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 17 - 1 Peter 4
1 Peter 4 continues the theme of Christian conduct, including unjust suffering. This theme is now increasingly tied to identification with Christ (e.g., 1 Pet. 4:14), to final judgment (1 Pet. 4:5–6, 7, 17), and above all to the will of God: “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good” (1 Pet. 4:19, italics added).
But what does it mean to “do good”? This is spelled out in part in 1 Peter 4:7–11:
(a) We must be “clear minded and self-controlled so that [we] can pray” (1 Pet. 4:7). Self-control is an element of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). Minds clouded by the heated pursuit of hedonism are not minds that can pray.
(b) We must “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Peter assumes, realistically, that various breaches will occur in the Christian assembly—just as they occur in a family. But in a mature family, the love of each family member for the others covers over the breaches. So also in the church. This does not mean that there are no sins to expose and discipline; the whole New Testament stands against such reductionism. On the other hand, we must face the fact that sins will be committed—and be prepared to cover them over with love. For there is no way back to the innocence of Eden—certainly not by probing each blemish and letting it all hang out, going over the same sins and failures again and again. There is no way back; there is only a way forward—through the cross, to forgiveness and forbearance. Christians must love each other deeply, “because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Mature Christians know their own hearts well enough to realize that they need such love and need to display it.
(c) We must “[o]ffer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9). Loving has more to it than forbearing with another’s faults; it has more to it than positive activity such as showing hospitality: it includes how we show such hospitality—not in a grumbling or resentful fashion, but eagerly, graciously, generously.
(d) We must use whatever gifts we have received to serve others (1 Pet. 4:10–11). Peter gives some examples, but his list is not exhaustive. If one is called to speak in the church (for example), it is not a time for showing off or for amusing the goats, but for feeding the sheep, and that means speaking “as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). Meditate on Romans 12:6–8.
Everything is to be done in such a way “that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11).
May 18 - Isaiah 17-18
In chapters 14–16 Isaiah records oracles against Philistia (to the west of Jerusalem) and against Moab (to the east). Now (Isaiah 17–18) he speaks against Syria to the north (with its capital Damascus) and Cush to the south. Ancient Cush was made up of modern Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somaliland, i.e., a large area south of the fourth cataract of the Nile River. By the late eighth century B.C., Cush had merged with Egypt, which is still in view in chapters 19–20. Indeed the twenty-fifth dynasty, which ruled this huge region, were Ethiopians.
Recall that the crisis King Ahaz of Judah faced in Isaiah 7 was an alliance between Syria and Israel, designed to thwart Assyria; Syria and Israel tried to force Judah to join their alliance. So this oracle is against Damascus (Isa. 17:1) the capital of Syria, and includes Ephraim (Isa. 17:3—another name for the northern kingdom of Israel). Syria and Israel, so threatening to Judah, would soon be destroyed by Assyria. Damascus fell in 732, Samaria ten years later. After their destruction they would be like an emaciated man (Isa. 17:4), like a field after harvest with only a few stalks left (Isa. 17:5), like a grove of olive trees in which the fruit has been plucked and beaten with only a few olives left (Isa. 17:6). The ultimate cause of the destruction of these nations is their idolatry (Isa. 17:7–8), bound up with fertility cults (Isa. 17:10–11).
The means for destroying Syria and Israel is depicted in Isaiah 17:12–14—almost certainly Assyria, which is in turn destroyed. Yet Isaiah speaks of “many nations” (Isa. 17:12): once again we have stumbled across prophetic foreshortening, Assyria serving as a model both of all the means of temporal judgment that God uses, and of the fact that he brings all nations to account, even those his providence has deployed as the club of his wrath (cf. Isa. 10:5).
If there is no help for Judah and Jerusalem in the nations of Israel and Syria (and still less in Assyria), there is also no help in the other regional power, Egypt/Cush (chap. 18). Egypt sends its ambassadors to Judah (and doubtless to other minor states) to try to woo them into their camp (Isa. 18:1). Isaiah speaks to them (Isa. 18:2)—almost certainly he actually speaks to the king in a prophetic oracle about the ambassadors, rather than addressing them directly—and in brilliant rhetoric describes the destruction of their nation. Yet he also heralds a time when Egyptians, just one of the many “people of the world” (Isa. 18:3), will see the banner the Lord raises and bring gifts to “Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty” (Isa. 18:7).
Why fawn over pagan nations (and thinkers!) when the Lord himself will judge them, and when they will one day bow to him?
May 19 - Isaiah 19–20
Isaiah 19-20 continues the prophecies regarding Egypt/Cush. Here I shall outline the flow of thought and then draw out an important lesson for the contemporary world.
Isaiah 19 is divided into two parts. The first is poetic in form (Isa. 19:1–15) and pronounces judgment on Egypt. The details are not sufficiently specific for us to be certain which historical assault on Egypt is in view. Egypt was seized by Esarhaddon (671 B.C.), Ashurbanipal (667), Nebuchadnezzar (568), Cambyses (525), and Alexander the Great (332). Probably the “cruel master” or “fierce king” (Isa. 19:4) is representative of all of them. The lesson for Isaiah’s fellow citizens is the one constantly repeated in this book: do not make alliances with foreign powers; trust God alone. When God acts against Egypt, her religion will not save her (Isa. 19:1–4), nor will the Nile (normally her lifeblood, Isa. 19:5–10), nor her counselors (Isa. 19:11–15).
The second part of Isaiah 19 is in prose (Isa. 19:16–25). The words “in that day” recur (Isa. 19:16, 18, 19, 23, 24)—a sign of the collapsing of the ultimate horizon, the final day of judgment, into the impending historical horizon, much closer to the prophet’s immediate context. Using the categories of the day, Isaiah depicts the time when all of Egypt—even a city like Heliopolis (Isa. 19:18 fn.), formerly the center of the sun-god, Ra—will come under the reign of God. And not Egypt alone: other pagan powers, here represented by Assyria, will unite in common worship of Israel’s God, and there will be peace (compare Isa. 2:2–5). Here is another adumbration of gospel power that draws in men and women from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9), in line with God’s gracious promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3b).
The setting of Isaiah 20 is more specific: the Egyptian-backed Philistine revolt against Assyria (713–711 B.C.; cf. Isa. 14:28–31). The passage predicts the destruction of Ashdod, a major city of Philistia. During these three years, Isaiah was told by God to be dressed (or undressed!) like a captive, “stripped and barefoot” (Isa. 20:2), for at least part of each day, until Ashdod fell—and then he gave a stunning interpretation of his action: he was depicting the destruction and captive status, not of Philistia but of Egypt (Isa. 20:4–6). The lesson is obvious: do not trust your future to Egypt; she is a broken reed.
One lesson to learn turns on the fact that this destruction of Egypt did not take place until forty years later (671). Often we demand immediate answers from God. But God took twelve years to bring down Hitler, seventy to bring down the Russian empire, two centuries to humble the British Empire. Reflect on the implications.
May 20 - 2 Peter 2
In 2 Peter 2:1–3, and throughout much of the rest of the chapter, Peter warns against false teachers.
(1) These false teachers emerge from within the believing community—in precisely the way that the most dangerous false prophets in Old Testament times were those who emerged from within the old covenant community (2 Pet. 2:1). False teachers and false prophets are a lot easier to spot when they stand outside the fellowship of God’s people and criticize. A David Hume or a Bertrand Russell seduces far smaller numbers of God’s people than many popular “televangelists.” Even on a smaller scale, the most dangerous false teachers in a local church are those with either little biblical grasp or perverse biblical grasp who in the name of the Gospel twist the community into their particular mold. Expect such people. All of the Bible attests the frequency of their attacks and the tragic damage they cause.
(2) What they “secretly introduce” are “destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:2). They never describe their teaching in such terms, of course, nor do they stand in the pulpit and say something like “I disown Jesus” or “I deny that Jesus fully redeemed me from my sin.” If they did, they would be turned out. Their approach is almost always to relativize Jesus, diminish his significance, or allow him to stand as part of the background noise while they direct the attention of believers to their own agenda—legalism, perhaps, or endless self-help, or sentimentalized therapy, or a Jesus who is no more than one of many options. Thus by their teaching they disown the Jesus whose death potentially embraced all, not least these false teachers who nominally submit to him but who in reality domesticate him or reinvent him.
(3) Very often these false teachers are popular (2 Pet. 2:2). In fact, their popularity has two painful effects. In the eyes of many, it legitimizes these teachers—and then their ostensible legitimacy destroys the credibility of genuine Christianity, for their conduct brings “the way of truth into disrepute.”
(4) Quite commonly these false teachers “exploit you” (2 Pet. 2:3). Sometimes this exploitation is blatantly fiscal: always watch where the money goes. At least as commonly it is manipulative: they shape your mind and direction by their fluent storytelling.
(5) God has the last word; the condemnation of these false teachers is inevitable (2 Pet. 2:3). As the following verses (2 Pet. 2:4–10) make clear, God is perfectly capable of saving the righteous remnant and of bringing these false teachers to condemnation.
For each of the preceding five points, think of two examples, one drawn from the Bible and one from Christian history, recent or otherwise.
May 21 - 2 Peter 3
Peter urges his readers to “wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3, especially v. 1), in particular about the Lord’s return. This presupposes that unwholesome thinking about the Lord’s return was circulating. Today even more forms of unwholesome thinking about this event exist than in the first century. Peter stresses that:
(1) In every generation there will be scoffers who sneer at the notion of Christ’s return (2 Pet. 3:3). Sometimes this scoffing will be grounded in a profoundly anti-Christian worldview. In our own day, philosophical naturalism obviously has no place for the ultimate supernatural visit to Planet Earth, nor even for an end of history brought about by God himself. The stance may be tied to some uniformitarian perspective (2 Pet. 3:4). Never should we forget that such perspectives often have moral dimensions to them. It is so much more convenient, for those who cherish their own moral autonomy, to deny that there is a final accounting (2 Pet. 3:3).
(2) We should never overlook the fact that God has not left himself without witness in this regard. Not only has he imposed massive judgments on powerful nations and empires (often by “natural” means), but two events in the record of the earth’s existence testify to God’s cataclysmic intervention: Creation, and the destruction of the Deluge (2 Pet. 3:5–7). Here our society suppresses, for example, the extremely articulate forms of the argument from design: we “deliberately forget” what God has done. Our evaluation of these matters is tied to our moral and spiritual alienation from God our Maker.
(3) The delay before Christ’s return reflects not only God’s very different view of the pace of events (2 Pet. 3:8), but his matchless forbearance: “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Paul says something similar: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Rom. 2:4).
(4) When Christ does return at the end, however, his return will be sudden, unmistakable, and cataclysmic (2 Pet. 3:10). It will mark the end of the universe as we know it. During the 1950s, when residents of North America were sometimes asked to build nuclear bomb shelters to shield themselves from the holocaust that threatened, I asked my dad if we should build one. He quietly replied, “Why? When Jesus comes, the very elements will be destroyed [cf. 2 Pet. 3:10, 12]. Be ready for him, and fear nothing else.”
(5) And that is the point. In light of all this, “what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet. 3:11–12). The test of eschatology is ethics.
May 22 - Isaiah 23
In this section of Isaiah’s prophecy (chaps. 13–27), the city-state of Tyre (Isaiah 23) is the last region to attract an oracle of God against it. If Babylon became proverbial for its imperial might and for its cultural and aesthetic achievements, Tyre was famous throughout the Mediterranean world for its wealth.
The historical setting of this oracle is reasonably clear. Babylon has recently been destroyed by the Assyrians (Isa. 23:13)—a reference to either the attack of Sennacherib (710 B.C.) or the pillaging destruction under Sargon (689). This was before Babylon rose to become a superpower in its own right, one that would eventually destroy and replace Assyria. At this juncture in history, the recent destruction of Babylon serves as the model and threat of what will happen to Tyre.
Tyre made its money as the premier trading center of the Mediterranean world. The ships of Tarshish (Spain, at the other end of the Mediterranean) wail at the reports of Tyre’s destruction (Isa. 23:1, 14). These reports reach Cyprus (Isa. 23:1), just off the coast, and then Sidon (Isa. 23:2–4). Egypt, the bread-basket of the Mediterranean, weeps because of the effect on her trade in grain (Isa. 23:5). The fall of Tyre affected the Mediterranean the way the crash of Wall Street in 1929 affected the world.
Whatever the historical pressures that brought about Tyre’s destruction, Isaiah wants us to know that it was the Lord’s doing (Isa. 23:8–12)—and it is he who restores the city-state again, even if all she does with her new lease on life is return to her old “prostitution” (Isa. 23:15, 17). Yet her sin, finally, is not money, but pride: “The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth” (Isa. 23:9). There is no necessary connection between wealth and pride (witness Job), but the link is frighteningly common. Great wealth often fosters a spirit of arrogant self-sufficiency. What steps should Christians in the relatively prosperous West take against this dreadful sin?
In the spirit of prophetic foreshortening, the last verses (Isa. 23:17–18) dance from history to eschatology. Eventually the wealth of the earth, even if it is gathered by great commercial traders like Tyre, will all be set apart for the Lord: he is the One who gave it, and all things return to him. And all such wealth will go to “those who live before the LORD.” Here is another adumbration of a reconstituted universe, no longer crippled by all that is vile, where God’s people delight in him and his gifts forever.
May 23 - Isaiah 24
Isaiah 24–27, which culminates the long section of chapters 13–27, is sometimes called “the Isaiah apocalypse.” Here Isaiah moves from oracles against particular nations to an apocalypse (an “unveiling”) regarding the entire world. The thought is not so much sequential or literalistic as a series of provocative images that tell their own story. Isaiah 24 primarily describes the devastation that must fall on the whole earth. This is followed by three chapters of songs and even feasting, joyously offered up to the Lord for the triumph that is finally and irrefragably his.
Most of chapter 24 is taken up with the sheer devastation of the final judgment, its thoroughness and terror. In a series of shocking images, cities lie desolate (Isa. 24:10), vineyards are fruitless (Isa. 24:13), terror and traps rise everywhere (Isa. 24:18), and the whole earth is broken up while the heavens unleash cataclysmic floods (Isa. 24:18–19)—or, alternatively, in a mix of metaphors, the earth withers under devastating drought (Isa. 24:4). Yet there are two sub-themes that also capture the attention of the reader.
First: “The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt” (Isa. 24:5–6). Probably the reference to “covenant” has in view the covenant God established with Noah and his descendants after the Flood (Gen. 9:8–17), which echoes the structure of obligations coming from creation itself. If so, the “laws” and “statutes” that have been violated are the fundamental standards of right behavior implicit and sometimes stipulated in a universe where God is absolutely central and where human beings, God’s image-bearers, are rightly and lovingly related to him. The sad reality is that we have “broken the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:5). Our horrible breach has attracted the righteous curse of God (Isa. 24:6). The apocalyptic vision of final judgment in this chapter is the consequence.
Second: twice in this chapter the glory that accompanies judgment, or that awaits beyond it, breaks through the otherwise unrelenting gloom. In Isaiah 24:14–16a, Isaiah pictures people coming from the west and the east, acclaiming the majesty of the Lord, raising their voices in joyous praise, singing from the ends of the earth, “Glory to the Righteous One”—which simultaneously signals that the judgment is over and that God has been righteous in dispensing it. The last verse in the chapter (v. 23) is like a prelude to the closing vision of the Bible. The ultimate glory of the new Jerusalem is so brilliant that no sun is needed: “the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23).
May 24 - Isaiah 25
Isaiah 25 is divided into three parts. In the center is a festive banquet (Isa. 25:6–8). On either side is a song. The first is sung by a solitary singer, doubtless Isaiah himself (Isa. 25:1–5); the second is a communal song of praise (Isa. 25:9–12).
At the feast (Isa. 25:6–8) the food is the finest, and free—“a feast of rich food for all peoples.” The “shroud” or “sheet” that “covers all nations” (Isa. 25:7) is death itself, the result of the curse mentioned in the preceding chapter. This feast is a celebration because God “will swallow up death forever” (Isa. 25:8). Indeed, all the results of the curse will be obliterated: “The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces” (Isa. 25:8; compare Rev. 21). Indeed, the blessings depicted in this verse are secured by Jesus (see Luke 14:15–24), who vanquishes death (1 Cor. 15:25–26, 51–57; 2 Tim. 1:10). This feast is for “all peoples” (Isa. 25:6)—another of the many Isaianic prefigurings of the universal application of the Gospel—yet they must come to “this mountain” (Isa. 25:7); for salvation, as Jesus insists to the Samaritan woman, is “from the Jews” (John 4:22). When Isaiah adds that God will remove the disgrace of “his people” from all the earth, the reference is slightly ambiguous: this may be a reference to Israel, or it may be a reference to those drawn from “all peoples” who truly prove to be his people on the last day.
The song of the lone singer (Isa. 25:1–5) abounds in exuberant praise to God because he is perfectly faithful. This faithfulness is demonstrated both in the devastating judgments he has brought about and in God’s perennial care for the poor and needy (Isa. 25:4). In short, God is praised for the faithful justice of his judgments. The final communal song (Isa. 25:9–12) finds God’s people collectively praising him: “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us” (Isa. 25:9). But here, too, the inverse activity of God is to be praised: God has brought judgment on those full of pride. Moab is singled out as an example of such waywardness. So at the end, there will be two communities: God’s people at the festal banquet where God himself is host and death is destroyed; and the utterly proud, who will not bend the knee but whom God brings down “to the very dust” (Isa. 25:12). One commentator (Barry G. Webb) writes, “Either repentance will bring you to the feast or pride will keep you away, and the consequences will be unsullied joy or unspeakably terrible judgment. The alternatives which the Gospel sets before us are as stark as that.”
May 25 - Isaiah 26
In his song of praise, Isaiah celebrates the Lord’s impending triumph and demonstrates what it means to wait for him to act (Isaiah 26). The opening verses offer anticipatory praise (Isa. 26:1–6), offered to the God who makes the ultimate Jerusalem the rampart of security (Isa. 26:2) and preserves in peace the minds of all the individuals within it—all who trust in the living God (Isa. 26:3–4).
Most of the chapter is devoted to reflections on what it means to wait for that ultimate triumph (Isa. 26:7–21). “Yes, LORD,” Isaiah writes, “walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isa. 26:8). But while the righteous yearn for the living God (Isa. 26:9a), the shocking reality is that the people who do not know him never learn anything from the grace that God shows them (Isa. 26:9b–10). And so eventually the people of God cry out that God might come and impose his righteousness (Isa. 26:11)—very much as in Revelation 6:10.
Meanwhile, the faithful remnant live with ambiguity and disappointment (Isa. 26:12–18). Idolatry flourishes in the land where the living God established peace (Isa. 26:12–13). The remnant remains faithful while the culture succumbs (Isa. 26:13). What is described in the next verses is almost the cyclical pattern of Israel’s history. God responds to the infidelity with judgment. In due course he returns with grace, enlarges the nation, and extends his own glory. And yet, when all is said and done, what is the outcome? The nation is like a woman writhing in the pains of childbirth—and when she finally brings forth her offspring, all she has produced is wind (Isa. 26:18). “We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world” (Isa. 26:18). Where is the great hope bound up with Israel’s identity, with the promise to the patriarch that in Israel’s seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12)?
Yet the chapter ends with hope. There is even hope for those who have died during the wearisome cycles of frustration, failure, futility, and judgment: they neither waited nor died in vain, for they will rise from the dead and share in the joy of victory (Isa. 26:19)—a promise of life briefly glimpsed in Isaiah 25:8, demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus, and ultimately fulfilled at the end (1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4:13–18). Meanwhile, those who are still alive must wait in patience for the wrath of God to pass (Isa. 26:20–21). More clearly than Isaiah, we know that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17–18; cf. Rom. 8:18).
May 17 - 1 Peter 4
1 Peter 4 continues the theme of Christian conduct, including unjust suffering. This theme is now increasingly tied to identification with Christ (e.g., 1 Pet. 4:14), to final judgment (1 Pet. 4:5–6, 7, 17), and above all to the will of God: “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good” (1 Pet. 4:19, italics added).
But what does it mean to “do good”? This is spelled out in part in 1 Peter 4:7–11:
(a) We must be “clear minded and self-controlled so that [we] can pray” (1 Pet. 4:7). Self-control is an element of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). Minds clouded by the heated pursuit of hedonism are not minds that can pray.
(b) We must “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Peter assumes, realistically, that various breaches will occur in the Christian assembly—just as they occur in a family. But in a mature family, the love of each family member for the others covers over the breaches. So also in the church. This does not mean that there are no sins to expose and discipline; the whole New Testament stands against such reductionism. On the other hand, we must face the fact that sins will be committed—and be prepared to cover them over with love. For there is no way back to the innocence of Eden—certainly not by probing each blemish and letting it all hang out, going over the same sins and failures again and again. There is no way back; there is only a way forward—through the cross, to forgiveness and forbearance. Christians must love each other deeply, “because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Mature Christians know their own hearts well enough to realize that they need such love and need to display it.
(c) We must “[o]ffer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9). Loving has more to it than forbearing with another’s faults; it has more to it than positive activity such as showing hospitality: it includes how we show such hospitality—not in a grumbling or resentful fashion, but eagerly, graciously, generously.
(d) We must use whatever gifts we have received to serve others (1 Pet. 4:10–11). Peter gives some examples, but his list is not exhaustive. If one is called to speak in the church (for example), it is not a time for showing off or for amusing the goats, but for feeding the sheep, and that means speaking “as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). Meditate on Romans 12:6–8.
Everything is to be done in such a way “that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11).
May 18 - Isaiah 17-18
In chapters 14–16 Isaiah records oracles against Philistia (to the west of Jerusalem) and against Moab (to the east). Now (Isaiah 17–18) he speaks against Syria to the north (with its capital Damascus) and Cush to the south. Ancient Cush was made up of modern Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somaliland, i.e., a large area south of the fourth cataract of the Nile River. By the late eighth century B.C., Cush had merged with Egypt, which is still in view in chapters 19–20. Indeed the twenty-fifth dynasty, which ruled this huge region, were Ethiopians.
Recall that the crisis King Ahaz of Judah faced in Isaiah 7 was an alliance between Syria and Israel, designed to thwart Assyria; Syria and Israel tried to force Judah to join their alliance. So this oracle is against Damascus (Isa. 17:1) the capital of Syria, and includes Ephraim (Isa. 17:3—another name for the northern kingdom of Israel). Syria and Israel, so threatening to Judah, would soon be destroyed by Assyria. Damascus fell in 732, Samaria ten years later. After their destruction they would be like an emaciated man (Isa. 17:4), like a field after harvest with only a few stalks left (Isa. 17:5), like a grove of olive trees in which the fruit has been plucked and beaten with only a few olives left (Isa. 17:6). The ultimate cause of the destruction of these nations is their idolatry (Isa. 17:7–8), bound up with fertility cults (Isa. 17:10–11).
The means for destroying Syria and Israel is depicted in Isaiah 17:12–14—almost certainly Assyria, which is in turn destroyed. Yet Isaiah speaks of “many nations” (Isa. 17:12): once again we have stumbled across prophetic foreshortening, Assyria serving as a model both of all the means of temporal judgment that God uses, and of the fact that he brings all nations to account, even those his providence has deployed as the club of his wrath (cf. Isa. 10:5).
If there is no help for Judah and Jerusalem in the nations of Israel and Syria (and still less in Assyria), there is also no help in the other regional power, Egypt/Cush (chap. 18). Egypt sends its ambassadors to Judah (and doubtless to other minor states) to try to woo them into their camp (Isa. 18:1). Isaiah speaks to them (Isa. 18:2)—almost certainly he actually speaks to the king in a prophetic oracle about the ambassadors, rather than addressing them directly—and in brilliant rhetoric describes the destruction of their nation. Yet he also heralds a time when Egyptians, just one of the many “people of the world” (Isa. 18:3), will see the banner the Lord raises and bring gifts to “Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty” (Isa. 18:7).
Why fawn over pagan nations (and thinkers!) when the Lord himself will judge them, and when they will one day bow to him?
May 19 - Isaiah 19–20
Isaiah 19-20 continues the prophecies regarding Egypt/Cush. Here I shall outline the flow of thought and then draw out an important lesson for the contemporary world.
Isaiah 19 is divided into two parts. The first is poetic in form (Isa. 19:1–15) and pronounces judgment on Egypt. The details are not sufficiently specific for us to be certain which historical assault on Egypt is in view. Egypt was seized by Esarhaddon (671 B.C.), Ashurbanipal (667), Nebuchadnezzar (568), Cambyses (525), and Alexander the Great (332). Probably the “cruel master” or “fierce king” (Isa. 19:4) is representative of all of them. The lesson for Isaiah’s fellow citizens is the one constantly repeated in this book: do not make alliances with foreign powers; trust God alone. When God acts against Egypt, her religion will not save her (Isa. 19:1–4), nor will the Nile (normally her lifeblood, Isa. 19:5–10), nor her counselors (Isa. 19:11–15).
The second part of Isaiah 19 is in prose (Isa. 19:16–25). The words “in that day” recur (Isa. 19:16, 18, 19, 23, 24)—a sign of the collapsing of the ultimate horizon, the final day of judgment, into the impending historical horizon, much closer to the prophet’s immediate context. Using the categories of the day, Isaiah depicts the time when all of Egypt—even a city like Heliopolis (Isa. 19:18 fn.), formerly the center of the sun-god, Ra—will come under the reign of God. And not Egypt alone: other pagan powers, here represented by Assyria, will unite in common worship of Israel’s God, and there will be peace (compare Isa. 2:2–5). Here is another adumbration of gospel power that draws in men and women from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9), in line with God’s gracious promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3b).
The setting of Isaiah 20 is more specific: the Egyptian-backed Philistine revolt against Assyria (713–711 B.C.; cf. Isa. 14:28–31). The passage predicts the destruction of Ashdod, a major city of Philistia. During these three years, Isaiah was told by God to be dressed (or undressed!) like a captive, “stripped and barefoot” (Isa. 20:2), for at least part of each day, until Ashdod fell—and then he gave a stunning interpretation of his action: he was depicting the destruction and captive status, not of Philistia but of Egypt (Isa. 20:4–6). The lesson is obvious: do not trust your future to Egypt; she is a broken reed.
One lesson to learn turns on the fact that this destruction of Egypt did not take place until forty years later (671). Often we demand immediate answers from God. But God took twelve years to bring down Hitler, seventy to bring down the Russian empire, two centuries to humble the British Empire. Reflect on the implications.
May 20 - 2 Peter 2
In 2 Peter 2:1–3, and throughout much of the rest of the chapter, Peter warns against false teachers.
(1) These false teachers emerge from within the believing community—in precisely the way that the most dangerous false prophets in Old Testament times were those who emerged from within the old covenant community (2 Pet. 2:1). False teachers and false prophets are a lot easier to spot when they stand outside the fellowship of God’s people and criticize. A David Hume or a Bertrand Russell seduces far smaller numbers of God’s people than many popular “televangelists.” Even on a smaller scale, the most dangerous false teachers in a local church are those with either little biblical grasp or perverse biblical grasp who in the name of the Gospel twist the community into their particular mold. Expect such people. All of the Bible attests the frequency of their attacks and the tragic damage they cause.
(2) What they “secretly introduce” are “destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:2). They never describe their teaching in such terms, of course, nor do they stand in the pulpit and say something like “I disown Jesus” or “I deny that Jesus fully redeemed me from my sin.” If they did, they would be turned out. Their approach is almost always to relativize Jesus, diminish his significance, or allow him to stand as part of the background noise while they direct the attention of believers to their own agenda—legalism, perhaps, or endless self-help, or sentimentalized therapy, or a Jesus who is no more than one of many options. Thus by their teaching they disown the Jesus whose death potentially embraced all, not least these false teachers who nominally submit to him but who in reality domesticate him or reinvent him.
(3) Very often these false teachers are popular (2 Pet. 2:2). In fact, their popularity has two painful effects. In the eyes of many, it legitimizes these teachers—and then their ostensible legitimacy destroys the credibility of genuine Christianity, for their conduct brings “the way of truth into disrepute.”
(4) Quite commonly these false teachers “exploit you” (2 Pet. 2:3). Sometimes this exploitation is blatantly fiscal: always watch where the money goes. At least as commonly it is manipulative: they shape your mind and direction by their fluent storytelling.
(5) God has the last word; the condemnation of these false teachers is inevitable (2 Pet. 2:3). As the following verses (2 Pet. 2:4–10) make clear, God is perfectly capable of saving the righteous remnant and of bringing these false teachers to condemnation.
For each of the preceding five points, think of two examples, one drawn from the Bible and one from Christian history, recent or otherwise.
May 21 - 2 Peter 3
Peter urges his readers to “wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3, especially v. 1), in particular about the Lord’s return. This presupposes that unwholesome thinking about the Lord’s return was circulating. Today even more forms of unwholesome thinking about this event exist than in the first century. Peter stresses that:
(1) In every generation there will be scoffers who sneer at the notion of Christ’s return (2 Pet. 3:3). Sometimes this scoffing will be grounded in a profoundly anti-Christian worldview. In our own day, philosophical naturalism obviously has no place for the ultimate supernatural visit to Planet Earth, nor even for an end of history brought about by God himself. The stance may be tied to some uniformitarian perspective (2 Pet. 3:4). Never should we forget that such perspectives often have moral dimensions to them. It is so much more convenient, for those who cherish their own moral autonomy, to deny that there is a final accounting (2 Pet. 3:3).
(2) We should never overlook the fact that God has not left himself without witness in this regard. Not only has he imposed massive judgments on powerful nations and empires (often by “natural” means), but two events in the record of the earth’s existence testify to God’s cataclysmic intervention: Creation, and the destruction of the Deluge (2 Pet. 3:5–7). Here our society suppresses, for example, the extremely articulate forms of the argument from design: we “deliberately forget” what God has done. Our evaluation of these matters is tied to our moral and spiritual alienation from God our Maker.
(3) The delay before Christ’s return reflects not only God’s very different view of the pace of events (2 Pet. 3:8), but his matchless forbearance: “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Paul says something similar: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Rom. 2:4).
(4) When Christ does return at the end, however, his return will be sudden, unmistakable, and cataclysmic (2 Pet. 3:10). It will mark the end of the universe as we know it. During the 1950s, when residents of North America were sometimes asked to build nuclear bomb shelters to shield themselves from the holocaust that threatened, I asked my dad if we should build one. He quietly replied, “Why? When Jesus comes, the very elements will be destroyed [cf. 2 Pet. 3:10, 12]. Be ready for him, and fear nothing else.”
(5) And that is the point. In light of all this, “what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet. 3:11–12). The test of eschatology is ethics.
May 22 - Isaiah 23
In this section of Isaiah’s prophecy (chaps. 13–27), the city-state of Tyre (Isaiah 23) is the last region to attract an oracle of God against it. If Babylon became proverbial for its imperial might and for its cultural and aesthetic achievements, Tyre was famous throughout the Mediterranean world for its wealth.
The historical setting of this oracle is reasonably clear. Babylon has recently been destroyed by the Assyrians (Isa. 23:13)—a reference to either the attack of Sennacherib (710 B.C.) or the pillaging destruction under Sargon (689). This was before Babylon rose to become a superpower in its own right, one that would eventually destroy and replace Assyria. At this juncture in history, the recent destruction of Babylon serves as the model and threat of what will happen to Tyre.
Tyre made its money as the premier trading center of the Mediterranean world. The ships of Tarshish (Spain, at the other end of the Mediterranean) wail at the reports of Tyre’s destruction (Isa. 23:1, 14). These reports reach Cyprus (Isa. 23:1), just off the coast, and then Sidon (Isa. 23:2–4). Egypt, the bread-basket of the Mediterranean, weeps because of the effect on her trade in grain (Isa. 23:5). The fall of Tyre affected the Mediterranean the way the crash of Wall Street in 1929 affected the world.
Whatever the historical pressures that brought about Tyre’s destruction, Isaiah wants us to know that it was the Lord’s doing (Isa. 23:8–12)—and it is he who restores the city-state again, even if all she does with her new lease on life is return to her old “prostitution” (Isa. 23:15, 17). Yet her sin, finally, is not money, but pride: “The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth” (Isa. 23:9). There is no necessary connection between wealth and pride (witness Job), but the link is frighteningly common. Great wealth often fosters a spirit of arrogant self-sufficiency. What steps should Christians in the relatively prosperous West take against this dreadful sin?
In the spirit of prophetic foreshortening, the last verses (Isa. 23:17–18) dance from history to eschatology. Eventually the wealth of the earth, even if it is gathered by great commercial traders like Tyre, will all be set apart for the Lord: he is the One who gave it, and all things return to him. And all such wealth will go to “those who live before the LORD.” Here is another adumbration of a reconstituted universe, no longer crippled by all that is vile, where God’s people delight in him and his gifts forever.
May 23 - Isaiah 24
Isaiah 24–27, which culminates the long section of chapters 13–27, is sometimes called “the Isaiah apocalypse.” Here Isaiah moves from oracles against particular nations to an apocalypse (an “unveiling”) regarding the entire world. The thought is not so much sequential or literalistic as a series of provocative images that tell their own story. Isaiah 24 primarily describes the devastation that must fall on the whole earth. This is followed by three chapters of songs and even feasting, joyously offered up to the Lord for the triumph that is finally and irrefragably his.
Most of chapter 24 is taken up with the sheer devastation of the final judgment, its thoroughness and terror. In a series of shocking images, cities lie desolate (Isa. 24:10), vineyards are fruitless (Isa. 24:13), terror and traps rise everywhere (Isa. 24:18), and the whole earth is broken up while the heavens unleash cataclysmic floods (Isa. 24:18–19)—or, alternatively, in a mix of metaphors, the earth withers under devastating drought (Isa. 24:4). Yet there are two sub-themes that also capture the attention of the reader.
First: “The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt” (Isa. 24:5–6). Probably the reference to “covenant” has in view the covenant God established with Noah and his descendants after the Flood (Gen. 9:8–17), which echoes the structure of obligations coming from creation itself. If so, the “laws” and “statutes” that have been violated are the fundamental standards of right behavior implicit and sometimes stipulated in a universe where God is absolutely central and where human beings, God’s image-bearers, are rightly and lovingly related to him. The sad reality is that we have “broken the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:5). Our horrible breach has attracted the righteous curse of God (Isa. 24:6). The apocalyptic vision of final judgment in this chapter is the consequence.
Second: twice in this chapter the glory that accompanies judgment, or that awaits beyond it, breaks through the otherwise unrelenting gloom. In Isaiah 24:14–16a, Isaiah pictures people coming from the west and the east, acclaiming the majesty of the Lord, raising their voices in joyous praise, singing from the ends of the earth, “Glory to the Righteous One”—which simultaneously signals that the judgment is over and that God has been righteous in dispensing it. The last verse in the chapter (v. 23) is like a prelude to the closing vision of the Bible. The ultimate glory of the new Jerusalem is so brilliant that no sun is needed: “the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23).
May 24 - Isaiah 25
Isaiah 25 is divided into three parts. In the center is a festive banquet (Isa. 25:6–8). On either side is a song. The first is sung by a solitary singer, doubtless Isaiah himself (Isa. 25:1–5); the second is a communal song of praise (Isa. 25:9–12).
At the feast (Isa. 25:6–8) the food is the finest, and free—“a feast of rich food for all peoples.” The “shroud” or “sheet” that “covers all nations” (Isa. 25:7) is death itself, the result of the curse mentioned in the preceding chapter. This feast is a celebration because God “will swallow up death forever” (Isa. 25:8). Indeed, all the results of the curse will be obliterated: “The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces” (Isa. 25:8; compare Rev. 21). Indeed, the blessings depicted in this verse are secured by Jesus (see Luke 14:15–24), who vanquishes death (1 Cor. 15:25–26, 51–57; 2 Tim. 1:10). This feast is for “all peoples” (Isa. 25:6)—another of the many Isaianic prefigurings of the universal application of the Gospel—yet they must come to “this mountain” (Isa. 25:7); for salvation, as Jesus insists to the Samaritan woman, is “from the Jews” (John 4:22). When Isaiah adds that God will remove the disgrace of “his people” from all the earth, the reference is slightly ambiguous: this may be a reference to Israel, or it may be a reference to those drawn from “all peoples” who truly prove to be his people on the last day.
The song of the lone singer (Isa. 25:1–5) abounds in exuberant praise to God because he is perfectly faithful. This faithfulness is demonstrated both in the devastating judgments he has brought about and in God’s perennial care for the poor and needy (Isa. 25:4). In short, God is praised for the faithful justice of his judgments. The final communal song (Isa. 25:9–12) finds God’s people collectively praising him: “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us” (Isa. 25:9). But here, too, the inverse activity of God is to be praised: God has brought judgment on those full of pride. Moab is singled out as an example of such waywardness. So at the end, there will be two communities: God’s people at the festal banquet where God himself is host and death is destroyed; and the utterly proud, who will not bend the knee but whom God brings down “to the very dust” (Isa. 25:12). One commentator (Barry G. Webb) writes, “Either repentance will bring you to the feast or pride will keep you away, and the consequences will be unsullied joy or unspeakably terrible judgment. The alternatives which the Gospel sets before us are as stark as that.”
May 25 - Isaiah 26
In his song of praise, Isaiah celebrates the Lord’s impending triumph and demonstrates what it means to wait for him to act (Isaiah 26). The opening verses offer anticipatory praise (Isa. 26:1–6), offered to the God who makes the ultimate Jerusalem the rampart of security (Isa. 26:2) and preserves in peace the minds of all the individuals within it—all who trust in the living God (Isa. 26:3–4).
Most of the chapter is devoted to reflections on what it means to wait for that ultimate triumph (Isa. 26:7–21). “Yes, LORD,” Isaiah writes, “walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isa. 26:8). But while the righteous yearn for the living God (Isa. 26:9a), the shocking reality is that the people who do not know him never learn anything from the grace that God shows them (Isa. 26:9b–10). And so eventually the people of God cry out that God might come and impose his righteousness (Isa. 26:11)—very much as in Revelation 6:10.
Meanwhile, the faithful remnant live with ambiguity and disappointment (Isa. 26:12–18). Idolatry flourishes in the land where the living God established peace (Isa. 26:12–13). The remnant remains faithful while the culture succumbs (Isa. 26:13). What is described in the next verses is almost the cyclical pattern of Israel’s history. God responds to the infidelity with judgment. In due course he returns with grace, enlarges the nation, and extends his own glory. And yet, when all is said and done, what is the outcome? The nation is like a woman writhing in the pains of childbirth—and when she finally brings forth her offspring, all she has produced is wind (Isa. 26:18). “We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world” (Isa. 26:18). Where is the great hope bound up with Israel’s identity, with the promise to the patriarch that in Israel’s seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12)?
Yet the chapter ends with hope. There is even hope for those who have died during the wearisome cycles of frustration, failure, futility, and judgment: they neither waited nor died in vain, for they will rise from the dead and share in the joy of victory (Isa. 26:19)—a promise of life briefly glimpsed in Isaiah 25:8, demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus, and ultimately fulfilled at the end (1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4:13–18). Meanwhile, those who are still alive must wait in patience for the wrath of God to pass (Isa. 26:20–21). More clearly than Isaiah, we know that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17–18; cf. Rom. 8:18).