The LORD has repeatedly declared that He alone knows and accomplishes what will come in the future. He provides further evidence of that reality by naming the Persian king, Cyrus, over one hundred years ahead of time. Through Cyrus, the LORD will deliver His people from Babylon, so that all would know that the LORD alone is God. He is the One who guides and directs all things, even when His ways are hidden. Yet, where the LORD has revealed Himself, His people cling to Him there and trust in His ...
Mar 14, 2024•55 min
This marvelous hymn helps us to rejoice in the reality of God's love for us sinners. Through Christ's death, God loves us to the uttermost, even though we were loveless and undeserving. The hymn traces the way that Jesus humbled Himself by taking on our humanity and suffering at the hands of the very people He had come to save. Though Jesus did not deserve such treatment, He willingly endured His passion, death, and burial in order to save us. For that reason, we sing the praises of Jesus now an...
Mar 13, 2024•56 min
The LORD tells His people to listen, for He has formed them from the womb. They need not fear, as the LORD brings even Gentiles to faith in Him so that they see along with Israel that the LORD is the only God who declares and accomplishes what is to come. Isaiah exposes the foolishness of idolatry, as if a statue fashioned by a man could ever be worshiped as almighty. Those who worship idols are led astray into lies, and there is no deliverance for them. When Israel remembers this reality, they ...
Mar 12, 2024•57 min
The LORD calls out to His people to take away their fear. Even in exile, He is with them as their God and King; He will gather His people together whom He has formed and created. The nations are put on trial, but the LORD brings forth Israel as the witness to His saving acts. Their very existence proves that He is the only Savior and that idols must fail. As He once made a way through the sea to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt, so He promises to accomplish a new exodus by delivering His...
Mar 11, 2024•56 min
The work of the Servant of the LORD brings singing. The choir grows throughout creation and to the ends of the earth as praises resound for what God has done. He shouts aloud in victory like a mighty warrior or a woman in labor, for His deliverance is here. He guides those who are blind and opens their eyes who have been blinded by idolatry. The shocking reality is that it is God’s own people Israel who have been so blinded. Though they had been called to be the LORD’s servant, they have not liv...
Mar 08, 2024•56 min
The LORD brings forth His chosen and beloved servant. Although Israel and others have been called the LORD’s servants, the Servant described here is finally Jesus. St. Matthew and the other evangelists quote from this text and allude to it so that we might see Jesus fulfilling it in His Baptism, in His ministry of healing and preaching, in His crucifixion, and in His resurrection. As the One who bears the Spirit, Jesus serves us by sustaining us under the weariness of our sin in order to bring t...
Mar 07, 2024•56 min
This Lenten hymn helps us to give thanks for all of the benefits that Jesus has won for us by His suffering and death in our place. Throughout the hymn, numerous pictures are used to help us see the fullness of the Gospel. Christ has accomplished the great exchange for us in so many ways. He was bound to set us free. He was wounded to heal us. He took our curse to give us His blessing. He received shame so that we might have honor. His crown of thorns means a crown of heavenly glory for us. For ...
Mar 06, 2024•56 min
The LORD calls the nations and their idols into the courtroom and challenges to bring forth any compelling testimony. Can idols tell what things will happen in the future and bring those things to be? Can idols correctly interpret all of history? Can idols do anything at all? The LORD gives the answer: “No! Idols are nothing, and all who trust in them are an abomination.” The LORD then provides testimony of His own. He is the One who will bring Cyrus as a deliverer of His people; He is the One w...
Mar 05, 2024•56 min
The nations have not heeded the LORD’s call to repentance over idolatry, and so He turns to strengthen His people Israel as His servant. They need not fear, because the LORD is their God who defeats the enemies who strive against them. Though Israel has been a helpless worm, the LORD promises His help and deliverance. He will answer His people’s prayers and will not forsake them, so that they will see that He has done this for them. As Isaiah records these words, he gives to us a picture of Jesu...
Mar 04, 2024•55 min
The LORD calls even the coastlands to hear the testimony of who He is. As evidence, the LORD presents Himself as the One who stirs up someone from the east who will be victorious at every turn. Although Cyrus of Persia will fulfill this promise in part, ultimately, the LORD speaks here of Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is the first and the last who rules over all nations in every generation. The nations, however, do not heed this call to repentance; instead, they continue in their idolatry, which ...
Mar 01, 2024•56 min
The LORD makes it plain that He alone has created and sustains all things. No one showed Him how to do His work. The nations are nothing before the LORD, and idols are human creations that have no power to move. The LORD alone rules over all creation and over all human empires; no one can compare to Him. Therefore, His people must not think that He is unaware of their way. He is the everlasting God who uses His almighty power in order to strengthen His people in their weakness. Through trust in ...
Feb 29, 2024•57 min
This Lenten hymn helps us to meditate on the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice for us in fulfillment of all the Old Testament sacrifices. The blood of bulls and goats all alone could not atone for human sin; only the divine blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, can give us peace. For that reason, we go to Christ in repentance and lay our hands on Him as the scapegoat so that He takes our sins away. He bore the burden of our guilt; in faith in Him, we rejoice in His bleeding love for us. Find thi...
Feb 28, 2024•55 min
To the Babylonian exiles, the LORD has a word of double comfort. Their warfare is over; their sins are forgiven. A voice crying in the wilderness first announces this good news, preparing the way for the LORD to come to His repentant people. This good news is ultimately for all flesh, so that they would see the LORD’s glory revealed. Although people are here today and gone tomorrow, the LORD’s Word endures forever. That Word is proclaimed by Zion and Jerusalem, so that they would see their God a...
Feb 27, 2024•55 min
Isaiah had an extensive ministry as a prophet to the people of Judah, proclaiming God’s Word under the reigns of four kings. He was called into the heavenly throne room of the Holy One of Israel. There, the LORD absolved Isaiah of his sin and sent him as a proclaimer of His Word. Isaiah’s preaching spanned key historical events, as he proclaimed God’s Word in the midst of Assyrian dominance of his own day and in the midst of Babylonian oppression that would come a hundred years after his martyrd...
Feb 26, 2024•56 min
"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 i...
Feb 26, 2024•3 min
Although most of the letter to the Galatians was physically written down by a scribe according to St. Paul’s dictation, the Apostle now picks up the pen himself to write the conclusion of the letter. His large letters authenticate the letter as coming from him, as he emphasizes once more to the Galatians the necessity of holding onto the true Gospel. Those who insist upon circumcision only want to boast in themselves; St. Paul would have the Galatians boast only in Christ crucified. In the final...
Feb 23, 2024•56 min
St. Paul calls the Galatians to care for each other when sin rears its head within the congregation. The goal of calling a brother to repentance is restoration. Those who exercise such care for others should exercise appropriate care themselves, lest they deceive themselves and fall into their own unrepentant sin. The standard for the whole congregation is the Law of God, not sinful comparisons to each other. Those who teach these things in the congregation ought to be held in high regard, so th...
Feb 22, 2024•56 min
This Lenten hymn is full of beautiful imagery that teaches us of Christ and His work for us. He is the living water given by God Himself to provide life and rest for us sinners. Though our sin has offended Him, yet God has willingly taken our pain upon Himself on the cross. When we consider Christ crucified, the Lord brings us to repentance over our sins, knowing that the grace He shows here grants us eternal peace. In this faith, the Lord sustains us until the end when we are with Him in glory ...
Feb 21, 2024•56 min
As those set free by Christ, the Galatians have been placed by God on the way of walking according to the Spirit. However, the sinful flesh wars against those desires of the Spirit, and so the Christian is engaged in a constant struggle. On the one hand, the works of the flesh are readily evident. Whether “big” or “small,” all of these works of the flesh lead us away from the kingdom of God. However, the Holy Spirit works His fruit in His people. Because we are alive in the Spirit, we walk with ...
Feb 20, 2024•56 min
St. Paul urges the Galatians to live in the freedom that Christ has given them from the law, rather than submitting again to slavery. By viewing even only circumcision as necessary for salvation, the whole law must then be kept. If the Galatians pursue that path, they are cutting themselves off from Christ, as even just a little leaven of false teaching will spread and work destruction. St. Paul speaks strong words to those who would teach such falsehoods. He once again calls the Galatians to li...
Feb 19, 2024•56 min
St. Paul turns to a text from Genesis that the opponents were attempting to use to lead the Galatians astray. He goes through the account of the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, and proclaims the free salvation that comes from Christ. Those who seek their salvation in works of the law belong to the son of slavery, Ishmael; those who have their salvation through faith in Christ alone belong to the son of freedom, Isaac. Such freedom is not found in circumcision, but in the work that Christ...
Feb 16, 2024•56 min
St. Paul entreats the Galatians that they would not return to the slavery of idolatry of their former way of life. To look for salvation under works of the law is nothing else than such slavery. The Apostle reminds the Galatians of his faithful ministry among them and their faithful reception of the gospel he preached to them. Why would they now reject him and treat him as an enemy? He expresses his anguish and his confusion at their attraction to false doctrine, and gives them an opportunity to...
Feb 15, 2024•55 min
Even as the hymns for the season of Lent are penitential in nature, they also point us to the joy that is ours in justification by grace through faith in Christ. Martin Luther’s hymn on Psalm 130 is a marvelous example of this truth. We cry out to our God from the depths of our sin because we know that He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His forgiveness is the only hope we have, and He gives it to us with grace upon grace. Therefore, we wait for H...
Feb 14, 2024•56 min
St. Paul continues to speak of the Law as our guardian. When we were under the Law as guardian, we were no different than slaves. However, the Law was not to be our guardian forever. At the time appointed by the Father, He sent His Son into our humanity in order to fulfill the Law in our place and redeem us from that Law. Through the work of the Son, we have been adopted as sons of God. Now, the Father has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to cry out to God as our dear Father. Because w...
Feb 13, 2024•56 min
St. Paul brings up a human example of a last will and testament to distinguish between God’s law and promise. The promise that God made to Abraham and his offspring, who is Christ, is not annulled by the law given at Sinai. This does not mean that the law is unimportant or bad; rather, the law was given to show transgressions and make people ready for the coming of Christ. Now that Christ has come, we are no longer under the law as our guardian, but we have the full inheritance of sons because w...
Feb 12, 2024•56 min
St. Paul calls the Galatians away from their foolishness. False teaching has taken their eyes off Christ crucified so that they think that they can somehow be perfected by works of the Law, even though the Holy Spirit was given to them when they heard the Word of God with faith. Though the Judaizers claim that being a son of Abraham is a matter of circumcision, St. Paul shows from the Word of God that to be a son of Abraham is to share Abraham’s faith in the promise of God. Anyone who tries to r...
Feb 09, 2024•55 min
St. Paul comes to the thesis of the letter to the Galatians. Whether a person is a Jew or a Gentile, that person will be declared righteous not by works of the law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. This is what St. Paul, St. Peter, all the apostles, and all Christians believe. The fact that Christ forgives sinners does not make Him a servant of sin; rather, we are the transgressors. By His death on the cross, God has atoned for our sins. Through faith, we have been crucified with Christ, ...
Feb 08, 2024•55 min
St. Paul recalls another visit he made to Jerusalem. On this occasion, he was with Barnabas, and Titus accompanied them. They confirmed with those who seemed influential there that together they had true fellowship in the only Gospel that saves. When false brothers attempted to take away Christian freedom by forcing circumcision upon Titus, St. Paul refused in order to confess clearly that salvation comes only through faith in Christ. Another time in Antioch, St. Paul had to confront St. Peter f...
Feb 07, 2024•55 min
St. Paul makes sure that the Galatians know that the Gospel he preached was not one that he made up, nor did any man. Rather, he received this Gospel through a revelation from Jesus Himself. St. Paul recounts his former way of life in Judaism as a zealous keeper of the Law and a persecutor of the Gospel. By grace alone, God called Paul to the truth so that he began to proclaim the Gospel among the Gentiles immediately. Only three years later did St. Paul make a brief visit to Jerusalem, after wh...
Feb 06, 2024•55 min
St. Paul identifies himself to the Galatians as one sent by the God who raised Jesus from the dead. He writes to the Galatians in the grace and peace that come from Jesus, who has given Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. Without any further pleasantries, St. Paul launches into the reason for his letter. He expresses amazement that the Galatians are forsaking the only Gospel for a different one, which is no Gospel at all. Any so-called gospel that claims to add somethi...
Feb 05, 2024•56 min
