When our teenage daughter left home one night without our knowing it, it began one of the most difficult times of my...
It sure seems easy to find bad news. All we have to do is turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper to learn of someone’s bad decision, hear about the negative...
We sit in the coffee house and talk about her marriage. I suggest that she pray about the slow demise that is now becoming undeniable. I look across the small table, and she...
Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, and founded the Disney Empire. Once someone asked him, "How does it feel to be a celebrity?" ...
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isaiah...
You might expect confession and pardon in church movies, but not in Hollywood. At least not as the climax. This Oscar winner kneels until its sins are no more.
Transcript The word Scrooge, to us, means a miser. Of course, it's from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. You remember: Bob Cratchit's mean and miserly boss is Ebenezer Scrooge. His bah, humbug! drains...
Isaiah 64 is a prayer in which the prophet acknowledges God’s greatness and Israel's great sinfulness.
The prophet yearns for the salvation of Jerusalem. Thus he cannot stop praying for her “until her righteousness shines like the dawn.” A few verses later, he urges his fellow Israelites to “give...
From the beginning, Israel was to play a unique role as a priestly nation to the world. When God first made a covenant through Moses, he said to the Israelites, “Now if you...
If, like me, you’re a lover of Handel’s Messiah, then you can’t read Isaiah 60:2-3 without hearing it in your mind sung by a deep bass voice: “For, behold, darkness shall cover the...
In the time of Isaiah, the Israelites were doing all sorts of religious activities, such as offering sacrifices in the temple or observing the required fasts. But God was not pleased.
Do you ever feel like the “restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt”? I do, though...
Throughout Isaiah we see God’s vision, not only for the people of Israel, but also for all peoples. Though his salvation is focused upon Israel, it is not for Israel alone. Isaiah 5...
The word of God doesn’t just sit there like a museum of antique truth that you can visit if you wish, but otherwise avoid. It is, as we read in Hebrews, “alive and...
When we read this passage from Isaiah 53, we immediately think of the crucifixion of Jesus. He was literally pierced, crushed, beaten, and whipped. Even more painful was the alienation he...
The Servant of God in Isaiah is a “man of sorrows.” The Hebrew phrase (’ish makh’ovot) means, literally, “man of pains,” and...
God works in amazing and surprising ways. Given his glory and power, we might well expect that his Servant would be equally glorious and powerful. In a sense, this is ultimately true. But Isaiah...
In Isaiah 51:17, as in many verses of the Old Testament, drinking the cup is a symbol of receiving God’s judgment. Jerusalem drank “the cup of the LORD’s fury” when the Babylonians invaded,...
Isaiah 50 begins with God’s word to the prophet. He responds by saying, “The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened.” This captures the meaning of the original Hebrew, which...
