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 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 12 - Isaiah 10:5-34
The thrust of Isaiah 10:5–34 is clear enough. At the beginning and the end (Isa. 10:5–19, 28–34), the emphasis is on the fact that mighty Assyria will herself be crushed after God has used her to punish his own covenant people. In the central section (Isa. 10:20–27), the people of God are encouraged neither to fear nor to rely on Assyria, but to rely on the Lord alone.
I shall begin with this central section (Isa. 10:20–27). One of its great themes is “the remnant.” Judgment will fall, but the people of God will not be wiped out: there will be a remnant. This “remnant of Israel” (Isa. 10:20) probably does not refer to the remnant from the northern kingdom of Israel, but to the remnant of Israelites from the south as well as the north (note the parallel “house of Jacob,” the common ancestor, and “remnant of Jacob,” Isa. 10:20, 21). “Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous” (Isa. 10:22), against “the whole land” (Isa. 10:23). But a remnant will return, not just to a place, but “to the Mighty God” (Isa. 10:21). In the light of such promises, the people of the southern kingdom, God’s “people who live in Zion” (Isa. 10:24), should not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they are beaten by them. God’s wrath against Israel will end; indeed, it will in short order turn against the Assyrians themselves (Isa. 10:25–27).
That brings us to the sections on either side of Isaiah 10:20–27. At one level the theme is plain enough. The God who uses Assyria to punish his wayward covenant community nevertheless holds Assyria responsible for her own sins, and will ultimately destroy them. The empire that is nothing more than a battle ax in the hand of God, wielded against a rebellious nation (Isa. 10:15), will itself ultimately be axed down by God (Isa. 10:34). The pronouncement of this judgment is designed to foster faith and perseverance on the part of the remnant.
There is an important subsidiary theological theme in this chapter; the biblical tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility surfaces in powerful ways. God uses mighty Assyria as if it were nothing but a tool in his hands (Isa. 10:5, 15). He himself dispatches Assyria to punish Israel (Isa. 10:6). Assyria, of course, is totally unaware of God’s control. Nevertheless, she is held responsible for her own actions and attitudes, not least her arrogance and pride (Isa. 10:7–11, 13–14). So God will punish her (Isa. 10:12). This tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is not to be despised or rejected, but seized with gratitude, for it will preserve us both from denying the reality of evil and from imagining that evil could ultimately triumph. Meditate on Acts 2:23; 4:27–28.
May 13 - Isaiah 11-12
Isaiah 1–12 forms the first major division of the book; Isaiah 11–12 closes that division with a picture of the ideal king and the changes he will bring, with the Lord being praised in Zion.
There is a rapid move from the destruction of Assyria in Isaiah 10 to the establishment of the kingdom of God in Isaiah 11. The two are obviously connected theologically: it is God’s initiative that effects both. Nevertheless, there is in Isaiah’s prophecy a massive foreshortening of the historical process.
In the vision by which he was called to prophetic ministry, Isaiah saw a seed springing from the stump, the remnant of Israel (Isa. 6:13). Now Assyria falls like a mighty forest before the ax of God (Isa. 10:33–34)—and a shoot springs from the stump of Jesse (Isa. 11:1), i.e., from the Davidic dynasty. If in Isaiah 4:2 the Branch referred to the remnant, or to the Lord’s saving work through the remnant, here it explicitly refers to the Messiah. “Messiah” simply means “anointed one,” so every anointed king in the Davidic line was in this sense a “messiah.” But only the ultimate Messiah could fill the slot described here. Uniquely empowered by the Spirit of God (Isa. 11:2–3a; cf. John 3:34), his rule is impeccably righteous (Isa. 11:3b–5), the antithesis of the corruption in the nation that has attracted God’s judgment. So perfect and absolute will be Messiah’s rule that death and destruction will die: the ultimate state he introduces will be ideal (Isa. 11:7–9).
Verses 10–16, the second part of chapter 11, unpack some of the symbolic elements of the preceding verses. God’s covenant people are regathered to him (Isa. 11:11–16), but surrounding them are the nations who will also rally to him (Isa. 11:10). The banner raised over this vast assembly (Isa. 11:10, 12) marks Messiah’s rule, “and his place of rest will be glorious” (Isa. 11:10). At one level, the “remnant” thus regathered refers to the survivors of historic Israel (Isa. 11:12), but in the prophetic foreshortening they are also the generation of the elect and faithful people of God in the last days.
The praise of chapter 12 is directed toward “the Holy One of Israel,” one of Isaiah’s titles for God. In chapter 11 the Messiah is among his people and his reign has begun; in chapter 12 God is among his people and is praised. It is hard not to see that the presence of the Messiah and the presence of God are one and the same, just as in Isaiah 9:2–7 the Davidic king is also the mighty God. Here is the consummation of salvation. “The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:2–3).
May 14 - Isaiah 13
The second major section of Isaiah, chapters 13–27, focuses on the nations. This word of the Lord through Isaiah is not actually delivered to the nations; it is pronounced against the nations but in the ears of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. In a general sense the message is similar to that in the first part of Isaiah (chaps. 1–12): salvation belongs only to the Lord, so he alone is the One to be trusted. The denunciation of the nations therefore includes comforting asides to Judah (e.g., Isa. 14:1–2) and ends with the deliverance of the people of God (chaps. 26–27).
Isaiah 13 is an oracle against Babylon. Because in Isaiah’s time the primary military threat was Assyria and not Babylon, many critics think that this chapter is a later interpolation, written a century and a half later (about 550 B.C.) when Babylon had not only risen to supremacy but was already in decline, threatened by the rising Medo-Persian Empire (see Isa. 13:17). But that view is too skeptical. The introduction to the oracle unambiguously affirms that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw this vision (Isa. 13:1). Moreover, Isaiah 39 shows that even in Isaiah’s day, though Babylon was not an immediate threat like Assyria, it was already a rising power. Perhaps more important yet, Babylon’s history went back all the way to the Tower of Babel (Gen. 10:9–10; 11:1–9) and thus could serve as a symbol of all nations that defy the God of Israel—a symbolism that persists even in the New Testament (e.g., Rev. 17–18), long after historic Babylon is in eclipse. The ultimate collapse of “Babylon” takes place when “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth,” who is “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Rev. 17:5–6), is obliterated in the triumphant dawning of the reign of the Lord God Almighty (Rev. 19:6), the rule of him who is called “Faithful and True” and whose name is “the Word of God” (Rev. 19:11, 13).
Note three features of this oracle. (a) Once again the “day of the LORD” (Isa. 13:6) is bound up not only with the Lord’s coming, but with his coming in judgment. For those opposed to the living God, it is “a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger” (Isa. 13:9). (b) Typical of Hebrew poetry, this day is associated with celestial signs; it is as if all nature has to join in with these events, for their significance is no less than cosmic (Isa. 13:10; cf. Acts 2:20). (c) The heart of the sin that must be overthrown is arrogance (Isa. 13:11, 19).
May 15 - 1 Peter 2
The short paragraph 1 Peter 2:13–17 is filled with moral admonitions found elsewhere in the New Testament. In today’s meditation I shall briefly clarify the main points and observe the supporting themes around the paragraph.
First, like Paul in Romans 13, Peter tells his readers to submit to every properly constituted human authority, and to do so “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2:13–14). Implicitly, Peter acknowledges that such human authorities were set up by God, and their proper function (or at least one of them) is to foster justice. Second, it is always God’s will that Christians by doing good “should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:15). Behavior stamped by courtesy, respect, and integrity is not itself preaching the Gospel, but it wins a hearing for the Gospel, simultaneously preparing a way for it and authorizing it. Third, our freedom from the law-covenant must never become an excuse for licentiousness: “live as servants of God” (1 Pet. 2:16). Finally, it is always right and good to show proper respect to everyone. Everyone is made in the image of God. But what “proper” means may take on different overtones with different ranks: “Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:17).
The surrounding verses provide support for this outlook. (a) Christians are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,” their very existence designed to declare the praise of the One who called them “out of darkness and into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The transformation of Christians’ conduct is the attestation that they really do belong to God (1 Pet. 2:10, 25). (b) This also means that we no longer belong to the world. Here we live “as aliens and strangers” (1 Pet. 2:11). If we do not think in those terms, but are frankly comfortable with the world and its ways, we ought to question whether or not we really belong to the “people belonging to God.” This is the assumption Peter makes when he writes, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Pet. 2:12). (c) If any of this involves hardship or suffering—as it especially did in the case of slaves who belonged to cruel and unjust masters—we can never forget that we follow a Master who himself suffered most unjustly. No moral value attaches to suffering what we deserve; we show ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ when we suffer unjustly and endure it faithfully. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).
May 16 - 1 Peter 3
One of the striking things about 1 Peter is how Christian conduct is tied to winning a hearing for the Gospel. We saw that theme in yesterday’s meditation. Christians are to live in such a way that even the pagans will be forced to glorify God (1 Pet. 2:12). It is God’s will “that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:15). The same theme is developed in chapter 3. Wives with unbelieving husbands should so adorn themselves with a gentle and quiet spirit that their husbands “may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of [their] lives” (1 Pet. 3:2).
Similarly in 1 Peter 3:8–22. This passage includes one of the most difficult texts in the New Testament (1 Pet. 3:18b–21), one I cannot hope to broach here. But it also once again connects Christian conduct with Christian suffering and therefore with Christian witness. This does not mean that Christian conduct has a merely utilitarian function. Christians are not to act in godly ways simply because it increases their credibility for propagandistic purposes. There are many reasons for doing good. We were “called” to it (1 Pet. 3:9); doing good is constitutive of our very identity. Moreover, such behavior inherits blessing from God (1 Pet. 3:9–12). Apart from the horrible exceptions that arise out of corrupt regimes and renegades (all too many of them), a citizen doing good does not have to fear oppression from those in charge of criminal justice systems (1 Pet. 3:13). We ourselves ought to keep a clear conscience before the living God (1 Pet. 3:16). Above all there is the example of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 3:17–18).
But in addition to all these reasons for living godly lives, Peter again connects conduct with witness. Even if we suffer unjustly, we will not live our lives in fear, as pagans must (1 Pet. 3:13). Rather, in our tears we will “set apart Christ as Lord” (1 Pet. 3:15); we will “sanctify” or “consecrate” Christ as Lord. And in this context, we will hear the apostolic injunction: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15). This is similar to Paul’s “be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). Of course such readiness presupposes a heart attitude eager to bear witness and a commitment to grow in apologetic competence. As in so many other areas of life, we learn best how to do it by doing it. But Peter’s immediate point is that as we bear witness, we must do so “with gentleness and respect … so that those who speak maliciously … may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Pet. 3:15, 16).
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 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 12 - Isaiah 10:5-34
The thrust of Isaiah 10:5–34 is clear enough. At the beginning and the end (Isa. 10:5–19, 28–34), the emphasis is on the fact that mighty Assyria will herself be crushed after God has used her to punish his own covenant people. In the central section (Isa. 10:20–27), the people of God are encouraged neither to fear nor to rely on Assyria, but to rely on the Lord alone.
I shall begin with this central section (Isa. 10:20–27). One of its great themes is “the remnant.” Judgment will fall, but the people of God will not be wiped out: there will be a remnant. This “remnant of Israel” (Isa. 10:20) probably does not refer to the remnant from the northern kingdom of Israel, but to the remnant of Israelites from the south as well as the north (note the parallel “house of Jacob,” the common ancestor, and “remnant of Jacob,” Isa. 10:20, 21). “Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous” (Isa. 10:22), against “the whole land” (Isa. 10:23). But a remnant will return, not just to a place, but “to the Mighty God” (Isa. 10:21). In the light of such promises, the people of the southern kingdom, God’s “people who live in Zion” (Isa. 10:24), should not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they are beaten by them. God’s wrath against Israel will end; indeed, it will in short order turn against the Assyrians themselves (Isa. 10:25–27).
That brings us to the sections on either side of Isaiah 10:20–27. At one level the theme is plain enough. The God who uses Assyria to punish his wayward covenant community nevertheless holds Assyria responsible for her own sins, and will ultimately destroy them. The empire that is nothing more than a battle ax in the hand of God, wielded against a rebellious nation (Isa. 10:15), will itself ultimately be axed down by God (Isa. 10:34). The pronouncement of this judgment is designed to foster faith and perseverance on the part of the remnant.
There is an important subsidiary theological theme in this chapter; the biblical tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility surfaces in powerful ways. God uses mighty Assyria as if it were nothing but a tool in his hands (Isa. 10:5, 15). He himself dispatches Assyria to punish Israel (Isa. 10:6). Assyria, of course, is totally unaware of God’s control. Nevertheless, she is held responsible for her own actions and attitudes, not least her arrogance and pride (Isa. 10:7–11, 13–14). So God will punish her (Isa. 10:12). This tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is not to be despised or rejected, but seized with gratitude, for it will preserve us both from denying the reality of evil and from imagining that evil could ultimately triumph. Meditate on Acts 2:23; 4:27–28.
May 13 - Isaiah 11-12
Isaiah 1–12 forms the first major division of the book; Isaiah 11–12 closes that division with a picture of the ideal king and the changes he will bring, with the Lord being praised in Zion.
There is a rapid move from the destruction of Assyria in Isaiah 10 to the establishment of the kingdom of God in Isaiah 11. The two are obviously connected theologically: it is God’s initiative that effects both. Nevertheless, there is in Isaiah’s prophecy a massive foreshortening of the historical process.
In the vision by which he was called to prophetic ministry, Isaiah saw a seed springing from the stump, the remnant of Israel (Isa. 6:13). Now Assyria falls like a mighty forest before the ax of God (Isa. 10:33–34)—and a shoot springs from the stump of Jesse (Isa. 11:1), i.e., from the Davidic dynasty. If in Isaiah 4:2 the Branch referred to the remnant, or to the Lord’s saving work through the remnant, here it explicitly refers to the Messiah. “Messiah” simply means “anointed one,” so every anointed king in the Davidic line was in this sense a “messiah.” But only the ultimate Messiah could fill the slot described here. Uniquely empowered by the Spirit of God (Isa. 11:2–3a; cf. John 3:34), his rule is impeccably righteous (Isa. 11:3b–5), the antithesis of the corruption in the nation that has attracted God’s judgment. So perfect and absolute will be Messiah’s rule that death and destruction will die: the ultimate state he introduces will be ideal (Isa. 11:7–9).
Verses 10–16, the second part of chapter 11, unpack some of the symbolic elements of the preceding verses. God’s covenant people are regathered to him (Isa. 11:11–16), but surrounding them are the nations who will also rally to him (Isa. 11:10). The banner raised over this vast assembly (Isa. 11:10, 12) marks Messiah’s rule, “and his place of rest will be glorious” (Isa. 11:10). At one level, the “remnant” thus regathered refers to the survivors of historic Israel (Isa. 11:12), but in the prophetic foreshortening they are also the generation of the elect and faithful people of God in the last days.
The praise of chapter 12 is directed toward “the Holy One of Israel,” one of Isaiah’s titles for God. In chapter 11 the Messiah is among his people and his reign has begun; in chapter 12 God is among his people and is praised. It is hard not to see that the presence of the Messiah and the presence of God are one and the same, just as in Isaiah 9:2–7 the Davidic king is also the mighty God. Here is the consummation of salvation. “The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:2–3).
May 14 - Isaiah 13
The second major section of Isaiah, chapters 13–27, focuses on the nations. This word of the Lord through Isaiah is not actually delivered to the nations; it is pronounced against the nations but in the ears of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. In a general sense the message is similar to that in the first part of Isaiah (chaps. 1–12): salvation belongs only to the Lord, so he alone is the One to be trusted. The denunciation of the nations therefore includes comforting asides to Judah (e.g., Isa. 14:1–2) and ends with the deliverance of the people of God (chaps. 26–27).
Isaiah 13 is an oracle against Babylon. Because in Isaiah’s time the primary military threat was Assyria and not Babylon, many critics think that this chapter is a later interpolation, written a century and a half later (about 550 B.C.) when Babylon had not only risen to supremacy but was already in decline, threatened by the rising Medo-Persian Empire (see Isa. 13:17). But that view is too skeptical. The introduction to the oracle unambiguously affirms that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw this vision (Isa. 13:1). Moreover, Isaiah 39 shows that even in Isaiah’s day, though Babylon was not an immediate threat like Assyria, it was already a rising power. Perhaps more important yet, Babylon’s history went back all the way to the Tower of Babel (Gen. 10:9–10; 11:1–9) and thus could serve as a symbol of all nations that defy the God of Israel—a symbolism that persists even in the New Testament (e.g., Rev. 17–18), long after historic Babylon is in eclipse. The ultimate collapse of “Babylon” takes place when “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth,” who is “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Rev. 17:5–6), is obliterated in the triumphant dawning of the reign of the Lord God Almighty (Rev. 19:6), the rule of him who is called “Faithful and True” and whose name is “the Word of God” (Rev. 19:11, 13).
Note three features of this oracle. (a) Once again the “day of the LORD” (Isa. 13:6) is bound up not only with the Lord’s coming, but with his coming in judgment. For those opposed to the living God, it is “a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger” (Isa. 13:9). (b) Typical of Hebrew poetry, this day is associated with celestial signs; it is as if all nature has to join in with these events, for their significance is no less than cosmic (Isa. 13:10; cf. Acts 2:20). (c) The heart of the sin that must be overthrown is arrogance (Isa. 13:11, 19).
May 15 - 1 Peter 2
The short paragraph 1 Peter 2:13–17 is filled with moral admonitions found elsewhere in the New Testament. In today’s meditation I shall briefly clarify the main points and observe the supporting themes around the paragraph.
First, like Paul in Romans 13, Peter tells his readers to submit to every properly constituted human authority, and to do so “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2:13–14). Implicitly, Peter acknowledges that such human authorities were set up by God, and their proper function (or at least one of them) is to foster justice. Second, it is always God’s will that Christians by doing good “should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:15). Behavior stamped by courtesy, respect, and integrity is not itself preaching the Gospel, but it wins a hearing for the Gospel, simultaneously preparing a way for it and authorizing it. Third, our freedom from the law-covenant must never become an excuse for licentiousness: “live as servants of God” (1 Pet. 2:16). Finally, it is always right and good to show proper respect to everyone. Everyone is made in the image of God. But what “proper” means may take on different overtones with different ranks: “Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:17).
The surrounding verses provide support for this outlook. (a) Christians are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,” their very existence designed to declare the praise of the One who called them “out of darkness and into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The transformation of Christians’ conduct is the attestation that they really do belong to God (1 Pet. 2:10, 25). (b) This also means that we no longer belong to the world. Here we live “as aliens and strangers” (1 Pet. 2:11). If we do not think in those terms, but are frankly comfortable with the world and its ways, we ought to question whether or not we really belong to the “people belonging to God.” This is the assumption Peter makes when he writes, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Pet. 2:12). (c) If any of this involves hardship or suffering—as it especially did in the case of slaves who belonged to cruel and unjust masters—we can never forget that we follow a Master who himself suffered most unjustly. No moral value attaches to suffering what we deserve; we show ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ when we suffer unjustly and endure it faithfully. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).
May 16 - 1 Peter 3
One of the striking things about 1 Peter is how Christian conduct is tied to winning a hearing for the Gospel. We saw that theme in yesterday’s meditation. Christians are to live in such a way that even the pagans will be forced to glorify God (1 Pet. 2:12). It is God’s will “that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:15). The same theme is developed in chapter 3. Wives with unbelieving husbands should so adorn themselves with a gentle and quiet spirit that their husbands “may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of [their] lives” (1 Pet. 3:2).
Similarly in 1 Peter 3:8–22. This passage includes one of the most difficult texts in the New Testament (1 Pet. 3:18b–21), one I cannot hope to broach here. But it also once again connects Christian conduct with Christian suffering and therefore with Christian witness. This does not mean that Christian conduct has a merely utilitarian function. Christians are not to act in godly ways simply because it increases their credibility for propagandistic purposes. There are many reasons for doing good. We were “called” to it (1 Pet. 3:9); doing good is constitutive of our very identity. Moreover, such behavior inherits blessing from God (1 Pet. 3:9–12). Apart from the horrible exceptions that arise out of corrupt regimes and renegades (all too many of them), a citizen doing good does not have to fear oppression from those in charge of criminal justice systems (1 Pet. 3:13). We ourselves ought to keep a clear conscience before the living God (1 Pet. 3:16). Above all there is the example of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 3:17–18).
But in addition to all these reasons for living godly lives, Peter again connects conduct with witness. Even if we suffer unjustly, we will not live our lives in fear, as pagans must (1 Pet. 3:13). Rather, in our tears we will “set apart Christ as Lord” (1 Pet. 3:15); we will “sanctify” or “consecrate” Christ as Lord. And in this context, we will hear the apostolic injunction: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15). This is similar to Paul’s “be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). Of course such readiness presupposes a heart attitude eager to bear witness and a commitment to grow in apologetic competence. As in so many other areas of life, we learn best how to do it by doing it. But Peter’s immediate point is that as we bear witness, we must do so “with gentleness and respect … so that those who speak maliciously … may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Pet. 3:15, 16).
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?