Monday, September 14, 2026

Opening Scripture

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. Isaiah 1:1-7

Opening Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father, you are holy and exalted! May your kingdom come and your will be done in my life, home, and community just as it is in Heaven. Help me to trust you today to meet all of my needs. Help me to forgive others just as you have forgiven me. Help me to resist temptation and overcome the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Isaiah 2:1-5

This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshare and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Reflection  

This week, we continue our fall series entitled “Gone Fishing!” and begin a lengthy exploration of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is considered by many to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. His ministry spanned the reign of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah, prophesying to God’s people during a season of spiritual and geopolitical decline. As we see in the Opening Scripture, Isaiah jumps right in, rebuking the unfaithful nation for their apostasy and wickedness.

In those opening verses, the prophet calls the cosmic court to order and speaks on behalf of the divine prosecution. The LORD’s children have rebelled against Him. Even farm animals know their master, but God’s people do not know theirs. By rejecting Yahweh, they have given themselves over to evil and corruption and must suffer the consequences of their sin, as described in graphic detail.

Isaiah’s vision from God captivated and defined his existence. It served as the origin of his call to ministry and the source of his passion for it. God’s divine revelation guided Isaiah’s life and eventually led to his death. The vision that God showed Isaiah informs the entire book, all sixty-six chapters. It begins as God calls the current Heaven and Earth to serve as witnesses of His people’s crimes, since they observed His original covenant with them. It ends as God establishes a new Heaven and a new Earth as His eternal dwelling with His children.

Even as the litany of their sins is presented – idolatry, sexual immorality, murder, rebellion, robbery, bribery, oppression of the poor – God offers hope. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” After the nation is punished, it will be restored. “I will thoroughly purge your dross and remove all your impurities. Zion will be redeemed with justice.”

Today’s passage serves as a second introduction to the book and looks forward expectantly to that promise being fulfilled “in the last days.” The prophet rebukes the current Jerusalem (Zion) and foreshadows the new Jerusalem (Zion). “The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

In the days of David and Solomon, Jerusalem was a faithful city on a hill, devoted to God. Now, Isaiah says, “See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers!” (Isaiah 1:21). But in the “last days,” God’s deliverance for all people (not just the Jews) will come from the new Zion.

Micah 4:1-5 makes an almost identical statement about God’s future salvation. Though the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed twice – first in 587 B.C., then again in 70 A.D. – the prophets look beyond those terrible events to God’s eventual permanent kingdom. At that time, God’s temple will be instituted above all others. He will establish peace through repentance and atonement, and all people will come to “the mountain of the LORD” to know God and His Word.

This prophecy is a reminder to the “descendants of Jacob” that, from the beginning, God’s eternal plan of redemption included all the nations of the world being blessed through Abraham (Genesis 22:18).

Isaiah’s vision includes rebuke and punishment of the present wicked Jerusalem (Zion) and the founding of the new, glorious Jerusalem (Zion). It both describes and transcends human history. It spans the period from the eighth century B.C. to the end of time as we know it. The first part of the book focuses on divine judgment. The last part focuses on divine comfort. In all, it encompasses God’s great plan of redemption from beginning to end.

As such, the most important aspect of the book of Isaiah is the witness it bears to the Lord Jesus Christ. After His baptism and temptation, as Jesus began His earthly ministry, He returned to Nazareth and attended synagogue on the Sabbath. He was asked to share in the service and was handed the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolled it to Chapter 61 and read aloud:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes were on Him as He declared, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Clearly, Jesus knew – and we know – that the Suffering Servant spoken of in Isaiah is none other than the Lord Himself!

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

In the first chapter of Isaiah, the LORD describes the emptiness and repulsiveness of the people’s public worship. As we have discovered repeatedly in Scripture, religious rituals without a personal relationship are worthless! “Performative piety” does not impress God and is no substitute for humble confession and grateful adoration. God is not impressed.

Also in the opening chapter, Isaiah compares the people of Judah to Sodom and Gomorrah, the immoral cities that were completely destroyed in Abraham’s time. In God’s eyes, the present “Daughter of Zion” was every bit as wicked and guilty as they were. The people of Judah still “worshipped” God with their words and rituals, but their hearts were far from Him. He says:

“The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me? I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

That sounds a lot like James’ declaration eight hundred years later. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

Isaiah’s contemporary, Amos, offered a similar rebuke from God. “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:21-24).

Ask God to open your heart and mind to His timeless truth as we explore the book of Isaiah together. Let the prophet’s vision expand your understanding of God’s great plan of redemption. We are living out our part in His Story that stretches from eternity past to eternity future.

May we learn from the example of God’s people who have wandered from the truth and lost their way. May we be committed to serving God’s purposes in our time by declaring the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

“The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1 selected).

In Isaiah’s time, God’s people had long since abandoned the meaning and purpose of their worship, yet they continued the practice of it. May that never be said of us!

This same accusation is expressed again later in the book. “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught’” (Isaiah 29:13). In Mark 7:6, Jesus quotes this passage to a group of Pharisees and religious leaders who had come to Galilee from Jerusalem to test and question Him.

It is a good reminder to us of what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well. “Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

As we begin our exploration of the Book of Isaiah, ask the Spirit of God to open your heart and mind to His timeless truth. We are God’s New Covenant people – spiritual descendants of Abraham – with the same responsibility to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly in the light of the LORD.

How are you worshipping the Father in the Spirit and in the truth?

How is God using you to bless others?

This week’s collective prayer: Lord, You have placed a lost person on my heart. Please make them aware of how much You love them. Amen.

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!