Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Warren Woerth, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Arnold, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 28. The language is harsh: God says that the current priests and prophets of Jerusalem are no better than retching and reeling drunks. And Ephraim, the city on a hill, is ripe for the picking—it will be devoured whole! For too long, the proud and powerful have mocked God’s prophets and spurned His Word. Now they will have to hear the word of the Assyrians, along with their volleys of arrows that rain like hail. Yet God uses the tools of destruction for the sake of the faithful remnant. Like a farmer with various tools for different tasks and crops, God works wisely to save His people from their “covenant with death” and their “agreement with Sheol.” He literally rescued Judah from an ensnaring alliance with Egypt; He spiritually saves us from sin, death, and the devil through Christ’s covenant-annulling death and covenant-creating resurrection.

Rev. Ken Wagener, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 26. They hurled false accusations against him, but David was innocent. He was well acquainted with his own sinfulness, but he was innocent of these charges being brought forward. Psalm 26 is David’s appeal to a higher court, the heavenly court of God. He asks for God to exonerate him because he knows that God sees all and knows all, even when it seems like the rest of the world is against him. “O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” This isn’t mere sentimentality. David is affirming his allegiance to the ways of God, at the same time rejecting the secret dealings of hypocrisy. This is the right understanding of “hate,” as we see with our Lord Jesus. He showed compassion for the lost without the slightest hint of compromising God’s truth, and it is because of His integrity that we all may stand on the level ground of the resurrection.

Rev. Bernard Ross, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Alma, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 27. “He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.” Isaiah chapter 27 begins with this act of God’s judgment, concluding the previous chapter. Angels are often described in serpentine terms in the Old Testament. Here God promises to punish a fallen angel, the coiling sea dragon named “Leviathan,” as He destroys the nations and evil forces that have oppressed Israel. And where there are serpents, there is often fruit. The next verse goes back to the vineyard metaphor of chapter 5. God calls His people to repentance, to bear good fruit by destroying their idols. King Hezekiah led the people of Judah in this temporal atonement, but he represents Jesus Christ, the good king who gives us spiritual atonement, not only through His suffering and death, but also through His resurrection and works of love.

Rev. John Lukomski, retired pastor in Northfield, Minnesota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 26. “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!” This bold resurrection language in Isaiah 26 only comes after extensive lamentation and somber reflection. It still builds on the death-of-death idea, but it’s very different from the hymn of praise in the previous chapter. On one hand, death is the ultimate enemy, but on the other, it is necessary for resurrection. God doesn’t bring death frivolously. He only does so to protect His people from being ruled by idols. He takes evil rulers like Babylon down to the shades to cut off the remembrance of idolatry and ruthlessness (Isaiah 14). Yet by His mercy, the earth will give up the shades as it gives birth to a new creation, just as Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. On that day, the poor and needy will no longer be trampled and oppressed, although the faithful often suffer in this life, buried with Christ.

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 27. From the abundance of God’s diverse creation arises a diversity of perspectives and poetic metaphors. All these images are held together in the beauty of Christ: He is both a fortress and a weapon, a stronghold and a guiding light, an ornate temple and a mobile tabernacle. The language of Psalm 27 shows that God is with us wherever we go, but this is precisely because He is with us in a special way in certain places through Word and Sacrament. David’s confidence in the face of warfare didn’t come from his bravery but from God’s faithfulness. He asks for God’s help on behalf of the whole people of Israel, and He is strong on behalf of the whole people of Israel. Ultimately Jesus the Messiah represents us all in His death, resurrection, and ascension, creating our faith because of His faithfulness.

Rev. Peter Bender, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Sussex, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 25. “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.” These beloved words, quoted both in 1 Corinthians and Revelation, are often read on Easter Sunday. They’ve inspired countless hymns as they powerfully proclaim the resurrection. In Isaiah’s context, many people worshiped the fertility god Baal. According to pagan belief, as mighty as Baal was, he was swallowed up by death every year at the start of the dry season. Isaiah testifies to Yahweh, an even greater God who would end the cycle of death forever. Our true God did so by letting death swallow His son for a short time, never to happen again. Thus Jesus atones for our sins and rescues the church from her shame, bringing mighty Babylon down to the level of defeated Moab.

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 24. Chapter 24 is the most Revelation-like and apocalyptic oracle in Isaiah thus far. It amplifies familiar themes to a cosmic scale that we haven’t seen since chapter 13. It doesn’t matter how much money or power you have; the judgment will be truly universal, because humanity has broken God’s universal covenant. The “everlasting covenant” that God made with the world at the creation, the covenant that was renewed after Noah’s flood, meant for us to fill the earth, to exercise dominion, and to represent God. Because we have instead rallied together to dominate the weak and make gods of ourselves, as we did at the Tower of Babel, God comes to judge heaven and earth. Our first reaction should be to mourn with the rest of the earth and repent for our part in it all, trusting in the mercy of “the Righteous One” who is our sun & moon and king of kings.

Rev. Mark Preus, pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church & Campus Center in Laramie, Wyoming, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 23. We take international commerce for granted today, but in BC times only certain coastal cities enjoyed the wealth and status that comes from doing business around the world. Tyre was the “bestower of crowns” as it facilitated the exchange of power and treasure between virtually every nation on earth, even as far off as Tarshish—possibly located in what is modern-day Spain! Despite all the wealth of Tyre and Sidon, God would use the Assyrians to humble them in subjugation. Their freedom would return somewhat when the Assyrian Empire began to disintegrate in civil war, but God would use them to care for His people. This pattern would repeat itself later with the Babylonians and again under the Romans. Their example is instructive for us, as health and wealth are idolized in America today. The two go hand in hand, commanding fear and trust even when we don’t realize it. Only Christ’s healing and riches can wake the human heart from its idolatry.

Rev. Robert Paul, pastor of Memorial Church & School in Houston, Texas, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 22. Throughout this first part of Isaiah, the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem has been described as a moment of God’s grace: He preserved a remnant, He smote the Assyrians by the Angel of the LORD, and He worked a second Passover. In chapter 22 however, Isaiah uses this event to speak a word of law against the proud and unrepentant. Men like Shebna trusted in Egypt rather than God, and in their despair they thought only of feasting before being buried in ornate tombs. God meant the destruction to bring Jerusalem to repentance and hope in Him, that Judah’s valley of judgment would be for them a “valley of vision” to restore them from spiritual blindness. For those who return to God, like Eliakim, they will experience the power of God’s authoritative and forgiving Word. We experience God’s power and authority in the church through the servants of Christ, and so did the saints of the “Old Testament church.”

Rev. Zelwyn Heide, pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Grassy Butte and St. Peter Lutheran Church in Belfield, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 21. Isaiah 21 contains three oracles that seem to be related somehow, but they sound so strange and alien to us! The first oracle has to do with the fall of Babylon, and the second two oracles have to do with refugees being rescued from the Kedarites. When did all of these things happen though? Babylon was at the center of conflict for centuries, captured and recaptured time and again. One possibility is that Isaiah is talking about the downfall of the centuries-long Assyrian Empire and their allies the Kedarites. Babylon fell and was taken from the Assyrians—by the Babylonians! Perhaps Isaiah and Habakkuk were talking about the same thing. As God finally banished the Assyrian shadow, we long for the morning of the resurrection to dawn. “What time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” Though the darkness is deep, God is in control of all, and Christ is coming soon.