Dear Isaiah:
If I was a soldier I would want to follow you; if I was fortunate enough to be a general, I would want to be under your command! I see that God blessed you with many outstanding gifts, but what encourages me most about your example is your godly humility. When God rebuked you for your hypocrisy, you received the rebuke, humbled yourself under the mighty hand of God, and had the integrity to LISTEN to the Word of the Lord—ONLY. Amazing! That you followed the voice of the LORD in the midst of a nation of hypocrites who should have allowed the LORD to clean up their ungodly speech and follow you; instead they were filled with a demonic desire to resist the Word of God lovingly flowing from your heart and pure lips. I know this was a tragic sight for you to see and I perceive it was quite perplexing and piercing. I know your ministry was a labor of love which, like Jacob’s, seemed like little more than a restless night’s sleep compared to his love for his beloved.
The fact that your son courageously stood by your side as you battled the ungodly beasts is a blessing for me. I, too, have a faithful family, built upon your most holy faith standing at the ready by my side. They have the sword of your Lord in one hand and the service trowel in the other. At a moment’s notice, we are ready to serve our faithless generation in love or slice and dice our religious hypocrites with our Lord’s zealous sword!
Passages to dwell on:
1:1-11; 2:1-6; 3:4-9; 6:1-6; 9:6-12; 11:1-10; Ch. 12; 25:1-9; 26:20-21; 32:2-6; Ch. 35; 38:10-20; 40:2-6; 42:1-9; 45:1-6, 13; 46:1-4; 49:8-16; 50:2-9; 52:6-12; 52:13-53:12; 54:1-17; 55:1-11; 57:1-3; Ch. 59; 61:1-3 (Compare Luke 4:18); Ch. 64
PERSECUTION PRINCIPLES:
2:11 Despise all the world’s loftiness.
3:4 Bad BOYS sponsor bad government.
3:9 Defense of obvious sin means punishment is VERY CLOSE.
5:9 Gross greed replaces faith.
6:1 You will only see the LORD high and lifted up when you see Him in Baptism and Communion.
8:19 All talking apart from the Word is chirping and muttering.
9:2 God called the Gentiles. Cp, Matt. 4:4-16
9:5 YOU are God’s government which Christ carries on His shoulders!
9:7 God’s zeal (love plus hate) performs ALL things.
10:1 NO fairness—NO faith
10:3 God hates and punishes alliances.
10:20 True faith is COMPLETE TRUST.
10:22 There is always only a REMNANT, which LOOKS AS IF it will be destroyed. Cp. Matt. 24:22.
12:1 The best Thanksgiving (Eucharist) is your public confession.
14:3 EVERYTHING aims at the consolation of the godly.
14:31 Prophets speak of future events as if they were present.
19:1 False religion quakes and trembles in danger.
21:9 The kingdom of Antichrist is FALLEN: BELIEVE IT!
23:16 REMEMBRANCE is high praise to what God has done.
24:5 The earth is polluted because of false religion. Democracy is the world religion of today.
24:6 Suffering comes because of guilt.
24:14 The Jew will be brought to spiritual life by YOUR voice.
25:1 God’s plans are old and certain.
25:11 Christ will chase the Jew into the net of salvation.
26:1 YOU, the Church, are a Strong City—all Hell’s fury cannot hurt it.
26:7 Christians move in a straight line—lock-step in DOCTRINE.
26:11 The ungodly do not see the LORD waving at them through us.
26:20 HIDE in the LORD for a little while until the storm passes.
27:4 DO NOT think God is angry with you.
27:7 God does not strike the Church the way an enemy smites.
27:9 God strikes so as to remove GUILT—EXPIATION.
28:7 Judgment looks because Religion serves up nothing but VOMIT.
28:9 God only teaches CHILDREN!
28:10 Keep waiting! Don’t Blaspheme! His plan will unfold in HIS TIME.
28:13 The ungodly are zealous but make no real progress.
28:14 ANYONE outside of Luther is a scoffer who lives only for THIS life.
28:16 Don’t hurry; don’t worry; don’t forget to dwell on the Foundation!
28:19 Judgment comes QUICKLY and takes by SURPRISE.
28:20 The cross teaches us to snuggle up to Christ.
28:22 God is speaking through me: God is soon to judge the world and preserve for Himself the Last Remnant of the Church—the Jew.
28:24 Affliction only prepares the ground of your soul for Better Seed.
29:10 God gives those who cannot be won over by promises or threats over to a base mind…as He did to the Jews 2,000 years ago.
29:13 This base mind is the direct result of defending their sin and error.
29:19 TAKE STOCK of yourself! If you do not find yourself wretched and afflicted, you have no need of Christ.
29:21 The ungodly are VICIOUS to anyone who attacks their ungodliness.
30:1 The ungodly are renegade children who want only to carry out THEIR PLAN.
30:8 Luther is a witness against rebellious people.
30:12 The ungodly put the worst construction on everything good.
30:15 IF you will stand down and be quiet, you will be saved.
30:20 God will give you bread and provision, even under Antichrist.
30:21 Luther is the word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it!”
30:27 You may only see and feel Antichrist bearing down upon you, but God is even closer to you, burning in anger against Antichrist.
31:5 God surrounds you like hovering birds.
33:1 Antichrist will be destroyed when he has destroyed what God wants him to destroy.
33:2 ALWAYS cry out to God, “Be my arm!”
33:11 All the grand plans of the ungodly are as dry stubble next to a raging fire.
34:6 RIDICULE ANTICHRIST: God is just fattening him up for the slaughterhouse. “Eat! Piggy-piggy; get good and fat!”
34:8 Vengeance and recompense is coming.
34:16 NOT A SINGLE LETTER from all God’s promises will remain unfulfilled.
35:1 The blessing of the peace, life and cheerful conscience of the Church is hidden under the cross.
36:7 The ungodly turn the works of God done through His servants into pure evil.
36:21 Don’t argue with Satan and his followers. Make fun of them if you must move your tongue, but DO NOT ARGUE. You can only spiral downward and lose your center in Christ.
37:3 What God wants to be born will be born—He wants the Jew born—again!
37:7 God can fell your enemies by the most insignificant means!!!!
37:20 True prayer is short and sour. “God is more quick to hear than we are to pray.”
37:22 YOU are the VICTOR, NOT the victim.
37:36 Whatever is happening has been decreed by God long, long ago.
37:27 The lofty plans of the world vanish VERY quickly.
37:28 All rage is directed against God and only God.
37:30 The Remnant are fed miraculously.
37:32 God’s zeal will direct the Jew to Himself.
38:14 All oppression is deserved: cry out to God: cry out to God anyway and God will cast your sin behind His back.
38:15 ALL God wants from you is your THANKSGIVING for the rest of your life.
38:16 Beg God for restoration; realize He restores you through NO effort of your own—while you are sleeping (Psalm 127:2).
38:12 For the Christian, life is ALL about viewing and praising God’s work.
38:17 All bitterness is for our welfare and humbling. All bitterness comes as a result of seeking peace apart from God.
39:1 Rejoicing in prosperity is the worst idolatry.
The arrogance of humility is far more pestilential than pride.
Pride only brings temporal punishment; false humility brings eternal punishment.
The memory of a good life well-lived is a most delightful thing—TO THE UNGODLY.
40:1 ALL God cares about is the COMFORT of His Remnant in the midst of tribulation.
40:2 The Law produces warfare; the GOSPEL produces a double blessing for sin.
40:9 The Gospel comes strictly through the VOICE.
40:10 YOU WILL HAVE SUCCESS.
40:11 God carries His lambs in His arms.
40:5 Nations are as dust to God.
40:25 God easily brings princes to nothing.
40:29 God gives power to the faint—WAIT.
41:1 ONLY LISTENING brings renewal to the nations.
41:6 The response of the ungodly in the midst of trouble is a doubling down on their idolatry.
41:8 The Remnant is the family of Abraham—the special friend of God. God will comfort and protect YOU just as He did Abraham.
41:11 ALL your enemies will be confounded—they are as NOTHING.
41:14 YOU are the world’s pulverizer—smoothie-maker.
41:17 It will SEEM like you will die of thirst.
41:20 Your deliverance and perseverance is a testament to God’s glory.
41:22 God’s major argument against false religion: ONLY HE foretells the future (Cyrus).
41:29 False religion makes man DELUSIONAL. (Superstition: “If I do this, then this will occur.”)
42:1 Christ is God’s Servant with God’s Spirit Who will bring JUSTICE TO THE NATIONS.
42:2 JUSTICE comes via a GENTLE VOICE.
42:3 The BRUISED REED (weak conscience) and the DIM WICK (the difficult) are dealt with GENTLY.
42:6 Christ is the NEW COVENANT to the PEOPLE—ALL PEOPLE.
42:15 Christ laid waste to kings and princes.
42:24 GOD gave Jacob over to idolatry.
43:2 When you walk through the fire you will not be burned.
43:3 God gives the whole world as a ransom for YOU.
43:18 Forget about the Law and Priesthood.
43:21 The Church is the People He formed for HIMSELF.
43:22 The self-righteous wear themselves out, but not for the Lord.
43:25 God blots out transgressions for HIS OWN SAKE. To hell with merit!
43:28 Those who want to be very holy, God makes very profane.
44:19 Idolaters refuse to acknowledge they make an idol out of the very same wood (words and ideas) that they use to cook their food.
45:1 Cyrus is God’s anointed one, taken by the hand. Mordecai and Ezra looked forward to Cyrus.
45:4 Please do not be offended that God behaves as if He was a very weak God.
45:10 WOE TO HIM WHO STRIVES WITH HIS MAKER.
45:15 TRULY THOU ART A GOD WHO HIDES THYSELF. Faith deals in opposites.
45:19 God does not speak in secret!
45:20 God wants the idolaters to assemble to pool and prove their foolhardiness.
45:23 EVERY KNEE shall bow and every tongue shall confess. (Cp. Romans 14:11)
46:1 Idols are too heavy for even beasts to carry.
46:3 From the cradle to the grave we are in the uterus of the Word.
46:5 Misfortune makes many gods.
47:1 The prophets use Coming Disaster to incite the Remnant to believe instead of believing a comfortable life provided by the pagans is safe.
47:9 Disaster comes in a moment and a day.
48:22 There is NO peace for the wicked.
49:1 Christ’s reign of the Gentile was strictly via the Word.
49:6 Christ was a Light to the Nations.
49:15 Feel forsaken? Can you forget your nursing child? God cannot forget His Remnant.
49:23 Kings and queens have been the Remnant’s parents.
50: Have a flint-like face to bear their insults.
51:1 Consider the context of Abraham and Sarah’s life!!! They were in TRUE ENEMY TERRITORY.
51:9 AWAKE, O LORD, AND COME!
51:17 Christians drink the cup of God’s wrath to the point of staggering!!!
51:18 It often SEEMS as if we are bereft of Guidance and deserted. The deep sighs this produces induce God to turn to us and deliver us.
51:22 THE LORD PLEADS YOUR CASE.
53:1 Very few believe!
53:2 The ideas of Christ’s Kingdom repulses men.
54:1 SING, O BARREN ONE!! YOU will bring forth children.
54:7 Wrath is a decimal point in time.
54:9 Be consoled by Noah, who had to experience awesome storms.
54:11 Your ONLY True Comfort comes from the LORD, not this world.
54:14 Anxiety rolls off your back.
54:17 Your faith is INVINCIBLE.
55:1 A Christian is one who is always thirsty because this world is Texas-hot.
55:3 The EAR is the lifeline of the soul.
55:7 Give up your opinions about how to obtain peace.
56:1 DO NOT despise the preaching of the Law! If the world becomes chaotic, keep doing right.
56:3 IN CHRIST, in faith, YOU, Gentile, have been worthy.
56:11 Reason for destruction? Each teaches his own way.
57:1 The Righteous are taken away from destruction.
57:4 You are the butt of their jokes, but they will not have the last laugh!
57:5 Idolatry burns within man equivalent to sexual lust.
57:9 Treaties are sure signs of idolatry/godliness.
57:13 The proudest heretics are the most womanish when hard times come.
57:20 The wicked are like the tossing sea; all its activity just tosses up froth and mud.
58:1 CRY ALOUD AGAINST THEM!
58:4 The works-righteous are TYRANTS.
58:6 Hypocrisy is a cover for ungodliness.
58:8 God has your back.
58:11 In troubled times you WILL have abundance.
58:12 YOU ARE building the Church and the Eternal State.
YOU ARE the Builder and the RESTORER.
Chapter 59: THE CHAPTER THE JEW MUST CHOKE ON.
59:16 Even God is shocked at the evil of mankind.
60:2-3 The darkness of Moses gave way to the Light of the Gospel.
61:1 Even Christ did not come by His own impulse/will.
61:2 The New Testament has been the year of the Lord’s favor—mourners have been comforted.
61:6 N.T. believers are ALL priests.
62:1 A CHRISTIAN CANNOT KEEP SILENT.
61:2 Christians have a New Name.
62:10 YOU wage war under the Lord’s banner.
63:3 Christ will spill much blood. (Cp. Rev. 9:15)
63:7 In tribulation, recount the loving works of God.
64:1 NOTHING urges us to cry out—COME—like the smugness of the enemies of the Word.
64:6 YOUR “righteousness” is as soiled clothing.
64:9 THE RESPONSE to Antichrist: Remember not iniquity forever! Behold us! Consider our plight!
65:1 God wants to be FOUND—NOT SOUGHT.
65:2 God begged the Jew to follow Christ, but they only wanted their own devices.
65:6 Their hardness is indelibly written down…just as the hardness of my family and friends is written down on the fleshy tables of my heart.
65:17 Former things will not be remembered in eternity. Our response: “What a dark sun we had!”
65:23 Your labor is not in vain!!!!!
65:24 Prayer is answered before you pray.
66:2 God looks ONLY upon the humble and the contrite.
66:3 False worship is worse than murder.
66:5 YOU ARE HATED.
66:9 God WILL cause the birth of the Jew.
66:11 The breasts of the Holy Spirit are full of consolation.
66:19 There is always only a Remnant.
66:24 DEAD BODIES ARE COMING!