Sharper Iron — The Fifth Evangelist - Isaiah 65:1-16: The LORD Says to You, “Here I Am!”

The LORD responds to His people’s prayer by reminding them that He was ready for them to seek and find Him in the ways that He had chosen to reveal Himself to them. Even as He spread His hands out to them, they engaged in all kinds of idolatrous practices that made them smoke in His nostrils. To His servants who respond to this rebuke in repentance, the LORD promises that He will be faithful to His remnant. To the wicked who continue to see after the LORD in their self-chosen ways, however, the LORD reveals that they never knew Him or listened to Him at all; they shall be put to shame. Nonetheless, the LORD will be faithful to His servants; they receive His blessing through faith in the Servant, His Son, Jesus Christ.

Rev. Shawn Linnell, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Blair, NE, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Isaiah 65:1-16.

“The Fifth Evangelist” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through Isaiah 40-66. Though Isaiah lived one hundred years beforehand, he writes to the people of God in exile in Babylon to assure them that their God reigns and will rescue them through the work of His servant. These promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, whose work Isaiah proclaims vividly seven hundred years beforehand.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

Isaiah 65:1-16

Judgment and Salvation

65 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by^[a] my name.
²I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
³a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
⁴who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
who eat pig’s flesh,
    and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
⁵who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
⁶Behold, it is written before me:
    “I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their lap
⁷    both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,
says the Lord;
because they made offerings on the mountains
    and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”^[b]

⁸Thus says the Lord:
“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
    and not destroy them all.
⁹I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people who have sought me.
¹¹But you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹²I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, my servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out for pain of heart
    and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
¹⁵You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but his servants he will call by another name,
¹⁶so that he who blesses himself in the land
    shall bless himself by the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my eyes.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon
Isaiah 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap

Rev. Timothy Appel

Although a mathematics degree may not be incredibly helpful to (proudly born-and-raised Texan) Rev. Timothy Appel while hosting Sharper Iron, his love of CFW Walther and the season of Easter will come in handy. His Call is shepherding the flock at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, Illinois, and he’s also husband to wife Kristin and dad to their growing basketball team of children. When he’s not carrying out pastoral duties, you may find him reading “The Lord of the Rings,” snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, playing dominoes with his boys, or studying up on Texas history (including Sam Houston, of course).