*Scripture: Isaiah 28:14-29 (NKJV)* 14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15 because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves." 16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. 17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report."
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it. 21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon—that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act. 22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth. 23 Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech. 24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? 25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? 26 For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him. 27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod. 28 Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen. 29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. *Devotion* In Luther's Small Catechism the fourth question about Holy Baptism asks: "What does such baptizing with water indicate?" Answer: "It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever." In the Book of Isaiah, God, through Isaiah, constantly tells the Jews that they have sinned against God and need to return in contrition and repentance to Him. If they didn't the nation would be destroyed. However, God also assures them that even though they will not return to Him until it is too late, that He, Himself, will provide and establish a solid foundation for His people, His Church, and their future. He says, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily." Isaiah goes on to warn His people, "Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech." Don't ignore God when He speaks. In 1 Peter 2, St. Peter tells us that this Stone is Christ and that we who hear and believe in Him are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" in Christ. Thanks be to God!
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