Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Stewart Crown, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 62. In chapter 62 Isaiah says “I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth.” And he tells the watchmen, “You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest.” Keep asking God again and again, keep praying, until He delivers on His promise. This is the boldness of faith. We hang on to God’s promises until we’re given a new name like Jacob. Judah is to hang on until the exiles return to them, when they will rebuild Jerusalem and receive the name “A City Not Forsaken.” The church is to hang on by celebrating the Eucharist until we receive our promised names spoken by the Bridegroom of the Church.

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 61. What does it mean to say “the LORD has anointed me” as in Isaiah chapter 61? Typically only kings and priests were anointed by God in Israel. Yet after the Babylonian invasion of Judah, there was no king or high priest left remaining in the land. In even greater audacity, when our Lord Jesus read these words and said that He was fulfilling them, there were a king and a high priest—Herod and Caiaphas, appointed by the Romans! All authority comes from Jesus Christ, and all authority in the church comes from His Word. God’s people are a holy priesthood not because everyone makes up their own mind, but because we all listen to the authoritative voice of the Anointed One as He speaks through those He calls and ordains.

Rev. Jim Kress, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Englewood, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 60. Often mothers greet their children who are still in bed with “Rise and shine!” It’s a phrase that signals the beginning of work and the promise of a new day. The phrase comes from Isaiah 60, where it signals the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the most amazing of reversals. The exiles will return with treasure, and their former Babylonian oppressors will help them carry the gold, frankincense, and myrrh! It foreshadows not only the magi, but the mission of the church and the heavenly Jerusalem still to come. All of this is accomplished by Christ’s light, His Word which shines into the darkness of sin.

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 59. Don’t try to tell God what He should and shouldn’t care about. In chapter 59, Isaiah says that the Judeans who survived the Babylonian conquest are fooling themselves if they think they can impress God with their hypocritical prayers and piety. It’s not that He’s blind to our plight or to our religious behavior; it’s that He can see what we do with the rest of our time. Yet thank God He cares more about our salvation than He does waiting for us to get it right. We would have groped in the darkness for eternity. In Christ, He brings His light and His armor of vengeance to defeat sin and darkness of idolatry.

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 58. The Judean survivors think they’re doing well by God. They call on His name and they fast, yet God shows no regard for their piety. What’s going on? According to Isaiah 58, the people only think they’re sincere because they’ve deluded themselves. They lack the light of God’s Word, so their religious fasting is accompanied by mistreating their neighbors. Too often today, pastors hold back in their preaching of the law, lulling their people into the false security that they aren’t part of the problems “out there.” We need Christ to shine His light on us in the Divine Service so that we are empowered to work toward justice for our neighbors.

Rev. Ben Ball, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 57. Judah has become a mess in the wake of the Babylonian devastation. Their religion has devolved into sexual immorality and sacrificing children to idols. In chapter 57 Isaiah says that the people are sorceresses and adulterers by their very nature. Isaiah speaks this way to offer repentance and forgiveness. There is still a way out! Those who repent will find healing and rebuilding: God is about to reunite the survivors with the exiles. And the faithful who die are “taken away from calamity” and enter into peace. Although we have found new ways to be guilty of the same old sins of idolatry, God makes us the same offer of repentance in Christ Jesus.

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 56. God will make His barren people fruitful! That’s been the message of the last two chapters, but now in Isaiah 56, the foreigners and eunuchs are wondering about their place in the people of God, since bearing children with a good Hebrew name is a sensitive topic for them. God is not fooled by outward religious practices, but He sees the faith behind them. It is the spirit of the law, not the letter, that is the way of faith. We only fulfill the law in Christ, who fulfills it for us. Our pastors are meant to be watchmen who bark like dogs when the danger of idolatry comes near, that nothing would avert our eyes from Christ.

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 55. Yahweh’s word came down like rain. It gave the exiles water and bread in the wilderness of exile—it gave them what they had hungered and thirsted for. In Isaiah 55, the idea of being “fruitful” ties together powerful words about what God does for us. Only His Word gives us true identity, purpose, hope, and salvation. We’re not going to get these things from the peoples around us. The return from exile was a sign of the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It seems strange that God should work through means as brutal as the Babylonians or the Cross, but God says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.”

Rev. William Foy, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 53. “Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” These are the words from Isaiah 53 that we hear read at Good Friday every year. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked about this passage, Philip used these words to tell him “the good news about Jesus.” Jesus Christ was crucified to forgive the sins of the whole world, including yours and mine. We should not assume that we are without sin just because we aRev. John Lukomski, retired pastor in Southern Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 54. Ruth and Orpah tragically lost their husbands so quickly that they had been left childless. Isaiah 54 describes Judah in similar terms, the exiles feeling abandoned and hopeless, like their story was left without purpose. God says to the exiles, “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.” He speaks to their raw pain and compassionately reassures them, swearing never to leave them again. This is also the story of the church following the Lord Jesus’s death. By leaving us for a short time, He ensured that not even death can separate us from Him. His love and resurrection are forever.re not severely punished by the government. The survivors of Judah wrongly assumed that the exiles were worse people than they were. No, the exile happened because of the sin of the whole nation, and now God was bringing the exiles home to resurrect His lost and wayward people, pointing ahead to Christ.

Rev. William Foy, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 53. “Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” These are the words from Isaiah 53 that we hear read at Good Friday every year. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked about this passage, Philip used these words to tell him “the good news about Jesus.” Jesus Christ was crucified to forgive the sins of the whole world, including yours and mine. We should not assume that we are without sin just because we are not severely punished by the government. The survivors of Judah wrongly assumed that the exiles were worse people than they were. No, the exile happened because of the sin of the whole nation, and now God was bringing the exiles home to resurrect His lost and wayward people, pointing ahead to Christ.