When a scribe asked Jesus what he thought was the greatest commandment, the answer Jesus gave may have seemed odd to the scribe and certainly to us. It is odd, because the first thing Jesus points to doesn’t appear to be a command at all. It’s a...

Why must God give commands? The answers of Scripture to this question are many, but chief among them is that the commands of God are given so that we might live. The law describes what it looks like to truly live, but if we have failed to embody...

In the poetry of Isaiah 60, when the Israelites return from exile, they bring the nations with them. While this might be figurative, God's people were right to expect a great ingathering of the nations. Christ was on his way, and when Christ is...

In this week's passage, what some know as the second of the Songs, we see a glimpse of Christmas, set against the backdrop of Jesus' whole ministry. Christ is the one who was hidden in the palm of God's hand for long ages until at last...

Of the kings who ruled during Isaiah's ministry, Ahaz was the worst. But when Ahaz was trembling at the threat of war, God sent him assurance in the form of a child who would be called Immanuel. While this prophecy was immediately fulfilled in...

The conquest of God's judgment is not destruction for its own sake. In chapters 25 and 35, Isaiah looks past the destruction that looms ahead to reveal the end result: the restoration of all things. The destruction is paving the way toward...

Isaiah is shown a vision of the Lord enthroned in glory, and he responds with despair, being both unclean himself and of a people who are unclean. His is the despair of coming to see sin in the light of God's holiness. But his despair leads to...

Just as Israel once found herself awaiting Christ, we do the same. In the days of Isaiah, Israel had been compromised by injustice, indifference to the poor, and the glib presumption that surely God will not judge, as though they had made a secret...

This Sunday of Christ the King, we remember that Christ will surely come again. In the ending of Revelation Christ three times announces that his coming is soon. He comes to make all things right and to make all things new, which is to say that all...

This week we conclude our series on the Nicene Creed. The Creed ends where history will end: with the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. All in the Christian life is premised on hope. Christ is raised, and therefore no...