St. Paul Lutheran Church, Matteson, Illinois & Pastor Troester

God reigns over all and nothing happens with His knowing or His plan. The Children of Israel have been unfaithful to God and despite many warnings through the Prophets, now God will punish them with the nation of Assyria. Yet God controls how far Assyria may go, and when Assyria goes too far, God brings them down. God is His grace, saves a Remnant of His People, through whom the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will come. Ever faithful to His Promise to send a Savior through the family of David, God's patience and abiding love always trumps His destruction, for God punishes only to turn us around so that He might have mercy on us.
v. 1 - The "Woe" of God to Israel to expose their sin and call them to repentance.
v. 5 - 11 God's tool, the nation of Assyria, to punish Israel
v. 12 - 19 God warns Assyria that they have taken this too far (God controls the punishment) and God will show that He is more powerful that the Assyrian's and they too must answer to God.
v. 20 - 34 There will come a Day, God's Day, to give the faithful in Israel hope that God has not abandoned them. One Day, God will abandon His Only Son, Jesus, on the cross, for our sake, so that we will be forgiven and never be abandoned.
v. 20 - Israel should lean on noone, except God!
v. 24 - God's "Do not fear" regarding their enemies, because God is more powerful!

Again, this is a lesson first recorded in Advent, before Christmas. Chapter 8 ends with the call to fear God and wait for the Lord. Now Chapter 9 Isaiah tells us about what God has planned for the future, fulfilled in what Jesus did. Jesus is the child who is born who will reign forever.

The video is one that we used back before Christmas this past year and is a good reminder of Isaiah's message from God. In December we focused on the chapters of Isaiah where God foretold His plan to send Jesus, the Messiah, so that we might have hope.I pray that it is a blessing to you and me as we read through more of Isaiah, the prophet of God.

Isaiah sent to King Ahaz with a message of hope from God, but unfortunately Ahaz refuses to have faith in God for deliverance. God still fulfills the promise for deliverance by sending Jesus.

There are blessings when we follow God, but destruction and death when we follow our ways.

In the courtroom of the universe, God, the prosecuting attorney brings His case against the children of Israel before the jury of heaven and earth. Yet God offers mercy, though they are guilty, and that mercy would be in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches about the times and the times to come.

On the way to the cross, Jesus is confronted by those who don't believe Him, and He teaches all who will listen to Him.

For the Monday in Holy Week, we read about Jesus entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and His day on Monday, clearing the temple and calling us to faith in Him.

Jesus heads to Jerusalem, meeting opposition from many, but determined to accomplish His mission to save us.