiah 46, Isaiah contrasts the idols of the nations with the One true and living God.  How counter-cultural that was in Isaiah’s day, in the first century, and in our day.  God, through the prophet, is saying that the gods of the nations are not an alternate way to truth.  Unbelievers have always thought people who think this way are arrogant, dismissive of other cultures, and self-righteous. …

Isaiah 45

Isaiah 45 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence In the previous chapter Isaiah mentions by name the anointed one, a messiah and the shepherd of nations that the Lord would use to overthrown the Babylonian Empire and to bring the Jews back to their homeland in order to build up the house of God.  In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great would enter the city of Babylon and take captive Nabonidus thus ending his hegemony over the nations. …

Isaiah 44

Isaiah 44 Devotional by Pastor David Groendyk Have you heard the expression, “You are what you eat”? It’s a pithy saying that teaches us that our health is directly linked to what kind of food we eat. Well, there’s also a Christian version of that saying: “You become what you worship.” Isaiah 44 is a good reminder of that. All throughout this chapter, there is a play on the idea of creating, forming, fashioning, making,…

Isaiah 43

Isaiah 43 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             In a lengthy book like Isaiah, I like to know where I am in the context of the entire book.  I follow the outline of John Oswalt’s commentary.  I made copies of that outline (2 sided) and the one-sided copy of E.J. Youngs’ commentary last Sunday night.  There might be copies in the office still.             We are in a section, according to Oswalt, from Is. 42:10-44:22…

Isaiah 42

Isaiah 42 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence It is no wonder that the Ethiopian eunuch had a hard time understanding the scroll of Isaiah when he was reading it seated in his chariot in Acts 9.  When Phillip asked him if he understood what he was reading about the servant of God in Isaiah, the eunuch asked Phillip, “About whom does the prophet say these things, about himself or about someone else.”  It’s interesting, there are…

Isaiah 41

Isaiah 41 by Pastor David Groendyk As you read in yesterday’s devotional, you will notice that this second half of Isaiah reads differently (although, not that differently) than the first half. In terms of historical events that occasion Isaiah’s writing, Judah has undergone exile between chapters 39 and 40. Judah has experienced and is experiencing much of the judgment that Isaiah warned of in the first half of the book, so hope and comfort is…

Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40-66 Devotional (overview) by Pastor Mark Hudson             Since there is a bit of controversy about the second half of Isaiah, I will address that topic in lieu of commenting on the wonderful chapter 40 of Isaiah. Presuppositions.  We bring assumptions to a text we read.  Isaiah is called 1st Isaiah, 2nd Is, and 3rd Is.  You would think that when the New Testament quotes a verse in Isaiah and claims that Isaiah is…

Isaiah 39

Isaiah 39 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin            Somehow news of Hezekiah’s healing had spread eastward all the way to Babylon, and the Babylonians saw this as an opportunity.  Merocach-baladan, the king of Babylon, was seeking allies in his fight against the Assyrian Empire, and having an ally with a powerful god behind them was quite appealing to him.  More than likely he also had heard about the strange incident of the 185,000 Assyrians lying…

Isaiah 38

Isaiah 38 by Pastor David Groendyk The narratives found in Isaiah 38–39 can also be found in 2 Kings 20 and 2 Chronicles 32. Within the larger section describing the rise and fall of Judah, we’re getting a vignette of the rise and fall of Jerusalem and Hezekiah. Isaiah is using this vignette of Hezekiah to set up the break between the first half of the book (which points towards exile) and the second half…

Isaiah 37

Isaiah 37 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson                 Finally a chapter that is easy to understand!  The Assyrian royal counselor for military affairs named Rabshakeh is telling the people of Judah that they should just give up because no one can save them from the Assyrians.  Most of the previous chapter is his speech which from any Assyrian’s viewpoint must have been convincing.  Yet, Rabshakeh had no idea who he was talking about.  People my…

Isaiah 36

Isaiah 36 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence                 Chs. 36-37 of Isaiah recount the same events that are recorded in 2 Kings 18 and 19 when the Assyrian king had sought to capture Jerusalem.  This is actually only the third time in the book of Isaiah where we are told the specific time in which one of Isaiah’s prophecies was given.  This prophecy was delivered in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah which was in the…