Isaiah 8:18

“Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.”

Isaiah understood something about his life, which is often forgotten today. He realized his life was to be lived as an example. He was a model for others to learn how to follow and serve the Lord. Everything he did, including the way he raised his family, was designed to be a sign to the world in which he lived; teaching them something about the Lord.

Isaiah is not alone in this. Paul declared to his friends they should follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Essentially, Paul was stating, they could learn how to walk with the Lord by looking at the way he lived. Paul went on to say, every believer is an epistle…

Ephesians 6:14-18

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”

In Chapter 5, Paul compared our relationship with Jesus as a walk. Now he compares it to a battleground. We are told we have an enemy, the devil, who plans strategies against us. His goal is to get us to fall into sin, or to live so self-consumed, we have little or no positive…

Isaiah 6:7-9

 “Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.’
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’
And He said, ‘Go…’”

Isaiah 6 is perhaps most well known for what Isaiah saw. He records, in the year of King Uzziah’s death, he had a vision of the throne of God. He describes how he saw the Lord enthroned and surrounded by angelic beings, who ever live to give Him praise. What perhaps, is sometimes missed, is what Isaiah heard. He records hearing the voice of God in two distinct ways.

First, an angel took a coal from the altar, touched Isaiah’s lips, and declared God had taken away his sin. In order for Isaiah to receive pardon from God, he had to first recognize he was a sinner, and…

Isaiah 5:14

“Therefore Shoel has enlarged itself
And opened its mouth beyond measure;
Their glory and their multitude and pomp,
And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.”

Sheol is an Old Testament word for the abode of the wicked in death. The New Testament uses the words “Hades,” “Tartarus,” and “Gehenna.” Although different words are employed, they all refer to the final resting place for those who reject Christ, and as a result die in their sins. Isaiah gives a sobering picture when he writes, “Sheol has enlarged itself…” Suggesting that the boundaries of hell are expanding because of the unwillingness of people to respond to the call of God and the cries of the prophet. There are a few things we need to keep in mind.

First, hell is expanding because people are refusing to turn to the only one who can rescue them from its…

Ephesians 5:2

“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.”

The Christian life is like a journey. It begins when we put our trust in Christ for salvation, and ends as we cross the finish line entering into glory. In an age of high-speed travel, we often endure the journey for the sake of the destination. I have sat next to people on airplanes who were “white knuckling” the arm rests. I could tell they hate the idea of flying, but it was a necessity in order to reach their destination. The Christian life is not like that. The journey is as important as the destination. Walking, because it is such a slow means of travel, allowed for fellowship, life lessons, and teaching times to take place between Jesus and…

Isaiah 4:2

“In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious;                                                    And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing                                                             For those of Israel who have escaped.”

“The Branch of the Lord” is a messianic title, meaning it is a description of Jesus our Savior. This phrase is used often by the prophets to speak of the work of Christ.

Isaiah 11:1 “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. ”

Jeremiah 23:5: “Behold…

Isaiah 3:12

“…O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.”

Isaiah is warning of coming judgment. The people had left the ways of God; perhaps thinking the Word of God was antiquated. Instead of being a nation that shone as a light to the world around them, Judah had become like all the other nations. Morally, spiritually and ethically, the people who were called by God to be a light, looked all too similar to the world around them. Isaiah points out one of the main contributors to their downfall,

“Those who lead you cause you to err. . .”

Those who should have been leading the people to follow the paths of God, were in fact, leading the people away from God. Jesus warned about blind leaders who led blind followers right into a ditch (Matthew 15:14). A nation…

Ephesians 4:11-12

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”

The Church was designed by God, purchased with the blood of Christ, birthed by the work of the Holy Spirit, and plays a very important role in the life of the growing Christian. It is no wonder the devil spends so much energy trying to keep us from church. Many have had their feelings hurt by the way they were treated at church. For some the church put expectations upon them, making them feel as though they were only valuable because of their talents or treasures. Others have felt neglected. They have gone to church for a period of time, and when things became difficult, they felt as though they were abandoned…

Isaiah 2:4

“He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Tragically, God is blamed for many of the atrocities committed by man. I say tragically, not because God cannot or will not defend Himself, but because as long as we blame God for what men do, we will fail to find a real solution to the problem. The chief wrong in this world is the heart of man. We see this demonstrated daily in the horrific actions reported on our TV screens. We hear of power hungry people oppressing others, in pursuit of their own ambitions. This happens everywhere on the globe. Sometimes, it is in a far away land where a political vacuum has allowed for the strongest force…

Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

If it were possible to travel back to the time of Isaiah, I think we would be surprised by how religious the people were. At the temple in Jerusalem, sacrifices were being offered and the priests were busy about the work of the Lord. The hilltops throughout the land were laden with altars, and homes were filled with religious images. Prayer was perhaps at an all time high, and religious music filled the air waves. To an outside observer, it might seem that all was right in Israel. The problem was, although the people were passionately religious, they were not in a relationship with God. Isaiah wrote to explain the problem was with sin…