Sharper Iron from KFUO Radio

Isaiah begins to recount the historical narrative of the LORD's deliverance of His people from the Assyrians. Although the might of the Assyrian army was great, the text focuses on the war of words waged by the Assyrian official, the Rabshakeh. His temptations are strong, using half-truths in order to draw the people away from their trust in the LORD. Only strengthened by the LORD's promises can t...

Out of the devastation of the previous chapter, the LORD promises to bring restoration for His people and His creation. He will make the desert a garden, He will strengthen His people's weaknesses, and He will heal His people's diseases. In this, the LORD will show His glory and bring His salvation. He will bring His people back upon the way that leads to Him so that they will rejoice with great s...

The LORD calls upon all the nations to listen as He speaks His fury against all those who have set themselves against them. The judgment upon such unbelief is coming, and it will not be pretty. The LORD says that His sword will bring condemnation particularly upon Edom, which had a history of animosity toward the LORD and Israel. All such peoples who are not joined to the cause of Zion can expect...

When the LORD proclaims that Assyria will be destroyed, His people respond in prayer, asking that the LORD would bring His salvation for which they wait. They recognize the fear of Him as their true treasure and look for Him to arise. Those who do not fear the LORD, however, tremble at the news of His coming. The only one who can dwell with Him is the one who lives by faith in the coming Savior, J...

Isaiah proclaims the coming king who will reign in righteousness. Under His reign, the people of God will dwell safely with the true knowledge and worship of Him. Those who are foolish will be known as such, and those who are complacent will mourn over the judgment that the LORD will bring. Once the judgment is complete, the righteous King will pour out the Spirit who will cause the LORD's people...

Isaiah tells the people of Judah that Egypt will be absolutely no help against Assyria. God's people would be foolish to put their trust in men rather than the LORD. He is the true God who comes down to protect His people, so that they can return to Him even after they revolted against Him by their idolatry. Although Egypt's help against Assyria is nothing, the LORD promises that He will bring the...

The LORD calls His people rebellious children for desiring an alliance with Egypt, who will actually be no help to Judah at all. Because Judah despises the LORD's Word, His swift judgment will befall them. Yet He gives His promise. Their salvation will be found in returning to Him and resting in His Word, and He is waiting patiently to show that very mercy. He will show Himself as their Teacher an...

The LORD speaks to His people Jerusalem about the coming destruction that Assyria will bring, according to the will and work of the LORD. When the LORD also promises that He will work a miraculous deliverance on His people's behalf, the people fail to believe His promise. Their faithless worship has left the blind and deaf, yet the LORD promises that He will work wonders among His people that will...

Having addressed many foreign nations and the entire earth, the LORD turns once more to His people, Israel and Judah. Though the leaders of Ephraim are proud, they are no match for the LORD's might. He alone is the crown of glory. The priests and prophets have failed and fallen into the same drunken stupor, and so the LORD will bring His Word upon them in judgment. Jerusalem has no place for pride...

The day of the LORD is a day of victory over all His enemies, even Leviathan. By speaking about the LORD's victory in this way, Isaiah shows that the LORD alone is the true God over all idols, and no powers of evil will win the victory over Him. Having defeated His people's enemies, He will plant His people as His fruitful vineyard and keep them safe. Though His people received His punishment at t...

In response to the LORD's feast of victory, His people sing His praises. He has given them a strong city in which He keeps His people secure with a double portion of peace. He makes His people walk upon the level path of His righteousness, while His enemies are consumed. When the LORD's people cried out to Him under His discipline, there was no deliverance to be found in themselves. Instead, the L...

Even after the judgment spoken in the previous chapter, Isaiah now turns to praise the LORD as his God. The LORD has done wonderful things in faithfulness to His promises made long ago. He is a stronghold for His people, providing shelter from the storm and shade from the heat. On His mountain, He prepares His feast for His people because He has swallowed up the greatest enemy, death. The LORD has...

After speaking ten oracles of judgment to specific nations, the LORD now addresses the whole earth. No one will escape the desolation that His wrath brings. The once mighty and mirthful city will be brought low with great sorrow. The LORD's destruction will be great so that repentance before Him is the only option, even as a remnant remains to praise Him as He reigns in His glory. The lack of spec...

Isaiah brings this section with ten burdens upon the nations to a conclusion with a burden concerning Tyre. As an economic center of the ancient world, the judgment that is coming upon Tyre wreaks havoc upon all the nations. No amount of economic success can be a true refuge from the day of the LORD, for He will bring all the glory of man down. As the LORD said would happen, so He brought about th...

In the midst of His Word to other nations, the LORD has not forgotten His own people. In this chapter, Isaiah addresses the people of Jerusalem by speaking to "the valley of vision." Such a title is ironic because the people of Jerusalem do not have the eyes to see the LORD and His work. The judgment that the LORD will bring upon Jerusalem is enacted during Isaiah's day when the LORD removes Shebn...

The Word of the LORD comes to Babylon again. The city is addressed as "the wilderness of the sea," a reference to the Euphrates River that was so key to Babylonian success and a reminder that Babylon in Holy Scripture also often refers to all the enemies of God and His people. The LORD sets His watchman to look for the deliverance of His people over His enemies and to cry out the news that Babylon...

Isaiah speaks the burden concerning Egypt because the LORD desires His people to know that looking to Egypt for help is futile. Egypt's idolatry is useless. Egypt depends on the Nile River, and yet, the Nile is under the LORD's command. Egypt's wisdom is foolish. To show the reality of the judgment coming upon Egypt, God commands Isaiah to preach naked and barefoot for three years. In all these wa...

Isaiah speaks the burden concerning Damascus, the capital of Syria. Although Syria had allied itself with Ephraim, the glory of these two nations will be brought low together. Such judgment points to the reality that idols are worthless; only the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, is the Rock in whom there is help. As the LORD spoke, so Assyria came and destroyed both Damascus and Samaria. Yet I...

As the prophet Isaiah speaks the burden concerning Moab, the prophet weeps and laments their coming judgment. This is likely due to the family connection to Moab, particularly in the lineage of King David. In the midst of the LORD's judgment, the only place for refuge is found in the throne that the LORD will establish in His faithfulness in the house of David. The pride of Moab, however, refuses...

The LORD's judgment of Babylon's pride means salvation for God's people. No longer will they be slaves, but they will rule with the LORD. For that reason, Isaiah invites the people of God to join in the song of victory over Babylon. The power that thought itself more mighty than the LORD has been slain, never to rise again, for the LORD has spoken. This is true for Assyria in Isaiah's day; it is t...

With chapter 13, Isaiah's book begins a section of ten burdens, or oracles, against various nations. The fact that the majority of these oracles are directed toward nations other than Israel reminds us that the LORD is the God over all the earth. The first burden is given to Babylon. Although it was not a mighty empire in Isaiah's day, it was a significant city and would later become a great world...

As the people of God once praised God for His deliverance from slavery in Egypt, so the people of God again praise Him for the greater exodus He gives through the promised Messiah. Both individually and together as the whole Church, Christians sing in thanksgiving that God has turned His anger to comfort for the sake of Jesus. He is our salvation, our strength, and our song. In Jesus, we drink the...

Although the house of David has been unfaithful, the LORD will keep His promise to send the Savior. Though Jesse’s line is only a stump, the LORD will bring forth His Christ as a shoot from that root. As the One who bears the Spirit, the Christ will come in the true fear of the LORD to bring justice and righteousness for all people. The Christ is the One to bring true peace to all of God’s creatio...

The LORD proclaims that mighty Assyria is the rod of anger in His hands. However, while the LORD does His work of bringing wrath against His own people through Assyria, Assyria becomes proud, as if they are the rulers of the world. The LORD laughs at Assyria’s haughtiness and promises that they too will be brought low for their wicked idolatry. Even with the destruction the LORD brings against His...

Once again, Isaiah preaches against the arrogance of His own people. They think that they can build back better after His judgment, but His anger is not turned away. They did not turn back to the LORD after He struck them, and so His anger is not turned away. In wickedness, the people of God fight against themselves, and so His anger is not turned away. Finally, the LORD declares woe on His iniqui...