These are the devotionals that are taken from the book For the Love of God by D.A. Carson. It goes along with the church's bible reading plan
May 3 - Song of Songs 8
Song 7:9b–8:4 pictures renewed consummation. The Song of Songs depicts several cycles of estrangement, pursuit, consummation. But in the closing verses (Song 8:5–14) the cycles are no longer in view. All the participants in the book—the woman (the beloved), her lover, the daughters of Jerusalem, King Solomon, the mother, the brothers—reappear, as the joy and commitments of the lovers are reaffirmed.
The “friends,” apparently the daughters of Jerusalem, ask the question, “Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?” (Song 8:5a) The “leaning” is not because she is weak or ill, but is an index of intimacy. Probably there is a glance back at the theme of the country girl who has become the happy bride.
The Hebrew pronouns show that in the second half of verse 5 the bride herself, the beloved, speaks, addressing her lover. I know of no completely satisfactory explanation of Song 8:5b. Perhaps the woman is looking back to her first meeting with the one who would become her lover, and perhaps it was on the same spot where his mother conceived him and bore him. If so she is signaling a kind of familial link, an inter-generational connection. Couples may think they are the first to fall in love, but this woman is shrewd enough to grasp the cohesiveness of human love and life. For her, “love is as strong as death” (Song 8:6). When death calls, none can stop it; when love calls, the same is true. In this light, “jealousy” (Song 8:6) is not the green-eyed monster, but passionate, righteous claims of possession (as in Ex. 20:5). Genuine love can be neither quenched nor bought (Song 8:7).
Commentators dispute who is speaking in Song 8:8–9, but it sounds like the brothers (cf. Song 1:6). The “little sister” of whom they speak is either the beloved herself, whom they do not consider ready for marriage, and to whom she gives a robust reply (Song 8:10); or, more probably, the younger sister of the beloved and her brothers, who is not yet quite sexually mature. The point of their comment is then twofold: to hint at yet another oncoming generation that will fall in love, repeating the cycle all over again; and to serve as a foil to the maturity and delight of the beloved in her consummated relationship with her lover.
If the metaphorical value of “vineyard” persists (Song 8:11–12; cf. Song 2:15), the beloved insists that Solomon may have a large harem, but the only one who can give away the beloved’s “vineyard” is the beloved herself. He cannot command her love, whether for himself (the thousand shekels) or for others (the two hundred shekels—the percentage of the profit of a vineyard shared by the laborers); she gives it. The closing verses are a reprise of consummated love.
May 4 - Isaiah 1
The opening verse of Isaiah 1 introduces the massive sweep of the book. It announces a vision that Isaiah saw, a vision that runs through the reigns of the four kings of Judah from King Uzziah on.
The first section (Isa. 1:2–9) displays how far the nation has fallen. God himself raised up the nation of Israel (Isa. 1:2)—indeed, he “reared” them, brought them up like children; and like rebellious children they have turned against him. An ox or a donkey knows more of its true home than Israel knows of hers. The heavens and earth are invited to listen in on the rebuke (Isa. 1:2), both as a measure of the intensity of the rebellion and because there is a sense in which the well-being of the entire universe depends on whether God’s people obey or disobey his word. The description of the devastation in the land (Isa. 1:5–9) is not metaphorical: probably what is being described is the bloody carnage that accompanied the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib’s Assyrian forces (701 B.C.)—a foretaste of judgment to come.
From here to the end of the chapter, the thought runs in three movements:
(1) Israel is excoriated for her corrupt and hypocritical worship (Isa. 1:10–17). In dripping sarcasm, God addresses his covenant people as Sodom and Gomorrah. They maintain the stipulated sacrificial system and high feast days, but God insists he cannot bear their “evil assemblies” (Isa. 1:13); he hates them (Isa. 1:14). God will not even listen to his people when they pray (Isa. 1:15), for oppression of the weak and corruption in the administration have reached such proportions that he must act in line with the Sinai covenant (Deut. 21:18–21). He can ignore these violations no longer.
(2) Nevertheless Israel is still being invited to forgiveness and cleansing: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isa. 1:18–20). It is not cultic observance that triggers such forgiveness, but repentance: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isa. 1:19). The alternative is judgment (Isa. 1:20). Later in the book the basis for such forgiveness will be set forth; the devastating judgment of oppression and exile was not necessary, but so often we prefer sin to salvation, greed to grace.
(3) Yet Zion (representing the people of God) will one day “be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness” (Isa. 1:27). There is no final redemption that ignores justice and righteousness; only judgment awaits the impenitent (Isa. 1:28, 31).
May 5 - Isaiah 2
The first section of Isaiah 2 (vv. 1–5) simultaneously looks backward and forward. The first line reminds the reader of Isaiah 1:1. When the two introductions, Isaiah 1:1 and Isaiah 2:1, are taken together, we are afforded a comprehensive glimpse of this book. Much of it focuses on the days of Uzziah and the other kings mentioned in Isaiah 1:1, but the vision is so comprehensive that it includes “the last days” (Isa. 2:2). It deals with Judah and Jerusalem, but it anticipates the Zion that is to come.
These opening verses also link up with the blessings promised in the final verses of chapter 1. Now, however, the vision is openly eschatological. One holy mountain, the mountain of the Lord, will reign supreme. In one sense this vision is exclusive; in another, it is comprehensive, for “all nations will stream to it,” and “[m]any peoples” will say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD” (Isa. 2:2, 3). In terms that have become proverbial in the English language, Isaiah depicts universal peace (Isa. 2:4). Although he roundly denounces the injustice of his day, he never loses sight of the fact that our ultimate hope is not political reform but the final intervention of God.
These opening verses also point forward in the text. Before the “last days” of Isaiah 2:2–5, the Lord has another “day” in store (Isa. 2:6–22, especially Isa. 2:12). The prophet knows judgment is impending, for what is going on in the nation means God has already in some measure abandoned his people (Isa. 2:6). They have adopted religious superstitions from the East, and they now practice divination like the Philistines (who lived in the West). In other words, they pursue idolatry wherever they can find it. Material blessings have made them unbearably arrogant (Isa. 2:7–9). But when judgment falls, the “eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day” (Isa. 2:11). Some will hide among rocks and caves, fleeing invaders whom God has brought on his people (Isa. 2:10, 19–21; compare Rev. 6:12–17). When in “the splendor of his majesty” God “rises to shake the earth” (Isa. 2:21), there is no place to hide.
How much more do large swaths of the confessing church in the West stand under similar judgment? “Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures” (Isa. 2:7). But we are not a people characterized by great humility and zeal for the Lord’s glory. The solution is the same as in Isaiah’s day: “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” (Isa. 2:22).
May 6 - Isaiah 3-4
Most of Isaiah 3–4 is given over to specific judgment, in a kind of ABB’A’ construction (Isa. 3:1–4:1), which is followed by glorious hope for the future (Isa. 4:2–6).
At the core of the condemnation is the Lord as Judge, indicting “the elders and leaders [literally, ‘princes’] of his people” (Isa. 3:13–15). Royal family and local leaders (“elders”) alike have descended to corruption and oppression. But the next two verses condemn the “women of Zion” as well (Isa. 3:16–17). The men are condemned primarily for oppression, the women for their vanity and ostentation. Surrounding these verses are two longer sections unfolding what the men are being condemned for (Isa. 3:1–12) and what the women’s judgment will be like (Isa. 3:18–4:1).
God will bring siege and famine upon the people (Isa. 3:1), resulting in the elimination of community leaders, whether by deportation or death (Isa. 3:2–3). The entire society will break down, signaled not least by a desperate willingness to appoint almost anyone as leader (Isa. 3:5). This vision was literally fulfilled a century and a half later (2 Kings 25:1–12), but there were adumbrations within Isaiah’s lifetime of what the judgment would be like: what Assyria began (Isa. 39:5–7), Babylon completed. For the culture was largely corrupt (Isa. 3:8–11), the cause lying in the leadership, which was as weak as it was oppressive (Isa. 3:12).
The siege will not be kind to the ostentatious women either (Isa. 3:18–4:1). All their finery is to be snatched away (Isa. 3:18–23). Instead of the delightful fragrances on which they have spent so much money, there will be stench. There will be disease (Isa. 3:17a), sexual abuse (Isa. 3:17b—the RSV is probably right: “the Lord will lay bare their secret parts,” i.e., subject them to the sexual assaults so common in war), and bereavement (Isa. 3:25). Some will end up throwing themselves at any male available in the desperate hope for refuge and home (Isa. 4:1)—but the slaughter of males will be so terrible that there will not be enough to go around.
Often in Old Testament prophecy there is a “foreshortening” of visions of the future that runs back and forth between the near future and something much farther away. If the day of the Lord brings horrendous judgment (Isa. 3:6–4:1), it also brings glory (Isa. 4:2–6). Later, “Branch” (Isa. 4:2) will clearly be a way of referring to Messiah (Isa. 11:1; 53:2; cf. Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12), but here it seems to refer to the people and purposes of God in glorious fruitfulness. In language that calls forth images of the Exodus, God promises to wash away the filth of his people and manifest his glory as a protective shield over them (Isa. 4:4–6).
May 7 - Isaiah 5
It is never easy to get across a message of impending judgment (Isa. 5) to people who are convinced they are not all that bad, especially when the ruling elite are enjoying good times. So Isaiah resorts to an attention-grabbing song. He picks up the ancient equivalent of a guitar and begins to sing a simple ballad about his true love. His audience is hooked—and then they cannot help but feel the hammer-blows.
In the ballad Isaiah begins by referring to God as “the one I love.… My loved one” (Isa. 5:1). Because God has not yet been identified, doubtless the language instantly captures the audience. But it also reflects what Isaiah feels: he is not a dispassionate observer but a prophet deeply in love with the being and ways of the living God. Not to love him wholly is already part of the problem, whether under the old covenant or the new (cf. Rev. 2:1–7). Israel is often pictured as the Lord’s vine, so it will not be long before Isaiah’s hearers begin to get the point. Isaiah does not restrict himself to subtle allusions, however; he delivers both God’s threatening speech and his own explanation of his ballad-parable.
The people have produced only useless wild grapes, bad fruit. The nature of that fruit is described in the string of woes (Isa. 5:8–25). In a nutshell, the social justice demanded by the covenant has been observed in the breach. Against the specific covenantal insistence that the land is the Lord’s and is to be parceled out fairly, land-grabbing has become the norm, squeezing out the little people (Isa. 5:8–11). The wealth among the elite in Uzziah’s day has fueled wanton arrogance and drunkenness (Isa. 5:11–12) and sneering defiance of God (Isa. 5:18–19). Ultimately the land has overflowed with moral relativism and confusion, doubtless pitched as sophisticated thought, but actually nothing more than a commitment “to call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20). At bottom there is arrogance (Isa. 5:21) and corruption in the administration and the courts (Isa. 5:22–23). The Lord’s judgment is implacable (Isa. 5:24–25).
None of this means that God is checkmated. In the final section of the chapter (Isa. 5:26–30), God says what he will do. Punishment, the destruction of God’s “vineyard,” will come by foreign invasion—the metaphorical language of these verses is frankly terrifying. But the foreign invaders are not merely fortunate opportunists with a powerful army. God himself whistles them up, like someone calling for a dog. Despite the ruinous guilt of the people, Isaiah never doubts that God is sovereign over history and can dispose of nations in judgment as well as in mercy. That theme will grow stronger in this book.
May 8 - Isaiah 6
Probably Isaiah’s vision of God and his commission (Isa. 6) took place at the beginning of his ministry, but it is reported only here, for thematic reasons. After the series of “woes” pronounced on the people, Isaiah pronounces one on himself (Isa. 6:5), which shows that his stance as a prophet has never been self-righteous. Moreover, the sequence of his own call—seeing God (Isa. 6:1–4), deep awareness and confession of sin (Isa. 6:5), cleansing (Isa. 6:6–7) and commissioning (Isa. 6:8–13)—is precisely the sequence that Israel must experience if they are to return to their proper role as servant of the living God. It is the sequence we must follow too. Moreover, several elements in Isaiah’s call are then picked up in the ensuing chapters (as we shall see), making this placement of the narrative of his vision of God highly strategic. Some notes:
(1) It was when King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne—as if the earthly king had to die before Isaiah could begin to grasp the awesomeness of the divine King.
(2) The seraphs, a high order of angelic beings, enhance the throne by their adoration and praise. God is the “thrice holy” God. In its core usage, “holy” is almost an adjective for God, and embraces both his transcendence and his righteousness (Isa. 5:16).
(3) When the finite, the unclean, and the mortal comes into contact with the infinite, the pure, and the immortal, there must be, there ought to be, a profound sense of inadequacy. To begin to see God is to begin to see how awful and desperate our plight is. The holiness of God discloses our rebellious and dirty nature to us in a way that mutual comparisons among the members of the rebel race never can. Here Isaiah condemns himself, for in the presence of God degrees of sin seem superfluous.
(4) Only the cleansing provided by the altar that God himself has prescribed will suffice to take away Isaiah’s sin.
(5) For the first time in this vision, God speaks, and looks for volunteers (itself a gracious act of condescension). When Isaiah responds, it is less the cry of the hero than the petition of the pardoned. It is as if he is begging, “Here! Please! Will I do? Is there any way I can help? Will you please use me?”
(6) The substance of the commission Isaiah receives is to preach on until the irrevocable judgment falls. There is no prospect of revival. It is too late. The preaching will serve only to harden the people. The only hint of hope—a hint powerfully developed later in the book (Isa. 11:1)—is that out of the stump of the destroyed nation new life will spring, and through this remnant the promised seed (Isa. 6:13b).
May 9 - Isaiah 7
The interpretations of Isaiah 7 are legion. In my view only two are plausible.
The setting is clear enough (Isa. 7:1–12). King Ahaz of Judah is terrified of the northern kingdom of Israel forming an alliance with Syria and destroying the southern kingdom. He is therefore unwilling to join them in their pact against the regional superpower, Assyria. In fact, he thinks that by becoming a vassal state of Assyria he might gain some security against the northern kingdom and Syria. The Lord tells Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub (which can mean either “a remnant shall return” or “a remnant shall repent”) and meet King Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct; apparently the king is inspecting the water supply in anticipation of a long siege. Isaiah has a radical alternative plan to propose from the Lord: trust no one but God, and God will protect Jerusalem and Judah. But under a pretense of piety Ahaz refuses to do this (Isa. 7:12), and therefore judgment must follow: Judah will shortly be attacked and overrun by the very Assyria Ahaz courts for protection (Isa. 7:17–20).
Uncertainty arises over the Immanuel prophecy. On one view, the end of Isaiah 6, which anticipates the rise of a righteous remnant, is tied to the name of Isaiah’s son: at least a remnant will repent, and Ahaz is invited to join that remnant. Zion, pictured as a young woman, gives birth to the faithful remnant who will emerge from her sufferings. This “son” is given the name “Immanuel” precisely because God is with us, the faithful remnant. Note the change from “your God” (Isa. 7:11) to “my God” (Isa. 7:13). Before this “son” reaches the age of moral discernment (not more than a few years), the land will have been devastated by Assyria (Isa. 7:17)—for the Lord himself will whistle up the opponents. Even before this (Isa. 7:16a), the lands of Israel and Syria will be laid waste. From the righteous remnant springs the Messiah—which is why Matthew 1:23 can apply Isaiah 7:14 to Jesus.
By the alternative view, Ahaz, despite his pious language (Isa. 7:12), has utterly rejected the Lord’s demand that he trust the Lord and abandon any thought of an alliance with Assyria. So the “sign” promised in 7:13–14 is not a sign inviting repentance but a sign confirming divine condemnation (as in, e.g., Ex. 3:12; 1 Sam. 2:34; Isa. 37:30). Judging by the high expectations of verse 11, the sign must be spectacular, not merely a time-lag before a young woman becomes pregnant. Despite arguments to the contrary, the word rendered “virgin” really should be taken that way. In this light, the “Immanuel” prophecy really is messianic. The title, “God with us,” anticipates “mighty God” applied to the Davidic Messiah in Isaiah 9:2–7. His coming retrospectively confirms all the judgment that has been pronounced.
May 10 - James 2
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Rom. 3:28). So writes the apostle Paul. “You foolish man,” argues James, “do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? … You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. . . . As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:14–26, especially vv. 20, 24, 26).
The formal contradiction between Paul and James is so striking that it has called forth relentless discussion across the centuries. Many contemporary critics, skeptical that God has really spoken in the Bible, think the passages are irreconcilable, and that together they demonstrate that from the beginning there were disparate branches of Christianity with distinctive and even mutually contradictory interpretations. Others think that the real secret to the relationship between Paul and James lies in very different meanings of “works” or “deeds.”
Several explanatory syntheses have been offered, but they cannot be evaluated here. It may be helpful, however, to reflect on the following points:
(a) Paul and James are facing very different problems. Paul is facing those who want to say that works, whether good or bad, make a fundamental contribution to whether one becomes a Christian (see one of his responses in Rom. 9:10–12). His answer is that they do not and cannot: God’s grace is received by faith alone. James is facing those who argue that saving faith is found even in those who simply affirm (for instance) that there is one God (James 2:19). His answer is that such faith is inadequate; genuine faith produces good works, or else it is dead faith.
(b) Issues of sequence are thus at stake. Paul argues that works cannot help a person become a Christian; James argues that good works must be displayed by the Christian. But on this point, Paul would not disagree; see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11.
(c) Paul’s dominant usage of “justification” has to do with that act of God by which, on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross, he declares guilty sinners acquitted and just in his eyes. Such justification is entirely gracious (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). James focuses rather more on “justification” before peers (James 2:18) and even on final judgment. A genuinely Christian life, says James, must be a transformed life. Again, Paul does not disagree: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The allotment of rewards may be of grace, for even our good deeds finally spring from God’s grace—but the deeds are not therefore less necessary.
May 11 - Isaiah 9:8-10:4
Isaiah 9:8–10:4 returns to the theme of judgment, but this time it is directed not against the southern kingdom of Judah (as in Isa. 5:8–25) but against the northern kingdom of Israel (characterized as “Ephraim” and “Samaria,” Isa. 9:9). The passage is broken into four sections, each ending with the same refrain: “Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised” (Isa. 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4). This refrain answers the question, “What will God do with a people who will not seek him even in a situation of social collapse and threatening devastation?” These are already marks of God’s judgment on the nation, but still there is no sign of repentance. So what will God do? The answer is that, even though God’s judgment is gradually being ratcheted up, transparently it is not yet enough—so his anger is not turned away; his hand is still upraised. God has already sent a “message” against Jacob (Isa. 9:8), but they have not attended to it; “the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty” (Isa. 9:13). What is left is the “day of reckoning” (Isa. 10:3).
There is another rough progression of thought running through the four sections. The first two sections tend to emphasize the moral decay: “everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness” (Isa. 9:17). But wickedness burns and devours like a forest fire (Isa. 9:18). Soon there is social disintegration and cultural collapse (Isa. 9:20–10:4). Ultimately the Assyrians will obliterate the northern kingdom. (Syria fell to Assyria in 732 B.C., Israel in 722. Judah was devastated by Assyria in 701, but not totally destroyed; that awaited the Babylonians a century later.)
Once again this section of Isaiah, for all that it condemns the populace of the northern kingdom for their wanton sin and failure to heed God-given warnings, lays primary responsibility on the leaders. The Lord “will cut off from Israel both head and tail.… [T]he elders and prominent men are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail. Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray” (Isa. 9:14–16). “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?” (Isa. 10:1–3).
May 3 - Song of Songs 8
Song 7:9b–8:4 pictures renewed consummation. The Song of Songs depicts several cycles of estrangement, pursuit, consummation. But in the closing verses (Song 8:5–14) the cycles are no longer in view. All the participants in the book—the woman (the beloved), her lover, the daughters of Jerusalem, King Solomon, the mother, the brothers—reappear, as the joy and commitments of the lovers are reaffirmed.
The “friends,” apparently the daughters of Jerusalem, ask the question, “Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?” (Song 8:5a) The “leaning” is not because she is weak or ill, but is an index of intimacy. Probably there is a glance back at the theme of the country girl who has become the happy bride.
The Hebrew pronouns show that in the second half of verse 5 the bride herself, the beloved, speaks, addressing her lover. I know of no completely satisfactory explanation of Song 8:5b. Perhaps the woman is looking back to her first meeting with the one who would become her lover, and perhaps it was on the same spot where his mother conceived him and bore him. If so she is signaling a kind of familial link, an inter-generational connection. Couples may think they are the first to fall in love, but this woman is shrewd enough to grasp the cohesiveness of human love and life. For her, “love is as strong as death” (Song 8:6). When death calls, none can stop it; when love calls, the same is true. In this light, “jealousy” (Song 8:6) is not the green-eyed monster, but passionate, righteous claims of possession (as in Ex. 20:5). Genuine love can be neither quenched nor bought (Song 8:7).
Commentators dispute who is speaking in Song 8:8–9, but it sounds like the brothers (cf. Song 1:6). The “little sister” of whom they speak is either the beloved herself, whom they do not consider ready for marriage, and to whom she gives a robust reply (Song 8:10); or, more probably, the younger sister of the beloved and her brothers, who is not yet quite sexually mature. The point of their comment is then twofold: to hint at yet another oncoming generation that will fall in love, repeating the cycle all over again; and to serve as a foil to the maturity and delight of the beloved in her consummated relationship with her lover.
If the metaphorical value of “vineyard” persists (Song 8:11–12; cf. Song 2:15), the beloved insists that Solomon may have a large harem, but the only one who can give away the beloved’s “vineyard” is the beloved herself. He cannot command her love, whether for himself (the thousand shekels) or for others (the two hundred shekels—the percentage of the profit of a vineyard shared by the laborers); she gives it. The closing verses are a reprise of consummated love.
May 4 - Isaiah 1
The opening verse of Isaiah 1 introduces the massive sweep of the book. It announces a vision that Isaiah saw, a vision that runs through the reigns of the four kings of Judah from King Uzziah on.
The first section (Isa. 1:2–9) displays how far the nation has fallen. God himself raised up the nation of Israel (Isa. 1:2)—indeed, he “reared” them, brought them up like children; and like rebellious children they have turned against him. An ox or a donkey knows more of its true home than Israel knows of hers. The heavens and earth are invited to listen in on the rebuke (Isa. 1:2), both as a measure of the intensity of the rebellion and because there is a sense in which the well-being of the entire universe depends on whether God’s people obey or disobey his word. The description of the devastation in the land (Isa. 1:5–9) is not metaphorical: probably what is being described is the bloody carnage that accompanied the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib’s Assyrian forces (701 B.C.)—a foretaste of judgment to come.
From here to the end of the chapter, the thought runs in three movements:
(1) Israel is excoriated for her corrupt and hypocritical worship (Isa. 1:10–17). In dripping sarcasm, God addresses his covenant people as Sodom and Gomorrah. They maintain the stipulated sacrificial system and high feast days, but God insists he cannot bear their “evil assemblies” (Isa. 1:13); he hates them (Isa. 1:14). God will not even listen to his people when they pray (Isa. 1:15), for oppression of the weak and corruption in the administration have reached such proportions that he must act in line with the Sinai covenant (Deut. 21:18–21). He can ignore these violations no longer.
(2) Nevertheless Israel is still being invited to forgiveness and cleansing: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isa. 1:18–20). It is not cultic observance that triggers such forgiveness, but repentance: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isa. 1:19). The alternative is judgment (Isa. 1:20). Later in the book the basis for such forgiveness will be set forth; the devastating judgment of oppression and exile was not necessary, but so often we prefer sin to salvation, greed to grace.
(3) Yet Zion (representing the people of God) will one day “be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness” (Isa. 1:27). There is no final redemption that ignores justice and righteousness; only judgment awaits the impenitent (Isa. 1:28, 31).
May 5 - Isaiah 2
The first section of Isaiah 2 (vv. 1–5) simultaneously looks backward and forward. The first line reminds the reader of Isaiah 1:1. When the two introductions, Isaiah 1:1 and Isaiah 2:1, are taken together, we are afforded a comprehensive glimpse of this book. Much of it focuses on the days of Uzziah and the other kings mentioned in Isaiah 1:1, but the vision is so comprehensive that it includes “the last days” (Isa. 2:2). It deals with Judah and Jerusalem, but it anticipates the Zion that is to come.
These opening verses also link up with the blessings promised in the final verses of chapter 1. Now, however, the vision is openly eschatological. One holy mountain, the mountain of the Lord, will reign supreme. In one sense this vision is exclusive; in another, it is comprehensive, for “all nations will stream to it,” and “[m]any peoples” will say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD” (Isa. 2:2, 3). In terms that have become proverbial in the English language, Isaiah depicts universal peace (Isa. 2:4). Although he roundly denounces the injustice of his day, he never loses sight of the fact that our ultimate hope is not political reform but the final intervention of God.
These opening verses also point forward in the text. Before the “last days” of Isaiah 2:2–5, the Lord has another “day” in store (Isa. 2:6–22, especially Isa. 2:12). The prophet knows judgment is impending, for what is going on in the nation means God has already in some measure abandoned his people (Isa. 2:6). They have adopted religious superstitions from the East, and they now practice divination like the Philistines (who lived in the West). In other words, they pursue idolatry wherever they can find it. Material blessings have made them unbearably arrogant (Isa. 2:7–9). But when judgment falls, the “eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day” (Isa. 2:11). Some will hide among rocks and caves, fleeing invaders whom God has brought on his people (Isa. 2:10, 19–21; compare Rev. 6:12–17). When in “the splendor of his majesty” God “rises to shake the earth” (Isa. 2:21), there is no place to hide.
How much more do large swaths of the confessing church in the West stand under similar judgment? “Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures” (Isa. 2:7). But we are not a people characterized by great humility and zeal for the Lord’s glory. The solution is the same as in Isaiah’s day: “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” (Isa. 2:22).
May 6 - Isaiah 3-4
Most of Isaiah 3–4 is given over to specific judgment, in a kind of ABB’A’ construction (Isa. 3:1–4:1), which is followed by glorious hope for the future (Isa. 4:2–6).
At the core of the condemnation is the Lord as Judge, indicting “the elders and leaders [literally, ‘princes’] of his people” (Isa. 3:13–15). Royal family and local leaders (“elders”) alike have descended to corruption and oppression. But the next two verses condemn the “women of Zion” as well (Isa. 3:16–17). The men are condemned primarily for oppression, the women for their vanity and ostentation. Surrounding these verses are two longer sections unfolding what the men are being condemned for (Isa. 3:1–12) and what the women’s judgment will be like (Isa. 3:18–4:1).
God will bring siege and famine upon the people (Isa. 3:1), resulting in the elimination of community leaders, whether by deportation or death (Isa. 3:2–3). The entire society will break down, signaled not least by a desperate willingness to appoint almost anyone as leader (Isa. 3:5). This vision was literally fulfilled a century and a half later (2 Kings 25:1–12), but there were adumbrations within Isaiah’s lifetime of what the judgment would be like: what Assyria began (Isa. 39:5–7), Babylon completed. For the culture was largely corrupt (Isa. 3:8–11), the cause lying in the leadership, which was as weak as it was oppressive (Isa. 3:12).
The siege will not be kind to the ostentatious women either (Isa. 3:18–4:1). All their finery is to be snatched away (Isa. 3:18–23). Instead of the delightful fragrances on which they have spent so much money, there will be stench. There will be disease (Isa. 3:17a), sexual abuse (Isa. 3:17b—the RSV is probably right: “the Lord will lay bare their secret parts,” i.e., subject them to the sexual assaults so common in war), and bereavement (Isa. 3:25). Some will end up throwing themselves at any male available in the desperate hope for refuge and home (Isa. 4:1)—but the slaughter of males will be so terrible that there will not be enough to go around.
Often in Old Testament prophecy there is a “foreshortening” of visions of the future that runs back and forth between the near future and something much farther away. If the day of the Lord brings horrendous judgment (Isa. 3:6–4:1), it also brings glory (Isa. 4:2–6). Later, “Branch” (Isa. 4:2) will clearly be a way of referring to Messiah (Isa. 11:1; 53:2; cf. Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12), but here it seems to refer to the people and purposes of God in glorious fruitfulness. In language that calls forth images of the Exodus, God promises to wash away the filth of his people and manifest his glory as a protective shield over them (Isa. 4:4–6).
May 7 - Isaiah 5
It is never easy to get across a message of impending judgment (Isa. 5) to people who are convinced they are not all that bad, especially when the ruling elite are enjoying good times. So Isaiah resorts to an attention-grabbing song. He picks up the ancient equivalent of a guitar and begins to sing a simple ballad about his true love. His audience is hooked—and then they cannot help but feel the hammer-blows.
In the ballad Isaiah begins by referring to God as “the one I love.… My loved one” (Isa. 5:1). Because God has not yet been identified, doubtless the language instantly captures the audience. But it also reflects what Isaiah feels: he is not a dispassionate observer but a prophet deeply in love with the being and ways of the living God. Not to love him wholly is already part of the problem, whether under the old covenant or the new (cf. Rev. 2:1–7). Israel is often pictured as the Lord’s vine, so it will not be long before Isaiah’s hearers begin to get the point. Isaiah does not restrict himself to subtle allusions, however; he delivers both God’s threatening speech and his own explanation of his ballad-parable.
The people have produced only useless wild grapes, bad fruit. The nature of that fruit is described in the string of woes (Isa. 5:8–25). In a nutshell, the social justice demanded by the covenant has been observed in the breach. Against the specific covenantal insistence that the land is the Lord’s and is to be parceled out fairly, land-grabbing has become the norm, squeezing out the little people (Isa. 5:8–11). The wealth among the elite in Uzziah’s day has fueled wanton arrogance and drunkenness (Isa. 5:11–12) and sneering defiance of God (Isa. 5:18–19). Ultimately the land has overflowed with moral relativism and confusion, doubtless pitched as sophisticated thought, but actually nothing more than a commitment “to call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20). At bottom there is arrogance (Isa. 5:21) and corruption in the administration and the courts (Isa. 5:22–23). The Lord’s judgment is implacable (Isa. 5:24–25).
None of this means that God is checkmated. In the final section of the chapter (Isa. 5:26–30), God says what he will do. Punishment, the destruction of God’s “vineyard,” will come by foreign invasion—the metaphorical language of these verses is frankly terrifying. But the foreign invaders are not merely fortunate opportunists with a powerful army. God himself whistles them up, like someone calling for a dog. Despite the ruinous guilt of the people, Isaiah never doubts that God is sovereign over history and can dispose of nations in judgment as well as in mercy. That theme will grow stronger in this book.
May 8 - Isaiah 6
Probably Isaiah’s vision of God and his commission (Isa. 6) took place at the beginning of his ministry, but it is reported only here, for thematic reasons. After the series of “woes” pronounced on the people, Isaiah pronounces one on himself (Isa. 6:5), which shows that his stance as a prophet has never been self-righteous. Moreover, the sequence of his own call—seeing God (Isa. 6:1–4), deep awareness and confession of sin (Isa. 6:5), cleansing (Isa. 6:6–7) and commissioning (Isa. 6:8–13)—is precisely the sequence that Israel must experience if they are to return to their proper role as servant of the living God. It is the sequence we must follow too. Moreover, several elements in Isaiah’s call are then picked up in the ensuing chapters (as we shall see), making this placement of the narrative of his vision of God highly strategic. Some notes:
(1) It was when King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne—as if the earthly king had to die before Isaiah could begin to grasp the awesomeness of the divine King.
(2) The seraphs, a high order of angelic beings, enhance the throne by their adoration and praise. God is the “thrice holy” God. In its core usage, “holy” is almost an adjective for God, and embraces both his transcendence and his righteousness (Isa. 5:16).
(3) When the finite, the unclean, and the mortal comes into contact with the infinite, the pure, and the immortal, there must be, there ought to be, a profound sense of inadequacy. To begin to see God is to begin to see how awful and desperate our plight is. The holiness of God discloses our rebellious and dirty nature to us in a way that mutual comparisons among the members of the rebel race never can. Here Isaiah condemns himself, for in the presence of God degrees of sin seem superfluous.
(4) Only the cleansing provided by the altar that God himself has prescribed will suffice to take away Isaiah’s sin.
(5) For the first time in this vision, God speaks, and looks for volunteers (itself a gracious act of condescension). When Isaiah responds, it is less the cry of the hero than the petition of the pardoned. It is as if he is begging, “Here! Please! Will I do? Is there any way I can help? Will you please use me?”
(6) The substance of the commission Isaiah receives is to preach on until the irrevocable judgment falls. There is no prospect of revival. It is too late. The preaching will serve only to harden the people. The only hint of hope—a hint powerfully developed later in the book (Isa. 11:1)—is that out of the stump of the destroyed nation new life will spring, and through this remnant the promised seed (Isa. 6:13b).
May 9 - Isaiah 7
The interpretations of Isaiah 7 are legion. In my view only two are plausible.
The setting is clear enough (Isa. 7:1–12). King Ahaz of Judah is terrified of the northern kingdom of Israel forming an alliance with Syria and destroying the southern kingdom. He is therefore unwilling to join them in their pact against the regional superpower, Assyria. In fact, he thinks that by becoming a vassal state of Assyria he might gain some security against the northern kingdom and Syria. The Lord tells Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub (which can mean either “a remnant shall return” or “a remnant shall repent”) and meet King Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct; apparently the king is inspecting the water supply in anticipation of a long siege. Isaiah has a radical alternative plan to propose from the Lord: trust no one but God, and God will protect Jerusalem and Judah. But under a pretense of piety Ahaz refuses to do this (Isa. 7:12), and therefore judgment must follow: Judah will shortly be attacked and overrun by the very Assyria Ahaz courts for protection (Isa. 7:17–20).
Uncertainty arises over the Immanuel prophecy. On one view, the end of Isaiah 6, which anticipates the rise of a righteous remnant, is tied to the name of Isaiah’s son: at least a remnant will repent, and Ahaz is invited to join that remnant. Zion, pictured as a young woman, gives birth to the faithful remnant who will emerge from her sufferings. This “son” is given the name “Immanuel” precisely because God is with us, the faithful remnant. Note the change from “your God” (Isa. 7:11) to “my God” (Isa. 7:13). Before this “son” reaches the age of moral discernment (not more than a few years), the land will have been devastated by Assyria (Isa. 7:17)—for the Lord himself will whistle up the opponents. Even before this (Isa. 7:16a), the lands of Israel and Syria will be laid waste. From the righteous remnant springs the Messiah—which is why Matthew 1:23 can apply Isaiah 7:14 to Jesus.
By the alternative view, Ahaz, despite his pious language (Isa. 7:12), has utterly rejected the Lord’s demand that he trust the Lord and abandon any thought of an alliance with Assyria. So the “sign” promised in 7:13–14 is not a sign inviting repentance but a sign confirming divine condemnation (as in, e.g., Ex. 3:12; 1 Sam. 2:34; Isa. 37:30). Judging by the high expectations of verse 11, the sign must be spectacular, not merely a time-lag before a young woman becomes pregnant. Despite arguments to the contrary, the word rendered “virgin” really should be taken that way. In this light, the “Immanuel” prophecy really is messianic. The title, “God with us,” anticipates “mighty God” applied to the Davidic Messiah in Isaiah 9:2–7. His coming retrospectively confirms all the judgment that has been pronounced.
May 10 - James 2
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Rom. 3:28). So writes the apostle Paul. “You foolish man,” argues James, “do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? … You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. . . . As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:14–26, especially vv. 20, 24, 26).
The formal contradiction between Paul and James is so striking that it has called forth relentless discussion across the centuries. Many contemporary critics, skeptical that God has really spoken in the Bible, think the passages are irreconcilable, and that together they demonstrate that from the beginning there were disparate branches of Christianity with distinctive and even mutually contradictory interpretations. Others think that the real secret to the relationship between Paul and James lies in very different meanings of “works” or “deeds.”
Several explanatory syntheses have been offered, but they cannot be evaluated here. It may be helpful, however, to reflect on the following points:
(a) Paul and James are facing very different problems. Paul is facing those who want to say that works, whether good or bad, make a fundamental contribution to whether one becomes a Christian (see one of his responses in Rom. 9:10–12). His answer is that they do not and cannot: God’s grace is received by faith alone. James is facing those who argue that saving faith is found even in those who simply affirm (for instance) that there is one God (James 2:19). His answer is that such faith is inadequate; genuine faith produces good works, or else it is dead faith.
(b) Issues of sequence are thus at stake. Paul argues that works cannot help a person become a Christian; James argues that good works must be displayed by the Christian. But on this point, Paul would not disagree; see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11.
(c) Paul’s dominant usage of “justification” has to do with that act of God by which, on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross, he declares guilty sinners acquitted and just in his eyes. Such justification is entirely gracious (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). James focuses rather more on “justification” before peers (James 2:18) and even on final judgment. A genuinely Christian life, says James, must be a transformed life. Again, Paul does not disagree: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The allotment of rewards may be of grace, for even our good deeds finally spring from God’s grace—but the deeds are not therefore less necessary.
May 11 - Isaiah 9:8-10:4
Isaiah 9:8–10:4 returns to the theme of judgment, but this time it is directed not against the southern kingdom of Judah (as in Isa. 5:8–25) but against the northern kingdom of Israel (characterized as “Ephraim” and “Samaria,” Isa. 9:9). The passage is broken into four sections, each ending with the same refrain: “Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised” (Isa. 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4). This refrain answers the question, “What will God do with a people who will not seek him even in a situation of social collapse and threatening devastation?” These are already marks of God’s judgment on the nation, but still there is no sign of repentance. So what will God do? The answer is that, even though God’s judgment is gradually being ratcheted up, transparently it is not yet enough—so his anger is not turned away; his hand is still upraised. God has already sent a “message” against Jacob (Isa. 9:8), but they have not attended to it; “the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty” (Isa. 9:13). What is left is the “day of reckoning” (Isa. 10:3).
There is another rough progression of thought running through the four sections. The first two sections tend to emphasize the moral decay: “everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness” (Isa. 9:17). But wickedness burns and devours like a forest fire (Isa. 9:18). Soon there is social disintegration and cultural collapse (Isa. 9:20–10:4). Ultimately the Assyrians will obliterate the northern kingdom. (Syria fell to Assyria in 732 B.C., Israel in 722. Judah was devastated by Assyria in 701, but not totally destroyed; that awaited the Babylonians a century later.)
Once again this section of Isaiah, for all that it condemns the populace of the northern kingdom for their wanton sin and failure to heed God-given warnings, lays primary responsibility on the leaders. The Lord “will cut off from Israel both head and tail.… [T]he elders and prominent men are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail. Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray” (Isa. 9:14–16). “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?” (Isa. 10:1–3).