August 18-22
[M] Isaiah 7-10; Psalm 22; Matt 26
[T] Isa 11-13; Ps 118; Matt 27
[W] Isa 14-16; Matt 28
[T] Isa 17-19; Ps 62; 1 Corinthians 1
[F] Isa 20-22; 1 Corinthians 2
Dwell Plan Day 166-170 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF
Notes from Jon & Chris
Monday
Isaiah 7:12 | If for some reason God ever asks you to ask for a sign, don’t play games with Him. Don’t suddenly decide, like king Ahaz in this moment, to act more godly than you are. When God actually tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, Ahaz pulls the worst kind of unbelief, he dresses up his lack of faith in some kind of false piety. “I wouldn’t want to test God,” he says. In almost any other context, that’s the right answer. But coming from Ahaz and his unbelief, it’s just a cheap knock-off of faith. It’s not the real deal. So in answer to Ahaz’s foolish piety and postured righteousness, God says He will give a sign anyway, and then mentions the virgin birth—the most amazing sort of miracle possible—the way God would send His own Son. So despite this phony humility of Ahaz, God responds by predicting His own coming in human flesh. Wow. What an amazing answer to human hypocrisy! God chooses to love those who don’t even trust Him enough to ask for a miracle. This is grace beyond grace.
Isaiah 7:14 | These words were first spoken into a moment of national crisis. King Ahaz of Judah was terrified by the threat of invading armies, and God promised him a sign of deliverance. Here is where the difficulty comes in: there has been much debate over whether Isaiah spoke of a young woman in his own day (as the Hebrew word ‘almah’ can mean) or if this was a far-off prophecy about the Messiah. As believers committed to the inspiration of Scripture, we don’t need to flatten the richness of God’s word. This sign had an immediate relevance for Ahaz, yet Matthew—under the Spirit’s inspiration—declares it to be fulfilled supremely in the virgin birth of Christ (Matt. 1:22–23).
The immediate historical sign may have reassured Ahaz that God was with His people in that generation, but the greater sign would come centuries later in Bethlehem. Here is where God’s promise breaks the boundaries of the ordinary: a true virgin conceives by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34–35). This was not a symbolic virginity, nor merely a poetic way of speaking, it was a supernatural work of God, confirming that Jesus is not just another child of Adam but the Son of the Most High. “Immanuel” means “God with us,” and in Christ’s incarnation, God Himself stepped into human history to save His people from their sins. The virgin birth is not an optional doctrine; it safeguards the truth of Jesus’ sinless nature and His divine origin.
Isaiah 7:14 ultimately drives us to worship the One who came to be “God with us.” For Ahaz’s generation, the sign meant God’s presence in their political turmoil. For us, it means that in the deepest sense, God has drawn near to reconcile us to Himself. The same Lord who promised a sign to a wavering king has given His church the surest sign of His love—the Son born of a virgin, crucified for our sins, and risen in glory. Whatever fears press on your heart today, the truth of “Immanuel” stands: God is with us, not against us, because Christ has come.
Isaiah 8:11-13 | This is a vital truth for our age. Somehow, despite an explosion of information in our age, we have even less certainty about what’s true and what isn’t. Fake news is everywhere. On top of this, and as a part of it, every conspiracy theory and crackpot explanation is treated as possible truth. But this is not a modern problem. We have always been liars, and fake news was as much of a problem in the ancient world as it is in the modern one. And so the advice is even more timely. Don’t be afraid. Don’t even call it a conspiracy. Fear God. If God is truly sovereign, truly king of history as He tells us He is, then we can put all conspiracies to rest forever. They don’t matter. The only thing that counts, that we should be afraid of, is what God plans in His judgments. Man and his plans do not have the last word, the first word, or any words in between. God sets us free from worrying over and analyzing and listening to theories and conspiracies. Fearing God kicks out all of those other worries.
Isaiah 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4 | Four times this is repeated, as if to make the point through the repetition: God’s judgments are relentless “For all of this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is still stretched out.” There is a completion and resolution to the end in God’s judgments and in God’s mercies. He is absolute in all that He does. This enlarges a sense of fear, a sense of dread about God’s holiness. There is a relentless justice and purity to God, which comes from the nature of His eternal person. What He is, He is forever. This makes His judgments a terror to us, roaring at us how real hell must be; but it also reveals the contrast of His love, which also roars an endless pursuit and pleasure in His rescue and His heaven.
Tuesday
Isaiah 11:7-8 | Isaiah paints a breathtaking picture: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb… the lion shall eat straw like the ox… they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.” On the surface, these words describe a radical shift in the animal kingdom—a predator resting beside its prey. But the Spirit’s intention here is far greater than zoology. The prophet is using imagery that God’s people would instantly understand: in this world, wolves devour lambs and lions tear apart calves. In the world to come—the new heavens and the new earth—there will be no threat, no violence, and no fear. We must be careful not to shrink this vision down by over-literalizing what was never meant to be read that way. The power of this poetry is not in its biology but in the way it grabs our hearts with a glimpse of absolute peace.
This is not a promise that God will reprogram every animal’s diet, but a promise that He will eradicate the enmity and danger that mark life in a fallen creation. The “wolf” and “lamb” represent natural enemies—whether in the animal world, human society, or spiritual realms—that will one day live together without harm. The image tells us that every cause of pain, every seed of conflict, and every shadow of death will be gone.
We live now in “the already and the not yet”—Christ has begun to bring this peace through the cross, reconciling us to God and to one another. But we still wait for the day when His work will be complete, and “they shall not hurt or destroy” will be the unbreakable law of the land.
The wolf-and-lamb vision is not meant to satisfy curiosity about the future habits of wildlife, it is meant to stir longing for God’s final work of redemption. It calls us to set our hope not on fragile earthly peace, but on the King whose reign will cover the earth “as the waters cover the sea.” When you see news of conflict, when relationships feel strained, or when your own heart wrestles with anger and fear, remember Isaiah’s picture. Let it remind you that the Prince of Peace will not stop until every corner of creation is as safe, whole, and harmonious as His holy mountain. That day is coming. And because it is certain, we can live now as people who reflect that peace in how we treat others, even in a world still waiting for its final renewal.
Matthew 27:35 | The actual crucifixion itself is said in such a matter of fact kind of way. It was just normal Roman business, something done every day in the Empire. We don’t get any of the pathos of it or its horror. It’s just blunt fact. In the days before any real entertainment, folks getting crucified was the most interesting thing to watch on a Friday night. It sums up all of the callous cruelty of humanity, and why Jesus has to die to begin with. There’s no melodrama and no fanfare. Mostly it’s just folks making jokes and casual commentary. For most of them it’s just another Friday. There’s something mysterious about how all of this casual violence is happening while our Savior conquers sin, death, and judgment. Something mysterious and amazing about the victory of eternal glory in the gore, mud, and blood.
Wednesday
Isaiah 14-22 | These chapters begin and end with God’s judgment on Egypt with many of the surrounding nations listed for their judgments and crimes. This is a consistent theme in the prophets, explaining God’s judgments on all humans and all human societies. No one is unaccountable before God. Whole people groups bear their judgments as a group. It is not a way that we often think in the modern world, assigning blame and responsibility to nations; but it is something that our God does.
Mathew 28:17 | It always seemed like an embarrassing detail to include. Why mention, at this point of amazing triumph, with Jesus conquering death and claiming this incredible authority, why bring up that some doubted? Why stain this amazing moment with a note on the disbelief of some of the disciples? But these little details are where all the grace is. It hadn’t been the disciples' wisdom or faith or strength that had brought them this far. They weren’t there, getting commissioned, because of all of the success they’d had so far. Far from it! This little detail about their doubts is where we can find ourselves in the disciples. It’s an entry point for us into the story, as we struggle to sometimes believe that it could be true. God has surely and truly come to save us? Death has been actually trampled and God’s judgments on sin are complete? Our unbelief can terrorize us, until we realize that the disciples are our brothers in it. Even when the evidence was staring them in the face, they were still having misgivings. What an encouragement to us today! We sometimes have unrealistic expectations about our own faith. All of our unrealistic expectations should be about God’s incredible greatness and endless mercy, not about our own weaknesses. Those human frailties of understanding and belief are always with us and always have been. Praise Him that it’s only ever needed to be the size of a bit of dust.
Matthew 28:18-20 | Jesus gives what we call the Great Commission, charging His followers to make disciples of all nations. Many Christians read these words and feel the weight of obligation—an almost crushing sense of duty. But the risen Christ doesn’t send His church out burdened; He sends us out blessed. Notice the order: Jesus first declares that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Then He promises His presence: “I am with you always.” In between those two realities—His power and His presence—He gives His people the privilege of joining in His mission. Far from being a dreary task, disciple-making is an invitation to partner with the King of the universe in something eternal and glorious.
When we think of the mission of the church as a burden, we miss the grace built into the command. Evangelism and discipleship are not chores to endure but treasures to embrace. We get to tell a broken world that the Lord of life has conquered death. We get to baptize new believers into the family of God and teach them to walk in the ways of Jesus. What higher honor could we imagine? The Great Commission is not God piling work onto our shoulders; it is God lifting us into His own joy. To be caught up in His redeeming mission is not just our responsibility, it is our privilege, our delight, and our share in the very heart of God.
Thursday
1 Corinthians 1:12 | The old Sunday School answer to just about any question at any given moment is: Jesus! If you’re not listening and suddenly put on the spot, this will be right more than half of the time. But here we discover that sometimes “Jesus” is actually the wrong answer. What would that look like? Here’s the question you would get wrong: “Who is it more important to follow and listen to, Jesus or Paul?” At first glance that seems like an easy question. Of course you should listen to Jesus instead of Paul! But that’s actually the wrong answer because Jesus spoke through Paul. If you could follow Paul and not follow Jesus, then Jesus didn’t speak through Paul. Jesus isn’t divided into different parts or teachings or groups. In fact, once you introduce division, you couldn’t be talking about Jesus any more. Jesus and His teaching are one unified whole. If anyone uses any part of that unified whole to divide folks up, then they aren’t from Jesus. You can be “right” and still be completely “wrong.”
Friday
1 Corinthians 2:2 | It’s a bit funny that Paul says here that he resolved to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified, but then goes on to write another fourteen chapters in 1 Corinthians. But we all know that simplicity doesn’t get rid of complex questions, it helps you navigate and understand them. This verse is a bit of a reset button for us, a truth to come back to again and again as a starting point. Like our computers, we need to reset at times, to reboot our thinking and get back to basics. Distractions and objections and details can bog us down in life. This is one of those truths that we can use for our baseline thinking. It’s a return to core assumptions about life and purpose and what’s important. Paul is teaching us how necessary this kind of reset is. Corinth was a complicated place full of wealth, idols, and every kind of pleasure. It was the moral playground of the Roman Empire, leading to every kind of decadence. This is where gospel clarity and focus are essential, getting back to basics and sticking to those basics when the world is so morally murky.